Bridge cameras

[Nedrick]

My Nikon DSLR has gone to the graveyard in the sky. I only use the camera a bit so was thinking of a Bridge camera.  Any thoughts on the list below please?
Canon  SX60HS
Coolpix P610
Sony DSC-HX300
Panasonic DMC-FZ72
Many thanks,
Ned

[jasT1981]

I have actually just bought a new Bridge, I see you have the Sony DSC-HX300 listed. I went for the next model up from the 300 with the DSC-H400 and it is very good. 63x Optical zoom and 21mega pixels. Only issue is with the higher zoom, the focus takes slightly longer to fully focus on far away objects.

Another I have is the Fugifilm FinePix S8200 with 40x optical and I love it. Bit dated now, I got it in 2013 but is still an amazing camera. More functions that the Sony DSC-400 and lighter to carry around.

[viking9]

Hi Ned,

I've had a Panasonic FZ200 since early 2013. As I suffer from osteoarthritis I found it increasingly difficult to carry and hold my Canon 7D with long lenses, so I sold the lot and bought the FZ200. Of course the image quality isn't up to APS-C standards but it is pretty good. The aperture is f2.8 over the whole lens zoom range. It also takes superb HD movies. I've posted some photos in an album titled Panasonic FZ200 at:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/reachspotter/albums

You can see DPreview's review of the FZ200 at:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonic-lumix-dmc-fz200

I replaced the FZ200 with a Panasonic FZ1000 last December which is currently about twice the price you can get a 200 for but the image quality is indistinguishable from APS-C cameras of similar price. You can see some aircraft samples from it in the other two albums on my Flickr pages.

Regards,

Tom

[Mark Woodhead]

I hava a Fuji Bridge camera and the shutter speed & focus is so slow it is very difficult to take photos of planes moving at any speed. Possibly that is because my camera is not very expensive, but that is my experience.

[Nedrick]

Thank you all.  The Canon SX60HS appears to be the best bet.

[ww2ni]

Ned
I have a Nikon P510 bridge camera which has a Times 42 Optical Zoom.
Cracking camera.

Andy