Go from DSLR to bridge camera?

[hoegsdal]

Hi,

I'm going on a big backpacking trip next year for 10 months and want to travel quite light but of course I want to bring some camera equipment. At the moment I have an Olympus E-410 (with 2 lenses) and a Sony video camera (not HD). All up this takes up a lot of room and weight in my backpack so I was thinking about selling and buy a bridge camera instead so I have an all-in-one camera. By doing this I would only have to carry around one camera and wouldn't have to bring extra lens and video camera + chargers for two cameras instead of one.

I have a few concerns by doing this:
- quality of photos on a tripod at night with a good bridge camera vs. Olympus E-410
- how good is the video in low light condition with a bridge camera?

I have been looking at Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ100 and it looks pretty nice and maybe a good option for my trip. I especially like the 24x zoom.

I would especially like to hear from anyone who have changed from DSLR to a bridge camera (well I guess it's not many) and people with a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ100 but any comments are greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

[pnommensen]

So far my fz-100 has been great. Have you decided on a camera in the mean time?

[hoegsdal]

Thanks for your reply. I decided not to go with the Olympus E-PL1 with a 14-150mm lense. It's a great camera and quite small compaired to having a SLR with two lenses and a video camera.

[oceanswimmer]

I just saw that the new FZ150 camera is coming soon. It should be interesting to see how it matches up with the FZ100. The pre-purchase in the US is at $499 at Amazon.com.