Tis chrismas.

Ive been tasked wi getting my dad a new camera . He has a fuji film s5600 bridge atm and its showing its age,

He has expressed interest in a nikon – bridge not slr he doesnt want to faff around with different lenses.

Where would you put your money based on what he has – modern compacts seem to give as good a photo as his 5600 does these days.

Mostly land scapes he does while out walking and climbing.

is the coolpix p600 worth nearly 100 quid extra over the p530 ?

P530

P600

as i read it i reckon the p600 would be better for shooting moving subjects and sports withthe burst shot and has wifi for sending to his phone…..

hes probably going to be just fine with the p530 for landscapes and photos of landscapes with people in – hes been taking it out for landscapes walking with his friends mostly.

Will the p600 take noticably better photographs with its 0.1Mp extra sensor ….. more so is there anything else i should be looking at in this price range ?

Thanks.

What does he want the ‘bridge’ bit of the camera for? Most of these types of cameras seem to be shaped so you can get a massive zoom lens in.
If he is only taking landscape pics & pics of friends when out walking, does he need 42x (or 60x) optical zoom?? Perhaps he does if he takes pics of wildlife and stuff while he is out?

There are loads of bridge style cameras out there, but I am not sure which one would be ‘the best’. Have you tried searching for ‘bridge camera reviews’ or something? Most camera sites (dpreview, cameralabs, photographyblog etc.) normally have group test reviews.

If he is keen on a Nikon, take a look at something like the Coolpix p7700. It’s a competitor to something like the Canon G15 and is more of an ‘enthusiast compact’. I nearly bought one a while back after deciding that my little compact wasn’t that great.
There’s a review of it here: http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/nikon_coolpix_p7700_review/

Just realised something. Most of those bridge cameras will have a viewfinder (albeit, normally only an electronic one), whereas the more compact cameras often do away with that. Do you know if he uses the viewfinder or the screen to frame his pictures? Might rule out the more compact options, if he does use the viewfinder.

Oh, and looking at the two you link to, the more pricey one looks to have a swivel out screen, rather than fixed. This might be useful for shots where he is crouching down or reaching up? Macro shots of flowers/bugs etc?

i think a big part of the bridge side of it is in that its bulky and easy for him to handle as he feels the colds and can struggle with grip/dexterity in low temps.

He aint no colin prior 😀

I think i might just go for the more expensive one – i know what hes like , thats probably the one he had his eye on from the start – hes not “tech ignorant” – he has an iphone and can use it very well … so i dont worry about it having too many features – and it reviews for being quite easy to use – unlike panasonic lumix fz72 – which gets “complex to use menu system ” next to it .

^^^ – yeah, the larger bridge style cameras are definitely easier to hold steadily & use; the buttons aren’t so bunched up etc.

Sounds like the pricier one is perhaps the way to go!

**** it – went with the p600- im sure he will appreciate it – cant deliberate much longer , itll be christmas soon.