Upgrade from Kompact.

[sm428]

Hi,

I have been trying to get the most out of my Kompact, but have grown out of it a while back, backpacking in South America. Now its died on me and has encouraged me to spend some money on a new camara. I am a student so want to try and keep the price to a affordable level. I have researched and have a classic problem: BRIDGE OR DSLR???

I plan to learn more about Photography and make the best pictures I can. However I am moving to India for 6 months and plan to travel around as well as possibly pop over to South East Asia for 2 months after my internship finishes. Therefore the simplicity of the Bridge camara would be lovely. I am considering the Panasonic Lumix FZ 150 or the Fujifilm HS20. Any expirience with these camaras?

On the otherhand, allthough i shouldnt really spend so much, I am thinking of going for a DSLR with 2 lenses. Either going for the Canon Eos 1100D wth 18-55mm lense and the 75-300mm lense or the Nikon D3100 with the 18-55mm and the 55-200mm, as you can buy twin lense sets for just over my budget.

I am worried that if I buy a DSLR I will have less options - Wideangel?, high Zoom? Macro? etc. would I need different lenses for this? Will the quality of pictures be significantly better twith DSLRs of this price range over the Bridge camaras?

Thanks.

 

[sm428]

It is also possible that I have got the wrong lenses. While traveling I mostly take pictures of local people and landscapes. Although I do sometimes do Macros. Maybe it would be better/cheaper to exchange one (or both) of the lenses for different ones.

Thanks again for the help.