What Bridge Style Camera - £150

[kiethton]

Looking for one of the above style cameras for my parents (low budget) and have come across a Panasonic Lumix LZ20 for £120ish.

Are these any good?

If not are there any better within the above budget?

They aren't proper photographers and had an old Minolta a few years ago, lasted for 12 months and broke/memory format became obsolete. Reason for budget limit is that the camera will live in a draw 11.5 months of the year and only come out for holidays/occasions.

Any help appreciated.

[kiethton]

Bump for the lunch crew...

[pidsy]

i bought a canon sx500is from Currys 2 weeks ago half price (£190) because its an old model now. your local Currys/PC world might still have a couple.

fantastic camera. the zoom is fantastic (30x optical & 120x digital)

edited to add, i know its a bit over your budget but its one of the better bridge cameras and is great for the money if you can find one.

[Mr Will]

Do they have a particularly pressing need to take very low quality pictures of things a very very long way away? Assuming no, they'd be better served by a decent compact with a sensible lens.

[extraT]

Mr Will said:

Do they have a particularly pressing need to take very low quality pictures of things a very very long way away? Assuming no, they'd be better served by a decent compact with a sensible lens.

Only that is not quite true.... (well perhaps in the OPs price bracket...)

I can highly recommend the Fuji HS30. Great camera, great photos.

[rolex]

You'll probably get a few DSLR snobs trying to put you off bridge cameras but there are some excellent models out there. The Panasonic Lumix FZ200 to name one. Unfortunately its a bit out of your price range.

[Mr Will]

rolex said:

You'll probably get a few DSLR snobs trying to put you off bridge cameras but there are some excellent models out there. The Panasonic Lumix FZ200 to name one. Unfortunately its a bit out of your price range.

The problem with Bridge cameras is not SLRs, it's the fact that 99% of buyers would be better served by a compact.

Take your example of the FZ200 and it's stable-mate the Panasonic Lumix LX7. The LX7 is cheaper, more portable, better in low light and produces significantly higher quality images. The only real loss is the bonkers 600mm zoom but how often does your average person (or even average photographer) need anything that long?