Two popular superzooms are the Canon SX40 and the Panasonic FZ150. They are known as bridge cameras because the have a lot of the sophistication of a DSLR but do not take interchangeable lenses (the also have smaller sensors so don’t do as well as DSLRs in low light, but their low light performance has improved a lot during the years).

Compact superzooms, also known as travel zooms, don’t have all the bells and whistles of superzooms (and lack viewfinders), but are more compact and have decent zoom ranges. Just about every camera manufacturer makes compact superzooms. Some of the best are made by Casio, Samsung and Sony. Canon and Pansonic make decent compact superzooms too. Check the quality of the LCD before buying; some are more difficult to see in bright light than others (the more dots per inch the higher the resolution of the LCD).

If you don’t like to fuss with camera settings, get a camera with and Intelligent Auto mode. DO purchase the camera before your trip and take time to familiarize yourself with it!!

DSLR Lens Basics – Discusses some of the features to look for when buying a lens.

Interchangeable lens quality – Discusses some of the quality differences between lenses.

DSLR lens types – provides info about the many types of lenses and what they are best suited for photographing.

Buying a used DSLR lens – Even if you don’t buy a used lens, this article will give you information about Nikon (and other) lens mounts.

Depending on they type of scenes and subjects you plan to photograph, two zoom lenses may cover all your needs: a wide to mid telephoto lens for scenes and a mid-telephoto to long zoom lens to zoom in close to subjects in the distance (eg; 18-55mm & 55-200mm Zoom Lenses). There are plenty of other lenses, limited only by your pocketbook.

Have a great trip! You have a fine camera and I’m sure you’ll take plenty of memorable photos.

thanks