what to buy?

[Bockhamptoner]

My Fuji s8100 has died after an accident so I'm looking for a new camera.
Although it may get used for general photos the primary use is photgraphing my sporty active sons while playing cricket, Ideally I wanted to spend no more than £250 and less would be better.
I wear glasses so I don't find the viewfinder easy but on the Fuji the LCD is small and not great in sunlight. So for me I think a larger LCD which swivels away from the camera body is a must. I also want to take burst shoots because trying to get a single picture and catching 'the right moment' is not easy, but the Fuji only really handles that in 5mb not the full 10mb. It also seems slow to focus and zoomed shots were never always in focus. One really big 'like' with the Fuji is that it takes AA batteries, which I have sets off and they were good quality rechargeables...... It also means you can buy them anywhere if you ever run out of power :)
I found the article in the site about top 5 bridge cameras of 2011 and liked the Fuji HS20 at £269 until is saw the cons as not great quality photos and slow processing........... I hate the Fuji for taking ages to store a string of burst shots; And then I saw the Panasonic Lumix FZ150, the only con was x24 which is think is enough for me because I've had no problems getting the pics I want with x18. But the pros are fastest accurate focussing and 12fps shooting and optical stabilisation which everywhere says is best. But the price is scary, £380........ That's going to take some justification and mention of early Christmas presents.

So, I would value some help and advice, what is the best bridge camera for a dad with sports mad children? Thank you, Kevin

[wave]

Hi and welcome I have just looked a amazon and you can do a search there on what type of zoom you want. Looking at some of things you want to do DSLR lights up to me. I wear glasses and I dont have a problem using the view finder, if that helps. Your second problem is the price A Dslr is out of it plus you will have o get a lonf lens too. That said it is the best way to go. That said its back tp amazon and get a short list and going to try them. Good Luck and we are here to help

[canismajor]

My Fuji s8100 has died after an accident so I'm looking for a new camera.
Although it may get used for general photos the primary use is photgraphing my sporty active sons while playing cricket, Ideally I wanted to spend no more than £250 and less would be better.
I wear glasses so I don't find the viewfinder easy but on the Fuji the LCD is small and not great in sunlight. So for me I think a larger LCD which swivels away from the camera body is a must. I also want to take burst shoots because trying to get a single picture and catching 'the right moment' is not easy, but the Fuji only really handles that in 5mb not the full 10mb. It also seems slow to focus and zoomed shots were never always in focus. One really big 'like' with the Fuji is that it takes AA batteries, which I have sets off and they were good quality rechargeables...... It also means you can buy them anywhere if you ever run out of power :)
I found the article in the site about top 5 bridge cameras of 2011 and liked the Fuji HS20 at £269 until is saw the cons as not great quality photos and slow processing........... I hate the Fuji for taking ages to store a string of burst shots; And then I saw the Panasonic Lumix FZ150, the only con was x24 which is think is enough for me because I've had no problems getting the pics I want with x18. But the pros are fastest accurate focussing and 12fps shooting and optical stabilisation which everywhere says is best. But the price is scary, £380........ That's going to take some justification and mention of early Christmas presents.

So, I would value some help and advice, what is the best bridge camera for a dad with sports mad children? Thank you, Kevin
Hi and welcome to the WDC forum. I find that the best way to gather info on any camera is to buy the WDC magazine and check out all the test reports at the back, I did this for months before I bought all my DSLR equipment and I've never looked back. The final choice must be up to you and should be an informed decision based on your research. As for the HS20 you mention, check out the images in the gallery by DebzG who uses one and see how good her work is. I found all bridge cameras suffer from shutter lag and are not the ideal camera for sports pics. Have you considered a used DSLR?. All the best.

[graham_c]

Hi Bockhamptoner. Welcome to the forum.
With the photos you will be taking i think a dslr is the camera that will best suit them. . I also wear glasses and have more problems with the LCD than the viewfinder. Hope this helps... graham

[Bockhamptoner]

thank you for the advice but I am trying to avoid the dslr route. Probably out of ignorance but honestly meant.... I have no desire to learn how to take photographs, or become better at it, I also will take happy snap family, dog, pony shots with it and everywhere I look a see comments about bags of lenses. I am blessed with 5 active boys and a life spent getting the best sports and learning experiences for them....... I don't need a new hobby :-) I am lucky that I have 2 county standard cricketers and one I suspect will play county rugby if there is such a thing as he's better at that than the cricket. I suspect we aren't far off the standard for hockey as well. I'm not bragging, ok maybe a bit but the point is that whatever I have has to be one bit of kit and point and push technology.
for anyone wanting to add more advice the money just went up because the Christmas fairy is helping out, so now we are ballpark 350 so the one's I like are.....Canon PowerShot SX40iS or Sony HX100v
ps. I thought I liked the Fuji HS20 EXR, it was the manual zoom that appealed, but nobody else seems have gone that route so I became unconvinced.
thanks, kevin