New Coolpix 6700 + conspiracy theory on lowlight problem!!

[Hans vdC]

well, I don't want to 'stir things up', but I received an email today from nikon belgium in reply to my question about nikon working on an improved frmware for the 5700...answer: we are NOT working on a new firmware, and there's very little possibility that there will be a new one in the foreseeable future because there are no problems with the current firmware!

voila :/

My guess is that Nikon is going to release a new Coolpix 6700
announced in the first week or two of March. I have no information
to prove that even though someone posted that a new 6200 model with
6 megs will be announced soon.

Now onto the conspiracy theory. Nikon, knows damn well about the
problems with low light focusing on their coolpix cameras. I owned
the Coolpix 900 and that had major lowlight focusing problems. They
stepped it up to the 990 and that also had problems. Nikons boards
were flooded with complaints. I remember talking to the technicians
at 1800- nikon UX and telling them about the problems, asking and
begging them to add a focus assist light. What happened the 995
came out and that also had focusing problems. Then the 5000 came
(problematic) and now the 5700 and I dont have to rehash what
everyone has been saying. I had a chance this weekend to play
around with the D1X camera, that sucker had no problems focusing on
anything and it was almost instantaneous. Now for the conspiracy
issue. Nikon knows damn well the Coolpix series has a bunch of
focus problems, but why should they fix them when they sell the D1X
for 2000-3000 and up for the body alone. The Coolpix 5700 in my
opinion has taken pictures that rival the quality of the D1X and
the D100 cameras for that matter. If they were to fix the focusing
on the Coolpix series they would sell less of the high end camera's
in my opinion. Also, every time they come out with the new camera's
everyone on these boards keeps upgrading because they get more
megapixels and some newer features. Nikon is selling a lot of these
camera's so the management doesnt see a need to fix them therefore.
If we all stopped buying them because of these problems, then they
might do something about it. But as long as we keep buying even
with these problems they will keep manufacturing buggy cameras
because we public joe keeps pumping them up with more money. If you
want them to change boycott this product. If sales fall off, they
will adjust them to work properly. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Ricardo Castelo]

Yeah Michael, but I would prefer to spend $400 on a flash with AF light than $1200-$1400 on a new nikon 6200,6700 or whatever.

How can I justify to the family a new camera in 8 months or so?

 

[Armando J. Heredia]

Requires the optional Improved Neck

-Armando (whose neck has been broken by years of toting multiple camera bodies and large-aperture lenses and is now grateful for the relatively light weight of the CP5700)

Will the 6700 have a new improved neck strap?

Ron T

 

[Mark simms]

I just bot an SB80DX....can you tell me how you did this ?
What settings are you using on it with the 5700....auto, manual, TTL ?

 

[kapalua]

PLEASE forgive my question if the 6700 is not 'real" but is a new 6700 really coming out soon?????

Or was that picture of one just a figment of my imagination?

 

[Maxsol]

Do I wonder me because in the brochures of the Nikon 5700 are omitted that the autofocus with low light doesn't work well?

Let's do causes all together with the Nikon!

 

[Murray Latter]

Hi Michael,

I read this earlier today and I had to come home and check my camera and flash just to be sure.

My CP5700 has all 5 of the physical connections on the hot shoe. (4 pins and, I assume, the ground) This is the same as the PZ5000AF flash unit.

Assuming they're not dummy pins, one would think that a firmware update would be able to enable them for the uses we would like, such as AF assist and zoom.

It strikes me as strange that all 5 connections would be there yet only basic ttl from the flash is supported.

I'm thinking that maybe there's hope for this in the future.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Murray

If they do that with the next Coolpix models, flash units like
Nikon's SB-28, SB-50DX, SB-80, or Sunpak's PZ-4000AF, and PZ-5000AF
will all work just like they do with the Nikon SLRs.

I guess Nikon could develop a flash unit (like the SB-50DX or
SB-80) that has a manual switch on the AF assist light. That way
you could manually turn it on when focusing with the Coolpix
cameras. - Although I would still like Nikon to start supporting
their full external flash features in all future prosumer Coolpix
cameras.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Come on Mr Nikon... Pretty Please!? With a cherry on top too?!

I know you can do it... imagine, you will start getting buyers
back from Canon etc who already support these features! Won't that
be good for the books, and of course the Share-holders!

Can I leave the ball in your court now?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Yours sincerely,
Michael Offe,
South Australia.

P.S. On the idea of a special flash unit with a manual AF light
switch... I wonder if a block could mount between the existing
flash units and the camera's hot shoe with a press switch to
operate the AF light?

I think the best way Nikon had to escape the flaming on low light
focus was to develop a special flash unit with af assist light that
would work on the 5700 - perhaps with a hefty $400-$500 price tag.

...........................If it is tecnally possible...............

 

[Louie Kokoris]

If they had any intention of activating the AF assist light on external flashes, wouldnt they already have done this on the cp5000 model?

Unless they plan to do this in the future at the same time.

Maybe they do not want to activatie the AF assist light on external flashes. Maybe they think that people will then say that their AF system only works properly when you have an external speedlite attached?

Louie

I read this earlier today and I had to come home and check my
camera and flash just to be sure.

My CP5700 has all 5 of the physical connections on the hot shoe. (4
pins and, I assume, the ground) This is the same as the PZ5000AF
flash unit.
Assuming they're not dummy pins, one would think that a firmware
update would be able to enable them for the uses we would like,
such as AF assist and zoom.

It strikes me as strange that all 5 connections would be there yet
only basic ttl from the flash is supported.

I'm thinking that maybe there's hope for this in the future.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Murray

If they do that with the next Coolpix models, flash units like
Nikon's SB-28, SB-50DX, SB-80, or Sunpak's PZ-4000AF, and PZ-5000AF
will all work just like they do with the Nikon SLRs.

I guess Nikon could develop a flash unit (like the SB-50DX or
SB-80) that has a manual switch on the AF assist light. That way
you could manually turn it on when focusing with the Coolpix
cameras. - Although I would still like Nikon to start supporting
their full external flash features in all future prosumer Coolpix
cameras.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Come on Mr Nikon... Pretty Please!? With a cherry on top too?!

I know you can do it... imagine, you will start getting buyers
back from Canon etc who already support these features! Won't that
be good for the books, and of course the Share-holders!

Can I leave the ball in your court now?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Yours sincerely,
Michael Offe,
South Australia.

P.S. On the idea of a special flash unit with a manual AF light
switch... I wonder if a block could mount between the existing
flash units and the camera's hot shoe with a press switch to
operate the AF light?

I think the best way Nikon had to escape the flaming on low light
focus was to develop a special flash unit with af assist light that
would work on the 5700 - perhaps with a hefty $400-$500 price tag.

...........................If it is tecnally possible...............

--
CP5700
Sydney, Australia
http://www.pbase.com/louiek

 

[Murray Latter]

You're probably right Louie.

It's annoying how marketing gets in the way of good engineering.
We both know that a fews lines of code could make this a whole new camera.

Murray

ps I'm VERY happy with the 5700 - I love it. I just hate the external flash issue.

Unless they plan to do this in the future at the same time.

Maybe they do not want to activatie the AF assist light on external
flashes. Maybe they think that people will then say that their AF
system only works properly when you have an external speedlite
attached?

Louie

I read this earlier today and I had to come home and check my
camera and flash just to be sure.

My CP5700 has all 5 of the physical connections on the hot shoe. (4
pins and, I assume, the ground) This is the same as the PZ5000AF
flash unit.
Assuming they're not dummy pins, one would think that a firmware
update would be able to enable them for the uses we would like,
such as AF assist and zoom.

It strikes me as strange that all 5 connections would be there yet
only basic ttl from the flash is supported.

I'm thinking that maybe there's hope for this in the future.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Murray

If they do that with the next Coolpix models, flash units like
Nikon's SB-28, SB-50DX, SB-80, or Sunpak's PZ-4000AF, and PZ-5000AF
will all work just like they do with the Nikon SLRs.

I guess Nikon could develop a flash unit (like the SB-50DX or
SB-80) that has a manual switch on the AF assist light. That way
you could manually turn it on when focusing with the Coolpix
cameras. - Although I would still like Nikon to start supporting
their full external flash features in all future prosumer Coolpix
cameras.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Come on Mr Nikon... Pretty Please!? With a cherry on top too?!

I know you can do it... imagine, you will start getting buyers
back from Canon etc who already support these features! Won't that
be good for the books, and of course the Share-holders!

Can I leave the ball in your court now?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Yours sincerely,
Michael Offe,
South Australia.

P.S. On the idea of a special flash unit with a manual AF light
switch... I wonder if a block could mount between the existing
flash units and the camera's hot shoe with a press switch to
operate the AF light?

I think the best way Nikon had to escape the flaming on low light
focus was to develop a special flash unit with af assist light that
would work on the 5700 - perhaps with a hefty $400-$500 price tag.

...........................If it is tecnally possible...............

--
CP5700
Sydney, Australia
http://www.pbase.com/louiek

 

[Mark simms]

That's gotta be so totally B.S.....as just from the posts on this forum, the return rate for the 5700 has got to be getting the attention of Nikon's management....it's very high.

I think they will change their tune soon.....reason: too much 5 megapix competition. If I am wrong, then Nikon will soon be de-throned from the top of the digital heap....and will become an "also-ran" instead of a "leader".

 

[Michael Offe]

If they had any intention of activating the AF assist light on
external flashes, wouldnt they already have done this on the cp5000
model?

Unless they plan to do this in the future at the same time.

Maybe they do not want to activatie the AF assist light on external
flashes. Maybe they think that people will then say that their AF
system only works properly when you have an external speedlite
attached?

It would be better than nothing!!!

But I wouldn't be surprised if they are only dummy pins.

The 990, 995 & 4500 all only have 3 pins supported. The AS-E900 and AS-10 hot shoes have all five pins (4 pins + ground) but the cables and plugs only have 3 wires. This is what makes me wonder if two of the pins on the CP 5000 and 5700 are not connected past the hot shoe.
That would also explain why Nikon haven't upgraded features with firmware.

Yours sincerely,
Michael Offe,
South Australia.

Louie

 

[Terry Talton]

Michael Offe wrote:
-snip--------
. This is what makes me wonder

if two of the pins on the CP 5000 and 5700 are not connected past
the hot shoe.

I've been wondering this too so I decided to find out. If you remove the rubber eyepiece on the 5700 you can see (barely) the bottom of the shoe. There are definitely wires attached to all of the hotshoe pins on my 5700. I haven't metered them to verify connection yet but it seems unlikely that they'd bother to solder pigtail wires on and not connect them at the other end.

Maybe at some point I'll be brave enough to actually crack the case open and see what they're tied to but I'll start by metering them when I get home. That'll at least say if they're connected to something.

Terry

 

[Murray Latter]

Keep us posted.

Thanks

Murray

if two of the pins on the CP 5000 and 5700 are not connected past
the hot shoe.

I've been wondering this too so I decided to find out. If you
remove the rubber eyepiece on the 5700 you can see (barely) the
bottom of the shoe. There are definitely wires attached to all of
the hotshoe pins on my 5700. I haven't metered them to verify
connection yet but it seems unlikely that they'd bother to solder
pigtail wires on and not connect them at the other end.

Maybe at some point I'll be brave enough to actually crack the case
open and see what they're tied to but I'll start by metering them
when I get home. That'll at least say if they're connected to
something.

Terry

 

[Brendan H]

Of course they do this, but for two reasons. The first one is whether they can build a "perfect" 5700 for $1,000. And of course they don't want to cannibalize their higher end sales.

But they might miss the boat given that 10-20 times as many people will buy at the 5700 level than DSLR. And, if the consumer feels the 5700 doesn't compete then they will buy Sony or something else. Of course Sony doesn't have any DSLR's to cannibalize so the sky is the limit for them.

This practice is very apparent in the motorcycle industry. Let's say the following street bikes cost:
125 cc - $2,500
500 cc - $4,000
1000cc - $8,000

Do you really think the cost difference is there? No way. The factories lose money on the smaller bikes and make big money on the larger bikes. Of course they hope to sell bigger bikes thru marketing etc.

bh

 

[Hansplast26]

Hey Folks,

I am just wondering, this picture, some thing seem to be a bit odd:

The form-factor seems to be the same as the 5700, which makes sense because it will reduce costs, but than :

• considering the lens of the 5700 which does F2.8-F3.5, this lens of the same size claims to do F1.4-1.5, which would be a magical performance for a 4-500mm lens.

• 4-500mm it says on the front of the lens, strange since nikon didn't put relative mm's on cams earlier, and above that on the 5700 it is place on the left side (seen from the front) of the lens.

• the lens isn't popped out, which for a 5700 means that the camera is not turned on or in play back mode, the 'laser light' is burning in this state... sounds a bit strange to me

-the AF and DOF button seem to be on a strange location, if I hold my 5700 and imagine where these buttons should be, I would hardly be able to press them

• the place where the laserlight is placed is used at the 5700 used for blinking for timed exposures, if this one is used for AF, where is the blinking light gone?

--
=======
JL

 

[Mike Hunt]

... with your theory. You make it sound like the Nikon's are the
absolute worst in focussing in the non-SLR segment, but infact it
doesn't do worse than any other passive AF dcam without AF-assist!
Infact, it even does better, than most cams... (switch off the
Holo-AF of the Sony and it will do worse...) and you know:

You have people who always concentrate on their shortcomings ("I
can't, I can't..."), and those that concentrate on their talents
("I can! I can!"), people who concentrate on what they don't have
("I can't! I can't!..."), and those who concentrate on what they do
have ("I can! I can!"), people who see boundaries as limitations
("I can't, I can't..."), and those who see boundaries as the only
real freedom ("I can! I can!")...

As an admitted outsider (G3 owner) I frankly find it difficult to find much appeal in the Nikon cameras. Judging them based on their flagship 5000 and 5700 models, they seem to offer beautifully designed ergonomic bodies, extensive level of manual control, impressive zoom (on 5700), and excellent macro capabilities.

But the list of serious drawbacks seems very extensive. There are widespread complaints that their AF is slow and unreliable compared to other cameras in their class, especially in dim light, and they lack an AF assist lamp. Their lenses tend to be very slow. Their battery life is at the bottom of the list, far behind the nearest competitor, yet they only use expensive proprietary lithium batteries. Worst of all, they are amazingly dfficult and complex to use, with most basic functions requiring use of two buttons or dials at a time, everything lebeled rather cryptically, and most everything else burried deep beneath many layers of confusing menus.

To me, this seems to add up to a camera that requires more time, effort, and frustration to use, while failing to deliver any uniqe capabilities besides macro and perhaps zoom range on the 5700.

These cameras can and do churn out amazing photos, but considering all these drawbacks, I really don't see the appeal, except for someone interested primarily in macro photography. What exactly are you getting in return for the high prices and extreme complexity?

Am I missing something here?

 

[Mike Hunt]

i think nikon is trying to make some difference between D100 and
5700. if a 5700 is equipped with speedlight control, DTT and AF
asist light, half of the D100 customer will go for the cheapper
5700. remember celeron sells better then pentium 3?

this is sad for customer...they removed something that isn't
expansive at all.

Why doesn't this problem exist with Canon's product line. The G3 seems to be chock full of features and that doesn't seem to affect sales of their DSLRs.

The SLRs are aimed at professionals, offering very high resolution, high ISOs, virtually no noise, interchangeable lenses, and extremely fast AF systems that cannot be reproduced in non-SLR cameras using current technology.

I really don't see any difficulty differentiating between the two product lines...

 

[Mike Hunt]

Don't you think if Nikon were to incorporate AF assist that there
wouldn't be any reason to buy anything else? The low
light/contrast focus area is the only place that it's slower than
the competition. It already has everybody else in it's class beat
nine-ways-to-hell-in-a-hand-basket on features...

Other than zoom range and macro, can you describe in what ways the 5700 is better than a Canon G3?

AF performance, ease of use, lens speed, battery life, image quality (highlight clipping), ...

 

[Uncle Frank]

As an admitted outsider (G3 owner) I frankly find it difficult to
find much appeal in the Nikon cameras.

And that's why you bought a Canon. Logical decision.

Am I missing something here?

Yes, this isn't the Canon forum. Enjoy your G3.

--
Best regards,
Frank R. ( The CP995 is discontinued, not obsolete!)
http://www.pbase.com/unclefrank/cp995&page=all

 

[Uncle Frank]

Other than zoom range and macro, can you describe in what ways the
5700 is better than a Canon G3?

The prosumer Nikons are a hobbyist's delight, Mike. Nikon is all about good glass.



--
Best regards,
Frank R. ( The CP995 is discontinued, not obsolete!)
http://www.pbase.com/unclefrank/cp995&page=all