Bridge cameras vs Canon 70d

baz

Hi all, I enjoy wildlife and landscape photography but find my Canon 70d with a TamRon 300mm lens doesn't always give good results. I have a friend who sends me stunning photos from a Panasonic Fz330 bridge camera . So do I purchase a bridge camera for £400 or a Sigma 500mm lense for £800. Must admit the Bridge cameras save carrying around a bag full of lenses.
Any thoughts peeps.

Bob

Hi Baz and welcome to the forum.  I used to use a Nikon D5300 with various lenses but it got too heavy for me as I have a back problem.  I now use a Nikon Coolpix B700 and I know that another member has one.   We are both delighted with them.   The lens is the equivalent to 28mm to 1447mm and is an ED VR lens.   This is a photo I took last Sunday in very low light at 1/25 @ f4.5

Dipper

I have a Canon 70D and a Fuji Finepix HS20 bridge camera. The Finepix won't be as good as the Panasonic but I find telephoto shots a bit disappointing.

The 70D sensor is about 3.5 times the size of the Panasonic FZ330 sensor which allows you to crop an image to magnify it without losing too much detail. This in effect is electronic zooming. So you don't really need a superzoom lens to get a similar magnification.

Like you, I considered one of the long Sigma lenses but they were just too big and heavy. I opted for a Canon EF 70-300 f4-5.6 IS II USM lens which produces pretty good results. Of course 70mm is a bit too large for landscapes so I would need carry one of my other lenses as well for that.

If out walking or on holiday, I almost invariably take my X100 due to its size. There's no chance of snapping wildlife though unless I got charged by an elephant.

There seems to be a trend for 1" sensors so if you can afford one of the cheaper bridge cameras with that sensor, it might be a good compromise. I agree that DSLRs aren't really that convenient to carry around.

These are full zoom with a slight crop using the 70-300.

Bob

I took these two frames to show the zoom potential of the B700.   The light switch can be seen in the centre of the wide angle frame and then in the fully zoomed in frame.   Both shots taken from the same place and showing the whole frame.

Boke Moiré

I have an 80-400 Nikon lens which I suppose is relatively light for such a lens.  But still far too heavy for travelling.  I usually take my Fuji X-S1, which has a 2/3 sensor so a lot bigger than a 1/2.3.  It has a long lens but is light so I guess it's plastic.  (Nothing wrong with plastic, my glasses are Nikon plastic). I still have a Nikon 8800 bridge, which is very old, and I would probably still be using that if I hadn't won the Fuji.

These are from the Fuji:

Photo:

http://www.f16.eu/2013/Cyprus.June/kouklia_aphrodite_rock/tn/x-s1_0793.jpg.index.html 

A reduced size movie:

http://www.f16.eu/2013/Cyprus.June/kouklia_aphrodite_rock/movies/tn/x-s1_0783_sm.m4v.index.html

JohnD83

That is impressive. I personally like my 150-600mm on my Canon 7D mark ii. That is some range on your picture @Bob .

wonderview

Bridge cameras will never be as good as DSLR's and mirrorless cameras, but they can be a fun all-round camera, and they can take some really good photos given the right conditions.  These are some pics I took with my Nikon B700. I thinks it's on a level with the Canon SX60hs and the Panny FZ80.  I've seen many a revue that says the Panasonic FZ300(330) is the best and most capable small sensor super zoom you can buy. I've seen some great wildlife shots and videos taken with the much maligned Nikon P900 and P1000. Good luck, not an easy decision but I hope whatever you pick works for you.

wonderview

Here's another example of the zoom range. Maximum optical and digital zoom.

https://flic.kr/p/FZn2aB

It was taken out a back window of my house on a very cold day so there's a lot of distortion being caused by the heat escaping through the open window. Don't tell my wife! lol
The only thing I really dislike about this camera is the loud zoom motor, and the terribly noisy mike pre-amps. I don't know if Bob has the same problem but I have heard the same thing on a lot of other B700 youtube reviews. But I don't shoot much video and other than that I've had a lot of fun with this camera.

Bob

I've never used the digital zoom on mine.   Never found the need to.

wonderview

That's one of the few times I used digital zoom Bob. The camera was still relatively new to me at the time, and when that opportunity came up I wanted to see how well it worked. Pretty good I'd say, but only used digital zoom a hand full of times in total.

Bob

Can't hear the zoom on mine Bill.   The problem I have with zooming on video is failure to focus at full zoom.