I'm interested in upgrading to a higher quality camera for herping, but I don't know much about cameras and I could use some advice. What do you use? I have a $300-$500 dollar range, and I would really like something versatile that can do both panoramic shots and close-ups. It would also be really great if it had superzoom.

I was reading about the different types of cameras: bridge cameras, DSLR, SLR and point-and-shoot. Which do you prefer? So far, the bridge cameras seem very appealing.

Thank you!