Thinking of buying a Pentax X-5 which is now available for around £135.00 as it seems like a good buy being one step beyond a point and shoot camera but a lot cheaper than a starter dslr.
http://www.pentax.co.uk/en/digital-bridgecameras/X5.html
Any thoughts or other recommendations?
A lot cheaper than a DSLR but far far worse than a DSLR and not comparable in the slightest. There is really only one potential use for a Bridge camera and that is getting as much reach as possible in a small light camera and you don't care about quality much (only print small etc.)
They are more of a marketing gimmick, pretend to be closer to a DSLR than other compacts, hence the name Bridge. But that is a lie really, many compact camera will offer much better quality and features in a smaller lighter body.
You need to choose what yo want from the camera.
Do you want a small compact that give good image quality compared to the standard?
Do you want a camera with more manual controls?
Do you want a DSLR but cannot afford one?
There are now too many high quality compact cameras out there to lsit. these vary form more point and shoot but with slightly bigger sensors and more manual controls (think Canon S100/110, Panasonic LX5/7, Olympus ZX2) so cameras with big DSLR sized sensors and fixed lenses (Nikon A, Ricoh GR, Sigma DP1/DP2/DP3, Fujifilm X100s) and some in between with zoom lenses (Canon G1x, Sony RX100).
And the there are very small compact systems cameras like Microfourthirds by Olympus and Panasonic, and the Nikon 1 system. You can pick up a very small Olympus m43 camera, the older gen are very cheap and the image quality will blow any bridge camera into the dark ages.
really depends what you want.
