I worked for decades, travelling to make videos with professional equipment that is expensive, bulky, delicate and visible. When I decided that from my private trips I wanted to bring back videos instead of just photos, it was necessary for me to decide which machine to use. It had to be small, light, cheap (theft and damage-proof) and not eye-catching, so as not to be noticed. At the same time, however, it had to have certain technical characteristics that are essential for me. My choice was to try, once the DV format was discontinued, with a “bridge” camera, knowing that it was a bet.

Lenses with an amazing extension (24-840), electric zoom, stabilizer, fairly advanced software have allowed me to shoot satisfactory materials while remaining at a distance from the subjects, to make some tracking shots in the markets or car cameras, to film in difficult light conditions, still always working machine in hand, as you can see in the examples that I edited in this clip.

One of the limitations that I suffered initially was the inability to disable certain automatisms, although in some cases it is possible to get around it with some tricks.

I also solved this problem and went from a Canon SX40 (India and Turkey) to a more recent Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ300 (Iran) that can be set manually in every function, has a much more advanced software as well as having an input audio, it has fewer canvases (25-600) but a much higher image quality. I believe that despite their rather low cost, this type of cameras, if used properly, can also satisfy a professional “palate”.

Luca Errera