My misses wants a half decent camera for Christmas, which is great because I know I'll probably use it more than her

Budget is sub200 and I'm not sure what to go for.
I'm gutted that I didn't get the canon sx50 on black Friday as it was £199 and now its £299 and seems leagues ahead of others in the sub200 range.

The Panasonic lumix fz72 is looking favourite so far but wondering if anyone has any recommendations.

Only definite requirement is a viewfinder, which a lot in that budget dont have.

Cheers

Sony were definitely getting quite a rep 8 months ago when I was working in a camera shop. Shame they have the typical Sony pricing!

I don't think Fuji are quite as good as they were. I bought the other half a Fuji bridge a year or two ago, and taught someone else some photography that had another one around the same time, and found that the interface and quality wasn't as good as I remembered mine as being year prior.

Best thing to do is get down to a camera shop and have some hands on testing to see how they feel in the hand and if you find the interface intuitive. I've found a lot of Bridge cameras feel quite light and plasticy. Lightweight is good if you want to take it out all day, but you also want something that feels robust too.

I have a Canon SX500IS which is awesome for the money!

I got it about 18 months ago in argos at half price, It was only £140. I can get the same quality shots as a friend with a decent SLR even though she had a few lenses (this is a bit older than my camera)

Also a friend bought one to take into the O2 as they would not allow her to take her SLR/Telephoto lens in anymore, She really rates the camera.

I keep coming across those and the sx510 and they are a bargain for the spec but the lack of view finder is really putting me off.

Why do you want a viewfinder? Do you want an optical viewfinder, or would you settle for an electronic one?

I still don't really rate using EVFs as you might as well be looking at the back of the bigger and higher resolution LCD screen...

An EVF would be fine, I know they're not great but I just find a take a better picture when using them, having the camera against my head makes it more stable and less chance of blur.