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Nikon Coolpix 3100 3MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom

Nikon Coolpix 3100 3MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom

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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Pretty Damn good
Review: Ok, here is the truth. I bought this camara because I had a business trip to Japan. Wanted something small. Wanted something light. This camara delivers this. Before I bought it I read all the reviews...Now here is the truth. The pictures are great but a couple of points. 1) this is a small camara. That means you need a steadier hand than with a larger camara. 2) it has a dozen different picture settings, and they do make a difference especially in low light so you have to be fairly active with your settings 3) software is outdated, you must update from the Nikon website and it isn't the easiest process for the novice 4) No rechargable battery or case included 5) stupid 16 meg card included, you must upgrade 6)It does take up to six seconds to write the picture to the card, that is slow by digital standards

While this may sound like a lot of drawbacks here are the strengths 1) picture quality better than others 2)size, only the elph is smaller but this is much more comfortable3) nikon software is so simple both for picture modifications and red eye one touch 4) uploading to your computer or the nikon website is one touch and you get 50 megs online.

In my mind the pros outweigh the cons but you have to make the decision for yourself. I for one am happy with my choice.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A little gem
Review: and I do mean little. Tiny is the word! But it packs a bang for the buck. I received it just in time for vacation, and had a ball with it.

Very easy to learn on the fly. I purchased the 256mb Sandisk Flash memory card to go with it, and also a set of rechargeable NiMh AA's ... and it is nothing short of a sweet little set up. I would add to be sure to buy a carrying case which is well fitted to it. The thing is so small you'll need the protection. The size is more of a plus than a minus. I carried it in the palm of my hand everywhere on vacation, and it was never a bother, and always ready when I needed it.

I'm still working on the rich features, but it is point and shoot right out of the box. I am extremely pleased!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great camera
Review: I ordered this camera from Amazon and received it last week. What a great piece of equipment. At the same time I ordered a 256meg Viking CF card. I can take over 300 pictures using that card with this camera, and the quality is fantastic. The Nikon software loaded perfectly (WindowsXP) and is easy to use. I couldn't be more pleased. Oh, and the optical zoom is great. That is one of the big reasons I bought this camera over some of the competitors. I zoom in alot with this one before having to go into the digital zoom and the loss of quality that inevitably brings.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Nice camera!
Review: Pro's
1. Has many desirable features like 3MP, video out, only 2 AA batteries etc.
2. Nice looking and very small in size with good grip. Light weight too.
3. Uses [inexpensive] CF cards.
4. Easy menus and scene modes to use. Modes give you some control over what camera does.
5. Great macro pictures.
6. Night shots are very nice if used with tripod or some supporting surface.
7. Good manual, explains differences between the modes.
8. Has a very affordable accessory kit with case, batteries and fast charger here on Amazon.

Con's
1. Reliability is doubtful. Battery compartment door is very flimsy.
2. Movie mode is junk, no sound and movie sizes very small.
3. A bit thick, making it tougher to pocket.
4. No rechargeable batteries or charger in the box. And still costs more than it competition.
5. No AF assist light or manual mode.
6. One of the most expensive 3MP cameras. Esp since it has poor features and nothing bundled with it.
7. Slow to read/write to CF cards, manual recommends only Lexar/Sandisk cards. Aren't CF cards made to a standard?
8. Lens comes out even while downloading pics or reviewing them and never retracts while the camera's on. (Only way to keep it folded is to start in setup mode and then go to review pics.)
9. Low battery indicator not good, need to do a firmware update to fix it. to make it worse lens was stuck out even when it ran out of battery!

Canon A70 or Sony P72 are much better for less cost, although this has the smallest size/weight and good lens.

Update: the flash on the camera is also very weak, the worst I have seen in compact digicams so far.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: GREAT CAMERA, GREAT PICTURES! What more can I say?
Review: Pros:
1.) Ease of operation. The camera is very user friendly. Just by messing around with it for 20 to 30 minutes I figured out how to operate most of the functions.
2.) Great price. I was looking at sony p7 and canon. Both of these cameras were nice and had a few more options than the Nikon but I like the Nikon's style and functionability better.
3.) LCD screen. I liked Nikon's screen better than Sony's just because it was recessed. With Sony's if you set it down on a flat surface then the screen would have come into contact with the surface

Cons:
1.) My friends have reported little white spots of light on their pictures. I have noticed a few little spots on pictures that I've taken but they aren't bad. I have also noticed that these spots will occur on other cameras, even disposable.
2.) Battery life is about average. My batteries usually last 45 minutes to an hour. I have rechargable nickle batteries.
3.) The 16mb memory disc is standard but I got a 128mb one as well so that I would be able to hold plenty of pictures.

This is my first digital camera.. It takes great pictures but like everything it is not perfect'It is easy to figure out how to use and the controls are well placed for its small size. But it really is small and sometimes it is awkward to handle but the small size is great for travel and is small enough to fit in a loose pocket comfortably. I would have liked a bigger memory card. I bought a 128mb card when I bought the camera. I took about 150 pics on vacation and had room for about 150 more. 64mb would be plenty. You really should buy rechargeable batteries. This camera goes through batteries rather quickly. I bought regular alkaline batteries ' they lasted about 5 minutes I then bought Lithium batteries :). The rechargeable batteries die after taking about 50-60 pictures. The movie quality was pretty good and you can edit the movies on the camera. Shutter response time is slow. In low light without the flash pictures become very blurry. I would guess the shutter automatically stays open longer to compensate for low light. I have not found a way to prevent this. On high quality the write time to the card seems long, about 7-8 seconds. I would like more features that you would find on a higher priced bigger camera but I wanted this to travel with and it worked great for that. It gave me good prints and it was pretty easy to use. Overall it is a great camera that anyone could use.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fantastic pictures, easy to use, tiny size, well constructed
Review: I just bought the Nikon Coolpix 3100 a week ago, and I can't say enough about it. ... The pictures it takes are phenomenal. I thought about going for a 4-megapixel model, but decided against it due to the expense. I can now see from the fantastic quality of the pictures I've been taking that 4 MPs would have been overkill for a first digital camera.

The 3100 has an insane number of scene modes and settings to play with, although I haven't done so yet. I've just been using it on the "Auto" setting and it's worked great. Well worth the money. The Nikonview software for viewing, editing, compressing and emailing your pictures is really easy to use. I like the fact that the camera uses 2 AA-size batteries rather than a proprietary battery module. Much more convenient and versatile. Just make sure you get a set of at least 4 rechargeable NiMH AA-size batteries and a battery charger. Regular alkaline batteries didn't last more than 10 minutes, but the rechargeable NiMHs last much longer (about an hour and a half). You will also want to buy a larger Compactflash card than the 16-meg card that comes with the camera. ...

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Nikon 3100 - compact size but poor quality pictures.
Review: I purchased this camera to use for work while traveling. The size of the camera is perfect for traveling because it is very small. It is also very user friendly and I think anyone will be able to use the camera efficiently with no problems. However, the picture quality was quite poor in my opinion. I probably took over 80 pictures the evening I bought it just testing it out. Out of those 80 pictures I only got maybe 8 that I considered 'good' quality (not great by any means). The other pictures were very grainy looking once you get them onto your computer. I need to be able to email and place pictures in powerpoint presentations and these photos were way below any standard that I could use for work or leisure. The camera would occationally take decent pictures but you had to take SO many bad ones to get one good one, it was not worth it to me. I currently have an older Casio that takes GREAT pictures, but is larger than I would like to travel with. The Nikon 3100 is the perfect size and easy to use.. but the quality of the pictures is just not there. I returned the Nikon the next day.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Nicely done!
Review: You get a lot of bang for the buck with this one. Firstly, the camera is *tiny*, but still has that wonderful Nikkor lens. Being a fan of the swivel lens design, I do miss that, but the picture quality so far has been superlative.

As with small cameras, the flash can be problematic in that it's just not all that powerful. However, you can compensate some by monkeying around with the settings manually or use one of the scene settings. I took a nice picture of a sunrise to experiment with the scenes, and I have a nice mixture of deep indigo with red on the horizon. It'll go absolutely anywhere you need it to go, and unlike the reported problem with the coolpix 3500, shutter speed is much improved.

My only criticisms right now are the weak flash (but what do you want from something so small) and the load time between pictures. The second problem may be fixed with a better CF card, but this camera is nice for snapshots, though some people will complain about the startup time. I'm enjoying this camera immensely right now!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Get rechargable Li-Ion batteries and this is a great camera
Review: I had the same battery issue as everyone else. NiMH batteries, even when fully charged are only 1.2V and disposables are 1.5V when new but drop rapidly; this camera is really sensitive to voltage. Go on-line and find a discount battery site that sells rechargable (or disposable) Lithium Ion CRV-3 batteries, which is what the camera originally comes with. I get 60-70 shots with the flash per charge.

For the money this is a great little camera. It fits in your pocket, takes great pictures, is simple to use and with the Li-Ion battery will shoot all day on one charge. The standard CF (16MB) is plenty of memory for party pics, etc. at the "PC" (1024) setting; You'll get about 65 shots. There's plenty of optical zoom range. I try to avoid using the digital zoom feature, it's too grainy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excelent purchase
Review: Great camera, great pictures, eats up batteries.. buts its worth the money!


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