Rating: 
Summary: Autofocus Problems
Review: I am in the process of dumping my 5700 because it cannot autofocus in low light conditions. It has no AF assist lamp. The autofocus mechanism is slow and sluggish. It also takes a long time to write high-res, fine images to the memory card. The construction is nice and all of the features are fun to use, but the autofocus problems just killed it for me. Thankfully, I got the Canon PowerShot G3 which does have an AF assist lamp to help it focus in low light conditions as well as a new processor that does speed up focusing and image writing relative to the 5700.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Alone; Bad for Digiscoping
Review: I have had the Coolpix 5700 since July 2002, and I am delighted with the photos I have taken and the compliments I have received on them. I have taken some stunning photos and printed them onto 8 x 10 photo paper with incredible results. I've even blown up tiny portions of pictures without any pixels becoming visible when printed! The Coolpix has a number of features that make it a great camera, but it also has some drawbacks.The 5700 has several different user modes that can be preprogrammed for different situations. The auto modes are well-programmed if you don't want to set these items manually. The auto-focus has several different settings (i.e. spot, matrix) and a manual override that comes in handy for photographing minute items such as spider webs that are too thin for the autofocus to "see." The 8X optical zoom is great for setting up shots without having to move. The biggest drawback I have found with the 5700 is that it is useless for digiscoping. I have a Swarovski spotting scope through which I want to take pictures (bird watching, etc.), but because of the size of the lens on the 5700, my pictures have severe vignetting. If you want a great camera for digiscoping, I recommend the 4500. Another disappointment is that the 5700 does not have the panorama assist feature that the 4500 has. Overall, the picture quality and settings for the 5700 are great, but it has a couple of drawbacks depending on what you want to do with the camera.
Rating:
Summary: Nice Camera, but not for the weak at heart.
Review: The Nikon 5700 is one of the better ones you'll find around the thousand dollar mark, but it is not a point and shoot consumer camera. There are some problems in low light conditions if you keep everything on auto, but with numerous user settings you can program the camera itself to perform very well. I do find the icons somewhat cryptic and the LCD is too small. If you are an inexperienced photgrapher and don't know anything about aperture and shutter control you might want to look at the Sony F717. The complaints about the autofocus are unfounded. The autofocus is slow, but in most cases the problems are with the inexperience of the user, or maybe they just didn't read the manual. If you want an inexpensive creative tool, buy this camera. If you want something to take family pics on your vacation and are not interested in serious photography, don't waste your money.
Rating: 
Summary: dead pixels
Review: I bought this camera brand new and after a week I realized that when I take pictures, in some spots there are dead pixels that are very obvious to the naked eye. Gradually over time, more pixels are getting defective.
Rating: 
Summary: Fabulous
Review: Having been an early adopter for digital cameras, I've played with and owned many over the years. My recent purchase of the Nikon 5700 has reignited my love for photography! The camera gives you a ton of control (although I am still learning) and the lens is FABULOUS! I love being able to zoom way in on the subject, frame and focus, and blur out the background the way that this great lens can. The resolution on the resulting image is excellent, and I am very pleased with every image I've had printed at a service provider ...I highly recommend this camera for anyone who loves a little more control with their camera!
Rating:
Summary: 5 Megapix and Plenty of Optical Zoom
Review: My first digital camera was/is a Kodak DC290, a few years back I was more than satisfied with it. After a couple of years I realized that my next digital was going to be at least twice the mp, and it needed a powerful zoom. With the Kodak DC290 I had to be in a person's face with the camera to get a good shot. (So much for catching a natural look on a person's face.) I prefer to catch a person with a natural expression on their face, with this 8X zoom I'm far enough away to not interfere with or intimidate a person.
I still have a lot to learn with all the settings on here. But so far I have seen the difficulty of auto focus in subdued light, it is a real problem with this camera. I'm experimenting with distance, I get close to my target, let the autofocus complete it's math, then I step backwards till the image starts to clear. I'm hoping that this will be corrected by Nikon in the form of a software download in the future.
For my 2mp Kodak DC290 I run a 128MB compact flash card, so I knew that going to a 5mp camera I was going to need at least the 256MB card. (When I go to an event I take lots of pictures, and sort them out later) The 256mb card with the camera set to "fine" I get approx 104 shots. Do yourself a favor buy one big compact flash card instead of having a collection of little cards.
I consider myself to be decent amateur with a camera, and this 5700 may very well replace my 35mm SLR cameras once and for all.
Rating:
Summary: Upgrade from Coolpix 800 to Coolpix 5700
Review: Bought the 5700 as an upgrade to my 800 because I need the extra megapixels and love it. Had to prove to my wife that the upgrade is justified, so I took several photos today with both cameras, and the 5700 won hands down, giving me much better enlargements and better color, too. ... Am now ordering accessories from Amazon, especially a 128M compact flash card, since Nikon only provides a pathetic 8M card...
Rating: 
Summary: Maybe I Got A Lemon
Review: After reading all of the reviews, I had high expectations for this camera. While the menus are very complicated, and seemingly needlessly so, they can be mastered. But the camera doesn't seem to be able to easily retain settings, despite following the manual as closely as possible. Battery life is quite short, despite not using the LCD screen or flash, and I couldn't find anyone that has additional batteries in stock. Other issues involved the camera's failure to connect to my computer [an iMac], although Nikon help desk couldn't figure out why. .... My previous digicam, a Canon A20, has performed flawlessly, and in fact took pictures as good--if not often better at the same outdoor event as this Nikon. I am not a high-end professional, nor do I think you should have to be one to produce superior results with this camera. I bought it specifically to be able to control the exposure more, i.e. shutter speed, along with a reduced "shutter lag." So far, I'm disappointed on all counts, even allowing for my lack of sophistication when it comes to high-end digital photography. The LCD screen is almost unconscionably small, which is housed in a much larger flip-out panel that could easily accomodate a larger one. To me this is an indication of the haphazard approach Nikon has made with this particular camera, having had no other experience with Nikon previously. I strongly recommend you try this out in person, and then make sure everything works before any time elapses.
Rating:
Summary: Auto focus problems
Review: This is my first digital camera. The sharpness of the images and the ability to manipulate images in the computer are astounding. I cropped out about one third of an image, saved it on a CD, then took it to a Kinko's and printed it on a Kodak machine. I blew it up to an 8x10. I swear, you'd think it was taken in a studio with a Hasselblad. Sending jpegs over email is so fast and easy a child could do it. Here's my beef: I can't get the auto focus to work ... in low light. By low light, I mean ambient light indoors at night; say for example, taking snapshots at your kid's birthday party. It doesn't seem to matter what auto focus settings I use. This problem comes close to ruining the camera for me. Now, as I said, this is my first digital camera, so I have nothing to compare it to. I don't know if the Coolpix is better/worse/the same as other digital cameras. I am told that auto focus in low light is an issue for all digital cameras. Anyhow, be alert to that problem, try to research it, and ask yourself, if you can't take snapshots of your kid's birthday party, what good is it?
Rating:
Summary: The ALMOSt pro Digital camera for under [$]
Review: This camera rivals the [$] pro cameras on the market. Add a 1 Gig IBM Microdrive and you can take 134 photos in the high res. Raw format which will easily make a perfect 13x19 print that is true photo quality. The minimum density is fantastic so skin tones are beautiful, I was shooting with a Nikon N80 and scanning the transparencies with a Canon 4000 DPI scanner. That is both expensive and time consuming. This camera is about 80% as sharp as that combo...but with a better contrast range! My average session with a model is 6-8 rolls. With 2 microdrives I can achieve that quaintly with no computer necessary! And the cost of a single drive is recouped in 3 sessions (Film and processing costs eliminated).
Cons: Horrible low light sensitivity...Slow saving in the HiRes modes and the camera controls TOTALLY lock up while the cache is written to the disk/drive (after 3 consecutive shots in HiRes ONLY). You can shoot, but not change ANYTHING manually. This problem disappears in the JPEG modes which are fine for many applications. Autofocus is slow at extreme telephoto setting and in low light. AND the shutter release button delay is intolerable when using flash or in low light.
So if you want to do a lot of action photography pick another camera. If however, you want the sharpest image for the least money then buy the Nikon Coolpix 5700. And buy several extra batteries and as large a storage device as you can afford.
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