bridge camera recommendations upto £200

time for a new camera in teh new year and fancy something a bit more than point and shoot and these seem to be the thing. Looking at upto £200 so any recomendations from folks who have them would be good. Looking currently at the olympus sp 820uz that has a good zoom range and can be had for £140

anything else to consider

cheers

I’ve always been unsure of bridge cameras. Seems the worst of both worlds.

I’d look at either:
a) A good compact camera such as a Canon S100. Pocket friendly so you can take it everywhere and all the control you’ll ever need.

b) Take a step into the SLR world and have a look at a Canon 500D body from ebay. A lens may push you over your budget slightly but you can always upgrade later.

Photography is all about composition rather than the camera so an evening class may also help you get your eye looking for the right things.

As Chew, I bought a bridge camera about 5 years ago and regretted it. A year later I bought a Canon S90 (the original S100 as per Chew’s post) and it’s been a much more useful tool.
Things might have moved on now, but I found the Bridge was too big to have ready accessible to instantly capture a moment and a poor substitute to a DSLR, jack of one or two trades and master of none. The 18X zoom was useful a few times on walks or mountaineering situations, but more often it stayed unused in the backpack just being a heavy brick.
The S90/S95/S100 (there are others) is a very compact size with DSLR sensor, small enough to shove in a pocket and have ready to use, very good quality shots. If you want a bigger camera with decent zoom, go the hog and buy DSLR. I think there are small bodied units which take a separate lens, this might be ok, but I’d still question their usefulness against a proper DSLR.