Which camera ?

Does anyone use a Nikon coolpix p100.Was recommended to me for value for money.What cameras do yee use and what could yee recommend?Regards,Tim

Using a canon eos 500d and havent any complaints about it. Super piece of machinary.

Frontosa wrote:

Does anyone use a Nikon coolpix p100.Was recommended to me for value for money.What cameras do yee use and what could yee recommend?Regards,Tim

I have one.

I decided that my 35mm DSLR Nikon is great for what it can do....take great quality picture, but is bulky and doesn't do video.
And my old casio compact was not giving what I wanted.

So...in comes the new Nikon P100 compact. Great camera.
Argos are about the cheapest (330 euro) at present.

10 megapixel. It has really good resolution for an 8-bit compact.

The mega zoom is 26x optical (~700mm tele on a 35mm camera) but you can multiplied by x4 on a digital zoom (to give about 3000mm telephoto on a 35mm). I can't see any point in using digital zoom for still pictures, but it is great for movies (so long as you have a tripod).

And will focus in the macro range from about 1cm.

But the video features are very good. The camera will allow you take a single 30 minute full HD 1080p movie shot. (normally compact digitals are limited to a few minutes per shot).
Not only that, the movies are not in MPEG (not the best compression system)...they are MOV format.
You can select to record in full 1080p HD, interlaced HD, 720 HD, and the normal video resolution. Great stuff as if you are stuck with just HD movies then editing is a real pain.

The camera also has a high-speed movie setting of upto 240 frames per second (you need good light for that) for doing proper slow-motion stuff.
And it has a built-in interval timer for stop-motion movies (see that flower open in seconds !!).

Also, the camera can do optical zoom and focus during movie recording (many cameras don't all that).

Don't expect the quality you'd get from Nikon D3 (at uber thousands), but the video quality beats any dedicated video camera upto 3 times the price.

Here is a sample picture taken using the normal 'point and shoot' mode.
This was taken through a misted glass tank with a lot of fog in it.



ian

JohnH wrote:

An excellent review Ian,
I'm even tempted to buy one myself...so persuasive are you.

The only trouble I find with all modern digital cameras is that you need a degree in modern computing 'jargon' to understand how to work the bloody things!

I wish they would just create affordable digital replacements for the Bronica film holders (I think they do, but at many thousands in price) which would allow me to take digital images with a camera I have become accustomed to for many many years. Either that or a digital sensor to replace the film in my very ancient, but still much loved, Nikon F.

But enough of living in the past...Argos, was it?

John

Music to my ears.

John, if I can move away from my trusty old Nikon Fs, F2ASs and FM2s and from my TLRs..... then anyone can.

(I loved my Nikon F.....my first proper camera.....it was black and was such a good looking camera. It got bashed heavily, and kept on going until one day the shutter jammed after donkey's years of motordrive activity....but I had to modify my model to take a motordrive, so maybe that shortened the life a tad).

I was going to buy a Mamiya RZ67 film camera recently (only 700 euro second hand) and then buy the new digital back...... BUT I could buy a good second Porsche 911 and still have change to buy the latest Nikon D3x and a few telephoto lenses.

I'm not too sure if Bronica do the same, but they may do. That would be wizard stuff.

My personal opinion on all of this Digital camera stuff is the same when people would debate the difference between a high-priced 35mm and 6x6 camera. No matter what specifications were put on the 35mm camera, the fact was that it would be difficult to beat a 6x6 TLR with maybe only a limited range of this that and the other.

I read some reviews o digital cameras and think.... "this person is a computer nerd and not a photographer", and much of what is said is wrong anyway.
Since when have I ever taken a photo of loads of concentric circles and enlarged them to a 24 x 48 inch print to find that my lens has aberrations at the extremes.
With digital cameras, I would recommend doing what we always did with normal film cameras....... know the limitations and shoot photos within those limits. Simple rule of thumb.

One of the key things with digital cameras that really comes into play is the use of different f-numbers, John.
On the old film cameras, it was never a problem to shut the lens down to f22 to get that greater depth of field (and depth of focus on some cameras)...You only got into difficulty with attempting f64.
..... but with digitals there is a problem.
35mm DSLR can be taken down to largish f-numbers but then problems occur after about f11 (depending on sensor size).
With compacts, however, they will not really work at f-numbers greater than f8 (and even then the photos become crap). If the compact camera says it shot it at f16 then it probably lied; from what I can gather, a compact camera will simulate shooting a high f-numbers but not actually do it. However, compacts are getting better and this may become less of a problem.

On a comparison to film cameras, I would take a digital picture as if shooting on transparency film rather than on negative film ie underexpose slightly.
Also, when taking serious shots in digital, I switch to manual and remove all in-camera sharpening, set the camera to 'low contrast' and remove any 'saturation' or 'vivid' settings, and have as low an ISO as possible. (on my 35mm DSLR, I always shoot in 16-bit RAW format).
Hence, as much detail as possible is kept within the file...and then I can manually add contrast in processing the photo (if contrast is set too high when taking the picture then too much detail is lost at source).
It's a bit like developing and enlarging your films stock.


The Nikon P100 is exactly what it is..... a really great compact camera for those who want functionality, quality and not be a weight-lifter all in one camera.

Go for it.

ian

JohnH wrote:

The only trouble I find with all modern digital cameras is that you need a degree in modern computing 'jargon' to understand how to work the bloody things!
John

+1 on that. have to take 5 shots of the same thing in EACH of the camera settings (thats without messing with that ISO whats-it-calleds-it) then trawl through 30+pics to find which is less blurry/has more of the target in focus... better getting a disposable and sending them by snail mail! or just give up on the idea of entering photo comps...

Thanks alot for this review.Did more research on it and in a test in Germany of 30 cameras this model left many dearer ones well behind.If this one is good enough for yee with camera experience it will do me plenty.Thanks again.Regards,Tim

Hi Ian,
do you give lessons how to use it aswell? Regards,Tim

Frontosa wrote:

Thanks alot for this review.Did more research on it and in a test in Germany of 30 cameras this model left many dearer ones well behind.If this one is good enough for yee with camera experience it will do me plenty.Thanks again.Regards,Tim

So...some example photos will be here soon?

Oooh, and get a tripod for that massive zoom.

ian

My birthday tomorow.So you never know what will happen:laugh: .Pm sent.Regards,Tim

Frontosa wrote:

My birthday tomorow.So you never know what will happen:laugh: .Pm sent.Regards,Tim

....and it happened.My wife had the apparently out of stock one bought and surprised me this morning.HAPPY DAYS;) .Regards,Tim

Frontosa wrote:

Frontosa wrote:

My birthday tomorow.So you never know what will happen:laugh: .Pm sent.Regards,Tim

....and it happened.My wife had the apparently out of stock one bought and surprised me this morning.HAPPY DAYS;) .Regards,Tim

There you go. Just as well you didn't venture to Go Go Go to Harvey Normans.

Great stuff

We all await the breathtaking shots now, no pressure:)



mark

Happy Birthday Tim, lookin forward to seein the results from the new camera ye lucky devil.

Mick...

Thanks for all the replies.Absolutly over the moon with the present.Thanks again to my lovly wife;)and Ian for the advice. .Get my Back To Nature modules wendnesday.Still have a bit of plumbing and fitting of a second weir left.Hopefully up and running some stage next week.Will sent lots of pictures of my new 8 foot project than-no excuse anymore.Regards,Tim

Happy Birthday Tim....................

Happy birthday Tim. Looking forward to seeing the tank with water and fish in it. Paddy

Well timed topic Tim. Held off on a camera last year and after reading Ians review and a few others online Im seriously considering one of these. Cheers,

Jay

congrats tim
why not get one Jay, the Nikon coolpix p100 is a very good compact camera and is well worth the money
the fish would love you for it

I think I will. Looks like a solid piece of kit, cheers Des.

Jay

One test picture with the new camera.

Another one.

So, how are you finding the new camera?

Very happy with it.But dont know any settings.Just took the pictures with the setting the camera came with.Got a tripod organised,just have to collect it.Regards,Tim

Frontosa wrote:

Very happy with it.But dont know any settings.Just took the pictures with the setting the camera came with.Got a tripod organised,just have to collect it.Regards,Tim

There's lots of functions....does a lot, but you'll need to read the manual.

The quality of the movies are fantastic....but if you shoot in 1080p it is genuine 1080p and so your PC will need a bit of power to edit films.

The great thing about the pop-up flash is that it doesn't pop up automatically to annoy you.

ian

Picked up a Nikon Coolpix L120 for herself for her bday a couple of months ago and I gotta say, its a sweet bridge camera. Specs are great and its a neat all rounder. So, being a little bit envious and not wanting to spend that much again on a camera for myself, I picked up a Fujifilm s2750 today in Argos for a bargain at 149.00 Euros all in. Got a 8gb SDHC card too for 18.00. They have knocked 50.00 Euros off most of their range of compacts, bridges and DSLR's so anyone looking for a decent camera without having to remortgage the gaff should check them out. While Im here, has anyone used the s2750? If so, how did your shots turn out? Cheers.
Oh, and anyone entering the photocomp might aswell concede victory now. Just took rka few weeks leave and I intend to make Andy Casagrande look like an amature by the time its up .

Jay

my opinion DSLR is the way to go... NIKON is my choise anyway as I can use 35year old macro lens that I bought on eBay for less than 100€ and it works on my D300. Also have D90, but D300 is better.
I think once you go DSLR, all it matters is the optics..
you can get a decent macro lens for couple hundred..

I bought a Canon 550D a while back with all the Lenses you would need including a lovely Macro lens from Daragh Owens and still, my Fuji compact gives the best results, that's not a reflection on the Cameras, more a reflection on the user lol.

Kev.

I checked out the DSLR's but figured as Im only now getting into the photo end of things that I would use a bridge camera to learn the ropes. Getting some pretty sweet shots with it too, compared to my compact its in a totally other league.

Jay