Nikon P500 36x optical zoom bridge camera £204.97

Cheapchick_2

Just ordered this camera after a few weeks of searching for a decent deal. It has come down in price as on offer in currys for around £229, Argos for £299 and good reviews

link

red

Thank-you SO much for this link...I have been looking for a decent bridge camera for literally a couple of years but just stuck with my (very old) SLR as I have not been able to justify the cost. This is literally perfect and so a huge huge thank-you!!!

ajuk

Pointless camera. You can get a Basic DSLR for not much more and it'll have a sensor 13x bigger, it's going to be no where near as good as a camera with a larger sensor you won't be able to take nice portraits with properly out focus backgrounds nor will it have nearly as much true resolution, and you don't get a 36x zoom range with out some compromises in optical performance, seriously why does anybody need that kind of zoom range? If you do want a bridge camera get a cheaper one, if you want a decent digital camera get a DSLR.

The_Scotsman

That is a good price. This camera is going to be replaced in March by the P510, so they will still drop even further.
I Don't have this camera, but bought a Panasonic FZ48 yesterday and it is very good.
I know bridge cameras are bigger than a compact, and they do still use the same sensor, but i don't care what some might say, the quality is better and has more features to experiment with.
If you want to see a comparison, look at Flickr and punch in the details of the camera you like and then you can decide.
I was going to get a Panasonic TZ20 compact camera and when i looked at the photos people had posted there i was not impressed.
As for price, I don't know what DSLR you could buy for £209, I haven't seen one, nore like £300 upwards, and if you do, you would only get the body and the lens would be another £100 or more.

vikingaero

Good price. The P510 on Argos is £399.99 so almost double the cost.

geewhiz

Good price, good camera, I paid £315 in May last year and have been very happy with the results.

While people will always come on here and say you can get an entry level DSLR for not much more I have no interest in carrying these large cameras about and swapping lenses etc, the masssive zoom and decent picture quality is all I was looking for!

ajuk

It would seem that the price of the most basic DSLR with kit lens is more than I was expecting it to be, I still wouldn't recommend this sort of thing though.

Cheapchick_2

ajuk wrote: »

It would seem that the price of the most basic DSLR with kit lens is more than I was expecting it to be, I still wouldn't recommend this sort of thing though.

I dont know much about cameras and all the technical jargon at all - I was just looking for something that has continuous shooting and full HD recording so I can do short videos of the kids as well. I know I'll probably never use the full 36x zoom - i imagine around 20x would be more than enough for me. I have no need for all the fancy stuff the DSLRs come with (or the price tag) but would be grateful if you could post what you would recommend as a decent cheaper bridge camera? There was a Nikon posted earlier in the week for £129 in Argos but I thought it worth spending the extra for the bigger zoom and full HD. (that one was 21x zoom and 720p HD) Also I think the P500 shoots continuous at 8 frames per second and the Argos camera was 1 per second.

geewhiz

Cheapchick wrote: »

I dont know much about cameras and all the technical jargon at all - I was just looking for something that has continuous shooting and full HD recording so I can do short videos of the kids as well. I know I'll probably never use the full 36x zoom - i imagine around 20x would be more than enough for me. I have no need for all the fancy stuff the DSLRs come with (or the price tag) but would be grateful if you could post what you would recommend as a decent cheaper bridge camera? There was a Nikon posted earlier in the week for £129 in Argos but I thought it worth spending the extra for the bigger zoom and full HD. (that one was 21x zoom and 720p HD) Also I think the P500 shoots continuous at 8 frames per second and the Argos camera was 1 per second.

The video quality is excellent on this camera, I've not used my camcorder since I bought it.

Cheapchick_2

geewhiz wrote: »

The video quality is excellent on this camera, I've not used my camcorder since I bought it.

Thanks I was hoping it would be. I have quite an old camcorder that we never use as the quality isnt great and it's massive!

albionrovers

For a bridge, is it really a hundred quid better than this?

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5596007.htm