Whats the difference between a Compact, Advanced Compact and Bridge cameras?

Arrow in the Knee

As above.

Excuse my ignorance.

Looking for a camera to take pictures mainly of livestock ie:Sheep and Cattle.

Does anybody have any opinions of which type and model would be the best to buy?

All comments welcome.

nedd

Probably not much help, but I think you should decide on a budget first and then look at what is in your price range. There are so many digital cameras these days you will go mental just looking at different models/brands/sensor size.....

Also, there is a Photography forum on here that has a good thread about advice for buying cameras.

coylemj

Compacts and advanced compacts are cameras shaped like a pack of cards i.e. no bulging bits. They are handy on holidays and can slip easily into and out of a case mounted on your belt. What makes a compact 'advanced' would be up for debate, probbaly anything costing more than €150 would qualify as 'advanced' but it's a subjective term with no absolute definition.

A 'bridge' camera is a camera that looks like an SLR but isn't i.e. it looks like the cameras the professional use but the lens isn't detachable.

Arrow in the Knee

Up to €400 I am willing to spend.

Looking through the Argos catalogue where there is a good few cameras and can't choose which ones better than the other?

Arrow in the Knee

Up to 400 I am willing to spend.

Looking through the Argos catalogue where there is a good few cameras and can't choose which ones better than the other?

coffee to go

Bridge cameras give you a good bit more control and zoom range than compacts, without the associated expense of full SLRs which would require a collection of lenses to achieve the same range.

For that sort of money you could easily pick up a good bridge camera like the Fuji HS20. That'll give you a really good range from a decent wide angle for shooting livestock in a small room, all the way out to super-telephoto (720mm at the long end, so it's a 30x optical zoom), which could come in handy for taking photos at long range out on the pasture. Also has a pretty good macro which lets you take shots of stuff just 1cm (!) from the camera (I don't know if this is useful for livestock, maybe tag numbers?)

The HS20 model has just been superseded by the HS30, so it's going seriously cheap on Amazon (£219): http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fujifilm-FinePix-HS20EXR-Digital-Camera/dp/B004G8Q61E

Bargain at that price I'd say!

Dades

They say the best camera is the one you have with you, so if you want something to fit in a jacket pocket go for an advanced compact.

A bridge camera will give you more, but still limited options. What a DSLR does is allow you have the lens you need for the job you want. A bridge camera basically has one decent jack-of-all-trades lens attached which will do most of what you want. You'll really only be limited in terms of shooting fast moving stuff or in low light/indoor situations (you'll need a flash).

Rather than asking your budget, I'd be inclined to ask what do you want to shoot?

There are a new breed of micro DSLRs but they would be out of your budget for the most part.