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Nikon Coolpix 800 2MP Digital Camera w/ 2x Optical Zoom

Nikon Coolpix 800 2MP Digital Camera w/ 2x Optical Zoom

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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great value+pic quality if you don' t need lots of features.
Review: The camera has no USB connector--it uses a serial wire, which means it can connect to most PCs or older Macs, but needs an adapter or a USB-enabled flash card for newer Macs. Apart from that it takes good pictures and at the price it's selling for now it's a good entry into digital photography. The optional lenses are great and will transfer to other Nikon models later if you upgrade.

I prefer the form factor of the 900/950/990 even though they are bigger, because of the way the body twists. This makes it so you can see the LCD when you're holding the camera over your head pointing down, or down by your knees pointing up. Great for pics of kids, crowds, etc. The Nikon 900 series are the only still cameras I know of that do this.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: cool camera with a few kinks
Review: Wow, those pictures are really cool. Have it for a few days now and mainly made different pictures in automatic setting. I bought the camera for it's awsome picture quality and so far it delivers. As others have said before, there are a few kinks you will have to live with, if you go for Nikon's entry level: 1) flimsy covers for battery/smartcard/lens 2) this thing eats up batteries, get lots of NiMH rechargables. (the batteries that came with the camera were empty after shooting 15 pictures and downloading them to PC) When you turn the camera on, the LCD monitor turns on and the camera is in constant metering/focusing mode. So, running around like that for a while, eats up batteries even more. If you don't want to use the monitor, you have to turn it off when you switch the camera on.

Summary: great pictures for a decent price, if you can live with the above.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Some reconsiderations on the camera
Review: Since I wrote my first review, I have had the opportunity to play around with the camera and to take hundred of pictures, no doubt the camera is great, still have the problem of having a very slow lens, that requires a lot of ilumination to make those great pictures. But the reason because I am writting, this new review is to give some advices to those with the same camera: 1- Buy a battery recharger ( a 2 Hours one is great) 2- Buy 8 rechargables AA Niquel-Metal hydraide (choose a good ones, the cheaper don't last) 3- Buy a USB compact flash card reader ( The best investment! ) 4- Buy a 64 Mb compact Flash Card ( It is in most of the cases enough for a short trip) 5- Think before taking a picture, and use the features of the camera, it is so versatile that will allows you to have that great picture, whatever the conditions, but need some practics. 6 With good illumination use the automatic setting (A)it always get the better picture. 7- With Poor condition use always Manual. set for 200 ASA or 400 ASA depending on the condition, you can even increase the apperture of the objetive manually, do so if you think is needed 8- Finally you need a good software to retouch the pictures they always need to increase the brightness, and sometimes also the gamma. I am using CamediaMaster from Olympus and I am very happy, it is not the best for retouching, but it the best to managing and organizing your pictures, besides you can play a slide show without need of create any album, just play the file. Enjoy your Coolpix and play with it for as while before judging it. ...

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great camera except...
Review: I like the Nikon a great deal except for one fatal design blunder, totally unexpected from a company with Nikon's reputation. The optional lenses block most of the view finder when they're in use. As the representative told me, you must use the LCD monitor when using the optional telephoto lens (and apparently other lenses and digital cameras). Unfortunately, the LCD monitor is virtually useless in dim lighting or bright sun. So this is a very serious design error. I can recommend this camera only if you never intend to use the optional lens.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A great camera with metering`problems
Review: I have had several different digital cameras, all on the samerange, and this is a great machine, that takes very sharp images, besides it allows you to manually set almost everything, which is great when you want to shot on poor conditions. A USB flashcard reader it is a must, the batteries last enough to shoot at least 100 pictures using th LCD to review the shots, no complains here. Now the down side, the metering system is always taken dark pictures that are too bad on artificial illumination, when you shoot with the flash, only the closer ( I ment 3 foot) is iluminated the rest is too dark and unreadable, only way to overcame the problem, set the ASA to 400, you will get a litle more blurry picture, but at least you will be able to see something. I do not understand why Nikon has not fixed this problem yet. I am a fan of Nikon, but something is wrong in this model, that posible could be corrected with a sofware modification. I have requested to change this unit for other to see if it is a unique problem of this one. One advice......, ! My (other camera) makes very good pictures, always well illuminated! EN

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good Quality Images. Will Cost a lot more than you expect.
Review: The quality of the images are very good and the 2 MB products are very much the *sweet spot* for amateurs and will be suitable for everyone except proffessionals. Be warned though that you should prepare to spend quite a bit more than the cost of the camera. 2 sets of batteries and a recharger are a neccessity and maybe an AC adapter as well. Nikon should try to include a recharger, nothing kills the digital camera experience more than realizing that your camera lasts for about 30 minutes before you need to put in new batteries. Also the 8 MB card is useless. You can only take 1 (!) high quality uncompressed image. Factor in...for a 64 MB Compact Flash. Likewise I havent found any image editing software (also a negative with Nikon is you get no printed manual and the basic software is VERY basic) so you will need to purchase some editing software.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Better than my friend's Kodak 280 -- and cheaper, too!
Review: I'm always the last guy in my group of friends to do something. They all graduated college before I did. They all got married before I did. They all had kids before I did. And they all bought digital cameras before I did. Being the last digital camera purchaser had its advantages, though. I got to learn from all of their mistakes! I have a friend with the Olympus 460, one with a Nikon Coolpix 950 (the fancier version of the 800), and one with a Kodak 280. They all bring their cameras along on hikes and camping trips, so I was able to see all of the pros and cons to help me make my own purchase. I decided that I wanted 2 mega-pixels and optical zoom. I also didn't want to spend more than $500. I ruled out the Olympus right away, because it only has a 1.2 mega-pixel image size and I want at least 2 mega-pixels so I can make 5x7s or even 8x10s. Of course, after I bought my Coolpix 800, I learned that Olympus is coming out with a 2 mega-pixel version of the 460, so if I were buying it today, I'd have to reconsider. After ruling out the Olympus, I was left with the Kodak DC280 and the Coolpix. My friend's 950 was outside of my budget, but that's OK, because I didn't like the shape of the 950 (weird twisty thing) or its size. The 800 is smaller and looks and feels like a normal camera. If you compare the 800 to the Kodak DC280, they basically look identical. 2x optical zoom, 3x digital zoom, Compact Flash card, AA batteries, optical viewfinder, LCD display, etc...they're nearly identical. In the end, I figured "Kodak mostly makes instamatics, and Nikon makes lots of high-quality 35mm cameras". I've heard lots of great things about Nikon film cameras, and figured that this technology would carry over to their digital cameras. Besides, with the rebate, the Nikon is cheaper!

I'm totally thrilled with my decision. The pictures are fantastic, and the camera never fails to amaze me with its flexibility. Though it's not as fancy as the 950, it's LOTS cheaper and is easier to carry. Look around: if you want a 2 mega-pixel camera with an optical zoom, you can count on spending $500 or $550. This camera has all the features I need with an awesome price! Definitely happy with my purchase, and happy with the quick painless service I received from Amazon.

I can recommend this camera without reservations. You won't outgrow it any time soon, and you can't go wrong with a Nikon lens.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best deal out there
Review: This is the 3rd digital camera I've purchased. My first model was a 640x480, which looked good in emails, but was really lacking when I tried to print my pictures out. Next came a megapixel model, which was better, because it made prints look good, but I couldn't zoom or crop much before my pictures started looking fuzzy. It was time for a 2 megapixel model. I looked at the Coolpix 950, but it was too big and too expensive. I looked at the Canon digital elph too. It's small and cute, but in my opinion isn't worth the extra money. I looked at a few other models too, but I kept coming back to the Nikon. I think that most people agree that Nikon optics are about the best available, and they have a good track record with previous models of film and digital cameras...

Good stuff: GREAT pictures; Nikon lens; optical (not digital) zoom (though not quite as powerful as some); Compact Flash (personal preference, maybe, but available in bigger capacities); Much more compact than the 950, with most of the features and the same resolution.

Not as good: have almost lost the lens cap several times already; batteries don't last too long with lcd on; get rechargeables!

Unless you're a hardcore photographer, this should have all of the manual abilities and photo quality you need. If you are a hardcore photographer, you probably want one of the 3 megapixel models instead...

For me, the Coolpix 800 is 80% of a new Olympus 3030 or a Coolpix 990, but for less than half the price. Bargain!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Pretty Good Camera For Your Money
Review: I bought this camera having never used digital, and I must say I was stunned! It is VERY easily used, and even if you're not electronically inclined, you'll figure it out in about 15 with the help of the QuickStart guide that comes with it. I will say that for a more advanced user/experienced photographer, it may seem a little elementary; you can't change shutter speed (this is automatic), F-stop has very limited variability, zoom is so-so (though there are a variety of accessory lenses you can purchase).

As for batteries, do yourself a favor and buy some NiMH rechargeable batteries (takes 4 AA) at radio shack, where a set of four plus the charger is only 19.99. This Camera is a ravenous, battery-devouring beast, and you will have to change batteries after 45 mins if you use alkaline. With the NiMH, I have yet to kill them- they last forever.

The auto mode is very user friendly, and does just about everything for you. The manual mose allows you to change around things a bit (but does limit you, for example the shutter I mentioned)

There are several different resolutions you can use (the default is 1600x1200, but you can shoot 640x480 or smaller), and also several shooting options like 16-shot which takes 16 shots over the course of about 5-8 secs, bestshot which will take 10 and the camera decides which is the best. Or you can take up to 40 frames per second.

You might want to get an extra or larger memory card because even though they say it holds 200 pictures, this is a bit stretched. It will hold about 30 basic quality, 16 normal quality, 8 fine quality or 1 high quality in the 1600x1200 mode, and about 200, 100, 50, 5 in the 640x480 mode. Though I WILL say that the 640x480 VGA mode is a good mode because even a 19" monitor cannot display a 1600x1200 shot, and part of it will always be off screen, whereas the 640x480 almost perfectly fits the screen (I use the 640x480 VGA mode myself). Plus the 1600x1200 shoty takes quite a qhile to upload.

Summing it up, if you have never used a digital before, you will be surprised off you A-- at how easy it is to use and take good photos. If you are a professional or have experience, you might want to go with the 900, 950, or 990.

I give it 4.5 stars

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Nikon Coolpix == Slowpix
Review: Nikon Coolpix 800 has two shortcomings:

1. The flash is terrible. Almost always, the flash shots come out with the subject bright in the center and the backround completely dark. It looks like a metering/exposure problem.

2. The camera is slow. I take a lot of pictures of moving objects, my kids etc. Almost all moving shots, the camera takes the picture a second or so later than the actual shot which means I missed the shot.

If you don't take a lot of pictures with flash or moving objects, this is a great camera. For me, I went and bought an Olympus C2000Z. Works great, and has 3x zoom to boot.


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