Bridge camera
See the camera-wiki.org category bridge camera for examples of bridge cameras.
Bridge camera in the digital era refers to a digital camera with a fast, wide-range autofocus zoom lens, an image sensor that is larger than that of a digital compact camera, and a high-resolution color live-view electronic viewfinder in addition to a rear LCD screen. Examples include the Fuji Finepix S-series, such as the S8000, and Canon's Powershot S2 IS.
However the term "bridge camera" originated around 1989, with 35mm film cameras such as the Yashica Samurai and the Olympus Infinity AZZ-300 Superzoom. These were often autofocus single lens reflex cameras including a built-in, non-interchangeable zoom of high specification. Thus they represented a "bridge" between the ease of use of sophisticated point & shoot compact cameras, but with some of the image-quality advantages of full SLR system bodies. Some were known as Prosumer cameras, or ZLRs (for Zoom Lens Reflex)—especially the popular Olympus IS bridge camera series.
Digital bridge cameras were aimed at those who were happy with a single non-interchangeable zoom, but not with the limited image resolution and slower lenses of compact digital cameras. However by 2010, the bridge-camera market segment had become heavily eroded: Both from the bottom end (by more full-featured pocketable cameras, including those with ~f/2.0 lenses and raw capture capability) and from the top (by the availability of DSLRs at price points below USD $500). The Canon PowerShot G1 X or the Olympus XZ-1 might be considered contemporary (2012) takes on the bridge camera concept.
