Nikon Coolpix 4200

Opinion: Great little camera! I found the nikon coolpix 4200 and 5200 to be very nice cameras that focused quickly and more reliable than the Canon A-80 during testing in the store. The internal memory of the nikons is nice for getting a fell of the camera without the need of a memory card. I decided on the 4200 to save $$ over the extra mega pixel resolution and better movie mode of the 5200. Startup time is much quicker than my Olympus 2040 and easy of use in great. The camera uses a nikon battery vs AA, but Iv'e found it to last better than NiMh AA and cost for a second battery is reasonable. These are the first Nikons to use a SD memory card. I'm using a SanDisk 256 Ultra II and so far have found write time to the card to be fast. Probably due to the 12 meg buffer in the camera.

Size of the camera is tiny comapred tot he Olympus 2040 and even smaller than the A-80. However it fits the hand well and is easy to use despite the small size.

New redeye removal in addition to the red eye reduction flas works wonders! I haven't needed to edit a single pic to remove red eye.

focus assist lamp is a big help for low light focus too.

I found the menus very easy to use and didn't need to reference the manual hardly at all.

Opinion: I have the Nikon 5200 but I don't know how to write a opinion in that section, so I write it under the 4200 section because it's practicly the same camera.

I'm very happy with this camera, it's very fast even in low light or darkness. I think it's the fastest nikon PS camera ever. The sony W1 is a little bit faster but has no manual white balance.

Image quality is very good, no purple fringing or whatever.
Images are indeed a little soft but can be adjusted in the camera or even better with Nikon View.

The camera has a very good grip for such a small camera especially compared to other camera's like the Canon S500 or sony's W1 and battery life is also very good compared to other camera's I have, such as the nikon 5700

Red eye reduction works also very good.

In other words: It's the perfect camera for me.

Opinion: The delay is awful! Otherwise a very easy camera to use. Light weight and small. The only way to capture a picture without blur (unless it's a tree) is to have it in action mode. The delay is unbeleivable! I'm going to play with it some more, but I might have to take it back. I'm use to my Canon EOS Rebel dSLR and even my inexpensive Kodax digital (can't remember the # off hand), neither of these cameras have a delay at all.