Panasonic has clearly seen the potential of a bridge camera revival, and I think it’s right. Often much-derided in their time, bridge cameras could be making a comeback. And in this social-obsessed, post-resolution content creation universe, the timing might just be perfect. Years ago, bridge cameras were a serious market segment, and maybe it could all happen again.
Designed as a ‘bridge’ between an affordable point and shoot camera and an expensive and complex ‘proper’ camera, they offered a huge do-it-all zoom range and DSLR style handling. This was only possible with a tiny phone-sized sensor, though, so like most camera reviewers I thought they were a bit naff.
The Panasonic FZ80D (FZ82D in some territories) is a modest refresh of a camera that first came out back in 2017. The new version has USB charging, upgraded EVF and rear screen and a new zoom assist function to help you re-locate subjects in the frame when you’re zoomed right in.
What’s wrong with bridge cameras?
There are some issues with bridge cameras like these. The small sensors – this one is a 1/2.3-inch size unit – don’t yield much quality except at low ISO settings and wider focal lengths which are more in the lens’s ‘sweet spot’. They do have huge zoom ranges – this one has an equivalent 20-1200mm focal range – but at longer focal lengths the image quality can degrade rapidly, and at these magnifications the in-built image stabilization can help to a degree, but your subject can still leap around alarmingly inside the frame.
Used carefully, bridge cameras do what they promise, as long as you are not too fussy about image quality. They are certainly a heck of a lot cheaper than ‘proper’ cameras, and the FZ80D/FZ82D is also half the price of a flagship smartphone.
The quality issue is interesting. Back when we are all making big prints for the living room wall, the local camera club or even exhibition, the weaknesses of bridge cameras were obvious. Now, though, when most images don’t get further than an instagram feed or an online gallery, resolution and image quality has become less important than impact and novelty – and a 60x zoom lens offers both.
Would I take a bridge camera on a trip? No. I would be able to take a range of pictures impossible with any other type of camera, and I would be disappointed in all of them.
But I’m not the target user. A bridge camera is perfect for anyone who’s happy with smartphone images but wants proper camera controls and much more zooming flexibility. Panasonic’s new/updated camera might flop, but it might also be an unexpected ‘retro’ success story in a market that hasn’t perhaps moved on as quickly as camera makers expected.
I currently have a Lumix FZ82D on loan for a review for Digital Camera World. This should be interesting!