their is little to no cleaning needed on modern SLRs, most self clean when you switch them on. you have auto modes etc on slr's and the lower end ones have lots more auto settings than the pro end with helpful tips onscreen. i owned a fuji bridge camera (cant remember the model) a long time ago when they first come out and really it didnt take in terms of quality any better pictures than the snappy canon ixus i had. i borrowed a friends fujifilm s9600 whilst i was at college few years ago before i purchased my slr and my god i could not believe how restrictive it was, i went back to using my point and click in the end as it was just as good. that fuji sensor size is the size of a peanut (the bit that captures the image), even the cheap canon eos 1100d is about 3 times bigger which helps with things like depth of field, better light so you dont need a flash till its much darker etc. bottom left is the fuji one and top right is the canon one http://images.gizmag.com/inline/camera-sensor-size-12.jpg my advice steer clear of bridge they are just a marketing gimmick, with the price of low end slrs so cheap now there is no reason to not buy one.