Rating: 
Summary: Japan or Korea
Review: Someone mentioned when getting the Coolpix 5400, make sure to get the one made in Japan and not Korea. How can you tell where it is made? Any information will be greatly appreciated.
Rating: 
Summary: Getting old - look elsewhere
Review: The Coolpix 5400 is a model that's nearly two years old and, in digital photograpy terms, it's already a dinosaur. It takes good-quality pictures, better than most tiny point-and-shoots, but compared to Nikon's newer advanced compact digital cameras (8400, 8700, 8800, etc.) and the latest G-series from Canon, it's a very lackluster performer. I also have issues with the very small (1.5") LCD screen. The sensor on this camera is small, resulting in picture quality that cannot be compared to cameras with larger sensors.
Yes, this is cheap after the $200 rebate, but it's a camera that wasn't great when it was new and is definitely way out-of-date by now, and its picture quality just doesn't do justice to the Nikon brandname.
Rating:
Summary: solid 5MP camera with 4x zoom, but compare vs competition
Review: the nikon coolpix 5400 is a solid 5MP, 4x zoom camera with a strong feature set. but it has a few shortcomings so make sure to consider its competition.pros:
- 5MP and 4x optical zoom.
- good color response, average resolution for 5MP.
- photos have very low noise.
- allows a great deal of manual control.
- macro mode better than most.
- low redeye occurrence.
- virtually free of chromatic aberrations.
- shadow highlights maintained.
- timed exposures up to 10 minutes.
- expandable with a boatload of lenses, flashes, and other accessories from nikon.
- wider lens than most.
- supports CF card types I and II.
- flip-out LCD display - protects LCD when not in use.
- high resolution LCD with anti-reflective coating that actually works.
- very comfortable to hold with a deep hand grip made of soft rubber.
- compact body feels solid.
- reprogrammable FUNC button, and initial record menu.
- above average battery life (i still recommend getting a spare though). cons:
- some lens distortion, especially at maximum zoom.
- images occasionally appear soft around corners.
- slow response interface, non-intuitive menus.
- no AF assist light - very puzzling why nikon doesn't provide this.
- to add insult to injury, this camera has a hard time focusing in low light so an AF assist light would really come in handy.
- average auto focus speed.
- buffering issue? the camera locks towards the end of write process.
- slow CF write speed / processing.
- you're on your own when using manual focus - it doesn't show focus distance.
- LCD smaller than competition.
- RAW mode not supported.
- flimsy cover for CF slot.
- no live histogram in record mode.
- no support for external Speedlight features such as AF assist or flash zoom.
- connectivity options all over the place rather than in a central location.
- uses proprietary battery so make sure you add some $$ to your budget to get a spare.
- the supplied 16MB CF card is inadequate - again, more $$ for more memory. the coolpix 5400 is a solid camera from nikon with a very strong feature set. it will produce very good pics in point and shoot mode but still has full manual control if you want to be more creative with your shots. i've given this a 4-star rating because of two important factors for me: the lack of an AF assist light and the dead time at the end of write process. i would suggest that you consider the canon g5 and the sony dsc-v1 before committing to the nikon 5400. i hope this helps with your buying decision. peace.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the Best
Review: This camera is one of the best cameras I have ever used. My university bought three of them for our yearbook staff to use for our entire range of photographs. To date, I cannot be dissapointed. Each picture has exceptional quality and looks extremely professional. I would recommend this camera to anyone interested in photography.
Rating: 
Summary: Sounds great, but doesn't deliver
Review: This camera looked like the perfect thing--many of the same capabilities as the 5700, but a more compact body. I was very excited when it arrived. After using it for a while, though, I realized what a mistake I'd made. Number one problem: focus. The camera has no auto-focus assist lamp, and does a TERRIBLE job of focusing in indoor light situations. Nikon would have us believe that the flash is normally required for those times, but my 4-year-old Canon Powershot S10 handles similar situations perfectly. In fact, the Powershot S10 outperforms the 5400 in a lot of ways. Compounding the problem of the 5400's inept autofocusing is the small, grainy LCD. So even if it looks like your picture's in focus, chances are when you see them full-size you'll realize they weren't. Too bad I took too long trying to figure out whether all these problems were user-error, or I'd have returned the camera to Amazon. Now I'm stuck with it.
Rating:
Summary: A Pro's camera
Review: This camera measures roughly 4"x3"x2.5". It weighs 0.8 lbs with the battery. As I am 200 lb size man, this camera definitely is compact for me.
The camera is powerful. It has a wide angle lens, standard. The optical zoom is 4x. Shutter speeds range from 10 mins (bulb) to 1/8000 sec (ultra high speed); but, 97% of my shooting uses 1/8 sec to 1/700 sec shutter speeds. f/ values range from 2.8 to 8.0 (8.0 reached at 4x zoom). In 1600x1200 jpg fine picture mode, it can snap 7 frames in 2.7 sec (high speed continuous), or 54 frames in 33.5 sec (low speed continuous). For faster continuous shooting, I recommend using the QuickTime movie mode (includes sound), rather than the ultra high speed continuous mode. The movie mode is 15 fps, 3 mins max at 320x240 pixels or 70 secs max at 640x480 pixels. You can combine and edit the movie clips, using QuickTime Pro software ($30 extra).
The camera can be used in fully auto mode, or for the best pictures, you will want to go to the fully manual mode ( this will be a learning experience for the novice). Also, available, if you need extra high quality pictures (better than jpg), you can use the TIFF 2,592x1,944 pixel mode (5 mega-pixels is also available for the jpg images).
The color accuracy of this camera is very high. While photo editing the pictures, I seldom need more than one click of adjustment to achieve perfect color, and half the time , zero adjustment is needed.
Auto focus will be 97-100% accurate in average or bright light, but if the light is very dim, then the auto focus quits working. Also, the natural focus of the lens tends to be soft, so that a setting of high image sharpening, + contrast, and +1 color saturation is recommended. The lens has rather low chromatic and linear aberration.
The auto ISO sensitivity and the auto white balance of the camera is generally very good , so no manual adjustment is needed or recommended. Image "noise" is almost zero at ISO's of 50 to 150.
The monitor measures 1 1/4" x 7/8" , 1.5" diagonally. It is easy to see the image in bright sunlight, and has good resolution at 134,000 pixels. The monitor is big enough for me - I am nearsighted, but a lot of people would prefer the 1.8" size monitor.
I can't give this camera a 5 star rating, because, then you would have to give the professional league cameras a 6 star rating. But, for its size and weight, Nikon has made a very powerful camera.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful Camera in a Compact Size
Review: This camera measures roughly 4"x3"x2.5". It weighs 0.8 lbs with the battery. As I am 200 lb size man, this camera definitely is compact for me.
The camera is powerful. It has a wide angle lens, standard. The optical zoom is 4x. Shutter speeds range from 10 mins (bulb) to 1/8000 sec (ultra high speed); but, 97% of my shooting uses 1/8 sec to 1/700 sec shutter speeds. f/ values range from 2.8 to 8.0 (8.0 reached at 4x zoom). In 1600x1200 jpg fine picture mode, it can snap 7 frames in 2.7 sec (high speed continuous), or 54 frames in 33.5 sec (low speed continuous). For faster continuous shooting, I recommend using the QuickTime movie mode (includes sound), rather than the ultra high speed continuous mode. The movie mode is 15 fps, 3 mins max at 320x240 pixels or 70 secs max at 640x480 pixels. You can combine and edit the movie clips, using QuickTime Pro software ($30 extra).
The camera can be used in fully auto mode, or for the best pictures, you will want to go to the fully manual mode ( this will be a learning experience for the novice). Also, available, if you need extra high quality pictures (better than jpg), you can use the TIFF 2,592x1,944 pixel mode (5 mega-pixels is also available for the jpg images).
The color accuracy of this camera is very high. While photo editing the pictures, I seldom need more than one click of adjustment to achieve perfect color, and half the time , zero adjustment is needed.
Auto focus will be 97-100% accurate in average or bright light, but if the light is very dim, then the auto focus quits working. Also, the natural focus of the lens tends to be soft, so that a setting of high image sharpening, + contrast, and +1 color saturation is recommended. The lens has rather low chromatic and linear aberration.
The auto ISO sensitivity and the auto white balance of the camera is generally very good , so no manual adjustment is needed or recommended. Image "noise" is almost zero at ISO's of 50 to 150.
The monitor measures 1 1/4" x 7/8" , 1.5" diagonally. It is easy to see the image in bright sunlight, and has good resolution at 134,000 pixels. The monitor is big enough for me - I am nearsighted, but a lot of people would prefer the 1.8" size monitor.
I can't give this camera a 5 star rating, because, then you would have to give the professional league cameras a 6 star rating. But, for its size and weight, Nikon has made a very powerful camera.
Rating:
Summary: Noisy display
Review: Unter normal indoor lighting conditions the image in the 1.5 LCD display is extreamly noisey and blury
Rating:
Summary: Beginner to Advanced
Review: What can I say? I love the 5400! It is my second from the Coolpix series. My first was a CP 880 that took a fall so the 5400 was a replacement. It's well worth the money. I looked around a lot and couldn't find anything I liked from other manufacturers that packed the features and flexibility of the 5400. If you are a new digital user, the auto mode and scene modes are great. I usually shoot in P or M modes and can turn the dial to Automatic mode and hand it to my wife who likes the ability to point and shoot without thinking about adjusting anything. You can grow into this camera if you don't know yet how to shoot manually. The 15 different scene modes to choose from are excellent. The panoramic assist mode is particularly cool. You can shoot a panoramic horizontally, vertically or in a 360 degree circle. You take photos and then put them together after download with the ArcSoft software that comes with the camera. It even allows you to fine-tune the pictures in case they do not align they way you want them too. Pros:
Turn a fully automatic camera into a fully manual camera with the turn of a dial. I haven't found anything this camera cannot do that my recently auctioned SLR could do. Picture quality is equal to me. The camera feels great to hold. All of the buttons are in convenient locations. Menus can be customized to show what you adjust frequently and you can store two different user settings using the function button. 5-shot buffer is great. It will take photos as long as you hold down the shutter release. It only stores the last five frames even if you have held the shutter release down long enough to make 20 exposures. Also does time lapse. Shutter speed from Bulb to 1/4000. Crisp Macro shooting. The Vari-Angle display is much better than a fixed position display. Three metering options- Matrix, Center-weighted and Spot are very effective. Takes Type I and II compact flash. I wouldn't go with anything less than 256mb. Make sure it is USB compatible memory if you plan to use a Compact Flash reader in a USB port. Hot shoe for accessories is a great addition. When a speedlight is attached, you can set the camera to fire the internal flash and speedlight or you can turn off the internal flash and use only the speedlight. This is great if you want to bounce your speedlight and use the internal for a fill-flash. It also works with a SC-17 remote cable if you want to get the flash off the camera for close up/macro shots. (If you are thinking about getting a Nikon speedlight, go with the SB-80DX or find an old SB-28 or SB-28DX versus going with the SB-50DX. It's worth the extra money if you are going to do any manual shooting/adjusting of speedlight. There is no manual mode on the SB-50DX so you can't really fine tune lighting if you are shooting with the camera in manual mode.) Battery life is good (about 1.5 - 2 hrs.) It comes with a charger and 1 battery. A second (or 2CR5) as a back-up in my case has come in handy. Cons:
The autofocus is not very good in low light situations. I have a Nikon SB-28 speedlight with autofocus assist but the 5400 doesn't activate it. I knocked off half a star for that. You have to go through a 1/4 view screen before going to full-screen view when using the Quick Review. I think it would be better if it went straight to the full-screen view and did away with the 1/4 screen view. (-1/4 star.) The only option for adding filters is the HN-CP10 hood with 77mm filters. It's great to have a hood large enough to stay out of wide angle compositions but the 77mm filters are very expensive. (last 1/4 star) Card cover is flimsy. I have a card reader and each time I open the door to remove the card, I think about how flimsy it is. The 880 had a much more sturdy door. Area through the viewfinder is significantly different than what you see in the monitor. I read somewhere it is about 35% less through the viewfinder than the monitor. Overall, it's a great camera for the beginner or advanced user. As a result of purchasing this camera, I shoot only digital and don't miss my SLR one bit. The owner's manual is 160 pages and thoroughly explains all the camera's features. I've had it for 3 months now and am still learning what this camera can do.
Rating:
Summary: nikon 5400
Review: what the professional reviewers say about the problems w/ lack of AF assist in low lighting conditions is true: photos taken in low light are often out of focus. in addition, the viewfinder is inaccurate; you will eat up battery life because you will have to rely on the display to frame your shots accurately.
on the other hand, the ergonomics of the camera are great: it just feels perfect in your hand. and outdoor shots are detailed and colorful. the wider lens angle is also really nice.
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