Maybe I should get bridge camera....

It's has been quite some time that I want to upgrade my Pentax A20 compact digital camera to a better camera...  better compact camera. I am not ready yet to carry around a heavy camera, complete with all the the complicated accessories, each time I go on travelling.....

For all this while, my compact partner has been doing his job well above my expectation... but we human as always can never satisfy.... 

My Pentax optical zoom at 3x is inadequate.... I need zoom 10X or more... 15X is better.... Sometime during travelling, we need to zoom or super zoom, to capture the moment we desire....Like photo of human face expression, photos of action etc....I faced difficulty in getting good close up natural shot of beautiful moments without disturbing the subject.....Once a moment lost, it's lost forever....

And standard 35mm is not wide angle enough... I need lower than that..  28m maybe or 18mm would be better.... So I don't need to step back again each time I need to snap photo of close subject....

At first I am thinking on buying compact digital with 10x zoom and wide angle as per my previous blog entry. But this camera manufacturer company..... they're really intelligent and professional in getting your money, especially from people like me who are not yet keen in owning a complicated and expensive DSLR ....  

They created a new category (not so new actually lah....) of camera in between compact camera and DSLR.... a bridge camera. 

This is from wikipedia... 

Bridge digital cameras are a type of high-end digital camera. They are comparable in size and weight to the smallest digital single-lens reflex cameras (DSLRs), but they lack the removable lenses, larger sensors,^[1] mirror, and reflex system that characterize DSLRs. The term "bridge" characterizes the way in which these cameras fill the niche between the DSLRs and the compact digital cameras. Although bridge cameras are closely related to consumer compacts, they are sometimes confused with DSLRs due to their similar bodies and large zoom lenses. Almost all bridge digital cameras feature full manual controls overshutter-speed, aperture, ISO, white-balance and metering. Generally, their feature sets are similar to DSLRs, except for a smaller range of ISO sensitivities due to their smaller sensors (a DSLR has a 35mm,APS, or 4/3 size CCD or CMOS) and fewer expandability options (such as interchangeable lenses, battery grips, and wireless flash options).

For better details.. read wikipedia link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_digital_camera

For me, the reason perhaps the following:

• Reasonable pricing, in between compact digital camera and DSLR
• Single zoom lens for macro, wide angle, zoom and superzoom
• Can capture movie... this option is available in compact digital  and high end DSLR...
• no need for me to invest on additional lenses...
• Smaller and lighter then DSLR....