Bridge Cameras

Bridge cameras

Bridge cameras or SLR-like cameras are higher-end digital cameras that physically resemble DSLRs and share with them some advanced features, but share with compacts the framing of the photo using live preview and small sensor sizes.

Bridge cameras often have superzoom lenses which provide a very wide zoom range, typically between 10:1 and 18:1, which is attained at the cost of some distortions, including barrel and pincushion distortion, to a degree which varies with lens quality. These cameras are sometimes marketed as and confused with digital SLR cameras since the appearance is similar. Bridge cameras lack the mirror and reflex system of DSLRs, have so far been fitted with fixed (non-interchangeable) lenses (although in some cases accessory wide-angle or telephoto converters cannot be attached to the lens), can usually take movies with sound, and the scene is composed by viewing either the liquid crystal display or the electronic viewfinder (EVF). The high-end models of this type have comparable resolutions to low and mid-range DSLRs. Many of these cameras can store images in lossless RAW format as an option to lossy JPEG compression. The majority have a built-in flash, often a unit which flips up over the lens. The guide number tends to be between 11 and 15.