Going to the bridge - your thoughts

JohnN

JohnN

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Hi,

I'm slowly drifting away from photography as my primary hobby, but have had it too good for too long to drop decent image quality, shallow DoF, good AF and so on. That I I don't own a phone so my old work iPhone is it and I hate it.

So, I'm considering getting shot of all my Fuji (great kit by the way) and getting an all in one - possibly the Pano FZ2000, if it ticks enough boxes.

So my needs
  • One lens on body - a one camera to rule them all sort of deal.
  • Sharpness\quality of shot - if its soft I'll bin it (bad habbits from an ex-pixel peeper), if its uninteresting I'll bin it, if theres no "pop" I'll bin it
  • Good AF, no point in taking a pic if its missed focus.
  • Good range - I've always liked to get close, but every now and again want a landscape shot, so anything under a "wide" to 400 would be out.
  • Excellent focus selection
  • Strong EVF - I'm loved having focus peeking and all the extra EVF bring with it and would struggle to go back.
  • Good dynamic range
  • Lots of buttons and dials (except Exp Comp - never used it and consider it a waste of a dial), one thing I have come to love about the Fujis is everything being there, without menu digging.
  • Decent DoF - I know the 1" sensor is really not going to help with this.. this may well be my major compromise, even now I miss my Canon FF\135 f2 combo.
  • Macro, maybe not as much of a need as it was.
  • ND Filter (inbuilt) - not something I do much, mostly because I'm never prepared enough to have any with me.
  • Carryable - I dropped the FF for the Fuji so I'd stand a chance of actually carrying it - would a bridge be too far in the wrong direction?
  • Finally budget - I'd want some cash left over after the sale, it would gut me to give up everything (even if I don't use it) and be left with "blugh" images.
Nice extras
  • Touch screen
  • Focus Stacking (this looks great for getting focus just where I want it for my miniature painting shots)
  • Post Focus (for when I mess up!)
  • Slowmo
  • Really good macro, but happy enough to drop on the Raynox 250 if needed
  • Weather sealing - I don't shoot much in the rain but I do like not to worry if it rains.
  • 4K Image capture
  • Live long exposure preview (used to love that the the Olympus)
  • Every bell and whistle going ;) Always up for a new gimmick.
So what type of shooter am I? -
  • Well if I'm brutally honest I never go out with a plan (unless its macro back on the MPE 65 - those were different days), so its much more of take a camera with me on family days out\holidays
  • I tend to just set it to whatever I'm planning to get at the beginning of the day and leave it alone, so wide aperture if going to take family shots, fast speed if birds or so on and just swap over if needed.

If I'm honest I know this camera doesn't exist and if its did I'd get all the unicorn shots I wanted :D, but without looking at the £1K+ Sonys is the FZ2000 the best option?

Its been a while since I've stepped outside of the classic DSLR or mirrorless options so really don;t know this area at all.

...or should I just STFU, stop wasting your time and stick with my kit?

Thanks all for reading.
 
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Would you ever be satisfied with a superzoom lens on your DSLR/mirrorless kit? If that seems entirely acceptable to you then go for a bridge camera.
 
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I have an EOS M6 and a suite of lens - Canon 100-400, Canon 200 2.8 and Tamron 17-50 2.8, EVF etc... You get the picture.

Also got a V Lux 114 (FZ1000 equiv.) and very happy with it. Was actually going to buy an FZ1000 to replace the Leica to free up some funds..

Recommend the new breed of big sensor bridges, without a doubt. Not my main one.. but damn they do come close now!
 
The closest you're going to get is the Sony RX10 IV with a few things missing like the ND filter (just no room for it when the lens is retracted) and it ain't cheap but the lens makes up for it.
The FZ2000 should be a contender but the lens seems to be softer than it should be.
 
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Good question Toni, wish I had an answer :)

@stickytape - Which were you thinking of when you say big sensors - the 1" ones?

BTW also considering the FZ330 - I know back to a smaller sensor, but it looks to have so much for the price - stacking, weather sealing, stupid zoom range, granted back the the 12MB days of the EM1 though.

Bah, and then theres the Canon and Nikon offerings, although they don;t seem to pop up much in recommendations much.

EDIT: @Snapsh0t , yours popped up as I'm typing - wish I could go to the Sony, but its priced itself out sadly, especially when I throw the FZ330 into the mix.
 
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JohnN said:
Good question Toni, wish I had an answer :)

@stickytape - Which were you thinking of when you say big sensors - the 1" ones?

BTW also considering the FZ330 - I know back to a smaller sensor, but it looks to have so much for the price - stacking, weather sealing, stupid zoom range, granted back the the 12MB days of the EM1 though.

Bah, and then theres the Canon and Nikon offerings, although they don;t seem to pop up much in recommendations much.

EDIT: @Snapsh0t , yours popped up as I'm typing - wish I could go to the Sony, but its priced itself out sadly, especially when I throw the FZ330 into the mix.
Click to expand...


Yes I mean the 1” sensor ones. If I’m honest, forget the smaller ones. I had an FZ200 but you notice the difference with sensor size early, not just with noise but with detail. Check out DPPreview and a few samples - you can download the full res ones and if you compare the FZ1000 vs the FZ200 you’ll see what I mean. Bang for buck - FZ100 is not bad at all. Worth a go on ebay - Panasonic were selling them for £399 but I just missed out! They’ll probably pop up again though!
 
I had a FZ330 before moving back to DSLR, it did tick a lot of boxes for me at the time, 4K burst mode, compact for what it does, 2.8 throughout the range, 600mm zoom, post focus.
Great for travel as well.
Graham Houghton has done many good videos on YouTube on this model, might be worth watching a few to see if it’s what you are after.
 
Thanks Sean, I'll take a look.

One of its draws is the price, I could move the XT1 and get it.

Thanks again
 
Get a decent bridge 2nd hand and see how you get on with it before you ditch the Fuji. While the idea of a JOAT is attractive, the reality is that a bridge is likely to be a MON and not particularly good (in comparison to the Fuji) at any of the trades.
 
Lol, I had to look up JOAT and MON :)

I think you're right though, I'll take a deeper look at the 330 as that'd be doable even new
 
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Few of mine from the v lux - again can’t stress enough to check out the FZ1000.
 
Thanks for the images, not at all shabby :)

The more I look the more its some of the gimmicks that are drawing me - like the post focus (or annoyingly via photoshop) or focus stacking, I'm not sure the 1000 has those and I've spotted a new 330 (well 300) at £292 so I could let the XT1 go and get weather sealing, f2.8 through a pretty long range and so on, hopefully DoF aside I'd not loose that much.
 
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JohnN said:
Thanks for the images, not at all shabby :)

The more I look the more its some of the gimmicks that are drawing me - like the post focus (or annoyingly via photoshop) or focus stacking, I'm not sure the 1000 has those and I've spotted a new 330 (well 300) at £292 so I could let the XT1 go and get weather sealing, f2.8 through a pretty long range and so on, hopefully DoF aside I'd not loose that much.
Click to expand...

You’re right, don’t think the Fz1000 or Leica has those. You know what, Panasonic on eBay are selling the FZ330 - maybe give it a go, as hey do a 30 day refund I think - so you could try it for a week! I’m sure you’ll enjoy it, just I used to get frustrated with smaller sensor ones. Look forward to some pictures!
 
JohnN said:
Hi,

I'm slowly drifting away from photography as my primary hobby, but have had it too good for too long to drop decent image quality, shallow DoF, good AF and so on. That I I don't own a phone so my old work iPhone is it and I hate it.

So, I'm considering getting shot of all my Fuji (great kit by the way) and getting an all in one - possibly the Pano FZ2000, if it ticks enough boxes.

So my needs
  • One lens on body - a one camera to rule them all sort of deal.
  • Sharpness\quality of shot - if its soft I'll bin it (bad habbits from an ex-pixel peeper), if its uninteresting I'll bin it, if theres no "pop" I'll bin it
  • Good AF, no point in taking a pic if its missed focus.
  • Good range - I've always liked to get close, but every now and again want a landscape shot, so anything under a "wide" to 400 would be out.
  • Excellent focus selection
  • Strong EVF - I'm loved having focus peeking and all the extra EVF bring with it and would struggle to go back.
  • Good dynamic range
  • Lots of buttons and dials (except Exp Comp - never used it and consider it a waste of a dial), one thing I have come to love about the Fujis is everything being there, without menu digging.
  • Decent DoF - I know the 1" sensor is really not going to help with this.. this may well be my major compromise, even now I miss my Canon FF\135 f2 combo.
  • Macro, maybe not as much of a need as it was.
  • ND Filter (inbuilt) - not something I do much, mostly because I'm never prepared enough to have any with me.
  • Carryable - I dropped the FF for the Fuji so I'd stand a chance of actually carrying it - would a bridge be too far in the wrong direction?
  • Finally budget - I'd want some cash left over after the sale, it would gut me to give up everything (even if I don't use it) and be left with "blugh" images.
Nice extras
  • Touch screen
  • Focus Stacking (this looks great for getting focus just where I want it for my miniature painting shots)
  • Post Focus (for when I mess up!)
  • Slowmo
  • Really good macro, but happy enough to drop on the Raynox 250 if needed
  • Weather sealing - I don't shoot much in the rain but I do like not to worry if it rains.
  • 4K Image capture
  • Live long exposure preview (used to love that the the Olympus)
  • Every bell and whistle going ;) Always up for a new gimmick.
So what type of shooter am I? -
  • Well if I'm brutally honest I never go out with a plan (unless its macro back on the MPE 65 - those were different days), so its much more of take a camera with me on family days out\holidays
  • I tend to just set it to whatever I'm planning to get at the beginning of the day and leave it alone, so wide aperture if going to take family shots, fast speed if birds or so on and just swap over if needed.

If I'm honest I know this camera doesn't exist and if its did I'd get all the unicorn shots I wanted :D, but without looking at the £1K+ Sonys is the FZ2000 the best option?

Its been a while since I've stepped outside of the classic DSLR or mirrorless options so really don;t know this area at all.

...or should I just STFU, stop wasting your time and stick with my kit?

Thanks all for reading.
Click to expand...
Same situation as me for much the same reasons I’m considering a move from a Sony A7R2 + 3 lenses to the Sony RX10 IV
 
It's worth having a look in the bridge camera thread to see the results people are getting with the RX10 IV. In particular, dibbly dobbler's bird shots make the FZ1000 shots above look distinctly soft.
 
I just wanted to comment on the pixel peeping thing... Mainly to see what alI this talk about 1" cameras was about I bought a Panny TZ100 which is a compact camera with something like a 24-250mm equivalent zoom. I think that 1" cameras are very probably good enough but the caveat is that pixel peeping can revel some weaknesses, for example the zoom lens on my TZ100 isn't all that sharp. Pixel peeping may also revel a bit of noise if shooting at higher ISO's or boosting the exposure post capture.

For whole pictures though I think that 1" cameras can be very nice but you may have to try and stop the pixel peeping :D
 
It's a hard habit to break, that's for sure :)

I'm still very much in two minds, my wife isn't!

My thinking at the moment is that if I do go for one it'll be the 330, as I'll keep the X-T20, but sell the X-T1 to fund, the main loss there being weather sealing, which the 330 has.

So use the 20 for times when I'm bothered about DoF, and the bridge for when I don't care, in which case the difference between the one inch or not will make little difference
 
stickytape said:
I think the detail and sharpness is amazing for such a capable camera
Click to expand...

TBH I was thinking they looked soft on here, especially the duck & Nuthatch, but maybe it's the shrinking process for posting?
 
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