Well hello again guys, welcome back to the channel. In today's video we're going to be
talking about bridge cameras, and yeah they're a bit of a controversial subject aren't they.
There are plenty of videos out there on YouTube
basically saying that bridge cameras are completely rubbish!
Now as somebody who shoots with both a DSLR and a bridge camera, I can kind of get what they mean
when they say that they're not as good as a DSLR and to be honest that's perfectly true,
they are limited in what they can do, but they're also excellent in other ways
so in this video we're going to be talking about what's cool about bridge cameras.
So why do people hate bridge cameras? Well I think one of the reasons is that people get snobby about
bridge cameras, because possibly, they were the first cameras they shot with before they upgraded
to a DSLR or mirrorless camera. and let's face it when we're not very good at photography we tend
not to take our cameras out of auto and possibly don't get the best out of the equipment we've got.
Now I can speak from experience, I was that soldier. I used to have a little Fuji bridge
camera and I took thousands of photographs on that camera, and I don't think I ever took it out of
auto other than to put it into panorama mode. That was a complete waste of the cameras capabilities,
and who was at fault? It wasn't the camera, it was me, it was the photographer to blame for not
trying to exceed the camera's capabilities and then move on to better equipment. So
in this video I'm going to talk about some of the benefits of bridge cameras
against some of the drawbacks, and I'm also going to recommend a few different models you
may want to consider when looking for a bridge camera, if that does indeed suit your needs.
What are the advantages of bridge camera? Well they are massively versatile, most bridge cameras
come with a lens that is both wide angle and a super zoom which means you've got a huge
telephoto to use, and that means that most aspects of photography are covered, and you don't need to
go out and buy several lenses like you would do with a DSLR or mirrorless camera. The next point
is that bridge cameras are super portable. Because your bridge camera does have that fixed lens,
that means your camera bag is going to be much lighter when you're traveling abroad,
on holiday whatever, and yeah it means you don't have to be carrying around a huge, great backpack
like this! Point number three. Even the smallest zoom lens on a bridge camera will easily eclipse
any kit lens on an entry level DSLR or mirrorless camera. Usually you'll get an 18-70mm type kit
lens those cameras, and that's not anywhere near what the likes of these little bridge cameras can
do. A 1200mm equivalent lens on this Panasonic fz82 for example, and certainly they're gonna
out zoom your smartphone! This makes them ideal for anyone wanting to take photographs of animals
or birds or even things like shots of the moon. The next point is cost. Whilst bridge cameras
do vary greatly in price and I'll demonstrate that later, they are an affordable entry point
into photography. Choose well and you can pick a camera that will teach you things
like the exposure triangle, how to set up your camera correctly, and how to get the type of image
you want to take rather than just shooting what's in front of you. You will then be
better prepared if you want to move on to the likes of a DSLR or mirrorless system.
We've covered some of the plus points of what's good about bridge camera now let's talk about
the disadvantages of them. Well the first thing to think about is sensor size and the potential
for noise. In order to create these outrageous zooms within a fairly compact camera there needs
to be some kind of give and take and that trade-off is termed as equivalence. I'll
pick up the fz82 - this camera is equipped with an equivalent lens of 1200mm now at full extension.
That's nowhere near a 1200mm lens on a full frame camera,
and that's because the sensor size in the camera is drastically reduced over a full frame camera.
But a true 1200mm lens on the camera body would be a huge unwieldy unit which would be a pain
to travel with, and would require you to carry a tripod or at least a monopod with you at all
times. So the fz82 and other cameras like the Nikon p950, p1000 use a very compact sensor
normally used in compact cameras, which is one 1/2.3" sensor. The disadvantage
of a smaller sensor is that it has less ability to collect the available light, and that
is going to cause problems in low light, and to get good results you're going to have to
raise your ISO quite a lot and that in turn will add more noise to all of your images.
The next negative is one of the plus points as well, it is a fixed lens.
While there's the advantage of convenience for having a fixed lens there's also a
disadvantage. If you were, for example, wanting to shoot macro images with your bridge camera
or fisheye photos for example, then you can't change the lens. There are some work
around such as these - which is the Raynox 250, they're also available at 150 version, and these
are excellent little macro adapters which you just clip onto the front of your bridge camera.
They also work with DSLRs and mirrorless cameras as well of course. If you also do buy a bridge
camera which has a filter thread on the front of the lens then you can also use the screw on
filters which magnify subjects or alternatively things like fisheye adapters are also available.
So here's what I think you should be looking for when you're thinking about buying a bridge camera.
Now all bridge cameras are not equal and there are a few things which I think you should look for
when you're going to buy your first bridge camera. The first one is what are referred to as PASM
modes which stands for P (photo) mode, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Manual mode. Now not
all bridge cameras have these mode dials. The fz82 does, and if I show you there, you can see on the
mode dial - PASM. You should really be looking for a bridge camera that does have a mode dial,
and that helps you, well it's going to help you, take better shots because you can
then take control of the camera. A lot of other cheaper bridge cameras don't have that mode dial
on there, and literally, all you've bought is a point-and-shoot with a big lens on the front.
So the next thing I think you should consider looking for in your
potential bridge camera is does it offer RAW shooting? Now
a lot of people won't shoot RAW with a bridge camera and they'll just shoot jpeg and that's fine
if that's all you want to do. However, to extract the best from your images it is necessary to post
process your images in something like Camera RAW or Lightroom, Affinity Photo or Photoshop,
whatever you use, but having that ability to get the maximum detail that the sensor can capture,
can let you create better photographs. Cameras that don't shoot RAW sometimes you do still have
things like exposure compensation in camera to try and get those jpegs to look as best as possible.
The next thing I think you should look at is does the camera you're looking at have a filter thread
on the front of the lens? This means you can add filters like a circular polarizing
filter (CPL) ND (Neutral Density) filters or even just something as simple as putting a lens hood
on the front of the lens to prevent glare in bright sunlight.
So now we're going to move on and I'm going to show you some
different cameras that you may want to consider.
The first camera I'm going to recommend takes a little introduction on this
channel. It's the Panasonic fz82 - now why do I recommend this camera? Well I think the specs
on this camera are fantastic for the money. You've got a huge zoom lens 1200mm equivalent,
the spec is fantastic, great image stabilization, it'll shoot 4k video it does 4k photo. It's great
little camera for the amount of money it costs. There are a few downsides to it,
that small sensor can give you some noisy images unless you really take the ISO under control,
and it does have a fixed rear screen which does mean that it can be difficult to see what you're
shooting especially if it's low down. However you can use the rather excellent Panasonic app!
Next on the list is the Canon Powershot SX70HS. This retails for £579. One of
the pros of this camera, it's got 65x optical zoom, articulating rear screen,
will shoot 4k video there is a mic port - so handy for vloggers! Downside, that price it's almost
into one inch sensor bridge camera territory the likes of the FZ1000 from Panasonic, and this
camera doesn't have a hot shoe. So whilst you would think because there's a mic port it would
have a hot shoe so you could mount a microphone on the top of it it can't offer that feature.
Next up is the Nikon P1000 - retailing at just over £1000, it can shoot RAW
but its main talking point is that huge zoom. Yes that's a whopping 3000mm equivalent lens on this
camera. There are a few cons though, namely the price of this camera and also the fact that it
still only has a very tiny sensor. One other last consideration sometimes these cameras
are quite hard to come by especially at the moment with some chip shortages, but on the
whole if you must have the biggest lens on any bridge camera then this is the camera for you!
And lastly the Sony rx10 MkIV. This is the pinnacle of bridge cameras, it has everything you
could want in a camera, it's built like a tank, it's weather sealed. I've had one in my hand,
the build quality is absolutely fantastic! It takes great images, and unfortunately
all of that comes at a heavy cost. This is a very expensive camera indeed; £1700 - now it
does have the one-inch sensor inside it which is fantastic, as I said it takes some great shots.
If you can't quite run to one of these then obviously Lumix do the FZ1000
and FZ1000ii which has got some lovely upgrades on it. Neither are weather-sealed however,
and if you really want the best bridge camera then the Sony is the one for you.
So that's my little guide to what's good about bridge cameras,
and remember, bridge cameras are there for two reasons - convenience
and a great stepping stone into photography and it depends at which point you are at is whether
you're wanting to learn about photography and move on to mirrorless cameras and DSLR cameras
or whether you're tired of looking around all that heavy equipment
and you want to simplify your photography. Either way I think a bridge camera is a great way to go!
Thank you very much for watching. I hope you found this guide useful and again
if you have please give the thumbs up really helps the channel out an awful
lot. If you're not a subscriber and you want to see more content, particularly
shot with bridge cameras, then why not subscribe to the channel. So that just leaves me say,
thank you very much for watching and I'll see you again next time bye for now.