Any photographers?

I'm looking at buying a decent digital camera. The DSLR cameras are a bit out of budget, so i'm looking at that 'bridge' section of cameras. Ie. fixed lens cameras but 35mm equivalent. I'm looking a fujifilm s6900 and a few panasonics. they seem to have good reviews, and may be better for me than having a full out slr. Has anyone got any advice on whats good or not?

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Not a photographer myself, but the gadget show on five covered bridge cameras a couple weeks ago, see link above

HTH

have a look at dpreview.com - really good indepth reviews.

You can get a DSLR for less than you might think, prices have fallen whist the specs have got better. For the cost of a decent bridge camera (Canon, Nikon, Sony (AKA Minolta) and Panasonic (for the optics) would get my vote here).

Check the prices of the Nikon D40, Canon 400D and the Pentax K100 (or K10 if you can afford it). All are good and you can add another lens later. The Pentax will take older manual focus lenss that are quite cheap on eb*y. Also the standard lenses of a DSLR will tend to give you a much better wide angle view, 28mm compared to 35mm in film terms.

Hope this helps.

I think for someone who is looking to get into Photography but doesnt want the outlay of expensive lenses on top of an slr body, then i cant see why a "bridge" camera doesnt fit the bill. It allows the user to have the functionality of an SLR (nearly) but puts it into one handy design and is an affordable option

I have the Panasonic FZ7 and the quality of the pictures i have taken have been superb. The simple function allows it to be used as a point & shoot or you can choose to use manual functions of Shutter speed & aperture to adjust your shots. The downside with the camera is that noise increases sharply the higher the ISO. Also the lack of a flash shoe might be of concern to some.

thats all brilliant thanks. I used to do a fair bit of b&w with a 70's canon slr! then developed them at school until they thre out the projectors But decided with the prices of slrs these days its probably worth getting one again now. It pains me on the bike taking pictures with my mobile. (2 Mpixels with a lens the size of a pen nib ).
Nikon D40 looks like it fits the bill, seems to be the best value for money. Although needs expensive lenses should i ever want to replace it.

Hiya.

I've recently bought a Nikon D40 and can highly recommend it. The quality of pictures I've been getting with are absolutely superb and it's easy to use. I was a bit concerned about being out of my depth with it and spending all that money, but I was worried about nowt because I love it and have no regrets at all about buying it

Amanda

my only concern with it is that is doesn't have a depth of field preview on it, which is really a basic feature! i'll go try it out today )

The D40 is cheap but it can not use the older lenses. I have the Pentax K100D and its brilliant. Can use any Pentax bayonet mounet lens ever made. It also has shake reduction.....i have taken night pics hand held at 1/6 second and they are clear thanks to the shake reduction.
As was mentioned....dpreview.com is great. Check out the Pentax slr forum....you wont be sorry and if you have any questions just ask me

Originally Posted by gettin2dizzy

my only concern with it is that is doesn't have a depth of field preview on it, which is really a basic feature! i'll go try it out today )

K100D has one