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Average rating:
4.29
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Nikon Coolpix 45003.9 megapixels | 1.5" screen | 38 – 155 mm (4.1×)
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Average rating:
4.29
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Opinion: In my humble opinion this is probably the most timeless of all the point&shoot range cameras. Very well built. Swivel construction is very convenient for ground level shots, and useful for achieving more creative compositions. Great macro, good image quality. The lens is easy and comparatively cheap to couple with microscopes, telescopes etc. Needs some attention and tinkering with to take good photographs, but it's certainly worthwhile. Good learning curve for a novice photographer to make his way to a digital SLR. Shame on Nikon for discontinuing this line of cameras.
Problems: Takes some time from turning on till the first shot, hard to use for action photography, colours could be better (sometimes photographs have a reddish cast), quite a few hot pixels in the beginning (fixed easily with that Russian pixel remapping hackware, you can also hack the camera software and persuade it to take photographs in RAW), poor video quality + sound lag (don't care too much for it though), LCD could be bigger and with higher resolution, hard to keep clean as it is right under my thumb, low battery life (I need two fully charged batteries for a days hike in the woods), very hard to use manual focusing, weak internal flash, tendency to blow out highlights, noisy above ISO100, but I hear that with NoiseNinja etc. you can go as high as ISO400 with acceptable image quality.
Opinion: If you want a compact camera with lens accessories, external flash, very close macro, remote (wired) control and the other raft of features this camera (system) has there is no competition. But it's not a camera for the casual photographer. The swivel design is a fanastic feature (if you know how to use it), the additional lenses can greatly expand the potential (especially with 0.21x 180 degree fisheye). Very versatile for close-up/macro (even hand held), good flash for size, remote cable enables time-lapse, control of zoom as well as cable release (at £90 should make toast as well). Excellent colour/tone and white balance.
Problems: Despite metal build I've returned 3 with broken plastic gears in the focus mechanism, now replaced with metal at a cost of £200. Slow, oh so slow at everything. Noise above ISO100, ISO800 useless. Menu's so embedded that the shutter lag of approximately 1 week doesn't seem so bad (in reality shutter lag close to 2s). Small LCD, everything looks great on-camera, it's only off camera you see how bad some images are. Purple fringing, worse than on any other camera I've used, even the older 990. Cost of camera and accessories, close up light (LED's) is quite poor.
Opinion: I have used this camera since its release for private and professional tasks. One of the cameras endured a year of heavy use and abuse in Iraq. For general photography and especially macro work, one would be hard pressed to find a better suited camera even now several years after its release.
Problems: On one of the 4500's the CF card eject button broke, however the card could still be inserted/ejected manually.
Opinion: I have been using the 4500 for 2.5yrs now and even though I have since bought two more cameras I still love it. Awesome macro - I have shot some amazing close-ups of flowers, insects, etc.. Twisted body design is most comfortable - Nikon should build a new camera with the same design.
Magnesium alloy body is on a different class than most 4 megapixel cameras - I have dropped it on concrete from 3 feet (1m) and apart from some scratches everything was fine!
Easy to use, custom function mode is really cool.
Problems: Slow start-up and focusing (consider though that this is a 3y old camera).
Noise in high ISO modes.
Focusing tricky in low light conditions, but once you learn how to handle it is ok.
Opinion: I bought this camera with the specific purpose of using it for astrophotography as recommended by quite a few websites.
Oh how dissapointed I have been with it. The camera cotrols are all over the place, and man is it slow! Let alone the noise in dark conditions
After about 3 months of using the camera connected to my telescope I gave up and went back to using my trusty Canon S30 (much easier to use and better results). I then thought lets give the Nikon a go in the daytime.
It didn't get any better, slow zoom, small LCD screen that you end up getting finger prints all over due to the quiry split design of the camera, poor colours the list goes on.
Do yourself a favour go and buy a Canon instead.
Problems: Noisey pictures, poor colour reproduction, slow zoom, slow autofocus, small lcd etc etc
Opinion: I've used this camera for over 2 two year now. Here's what I found:
1) Excellent macro mode.
2) Accurate color.
3) Visible noise at ISO > 100 - looks ok in the LCD screen, but after transferred to PC, the results of picture doesn't look nice at all, even when noice reduction is turned on. These noises are more noticeable now compare to when I first bought it.
2) Slow in terms of image writing speed and also focusing - making it not suitable for moving object. Capturing in TIFF format at the highest resolution takes more than 10 seconds before I can take the next shot! Must have lots of patients when taking such scene.
3) Unfriendly manual focus - you have no idea whether you are in focus or out of focus since the LCD screen is small!
4) Movie compresssion too high - movie pictures not clear.
5) TIFF format only available at the highest resolution
Opinion: I bought the camera for digiscoping. That is taking pictures through a telescope, mostly of birds. For this the Coolpix 4500 is excellent as it has an internal zoom (the lens doen't come out of the front when you zoom. The camera behaves impecably and I've got some shots that would otherwise have cost me a fortune in huge, long focus lenses.
The ordinary pictures are very good too.
Problems: The monitor screen is too small and it is difficult to judge when the picture is in focus id tou are manually focussing.
Opinion: A great camera in many ways.
Particular strengths - general image quality, *exceptionally good* macro, swivel design (which can really increase picture-taking opportunities), number of operational choices, small size, super build quality and finish.
Problems: However, there are quite a few design issues that I think could have been handled better - it's not as fast in use as I'd like (due to very slow OS, and slowish focusing and processing), the lens distortion at wide angle is worse than many cheaper cameras, the monitor is too small and I dislike its coating, which smears easily, there are compatibility issues with some CF cards. The built-in flash is unusually puny for a decent camera, and the use of an external one requires expensive dedicated accessories.
Opinion: That's it.
Problems: None within reasonable use.
Reviews and specs
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Challenges
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 | 22.3 megapixels 3.2" screen Full frame sensor |
