I've been looking to get a bridge camera for a while but have decided most of the popular models would be impractical as I want something that can fit easily into a coat pocket.
If it can also double up for digiscoping at the low end of the range that would be ideal.
Any ideas? Thanks.
I bought the Panasonic DMC-TZ70 with the same intention as you,
portability,
and mostly for documentation purpose,
at low ISO (80-400) the IQ is good, much better than a mobile phone cam,
in theory it has 720mm in 35mm format but to me it seems more like you get what you see with 8-10x bins, when comparing resolution,
but still useful for documentation, and the video feature with stabilization works good even at the long end.
Digiscoping works at the short end but when zooming in there is too much vignetting, but it might depend on what scope you have. But to me it does not seem to be optimal for digiscoping.
Overall a camera that does the job, being portable and taking OK documentation pictures.
Another thing is the build quality of these types of cams,
the zoom lens seem a bit flimsy and of course it's not water proofed in any way.
For occasional use when portability is an important factor it's a good choice.
For more frequent bird photography I would go for a DLSR.