Nikon Coolpix P50

Opinion: Since a long time I have been looking for a handy camera with a wide angle lens and an optical view finder, and ideally with type AA batteries. So, when the P50 came to market I bought it immediately (currrently I still have the Fuji E550). Price was 229€ in Germany.

Beside those major features mentioned above it has got a lot of other useful things like image stabilization, internal back processing (D-Lighting), noise reduction and many, many features for individual settings. It also includes an aux. focussing light which ensures proper focussing under low light conditions. All menus are well thought out. So you can spend hours by playing around with the menu items and study the 150 pages manual, provided you want to take advantage of all those features - almost too many! But some of them can also be found in standard imaging software packages.

Operating the P50 is quite is easy: beginners can use the automatic shooting mode and advanced users can vary with the built in settings. What I like most is that you can easily switch between the shooting and the playback mode. All images came out well so far, but they first appeared a bit soft until I changed the internal settings for image optimization. I.e. you can vary the saturation and contrast settings for brighter images. What I also found out is that you should use the built in scene programs when taking pictures of bright beach or snow areas for example. Otherwise they can get underexposed. Generally, I can say that many pictures need some post-processing. Especially fotos taken under bright conditions or other critical shots like landscapes. Resolution is a bit better than Fuji's E550 with 6 MP, but with very little difference.

Opinion: Was looking for a compact camera (point and shoot plus) to take with me on my future vacation to Florida. After extensive internet search and magazine reviews and several trips to the local camera store I was pleased to see the Nikon P50 on the shelf. I was contemplating getting the P5100 but remained true to my decision to purchase a "travel" point and shoot with limited manual controls and exposure compensation for around $200.00. I currently own a Nikon D80 and the menus of the P50 are very similar in design. Overall, I am very pleased with the features of the P50 and the quality of the pictures it provides. It was also important to me that the Nikon P50 camera use AA batteries for convenience and had a 28mm wide angle capability. Because I will be using this primarily for group shots of people (travel criteria) and landscape (panoramas) the limited zoom isn't really an issue. If I want more than the 102mm zoom range I can use my Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 on my D80 to achieve the desired results. Love the D-lighting feature and the fact that I can turn up the flash to illuminate larger areas indoors. Overall I am very pleased with my Nikon P50. One has to remain true to the fact that this is a $200.00 point and shoot and not a $850.00 to $1800.00 DSLR. The Nikon P50 is more than sufficient to do what I am asking it to accomplish as a point and shoot camera!

Opinion: This is my first compact camera. After many years I needed to have a camera for any usage, especially when a reflex is too heavy or too big. I decided to buy the Nikon P50 because it is not expensive at all (only 220 €) and because it is very well made, it has a lot of pixels and, of course, because it is a Nikon. I am taking very nice pictures.

Opinion: Much better than I expected. Better IQ. 28 mm wide angle capability a big plus. Metering is excellent. Surprised at what it can do...and at a very very attractive price!