How does a bridge camera work?
Bridge cameras work in much the same as any
other digital camera that doesn’t use a DSLR-style mirror box mechanism. That’s
because bridge cameras have been developed as digital cameras from the get go –
not as adaptions of existing 35mm film camera bodies, like the early DSLRs.
Even now, DSLRs owe a lot of their handling and performance to analogue SLRs.
While not a professional tool, the bigger piece of glass when compared to the
lens on your average pocket camera does arguably provide better quality images
from a bridge camera, even if the sensor inside is just as small as your
standard point and shooter. So it won’t replace that DSLR just yet.
How
does this Bridge camera work?
Like any other dedicated digital camera
costing $156.542 and up, the hub of the bridge camera is a large LCD screen
around the back with continuous live view. Depending on the model, it may even
be angle-adjustable. This enables formerly tricky low or high-angle shots to be
taken, and helps improve visibility by angling the screen away from direct
sunlight.
Indeed, bridge cameras were the first to
introduce a tilting and swiveling rear monitor, which as over the past two
years begun to also feature on CSCs and full DSLRs. In addition to this screen,
on a typical bridge camera there will also be a separate, smaller viewfinder,
more recently an electronic viewfinder (EVF), offering a 100% field of view, like
the screen.
The
hub of the bridge camera is a large LCD screen around the back with continuous
live view
This eye-level finder is another core
bridge camera feature that is steadily finding its way into higher-end compact
system cameras around the $1,565,420 mark (Nikon V1, Panasonic GH2, Sony
NEX-7). But it’s worth noting that bridge cameras got there first, acting as a
test ground for all this new technology.
Aside from that whopper of a lens, a
built-in viewfinder is another way a bridge camera now distinguishers itself
from your typical pocket point and shoot.
Because of the longer focal range of the
zoom lenses on bridge cameras, built- in image stabilization (IS) – usually
optical or sensor –shift rather than the software –enhanced cheat of digital IS
– is a must to aid handheld shooting at anywhere near maximum telephoto setting
without blur. Gyro motors prompt the sensor to move to counterbalance any
external motion.
Such a camera providing all the lens power
most casual photographers will ever need sounds alluring. Not everybody wants
to have to buy a shed-load of lenses and accessories to get a wide variety of
picture-taking options.
The
all-in-one ethos of the bridge camera has been further extended in the
high-definition era
The all-in-one ethos of the bridge camera
has been further extended in the high-definition era, with most now offering
Full HD video capture at cinematic frame rates of 24fps, 25fps or 30fps.
Capture commences with the press of a dedicated record button on the backplate or
top plate, no matter which other stills shooting mode has been selected on the
typically chunky top dial.
The larger body proportions than your
average point and shoot also offer more room for stereo microphones, typically
placed either side of the lens barrel or directly above. More expensive models
offer a vacant hot shoe for the attachment of accessories, including auxiliary
flash.
While all bridge cameras enable the use of
removable media – SD, SDHC and SDXC cards- some Olympus models also feature integral
memory capacity. This has largely died out elsewhere in the market now that
affordable removable media is sold in supermarkets.
