Bridge camera for around £150?

[Bearbonesnorm]

Quite fancy a new camera. I have a reasonable point 'n shoot compact, Dee has a good DSLR, so thought I might like a bridge camera for my travels, etc. Is it possible to get something reasonable for around £150 or am I wasting my time?

Anyone recommend anything or have any words of wisdom for the camera inept?

[ianfitz]

I'm not up to date with current tech, but I have a lumix bridge camera, has a pretty decent lens and can cope with quite low light levels.

I can't remeber the model number but its 5 years old now so I'd guess you could pick something very good for that sort of price, especially second hand.

[GregMay]

May be able to pick up something decent second hand - but £150 not a huge amount in the camera world these days :(

Interestingly I picked up a new SLR - I say picked, more found it while tidying (recycling) fathers old things away. Will be interesting to return to film for a bit.

[Ray Young]

Check out Argos, see what tickles your fancy then pull up a review off the net. Prices of bridge cameras has dropped a lot. They have a few £200 ones now half price.
Mine cost £250 6 years ago and is now worth £40 .

[Chew]

am I wasting my time?

Dont bother with bridge cameras. They're from the era where compacts were rubbish and SLR's were too expensive and 'bridged' that gap. Compacts are a lot higher quality now and SLR's have come down in price.

Get yourself a good compact with lots of adjustments, aperture, exposure,......

I had one of these (till it got dunked in the sea) and John Climber has one as well. Excellent camera for the money.
https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid ... 9201968163

Depends on how much you want to play around with the modes?

Most photography comes down to composition and you can generally get as good a photo with your phone as an SLR.

I'd ask Mike what camera he has its its taken some crackers this year

[Gari]

If you are happy with used Ffordes are great. I have spent a fortune with them over the years, very reliable and trustworthy IME. Look at the Fuji X10 or 20 which should be in your price range used. I wouldn't worry overly about the pixel count if you are mainly using for online posting such as this site, blogging etc. Never ceases to amaze me how many folk NEED a 25-32 MP camera and then just post on flickr or Instagram! (other social media sites may be available)

[Lump]

Nikon J-1 Can be found for £100ish second hand. And very very happy with the ones I have owned. Defo work a look at

[Karl]

I've just got a panasonic lumix tz70. Fanastic bit of kit. 30x zoom. Loads of options on aperture setting etc, and compact. Really happy with it. Was £209 me thinks from buyacamera.co.uk

Well worth a look

[Bearbonesnorm]

I've got a panasonic Lumix TZ8 at the moment and while I like it, I've never been that impressed.

I've asked Mike what he's been using ... he does tend to get some nice shots especially when using the 'magic' setting

[99percentchimp]

Panasonic Lumix GX-1 - lots of control and good auto settings... shots in RAW/jpeg/both if you fancy playing with the files. Now superseded by later GXs but still good.
Lots of cheap ones on ebay and ones with very low shutter counts too... loads of lenses out there and seem to be pretty robust - mine fits neatly in the wing of a Wingnut pack
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/sis.html?_ite ... 4436.m1684

[benp1]

Smartphones must be playing havoc with the camera market.

I have a dslr with lenses and flashes, and a proper compact too. Neither get used as I've been using my iphone for everything

I'm guessing they've really upped their game now...?

[Ian]

I sold my Panasonic LUMIX LX3 for around £100 - it was a decent camera. Replaced it with an LX100, but that'd blow your budget quite a bit

[benp1]

I have an LX2, I really wanted to get an LX3 but found I was using my phone more. Big fan of the Leica lens'd compacts

[GregMay]

Big fan of the Leica lens'd compacts

I too like the Lecia compacts. Tad more than his £150 budget mind you...

[voodoo_simon]

Smartphones must be playing havoc with the camera market.

If i remember correctly, one of the reasons why jessops went under, people stopped buying compacts.

I use a Panasonic GF3, one of those mini DSLR things. Much lighter than a normal DSLR, so it only boils down to either using my phone/go pro for snaps or taking out the Panasonic and do some photography with it

[Mike]

Stu I like mine coz it's waterproof which means I can get it out in the rain and snap away I had the Panasonic tz7 before great camera but found I wouldn't take it out in the wet....and we get alot of wet

[benp1]

One of the things I don't get about Bridge cameras, having played with a couple, is the zoom is amazing, but the aperture is tiny. So anything you might want to zoom in on needs to be completely still. The only thing I might want to zoom that much in on is probably moving - people/vehicles/wildlife. Most cameras have such high pixel counts that cropping for static stuff is easy

Mind you I don't have have the pro level lenses for my dslr so I'm still limited when really zoomed in

[JackT]

Sony RX100 would be a good option unless you need a mega zoom. They're onto mark 4 now so should be some bargains about, especially second hand. This will replace your P&S and has a larger sensor than most bridge cameras. Only reason not to go this route is if you need a megazoom.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-DSCRX100-A ... B008CNMZDW

Micro Four Thirds is also worth considering, as there are some pretty small bodies out there (Olympus PEN) and some cheap ex-kit lenses. Panasonic GX1 as mentioned above worth a look. M43 the sensor is considerably larger than a 1 inch sensor and way bigger than a typical bridge camera. Once you go interchangeable lens, then remember digital camera bodies are essentially disposable items as sensor technology is improving so rapidly. The investment is in the lenses, as they are improving much less rapidly.

[tenbears10]

Following on from what Jackt said the RX100 is available as a lens only to use with your phone.

What phone do you have? I think compact cameras and even bridge cameras to an extent are redundant now next to android or iPhones. Sony make http://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/cyber ... /dsc-qx100 those which go for a lot less than that price second hand but contain the sensor and lens from http://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/cyber ... /dsc-rx100 that compact. Ultimately means you have a camera with all the editing and sharing functions of your phone but in a small package which is great for travel/biking.