The Digital Camera You've Been Waiting For
Written: Jun 06 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: picture quality equivalent to a good 35mm camera
Cons: poor battery life, prone to redeye when using flash
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| sgersh's Full Review: Nikon Coolpix 990 Digital Camera |
I always wondered when there would come a time when a digital camera would make me give up my trusty old SLR for good. That time has come.
The Coolpix 990 is everything I (a serious amateur) have wanted in a digital camera.
The Look
My problem with a lot of the early digital cameras is they looked so.... Analog. You know, you wanted to feel as if you were working with some new technology and the boxy feel of other cameras (like the Kodak DC280) didn't really look so revolutionary. The Coolpix looks like a new idea in photography with its twisty lense and slick surface that is at once ergonomic too.
The Feel
The camera feels good to hold. Your hands grip it naturally. The weight is not too heavy, but not light so that you feel you're working with a cheap piece of electronics. It's balanced in your hand so that you can easily hold it in one hand when you're composing your shots. The magnesium chassis is extremely durable and I had no trouble with it knocking around in my backpack during a hike.
The Features
What I love about my old Nikon 8800 is that you can put it on fully automatic and let the camera make exposure decisions for you, or you can fully program it, taking control over shutter speed, aperature, focus, and bracketing. The Coolpix 990 gives you that same level of control, but also the opportunity to choose from a variety of pre-packaged scenarios (like portrait or landscape orientation, or close up photography).
The camera sucks up a lot of battery power (this seems to be a given with digital cameras), so once nicely implemented feature is the DC power input jack, which is actually on the front of the camera, meaning that the cable is out of the way when you plug it in and want to take pictures using wall socket power.
The menu system on the back is very intuitive (read: he doesn't like to look at the manual) and more responsive than any of the other high end cameras I looked at (Kodak DC 280, Olympus).
The zoom lens is equivalent to a common SLR zoom lens, which roughly equates to a 35-100mm zoom, a bit more than my old Nikon 30-70mm. I like that the camera can accept other lenses too, though I haven't purchased any yet. I'm hoping there's an aftermarket that will develop for digital cameras to stimulate competition and price pressure; otherwise the extra lenses are a bit too expensive right now.
One other cool little feature is called "Multi Shot 16". That's where the camera actually takes 16 pictures at once and combines the best aspects of them into one picture. It's kind of like getting 16 chances to get it right, perfect for an amateur like me. Finally a camera whose judgement is better than my own!
For those goofballs like me who enjoy playing around in Photoshop, you'll be delighted to find that the camera includes a "histogram" feature, which lets you check the luminance of the image right from the camera yourself. Pretty nifty little feature that allows you at a glance to see how bright the image will appear on screen (or on a final printout).
The Pictures
But how are the photos? In a word, great. For the past two years, I've been explaining the convenience and reliability of digital cameras with this qualifier: of course, a cheap 35mm produces better pictures. No longer.
With over 3 million pixels in resolution, I can take a shot of my son, print it out on glossy paper in 3 x 5 resolution, frame it, and you'd never know it was from a digital camera. That's what I've been waiting for. The images are crisp, sharp and look just like real photos.
The Fun
If you, like I, have small kids you run around after, you'll be delighted to see that the focus time is quick, the exposures are easy to attain (meaning fewer pictures of the back of junior's head or someone just after a smile), and the huge buffer (memory) means that wait times between shots is just the same as with your usual 35mm SLR. You can also capture short movies with the camera at 30 frames per second!
The Downside
1. It eats batteries like nobody's business. I only got 40 shots on my first fresh set of alkalines.
2. The software that comes with it is really crummy.
3. With the flash in dark rooms, the camera is very prone to red-eye. This is the most annoying feature about the camera to me as some otherwise good shots, have had to be manipulated on the computer to remove the annoying effect.
The End
This is the camera to buy when you're considering getting rid of your 35mm SLR for good. It's nearly perfect and exactly what I wanted in a digital camera.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
sgersh
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Location: Bay Area, California
Reviews written: 120
Trusted by: 66 members
About Me:
Up until now, I did stuff, some of which I talk about on here.
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