Any bridgecam fans here?

Herman

The Image Stimulator
Location
The Netherlands
Name
Herman
Yes, me :)
Which bridgecam you recommend?
The Fuji XS-1, Fuji HS30EXR and the Sony HX-200 seem quite interesting to me.
An all-in-one package to replace a DSLR with several lenses.
Affordable too.
Replies are welcome, thanks in advance.
 
I thinking Herman - but the HS20 is now stunning value at about Euros 250 to 300 - and the HS30 is not reckon to be any improvement

Build quality and sensor size the XS-1 is better but it is well over twice the price of the HS20

I'm thinking but cannot make my mine up - no shops out here in the rural backwoods, (and Bordeaux is not much better) - so I would have to buy mail order and take a chance or wait another two months until I'm back in the UK
 
I had a Panny FZ-50 for several years. My daughter finally got it. She still thinks it's the camera that makes the photographer.

Then I bought a G1 to replace it. The only really bad thing about bridge cams in general is the contrast detect auto focus struggles with BIF. I got a FZ-100, but sent it back after a couple of days because it was just such a noisy little cam. I have not looked back since I got a cam that has phase detect focus though.

So those super long zooms, even when they have a bigger sensor, are going to be a problem with fast movers. Maybe soon it will catch up, contrast detect focus that is. I guess I kind of settled on my on concoction of super-zoom with the A77 and Tamron 18-250. And when I want to carry a bazooka around, I put on the 200-500. I always expect the police to show up when I'm carrying that thing around and tell me to put down the weapon.

I still miss that old 12X Panny FZ-50 though. It would take some great pics in good light and the lens was top notch. Paid seven hundred bucks for it and it was worth every penny at the time.
 
Panasonic FZ30. Bought it new. Used it few months, gave it to daughter. She used it year or two gave it to her momma (my wife:)). She still uses it. I tried to replace it for her a couple times. Nope. My other daughters have FZ30 and 20. If you understand that they don't do low light very well and you don't use the extreme lens length, it does very well. The macro function has very good quality.
 
I had a couple of bridge cams... the Canon S3 IS and then the Panasonic FZ28. Both were great cameras as long as one understood their limitations. In recent years, I have tended to think that the mirrorless movement made bridge cameras unnecessary. But I must admit that Fuji XS-1 is very attractive and I can see why one would buy that over an entry-level DSLR if one didn't plan on building a kit with a lot of lenses. I wish it had weather-resistance, though.

I think the first camera maker that puts out one of these cameras with a sensor at least the size of that in the XS-1 and with WR will clean up in that market space. Make sure it has lots of direct control on the outside (in other words, don't make the control too menu driven) and give the zoom a focal range of 24/25mm to about 500/600mm. I'd rather stop there and keep the long end of the lens reasonably fast than get something that zooms out to 800mm and be very slow after about 100mm.

The camera doesn't have to be that tiny. Canon's top bridge cams aren't all that small. I can accept a camera the size of, say, a Nikon D3100 if I didn't have to worry about dragging around lenses with it. How about you guys?
 
Wow! Feels great that I got bridgecam fans aound! I will check both price and availability of the HS30EXR, HS20EXR (thanks to BillN), XS-1 and HS-200.
Keep replying, thanks!
 
I love a good bridge camera. I started with an Olympus C760-uz 3.2mp, and I still have it. It doesnt shoot RAW but it does TIFF quite nicely. Max ISO of 400 which is horrible, but its been a wonderful camera so I'll keep using it. Since then I had a Fuji S8000fd which I bought because I was impatient and really wanted the Panasonic FZ28. Because of that, I underrated the Fuji greatly and sold it on. I finally bought a Panasonic bridge... the FZ100... and really... its OK but not something I am that thrilled with.

Right now, if I was buying, it would be between the XS-1 and HS20. I think the weight of the XS would soon get tiresome (arthritis of wrists and hands does that, its why I am only a periodic DSLR shooter) but I still think its the way to go if money is no object. Cost in Oz is over $800 depending where you go for it. Grey market isnt much better.
 
After seeing an XS-1 in the flesh the other night, I don't think the term bridgecam is really appropriate. It doesn't just bridge the gap in size and form between compacts and SLRs, it crosses it and keeps on going! If the XS-1 is a seruous compact then my Canon 50D is a serious compact.

Going back a few years, I did try out some of the bridgecams from Canon, Panasonic, Olympus, and Sony but I never really liked the big camera size, small sensor performance equation. Once I'd tried the smaller "travel zooms" I never went back to bridgecams because for me the zoom range became a bit academic once it started jumping from 12x to 15x, 18x, 24x, 36x...
 
I think I have had about 5 models of bridge cam, and some are good and some are not, the HS20 is awesome! and for the price a the moment you can't go wrong :)

I have held the X-S1 and like it but the price is a bit over the top, in saying that it is a wonderful camera for what it's meant to be!

I am thinking of getting the HS20 again now the price has dropped so much, Flickr is down at the moment or I would put A pic taken with the Canon SX30HS and the fuji HS20


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Untitled by mertlee, on Flickr
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Untitled by mertlee, on Flickr
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IMG_0136 by mertlee, on Flickr
 
Still images - The only negatives I have seen re the HS20 are when using it at the "long end" are autofocus moving in and out of focus, sticky zoom and "shakiness" on full zoom

again there are a few UTube vids reviewing this camera
 
I've had 3 Fujis S5500, HS10 and now an X-S1. Still own a Pana FZ50 which my son uses. So I have a soft spot for the bridge form factor and for Fujis. I believe Panasonic has lost its way with its recent bridge cams. The Canons have very good IQ according to reviews but what I love about the Fujis is the 'proper' zoom ring on the lens.

Best 'bang for buck' is the HS20. Forget the 'dumbed down' HS30 and wait for the full spec HS40 if you want the newer model..
 
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