john lewis wrote:
> I have been looking at the possibility of getting a bridge
> camera. But are they a dying breed as suggested here
>
> http://www.photographyblog.com/index.php/weblog/comments/the_death_of_the_bridge_camera/
>
> I don't really need a full DSLR with interchangeable lenses etc.
> apart from anything else they are well out of my reach in terms of
> cost.
Having german shepherds, I *know* a DSLR would be a disaster for us.
The very first time I opened the DVD drive on my laptop it had dog hair
in it ;-0
Anyway we have a Fuji Finepix S9500 and someone at dog club bought a
S9600 - she uses the same camera for her job at Birdworld.
Someone else at dog club has a nice DSLR - with a range of lenses ina
big bag - but he found out his bag full of lenses are similar range
to the one lense on the S9500 - OK he has much *better* lenses and
the lenses themselves to anti-shudder etc but oneof his lenses cost
as much as my *van*.
The other requirements I had were
1) use SDMMC cards - whihc I can via a 20UKP CF-SD adaptor.
2) fast response time (I am trying to snap dog jumping over stuff)
3) quick start up (see above)
4) use cheap batteries. I buy a stack of cheap AA NiMh's from aldi's
5) big image size. 9.1 Mpixels
6) not need for flash.
Although it has quicte a small sensor and there is some grain
in low light I have got some nice images in low light.
7) Camera works with linux - tested via USB at surrey LUG!
8) Damn good non digital zoom. I always switch the digital zoom OFF!
9) RAW mode.
Apart from not having the slightly nicer S9600 I am pretty happy.
The camera has been on the beach, soaked dropped, peed on by dogs
and slicktly chewed by our puppy!
I canot get to the forthcoming Hants meet but I would recommend
www.dpreview.com
Jacqui
Jacqui