Camera Labs

Hello,

I am a biologist and at the moment developing a conservation project.

This project is to be carried out in a mountainous area, which is in general very rocky and with very irregular terrain.
During the field work, I want to take landscape photographs of inaccessible areas. With these landscape photographs, I intend to analyse vegetation coverage areas on the computer so that I can determine the distribution of specific vegetation. Also, and a lesser extent I will need to photograph plant details in macro mode.

My problem is which camera should I buy?
In short, the camera should:
- Be portable because I will have to move around rocky steep terrain;
- Good macro for plant details;
- Ba able to take good landscape photographs, with high resolution so that on a computer I can analyse the vegetation in inaccessible areas;
- A good zoom will probably be necessary to photograph more distant vegetation spots (+-600-700m).

A realise that a bridge camera would be more appropriate, mainly due to its portability, but is it enough to make high quality images of cliffs, in some cases some 600 meters away?
Are there any bridge cameras that allow changing the lens as in a DSLR to suit different photograph situations?

I would welcome any thoughts on this and recommendations on which camera will be more appropriate.

Thank you in advance

Carlos

Good weatherproofing may also be useful I guess?

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Nikon D700 & D7100 bodies + Nikkor 300mm F2.8 VR11, 1.7TC, 50mm F1.4G, 16-35mm f/4G VR, 105 F2.8 VR macro, 70-300mm lenses. A couple of filters, Giotto tripod & ballhead. Lowepro Slingshot 302 AW

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oldcarlos/

Well first of all, one thing that I noticed is that you mentioned that if there was some interchangeable-lens bridge camera, and the answer is no. Bridge cameras were made with the purpose of not having to change lenses while having one that works for almost all situations. Only a DSLR or CSC (digitally speaking only) will have the ability for you to interchange lenses.
Now, I think a bridge camera might have good enough quality for your purposes, but it is actually pretty inferior to what a DSLR or CSC can achieve.
If you're looking for portability, probably a CSC will be the best option, but because you mentioned a camera able to take good macro shots, I'd recommend not only looking at the camera but the lenses available for the different lens mounts.

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Gear: Canon SX20 IS, Canon Rebel T3i, Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Wishlist: Canon 50mm f/1.8 II, Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II
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