Bridge cameras are so much better than phones – so why aren’t there more of them about?

Fixed lens compact cameras offer smaller, lightweight and easier-to-use alternatives to mirrorless cameras and DSLRs. While admittedly not quite as compact as most point-and-shoot cameras, the same can be said of bridge cameras, aka all-in-ones or ‘superzooms’. 

But the ultra-zoom bridge cameras do have an obvious focal length advantage over the typical pocket-sized point and shoot, which barely does more than a smartphone, while a phone’s picture quality is probably better than said compact as well.

Add in, typically, a wealth of manual control for the higher-priced super zoom, as opposed to, say, a budget Kodak PixPro, and there is a clear difference between what can be achieved with a smartphone and what a bridge camera offers.

Given all this, and the popularity of fixed lens cameras, I believe other manufacturers should see value in following the lead of the class-leading 25x optical zoom Sony RX10 V and the frankly insane 125x optical zoom Nikon Coolpix P1100, in offering their own options as they once used to.

A victim of the big squeeze?

Yes, common belief has it that the market for superzooms has been squeezed by smartphones on one side and mirrorless cameras on the other. But bridge cameras genuinely offer something that neither of those camera categories do – and always have done.

And yes, mirrorless cameras have been the priority for camera manufacturers for nearly 20 years. But times change. And, with shipments slowing and sales of mirrorless sliding, could bridge cameras be brought back to plug the gap between point-and-shoots and mirrorless – and then some? Or will the bulk that comes with sizeable zoom power still retain niche appeal to keen wildlife watchers or amateur sports photographers?

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