Recommended Compact/Bridge cameras?

[thameslink2000]

Hello,

Currently looking to purchase a new camera, looking to spend around a couple of hundred pounds. Just wondering if anyone has any recommendations or suggestions for a Compact camera or Bridge camera, that results in good quality photos of moving trains, please?

Cheers.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

The Fuji Finepix series seem to work well on most things... my wife and daughter have one each ( Finepix 8200 or 8500 ) and they've certainly worked on full zoom ( 46X optical! ) on aircraft over Epsom. Does well on landscapes and wildlife as well.

Only drawback is it requires AA batteries rather than a proper digital camera slot in battery.

 

[Haydn1971]

I'm heavily invested in Canon gear, £k's in DSLR and lenses.... However I'd echo Peter's comments above - Fuji offers quality photos with a vibrancy and I'd not touch anything that requires AA batteries - always go for a bespoke Li-ion type battery and include the cost of a memory card and also a second battery if you plan on long trips or 500 plus photo shoots.

Don't get hung up on megapixels, look for a wide range of zoom to give the wide and tele angles you desire. To be fair, anything from a big name will do you well, including Fujifilm, Canon, Nikon, Sony and Samsung.

 

[168lover]

I use a Fujifilm finepix when out and about on the rails and the picture quality and zoom is exceptional value. It is also good value for money with mine costing £100.

 

[Tim R-T-C]

I can highly recommend the Olympus Pen PL-7. Beautiful retro look, great feel and has the plus of interchangeable lenses so in future you could pick up a telephoto for aircraft or wildlife photography.

It is far superior to any compact or bridge camera I have used, and for railway photos has the big plus of having no delay between pressing shutter and taking image. Shutter speed is quickly adjustable to adapt to fast moving trains for example.

A couple of example pics, sorry not full resolution, but showing good colour detail and good night time work as well (without flash)

 

[dgl]

I wouldn't worry about if it needs AA's. Just get some decent Ni-Mh and an intelligent charger and you are good to go. Has one big advantage that if the batteries go flat you can always usually find the lithium disposables.

 

[Tommy1581]

I highly recommend the Nikon L330. Many photos on my Flickr photostream have been taken with it (other than the Bus4Life, 66742 and 67015 which are Olympus SZ-14 shots).

I believe it's £89.99 at Argos at the moment, worth a lot more like.