Nikon Coolpix 3100

Opinion: Just picked one up at Ritz for 349.95 USD + local tax.
First impression: wow, this thing is small. Yesterday I walked around the block and shoot whatever I saw, including trying the macro mode. Images came out fantastic. Nikon View 6 is really cool, the Image Editor is super simple. I never had a Nikon before, so this is going to be a huge one between Nikon and I. So far so good. Additional things I picked up with the camera after a long research: Domke pro.com 10 hardshell case, Ritz by Lexar 128 MB CF card, Nikon travel adapter, Nikon rechargable batteries with charger, an extra pair of rechargable batteries by Energizer, PNY usb CF card reader.

Opinion: This is one great camera you dont need to look in the manual at all scroll through the menus and you can figure it out picture quality is spectacular size very small but all operations are easy to accomplish LCD is awsome better than some of the 500 dollar jobs.

Opinion: This camera was my second choice after the Sony DSC-P72. Needed it quickly for an upcoming trip my daughter is taking and Sony could not deliver in time, so the Nikon got the nod. When I brought it home to show the skeptical wife and family, it was love at first sight! It is too cute. Sony who?

The image quality is just beautiful. I took a few shots with different lighting conditions and every one was just fine. No funky diagonals that I have seen with some others. Have not seen purple fringes, either.

Macro performance is top-notch as well considering this is a point & shoot.

Shot in a dark room 24 feet long and the flash was able to light the far end, although somewhat dim. That is very good reach for such a small flash. Red-eye reduction is much better than the four previous cameras I have owned.

The only weirdness I found in the imaging is when I shot a 40-second Quicktime at dusk. Several of the frames in the movie came through with a purple tint. This did not happen in full daylight.

Battery life seems to be acceptable, although I must admit I bought the Powerex 2000 mah AA's, which should not peter out too quickly anyway.

Bottom line, this is one fine choice for a family point and shoot camera. I just hope the plastic housing does not cause any problems.

Opinion: I bought this camera after a long survey. I got a very good bargain from a shopping complex in Penang, Malaysia for RM1100 (approx US$290). I was limited by budget constraint thus I settled for a 3.2 megapixel digicam. (I will buy Coolpix 4500 if I got the money) When I start using it, hey, everything is so nice!
I took many pictures at night/dawn time using both night mode and sunrise/sunset mode and the result is amazing. The region between light and darkness is just smooth. It looks like a professional work. However, in most situation, you will get grainy outcome. Tweak the settings until you get a good pix.
This digicam provides rich colour. I took some pix of my apartments on a clear day, the colours really stands out! Check it out at http://community.webshots.com/user/chew33 All pix are taken with this camera. No imaging processing was done.

Good manual on how to use the camera.

Nikon View software is easy to use, though the transfer mode is not accessible in the front panel as an icon, but in the drop down menu. Since, transfer is such an important mode, they should make it available in the front panel of the program. Bundled-software ArcSoft Panorama Maker is an excellent programme! I manage to stitch plenty of pix effortlessly, however, if you stitch pix on 'Tile' or '360' mode, beware the programme will not produce wanted results and take out a lot of virtual memory. Worst still, it crashes while handling large pix.