It's just like the days of film, when the bigger the negative, the better the quality. With small sensors, it's often better not to have a big megapixel count. If you're mostly sharing pictures on social media, you don't need anything like 16 megapixels, and if you want to make big photo enlargements, the limit is really the small 1/2.3-inch sensor in this camera and others like it. But if your expectations are modest, you might not notice. The picture quality won't match a DSLR or a mirrorless camera's, and you probably won't find it as nice to use, or as responsive. It's how camera makers can produce cameras at these prices. The B500 is cheap because it uses inexpensive materials, a small image sensor and has fairly basic technology and features. If you want to know more, we have a separate guide to the best bridge cameras. You can't change the lenses, like you can with a pro camera, but the big zoom range is designed to counteract that. Bridge cameras have some of the pro features of professional cameras and a lens with a huge zoom range. What is a bridge camera?Ī 'bridge camera' is a kind of bridge between a regular point and shoot compact camera you can put in your pocket and professional camera with interchangeable lenses. I've heard the B500 called a 'bridge camera'.
