Would there be any interest in a bridge camera forum

Thought it best to ask the question first before asking admin as they are busy enough right now 😂
The one thing that did bug me about Dpr was that it was very tedious trying to chat with various owners of different brands and try make comparisons, talk about differences etc having to visit many different brand dedicated forums.

My main camera is my Olympus EM5ii but I have lots of smaller sensor cameras that I like to use now and then, such as a Sony RX100mk1, Nikon P7000 and I also have a Fujifilm XS-1 bridge camera, which I should perhaps use more because today's AI software can enhance the photos from these brilliant small sensor cameras with amazing results. I did own a Sony RX10iv for a while, that was a fantastic camera but quite heavy and bulky compared to the XS-1. So, yes I would be interested in a bridge camera forum :)

Indeed. For example for questions like "would it be better to purchase a bridge zoom camera instead of a telephoto lens for my current ILC camera?" and such. Yes it
can fit somewhere else, but with enough will, anything can fit into anything. :-)

I think there is a greatly decreased need for this sort of discussion. Digital camera technology has improved and matured. There is less and less difference in image quality and overall camera performance than there was in the past. On top of that, discussions comparing camera brands tend to be argumentative with very few individuals who are objective or have even used all of the brands and models being discussed.

I would beg to differ in that opinion.

Seems like a good idea to me. For telephoto, the choice comes down to M43 or bridge cams, because it's silly to carry around full-frame with huge lenses.

Nikon made some unreasonably long hyper-telephoto bridge cameras. Based on DPpreview posts, the Fuji X-S1 seemed to produce exceptionally good photos. Panasonic FZ is always a solid choice. Sony had an RX10 but I lost track of updates. Canon might not have anything competitive?

This is an area that DPreview ignored while they focused on overpriced full-frame mirrorless.

Yes sounds like a good idea. As well as my MILC systems I have an FZ1000ii and find it very useful at times.
Well worth having somewhere where comparisons can be made as well as where bridge camera specifics can be discussed and not hidden away with other "compacts".

I like my FZ1000. IMO, for quite a big segment of photographers it would be all they needed for a do-everything camera.

I wrote a series of blog posts about it in the context of a wildlife safari you might find interesting: whisperingcat.co.uk/wp/article/fz1000-on-safari-a-very-overdue-conclusion-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/

I'd vote for a general purpose brand agnostic bridge camera forum. There's not a lot of these cameras about anymore, makes sense to concentrate discussion.

I think it could be quite interesting and informative for a bridge camera forum....as long as......ALL bridge cameras are accepted and not just the recent modern ones. Otherwise it's right back to the exclusions that DPR was famous for.

I have many bridges from several brands and they all have their pros and cons.

Did anyone attempted to do "long reach focused" cam? Like, fully replacing the telephoto lens? So, like, 1" sensor, and 100-800mm range, without much crippling of the hyperzoom approach? Yes. A telephoto "cannon", sir! :-)

Sony rx10 iv goes 25-600 1” sensor and seems closest. Lens is superb, even wide open

Sherm

www.flickr.com/photos/32989985@N07/sets/
P950 album: www.flickr.com/photos/32989985@N07/albums/72157713228488992
P900 album: www.flickr.com/photos/32989985@N07/albums/72157671637486978
RX10iv album: www.flickr.com/photos/32989985@N07/albums/72157719453957168

At least in the Sony forum there were a lot of users who had migrated from Panasonic, and the Coolpix forum had a lot of P900/950/1000 owners who also had Panasonics, and people were pretty honest about which camera was best for what purpose, so separate didn't seem too painful - but we never heard about Fuji or Olympus because nobody was using them there.

Sure - combined forum for people who are interested in comparisons, the camera-specific forums for people with questions, etc. Sounds fine to me.

Sherm

MFT is set up that way and seems quite rational to me. It would also cluster much of what I look at under one heading.

Sherm

Off to look up what a "bridge camera" is...

There is still a place for bridge and point and shoot cameras.

David Miller, thanks much for the write-up! Similarly, I found the Olympus TG-5 very fiddly for use while whitewater kayaking. Too many buttons, easy to set wrong mode.

I see that DxO PhotoLab support the FZ1000 (II). I'll find some high ISO RW2 raws and see how well shots can be improved. You compared G7 with FZ1000, thanks also for that. [Added: yes, ISO 5000 is a bit less noisy and much sharper with PhotoLab Deep PRIME XD.]