Which bridge camera you recommend?

Hi Herman,

I've owned 4 superzooms this year - Nikon P510, Canon SX50 HS, Fuji SL1000 and Fuji HS50 EXR.

I disqualified the Nikon because it did not shoot RAW. Here are my thoughts from April:

I guess you can call the class of superzooms I've been looking at "super-duper zooms". Here's my brief rundown of the 3 current models:

Canon SX50: best IQ. The sensor and lens are both better than the Fujis, in terms of noise and sharpness. What kills it for me, though, is the tiny, low-res EVF and small, uncomfortable grip. Those ergonomic flaws are simply a cataract to wildlife shooting.

Fuji HS50exr: best body & handling. Best EVF - much better than Canon's. Best performance in menu speed and AF. The one I had suffered from build quality problems, though, namely a de-centered lens, malfunctioning LCD and gritty zoom mechanism. Images are noisier and less sharp than the Canon's. I had to return my HS50 because of the functional issues, but I kinda wanna try it again. It cost a $100 more than the Canon SX50 or Fuji SL1000.

Fuji SL1000: good EVF, better than the Canon and almost as good as the Fuji HS50. Big, comfy grip, like the HS50. More menu-based than the HS50, and sluggish in that regard. Also a bit sluggish shot-to-shot. Images are a little less noisy than the HS50, particularly at ISO 400 & 800. The lens on mine has more PF & CA than the other two cameras. It's also an incredibly slow lens, dropping to a maximum aperture of f/6 at around 300mm. By way of comparison, the Canon SX50 is at f/5.6 until around 900mm. The SL1000's battery life is horrible, at 100 shots or fewer for my usage, the other two cameras last at least twice as long.

The lenses on both Fujis are more prone to bloom than the Canon. I notice this because I've been shooting swans.

I'll update my thoughts with this: the Fuji HS50 exr, when shooting in "Dynamic Range" mode, offers the best image quality, although it's only 6 MP. The big issue is that you cede miuch control over the other parameters - you are basically at the mercy of what the camera "thinks".

All 3 Fuji's I owned were either defective on arrival, or broke within a month or so. Very disappointing.
 
Herman,

I don't have experience with the other superzooms, but I own both the FZ150 and FZ200. I am a fulltme freelance writer and II use them professionally to illustrate the stories that I write.

I found the FZ150 to be very capable, and the FZ200 is even better. Both of these camera will work even better if you shoot raw and use DXO Optics Pro 9 for raw conversion and noise reduction.

I suggest you check out the FZ200 image thread here: FZ200 Image Thread

The FZ200 offers 24-600 equivalent zoom and a constant f2.8 aperture. Leica optics as well.

I have not used the Stylus 1 or Sony RX10, so I can't comment on the image quality or ergonomics, but on paper they don't have nearly the reach of the FZ200.

I guess a key determinant would be how much reach do you need.

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Jock
 
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