Do you use your "bridge" for video?

I spent years at the "old" DPR defending my use of a "bridge" camera. Some of the self proclaimed experts, "internet reviewers" who had never even held the item, droned on and on spewing their negative garbage! If your audience is Hollywood or National Geographic, to name a couple, then sure use expensive gear. If you want something that is easily available, that will do everything, a "bridge" is the way to go.

I don't know if this is allowed, linking a youtube video, if not then please delete. When contemplating this subject I happened to run into an old video I'd forgot about. This is my first attempt at doing a video so it could be improved a lot! In slow motion my cam locks focus at the beginning.

youtu.be/oumIPJRfP1Y

I use bridge cameras exclusively now. I’ve done weddings, events , portraits,landscape and wildlife for both video and stills .
Most video been of music performances in small venues .
I sold the last of my interchangeable lens systems just last week.

I use two favorite bridge cameras and a phone for both stills and video. They have made my favorite pastime simpler and more enjoyable.

Thanks for the comments guys. As both of you probably already know, I have two other systems, both are apsc. one SLR the other mirrorless. If you bounce around to the other forums you'll probably see some examples of their use. I will say again though, if I had to choose only one, it would be my Fuji S1 "bridge" superzoom. Howard, thanks again for your years of support, often the ONLY one.

I can definitely say I have never used any bridge camera for video. The only reason is that I just don't shoot video at all. Back in the '70s I did when I was involved in motocross racing. But that was using 4 minutes of Super 8 in a Bell & Howell video camera. And, of course, no sound

I can relate to the "super 8" use. Recently I digitized all my tapes. After years of several moves and being stored in a box under the house or in the garage, I was really surprised they were useable at all. A few photoshop processes really brought some, long ago memories, back to life.

I have certainly used my RX10 iv for everything in a pinch, that's the glory of a great bridge-camera. However, for other than b-roll, it's too large and heavy to put into a cage-rig where other bodies shine with better sensor capabilities. Thanks for sharing your video.

Deleted by poster.

I use FZ2000 exclusively for video. I did buy a GH5M2 (and now GH6) primarily for stills and to be a step up for video when needed. However, I never needed anything more than FZ2000 for my video needs. The two GH bodies have replaced two DSLR bodies for stills.

I shoot mostly stage events at FHD 60p, only because the 4K has a crop. When I don't need the 24mm wide angle, I shoot 4K at 36mm.

I never needed to go beyond 50Mbps for my needs though this camera has higher bit rates. That's another reason I have not used GH bodies. Their minimum video bit rate is 100Mpbs. The file size is larger than I need.

I set the aperture at f/4.5 (so that it doesn't change as I zoom in and out) and the shutter speed as needed. I let camera do its thing with auto ISO.

I use a tripod and audio feed from the mixer. Other than that, no additional equipment needed for my shooting.

Power zoom on a bridge camera makes for smoother video, if you like to zoom in and out while "filming" a video.

Satyaa, are you considering a different bridge camera that does 4K without crop?

I have no such plans right now. If I didn't have the GH5M2 I might have considered that if/when the FZ2500 failed.

Also, to your first point, the FZ2500 has slow/fast zoom options in the menu settings. The additional buttons on the lens barrel are good for this purpose. Panasonic did lot of video improvements in the FZ2500 over FZ1000 (which I had used before).

It is not a bridge camera, but I've used a compact camera (Panasonic LX-10) a few times as the b-camera.

In pre-covid times, a small theater group had me record video of the production. I would record the whole show as one long video (1.5 hours). In post, I would break the video into smaller scenes and export them to youtube. At the time, my A-camera of choice was the Panasonic G85 since it has no limits on recording. I recorded FHD (1080p) as a matter of habit (my other video gig involved shooting 10-12 hours, and 4K was just too much data).

Now, since Covid, the group has been limping along, but so far they haven't needed me to record their shows. I've given the G85 away, and if I did video now, I would use the OM-1 which also does not have a video record limit.

Where I used the LX-10 is I would put the camera on a tripod across the room to get a backup, and potentially record from a second angle. I would use the phone app to control the LX-10 remotely. Because it is a fixed lens camera, I can zoom the lens from within the phone app. With the exception of 4 older, slower lenses, none of the micro 4/3rds lenses can be zoomed from within the OM/Olympus/Panasonic phone apps.

I also have a cheap wifi controlled pan/tilt head to adjust where the camera records. The pan/tilt head is more made for phones, and it has a weight limit that prevents using it with the heavier cameras. But the LX-10 is light enough that I can use it easily.

This is primarily as a backup in case something happens to the main camera. In the fact the one time I needed the backup (my G85 once lost first 13 minutes of sound due to microphone cable not plugged in correctly, before I plugged it in correctly), I hadn't started the LX-10 in time so I could use the audio from the LX-10.

Now, I don't do any video editing other than breaking the video into smaller segments and putting a copyright marker on the first seconds of the video, so I haven't used it for the second angle of the shots. But if I did, I could certainly take advantage of it.

The LX-10 does have 3 drawbacks:

1) The battery only lasts for about an hour. You can (or at least could in the past) get a dummy battery that provides unlimited power from a 5v USB wall wort or power bank. The last time I used the LX-10 to record video, I recorded a 1.5 hour video using the dummy battery.

2) The LX-10 can record unlimited FHD video, but only about 10 minutes of 4K video.

3) The LX-10 does not support an external microphone port.