Bridge Camera (Page 3): Get a used Panasonic FZ1000. Excellent bridge camera, or, if you can live with a zoom to only 75mm, get an LX100.

phlash46 Loc: Westchester County, New York

donie95 wrote:

Less than $700. It does not have to have a 2000 mm lens and I really dont want to by a interchangeable lens. Something like The Nikon Coolpix p900. Although I have heard mix reviews on it.

Get a used Panasonic FZ1000. Excellent bridge camera, or, if you can live with a zoom to only 75mm, get an LX100.

insman1132 Loc: Southwest Florida

You might want to take a look at Canon's SX60. https://www.dpreview.com/search/?query=sx60&product=canon_sx60hs

sinead

I'm in the same boat as you. I'm leaning toward a Nikon B700. I did a comparison to the Canon sx60 and found out the 700 is lighter which I like, although, SX60 or the SX50 are great too if you can find SX50. It's in our budget range.

MrBob Loc: lookout Mtn. NE Alabama

Best bridge camera in the world and it's only 200 bucks used and it's 12 years old... Sony DSC -R1 with Zeiss 24-120 equivalent lens. ( C sensor mated to great lens ). This thing takes pics as well as any of my Canons or Olympus. I keep going back to this cam as the lens is SO sharp and with the focal range it makes a great combo.. I think I will buy another for a backup... at 200 or so how can you go wrong ? The lens itself is worth much more; too bad it's not interchangeable.

tomad Loc: North Carolina

I own both the Sony RX10 and the Panasonic ZS100, both bridge cameras with 1" sensors and both with RAW capability. They both are great cameras but the RX10 captures better images. If you don't mind the size, I'd go for the RX10. If you want something you can put in your jacket pocket, go for the ZS100. The ZS100 also has a bit more zoom, I think 250mm compared to 200mm in the RX10, but the RX10 is weather proofed while the ZS100 is not. I recently used the RX10 daily on a very rainy trip to New York with no protective gear and it came through it like a champ. The RX10 also has better controls for manual shooting imho. Both cameras have intelligent zoom which is a feature that doubles the zoom range by using crop rather than digital zoom. It works pretty well on the RX10 (for small prints or computer monitor) to extend the zoom to about 400mm. I haven't tried it extensively on the ZS100 but I would expect similar results.

47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range

I have a Canon SX60 and a G16, both I like but use the SX60 as a bridge for its length. Both shoot in raw or jpeg, but cropping gets tricky due to noise because of the smaller sensor. If I were buying today, for me, it would be between the Sony RX10 or a Canon G3x. Both shot raw or jpeg and have a max equivalent reach to 600mm. The Sony is more than you or I would want to spend, but the Canon size could be a good fit especially for travel. As a refurb on Canon's store site, it can be had for between $600 and $700. If I didn't care about raw, the Nikon P9000 gets good results, as well.

bobbyp7714 Loc: Orange MA

The comments from Wingpilot about the nikon p900 are spot on. Not mentioned is that it tends to be heavy. I used it recently on vacation and got decent results but I would like something smaller and lighter to carry around. It was great for those shots needing a tripod, but who wants to lug a tripod around with them all the time. In a pinch it can be a great walk around camera.

epd1947

donie95 wrote:

It's probably been asked and answered many times but I figured its been awhile and some new cameras are out there maybe there something I missed. I am going on vacation next month but I would prefer not to lug my giant camera with me all the time. I'm going to be shooting some landscapes And obviously some people pictures. Can anyone recommend a bridge camera that shoots Raw and has some decent manual controls. Thanks

The Panasonic FZ300 is the one I would go for - 24-600mm (equivalent) focal length range with constant f/2.8 maximum aperture. Also shoots 4K video - and has 4K burst mode for stills. To top it all off, the camera has weather sealing (no other bridge camera does) so you will not have to put the camera away if you are caught in a rain shower. Low light performance on this camera is also better than the other bridge cameras because of that constant f/2.8 aperture available to you.

tomad Loc: North Carolina

epd1947 wrote:

The Panasonic FZ300 is the one I would go for - 24-600mm (equivalent) focal length range with constant f/2.8 maximum aperture. Also shoots 4K video - and has 4K burst mode for stills. To top it all off, the camera has weather sealing (no other bridge camera does) so you will not have to put the camera away if you are caught in a rain shower. Low light performance on this camera is also better than the other bridge cameras because of that constant f/2.8 aperture available to you.

The Sony RX10 is a bridge camera (many would say the ultimate bridge camera) and it is weather sealed...

elliott937 Loc: St. Louis

When I planned our summer trip to Europe, I wanted to use something smaller than my Canon 5DII. And thanks to fellow members here, I explored and eventually purchased the Lumix TZ80. In five ports of call, I shot simultaneous RAW and .jpg. Here at home, via Photoshop, I've made my 12"x12" enlargements, and quite honestly, I'm very impressed. I will never stop using my 5DII at home, but I'm also going to explore uses for my TZ80 at home too. So I'd recommend this as a consideration for you.

caljr Loc: Indiana

Look at the Fuji X-T20 with the 18-55 lens, I got this camera before we took the family to Disney and it was a pleasure to use.

seagull5

There are some great cameras I know pretty quickly if it is going to be a keeper...some I wish I still had but that is here nor there. I need reach and image quality and build quality. I just want you to try the FZ300 and the fz1000....Pleased as punch with both cameras. I misspoke about the FZ1000...setting optical on gave me not 2x but 4x to 1600mm....shots are clean and crisp...the 300 has a touch screen where you can move the focus points..as someone stated constant 2.8 both are bright enough where I honestly unless its very dark do not need the flash..4k on both is gorgeous

Wanderer2 Loc: Colorado Rocky Mountains

I have basically the same question as the OP and hope it's ok to ask it in his thread - I'm not trying to co-opt the thread. I shoot landscapes with a FF DSLR, tripod, etc. but am planning a trip to Colorado in September to shoot fall color and my usual equipment isn't practical for this trip. I think I would like to rent a camera for a week, thus eliminating price limits, a fixed telephoto lens camera. It doesn't have to be pocketable. The best possible resolution and sharpness is paramount as I like to do large landscape prints and for me large starts at 20x30 and goes up from there, although I realize the rental won't match my DSLR in this respect. It needs to shoot raw and have a viewfinder.

I've read through all the recommendations above but any suggestions for a camera for my more narrow range of use than the OPs would be much appreciated.

rdgreenwood Loc: Kennett Square, Pennsylvania

"Bridge" has gotten a bit fuzzy, but I'd suggest you consider a couple of remedies to your "I need a Sherpa blues": a Canon G-12 shoots RAW and is an outstanding camera; or go out on a limb and buy a Sony A6--- I have an A6000 and it's my constant companion whenever portability is an issue. Both of these cameras shoot RAW, provide high IQ, are extremely lightweight, and won't break your bank.

Reinaldokool Loc: San Rafael, CA

donie95 wrote:

It's probably been asked and answered many times but I figured its been awhile and some new cameras are out there maybe there something I missed. I am going on vacation next month but I would prefer not to lug my giant camera with me all the time. I'm going to be shooting some landscapes And obviously some people pictures. Can anyone recommend a bridge camera that shoots Raw and has some decent manual controls. Thanks

No. Get an MILC like a Fuji or Sony a6000. (One of our colleagues has an amazing deal on an a6000 here on the Hog. Pick up a Sony 18-200 lens for the sony or something similar for a Fuji. You will get far better quality, even if you need to crop a bit. Of course, that's all wrong if all you are going to do is post them on Facebook. You don't need quality for that so the bridge camera is fine.