Why I Bought the Product:

There were four reasons why I bought the Nikon Coolpix 990 digital
camera:

1. Pictures from digital cameras are a lot better than scanned prints.
Scanners tend to pick up a lot of "dust" at higher resolutions and often have a bias toward a part of the color spectrum.

2. I had wanted to use digital pictures in making my own cards and
presentations.

3. It was one of the first 3 Megapixel cameras on the market.

4. It is made by one of the most respected camera/optics manufacturer
in the world.


Experience Using the Camera:

I had bought the digital camera in May, shortly after it appeared on the US market. The controls are similar to point and shoot cameras,
yet it also has features found in more sophisticated SLRs. And, the
pictures that it takes are fantastic!

I've taken pictures in bright light, low light, bulb mode, fully
automatic, aperture priority, shutter priority and fully-manual
modes, and the camera has yet to disappoint me!

As with any camera, the more you know about the camera and
about general photography, the better the pictures you will take.
The menus are intuitive but lengthy. I would have preferred a couple
more buttons to having to go through three or four layers of menus
to turn on/off a feature such as using the fluorescent setting under
White Balancing. However, the pictures are stunning and the
resolution is great for work on computers. A XGA shot (about a 2
MPixel shot) is enough to make a background without "stretching"
at 1024x768.

However, the greatest cons going against it are endemic to nearly
all digital cameras on the market. It eats batteries, so invest in
a couple sets of NiMH (nickel metal hydride) rechargeable batteries.
They're pricey, but they work better than alkalines. Each charge is
good for about 30-60 minutes of usage. In addition, 3.3 Mpixels are
great for the computer screen but not very good for printing out.
For example, at 3 Mpixels (2000x1500), the camera will only generate a
picture about 6inx5in at 300dpi (not to mention a 10Mb file).
Granted, most printers aren't capable of printing photo-quality
stuff, but this is just to show, that at this point, film is still
better for hardcopies. For this reason, I carry both my digital
camera and my SLR when going to events/trips.


Pros:
The camera's greatest strength is the amount of features that Nikon
has packed into such a small package! For the traditional point and
shoot users, the camera will be breeze; push the button halfway
and the camera determines the aperture and shutter speed for a
properly exposed shot. Matrix metering helps to correctly expose
hard to judge situations such as landscapes (dark ground, bright sky)
and subjects that are in shadows.

For those that would like more control over the picture, it allows you
to shoot in aperture priority, shutter speed priority or fully
manual. It also has exposure compensation (+-2ev) and a bulb feature
(useful for shooting fireworks or around campfires). The white
balance feature was useful when shooting under fluorescent lighting
since it automatically compensates to remove the yellowish tinge that
one would otherwise get.


Cons:
My greatest complaint against the Nikon Coolpix 990 is how quickly it
will go through batteries. The batteries that were packaged with the
camera didn't even last 30 pictures. The manual suggests turning off
the LCD display and having it focus only when the trigger is pushed
halfway (manual mode only) to extend the battery life. However, it
is very hard not to use the LCD when lighting conditions are difficult
and when converters are attached to the camera. The best solution
that I found for this problem was buying 2 sets of NiMH rechargeable
batteries. They were expensive (4 for $16), but they'll save you
money in the long run since four alkaline batteries only last about
30 shots, and they're not as restrictive as AC-adapters.

My second pet-peeve about the camera is that it's not a SLR. Because
the viewfinder is not through the lens (TTL), the picture you see
through the viewfinder may not be what's actually been taken. There
are marks for when you take close-ups or regular shots, but they're
not very accurate. If you do use the viewfinder, make sure that the
subject of interest is not at the edge of the shot. As a result, I
almost exclusively use the LCD panel and not the viewfinder.
Another consequence with not having TTL viewfinder is that converters
should be used in non-flash situations only or else, the metering
may be fooled.



Recommended: Yes