I have a 1D4 and 600mm f4 setup - excellent but huge and heavy. I've got a long holiday coming up and have bought the Canon SX50 HS. I've attached a full frame shot taken handheld at max zoom at a distance of 15 feet. No processing. Used auto settings on the camera. Just shrunk for the web. Superficially it looks really nice. I then tried cropping it/pixel peeping etc as I might with shots from my DSLR and that's when you start seeing the lack of detail/contrast etc in this image. For the money (less than £300), it's absolutely superb and it will make a fantastic travel and casual camera for walks. For a birder who wants nice record shots for a blog, it's spot on. I think each sort of camera has its own role.
I've gone thru this - did not work for me and I was very disappointed, (and extremely glad I took my D300 and 300m f4 along with me).
I bought the Fuji HS30EXR and the V1 - I thought that they would by OK for our holiday in S Africa. I always knew that I should take my D300 and 300mm f4 and 70 200mm f2.8 plus plus. In the end I DID take the DSLR, (thank God!), and the Nikon 300mm f4 ..... my son used the Fuji HS30 on a "day safari" I used it a little - he thought the images were OK, for me they were no good - the V1 with Nikon AF-S glass was much better, but only really good when on a tripod - I used the V1 with the Nikon 300mm f4 and it was not comfortable for me to hand hold - now I am back I have tried it with the Nikon 70 300mm f4.5/5.6 VR and it is much better.
The images I got with the D300 and 300mm f4 (and TC x 1.4), are very pleasing and boy am I happy that I took it along. I DID NOT take the 70 200mm f2.8 AF-S, but next time I will.
The bridge cams are just not for me when taking images of Birds and Nature - a DSLR every time.
An alternative to a "Bridge" could be a Nikon D3200 and a Nikon 70 300mm f4.5/5.6 .... I reckon that when it's broken down, lens in one pocket, camera around your neck, it is not much different from the HS30 or similar.
Bridge Cameras are not for me
(PS - the HS30 stopped working after 4 days - "lens control error" - so it's back to Fuji for the second time!)