Mrs B wants a higher quality camera than her current compact. I know nothing about photography, beyond in my limited experience larger lenses seem to create nicer photos, so I’m thinking a bridge might just be enough (and if it isn’t she can buy her own DSLR :-)) – any recommendations? She too is no expert so I’m assuming a bridge would support click n shoot better than anything fancier.

£150 ish budget, lower is good of course!

What does she have at the moment….?

How much better will a £150 camera be? What sort of thing is she after? Is size an issue? Does she want/use a large zoom range….etc.

Might be worh looking for something like a second hand Canon G9 or G10. There’s a few G9’s on ebay that should be on budget. There’s also the Canon S90 to consider but none on ebay at the moment.
Same goes for the Nikon P7000, which is supposed to take good pics, but apparently runs very slowly. Or the P7100 which is supposed to address the speed issue, but will be more expensive.

I fear that a new camera for £150 you might end up with more of the same rather than a large improvement, unless Mrs B’s current camera is quite old.

From a PSA on here a few days ago (don’t know the camera myself, but damn it’s cheap!)
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Search/searchTerms/LZ20.htm

Is this a troll?

Troll? Why?

Anyway, got linked to this good deal – £70off an Olympus VR320, worth checking out.
http://www.thehut.com/electronics/digital-cameras/olympus-vr-320-digital-camera-14mp-12.5x-super-wide-optical-zoom-3-inch-lcd-black/10649632.html

I bought a bridge camera (FZ18) very similar in bulk to that panasonicLZ20^. Picture quality was about same as any standard compact, but i found it just too big, heavy and clumsy to be of much practical use for what I wanted, it often didn’t get used or sat in the backpack unused and inconvenient or didn’t get taken out at all because of it’s weight.
I now have a little Canon S90 which, with it’s big sensor, takes near SLR quality photos and is light and pocketable so gets used much more. (you might get an S95 for £150)

Oh yes, the S90/95 etcs are fab cameras, but not much of a zoom on em. Plus hard to find under £150.
Depends what the OP’s after.

Yes, did mean to say that the only thing it was good for (for my requirements) was the 18X zoom.

Troll? Why?

I was joking. Bridge.. troll.. geddit?

Now you’ve explained it 🙂