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CP995: My First Impressions + Samples

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Costas Vlachos

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Hi All,

Just got my Nikon CoolPix 995 last week (UK, firmware v1.6). What can I say... What an awesome piece of equipment! Kudos to Nikon! Here are my first impressions:

Looks, shape & ergonomics:

Excellent! When I first saw the 995 I thought the design was a little too extraordinary, but after I felt it in my hand and started using it I can definitely say it is one of the most comfortable cameras I've ever used! Before the 995 I tried the FujiFilm FinePix 6900Z and, although it's SLR-shaped, it just didn't feel as 'right' as the 995. The swivel lens is just AWESOME, I can even shoot waist-level while walking or do self-portraits and macros at odd angles with no problems. My advice is: Don't be put-off by the shape of the 995. Try it first and then decide. You'll be pleasantly surprised!

Image quality (outdoors):

Very good. The matrix metering really does a good job in point-&-shoot, and I like the colours and overall image quality. If you feel the images are a bit on the soft side, you can always increase the sharpness to +1 and get quite good results. Also you can play with contrast, lightness, saturation to fine-tune the images to your taste. The FujiFilm only has sharpness control and I couldn't stand the over-saturated colours. Noise levels on the 995 are very low too (only tried ISO 100 so far).

Image quality (indoors):

Well... can't say for sure yet. I use medium-wattage incandescents throughout the house (I like the light to be a little dim), so it's a tough job for the camera. I haven't done extensive tests, but the performance so far seems to be OK. No wows, but very acceptable.

Mechanical noise & speed:

I don't understand why people say the 995 is noisy. Have you tried the FujiFilm? I find the camera's mechanics quiet and focusing is fast and accurate (that is when there is enough light, why they didn't add an AF-assist lamp is beyond me). Speed-wise, everything is nice & fast. CF transfers are quick and the camera returns control quickly after shooting (haven't tried the TIFF mode, only hi-res FINE). One thing I noticed is that when browsing the pictures in the CF card it seems a little on the slow side, but maybe this is normal with digicams (considering each pic is more than 1 MB in hi-res FINE mode).

Things I didn't like:

The LCD is a little bit difficult to use in direct sunlight. Still usable, but you can't really see things like polarising filter effects, etc. Lack of AF-assist lamp. Lack of a decent wrist strap (the supplied neck strap is really lame). European charger takes 6.5 hours to charge battery (good Lord, what have we Europeans done to deserve this???). A spare battery is a must.

Overall:

I'm very impressed. Have tested dark-frame for hot pixels, found none (well, there were a couple of very faint ones at > 1 sec, but nothing to worry about. Dark-frames of 1 sec and less were practically totally black). LCD is very bright & crisp, with no hot pixels as some have reported. Battery life is good (much better than the FujiFilm). I prefer the Li-Ion to AAs.

There is no such thing as the perfect digicam, but the CP995 sure is very close.

I've put up a few of my first shots with the 995 (simple point-&-shoots) for all to have a look. Hope you like them. The URL is:

http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~cv/

Just my personal experience, hope it helps. Comments/criticism welcome.

Cheers,
Costas
 
http://www.steves-digicams.com/xtendaview_pro.html here is a link for a neat viewer for your lcd when it is bright outside. you can attach with elastic..

The wrist strap I bought was 3.95 a Hakuba at B&H PHOTOVIDIEO I really like it. Nice and secure.. Jerry
Costas Vlachos said:
Hi All,

Just got my Nikon CoolPix 995 last week (UK, firmware v1.6). What
can I say... What an awesome piece of equipment! Kudos to Nikon!
Here are my first impressions:

Looks, shape & ergonomics:

Excellent! When I first saw the 995 I thought the design was a
little too extraordinary, but after I felt it in my hand and
started using it I can definitely say it is one of the most
comfortable cameras I've ever used! Before the 995 I tried the
FujiFilm FinePix 6900Z and, although it's SLR-shaped, it just
didn't feel as 'right' as the 995. The swivel lens is just AWESOME,
I can even shoot waist-level while walking or do self-portraits and
macros at odd angles with no problems. My advice is: Don't be
put-off by the shape of the 995. Try it first and then decide.
You'll be pleasantly surprised!

Image quality (outdoors):

Very good. The matrix metering really does a good job in
point-&-shoot, and I like the colours and overall image quality. If
you feel the images are a bit on the soft side, you can always
increase the sharpness to +1 and get quite good results. Also you
can play with contrast, lightness, saturation to fine-tune the
images to your taste. The FujiFilm only has sharpness control and I
couldn't stand the over-saturated colours. Noise levels on the 995
are very low too (only tried ISO 100 so far).

Image quality (indoors):

Well... can't say for sure yet. I use medium-wattage incandescents
throughout the house (I like the light to be a little dim), so it's
a tough job for the camera. I haven't done extensive tests, but the
performance so far seems to be OK. No wows, but very acceptable.

Mechanical noise & speed:

I don't understand why people say the 995 is noisy. Have you tried
the FujiFilm? I find the camera's mechanics quiet and focusing is
fast and accurate (that is when there is enough light, why they
didn't add an AF-assist lamp is beyond me). Speed-wise, everything
is nice & fast. CF transfers are quick and the camera returns
control quickly after shooting (haven't tried the TIFF mode, only
hi-res FINE). One thing I noticed is that when browsing the
pictures in the CF card it seems a little on the slow side, but
maybe this is normal with digicams (considering each pic is more
than 1 MB in hi-res FINE mode).

Things I didn't like:

The LCD is a little bit difficult to use in direct sunlight. Still
usable, but you can't really see things like polarising filter
effects, etc. Lack of AF-assist lamp. Lack of a decent wrist strap
(the supplied neck strap is really lame). European charger takes
6.5 hours to charge battery (good Lord, what have we Europeans done
to deserve this???). A spare battery is a must.

Overall:

I'm very impressed. Have tested dark-frame for hot pixels, found
none (well, there were a couple of very faint ones at > 1 sec,
but nothing to worry about. Dark-frames of 1 sec and less were
practically totally black). LCD is very bright & crisp, with no hot
pixels as some have reported. Battery life is good (much better
than the FujiFilm). I prefer the Li-Ion to AAs.

There is no such thing as the perfect digicam, but the CP995 sure
is very close.

I've put up a few of my first shots with the 995 (simple
point-&-shoots) for all to have a look. Hope you like them. The URL
is:

http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~cv/

Just my personal experience, hope it helps. Comments/criticism
welcome.

Cheers,
Costas
Click to expand...
 
well , looking at your pictures I think it safe to say that the 995 DOES have a problem with the edges of the lens.

almost all your pictures exhibit the same problem , the corners are less sharp and as a result are discoloured , for example take a look at pictures DSCN0099.JPG and DSCN0098.JPG , now watch the top two corners , where there is sky you can see a slight discolouration of the edges , this is correct for all your pictures (where visible) , I dont know if there is a full 4 corner problem , but I suggest you take a picture of some solid colour , maybe a picture of the sky in full frame , this will make it easy to detect faulty edges , if you do , please post it so we can examine it.

any thoughts ?
Costas Vlachos said:
Hi All,

Just got my Nikon CoolPix 995 last week (UK, firmware v1.6). What
can I say... What an awesome piece of equipment! Kudos to Nikon!
Here are my first impressions:

Looks, shape & ergonomics:

Excellent! When I first saw the 995 I thought the design was a
little too extraordinary, but after I felt it in my hand and
started using it I can definitely say it is one of the most
comfortable cameras I've ever used! Before the 995 I tried the
FujiFilm FinePix 6900Z and, although it's SLR-shaped, it just
didn't feel as 'right' as the 995. The swivel lens is just AWESOME,
I can even shoot waist-level while walking or do self-portraits and
macros at odd angles with no problems. My advice is: Don't be
put-off by the shape of the 995. Try it first and then decide.
You'll be pleasantly surprised!

Image quality (outdoors):

Very good. The matrix metering really does a good job in
point-&-shoot, and I like the colours and overall image quality. If
you feel the images are a bit on the soft side, you can always
increase the sharpness to +1 and get quite good results. Also you
can play with contrast, lightness, saturation to fine-tune the
images to your taste. The FujiFilm only has sharpness control and I
couldn't stand the over-saturated colours. Noise levels on the 995
are very low too (only tried ISO 100 so far).

Image quality (indoors):

Well... can't say for sure yet. I use medium-wattage incandescents
throughout the house (I like the light to be a little dim), so it's
a tough job for the camera. I haven't done extensive tests, but the
performance so far seems to be OK. No wows, but very acceptable.

Mechanical noise & speed:

I don't understand why people say the 995 is noisy. Have you tried
the FujiFilm? I find the camera's mechanics quiet and focusing is
fast and accurate (that is when there is enough light, why they
didn't add an AF-assist lamp is beyond me). Speed-wise, everything
is nice & fast. CF transfers are quick and the camera returns
control quickly after shooting (haven't tried the TIFF mode, only
hi-res FINE). One thing I noticed is that when browsing the
pictures in the CF card it seems a little on the slow side, but
maybe this is normal with digicams (considering each pic is more
than 1 MB in hi-res FINE mode).

Things I didn't like:

The LCD is a little bit difficult to use in direct sunlight. Still
usable, but you can't really see things like polarising filter
effects, etc. Lack of AF-assist lamp. Lack of a decent wrist strap
(the supplied neck strap is really lame). European charger takes
6.5 hours to charge battery (good Lord, what have we Europeans done
to deserve this???). A spare battery is a must.

Overall:

I'm very impressed. Have tested dark-frame for hot pixels, found
none (well, there were a couple of very faint ones at > 1 sec,
but nothing to worry about. Dark-frames of 1 sec and less were
practically totally black). LCD is very bright & crisp, with no hot
pixels as some have reported. Battery life is good (much better
than the FujiFilm). I prefer the Li-Ion to AAs.

There is no such thing as the perfect digicam, but the CP995 sure
is very close.

I've put up a few of my first shots with the 995 (simple
point-&-shoots) for all to have a look. Hope you like them. The URL
is:

http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~cv/

Just my personal experience, hope it helps. Comments/criticism
welcome.

Cheers,
Costas
Click to expand...
 
one other thing , all your pictures look slightly blury to me , when viewed full screen (and resized to 1024x768) they appear very nice and sharp , but when viewing the full-size picture , I must say it appears too soft , what kind of sharpennig setting did you use in the 995 ?

thanks
Costas Vlachos said:
Hi All,

Just got my Nikon CoolPix 995 last week (UK, firmware v1.6). What
can I say... What an awesome piece of equipment! Kudos to Nikon!
Here are my first impressions:

Looks, shape & ergonomics:

Excellent! When I first saw the 995 I thought the design was a
little too extraordinary, but after I felt it in my hand and
started using it I can definitely say it is one of the most
comfortable cameras I've ever used! Before the 995 I tried the
FujiFilm FinePix 6900Z and, although it's SLR-shaped, it just
didn't feel as 'right' as the 995. The swivel lens is just AWESOME,
I can even shoot waist-level while walking or do self-portraits and
macros at odd angles with no problems. My advice is: Don't be
put-off by the shape of the 995. Try it first and then decide.
You'll be pleasantly surprised!

Image quality (outdoors):

Very good. The matrix metering really does a good job in
point-&-shoot, and I like the colours and overall image quality. If
you feel the images are a bit on the soft side, you can always
increase the sharpness to +1 and get quite good results. Also you
can play with contrast, lightness, saturation to fine-tune the
images to your taste. The FujiFilm only has sharpness control and I
couldn't stand the over-saturated colours. Noise levels on the 995
are very low too (only tried ISO 100 so far).

Image quality (indoors):

Well... can't say for sure yet. I use medium-wattage incandescents
throughout the house (I like the light to be a little dim), so it's
a tough job for the camera. I haven't done extensive tests, but the
performance so far seems to be OK. No wows, but very acceptable.

Mechanical noise & speed:

I don't understand why people say the 995 is noisy. Have you tried
the FujiFilm? I find the camera's mechanics quiet and focusing is
fast and accurate (that is when there is enough light, why they
didn't add an AF-assist lamp is beyond me). Speed-wise, everything
is nice & fast. CF transfers are quick and the camera returns
control quickly after shooting (haven't tried the TIFF mode, only
hi-res FINE). One thing I noticed is that when browsing the
pictures in the CF card it seems a little on the slow side, but
maybe this is normal with digicams (considering each pic is more
than 1 MB in hi-res FINE mode).

Things I didn't like:

The LCD is a little bit difficult to use in direct sunlight. Still
usable, but you can't really see things like polarising filter
effects, etc. Lack of AF-assist lamp. Lack of a decent wrist strap
(the supplied neck strap is really lame). European charger takes
6.5 hours to charge battery (good Lord, what have we Europeans done
to deserve this???). A spare battery is a must.

Overall:

I'm very impressed. Have tested dark-frame for hot pixels, found
none (well, there were a couple of very faint ones at > 1 sec,
but nothing to worry about. Dark-frames of 1 sec and less were
practically totally black). LCD is very bright & crisp, with no hot
pixels as some have reported. Battery life is good (much better
than the FujiFilm). I prefer the Li-Ion to AAs.

There is no such thing as the perfect digicam, but the CP995 sure
is very close.

I've put up a few of my first shots with the 995 (simple
point-&-shoots) for all to have a look. Hope you like them. The URL
is:

http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~cv/

Just my personal experience, hope it helps. Comments/criticism
welcome.

Cheers,
Costas
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Mike, I'm glad you pointed this out. Nothing to worry about! This is simply vignetting due to the UV filter attached in front of the lens. It only occurs at the very end of wide-angle and is not there at all if I remove the filter. But still, it shouldn't be there IMHO, since the UV filter used is the original one that comes with the CoolPak. Didn't Nikon test this?
Mike said:
almost all your pictures exhibit the same problem , the corners are
less sharp and as a result are discoloured , for example take a
look at pictures DSCN0099.JPG and DSCN0098.JPG , now watch the top
two corners , where there is sky you can see a slight
discolouration of the edges , this is correct for all your pictures
(where visible) , I dont know if there is a full 4 corner problem ,
but I suggest you take a picture of some solid colour , maybe a
picture of the sky in full frame , this will make it easy to
detect faulty edges , if you do , please post it so we can examine
it.

any thoughts ?
Costas Vlachos said:
Hi All,

Just got my Nikon CoolPix 995 last week (UK, firmware v1.6). What
can I say... What an awesome piece of equipment! Kudos to Nikon!
Here are my first impressions:

Looks, shape & ergonomics:

Excellent! When I first saw the 995 I thought the design was a
little too extraordinary, but after I felt it in my hand and
started using it I can definitely say it is one of the most
comfortable cameras I've ever used! Before the 995 I tried the
FujiFilm FinePix 6900Z and, although it's SLR-shaped, it just
didn't feel as 'right' as the 995. The swivel lens is just AWESOME,
I can even shoot waist-level while walking or do self-portraits and
macros at odd angles with no problems. My advice is: Don't be
put-off by the shape of the 995. Try it first and then decide.
You'll be pleasantly surprised!

Image quality (outdoors):

Very good. The matrix metering really does a good job in
point-&-shoot, and I like the colours and overall image quality. If
you feel the images are a bit on the soft side, you can always
increase the sharpness to +1 and get quite good results. Also you
can play with contrast, lightness, saturation to fine-tune the
images to your taste. The FujiFilm only has sharpness control and I
couldn't stand the over-saturated colours. Noise levels on the 995
are very low too (only tried ISO 100 so far).

Image quality (indoors):

Well... can't say for sure yet. I use medium-wattage incandescents
throughout the house (I like the light to be a little dim), so it's
a tough job for the camera. I haven't done extensive tests, but the
performance so far seems to be OK. No wows, but very acceptable.

Mechanical noise & speed:

I don't understand why people say the 995 is noisy. Have you tried
the FujiFilm? I find the camera's mechanics quiet and focusing is
fast and accurate (that is when there is enough light, why they
didn't add an AF-assist lamp is beyond me). Speed-wise, everything
is nice & fast. CF transfers are quick and the camera returns
control quickly after shooting (haven't tried the TIFF mode, only
hi-res FINE). One thing I noticed is that when browsing the
pictures in the CF card it seems a little on the slow side, but
maybe this is normal with digicams (considering each pic is more
than 1 MB in hi-res FINE mode).

Things I didn't like:

The LCD is a little bit difficult to use in direct sunlight. Still
usable, but you can't really see things like polarising filter
effects, etc. Lack of AF-assist lamp. Lack of a decent wrist strap
(the supplied neck strap is really lame). European charger takes
6.5 hours to charge battery (good Lord, what have we Europeans done
to deserve this???). A spare battery is a must.

Overall:

I'm very impressed. Have tested dark-frame for hot pixels, found
none (well, there were a couple of very faint ones at > 1 sec,
but nothing to worry about. Dark-frames of 1 sec and less were
practically totally black). LCD is very bright & crisp, with no hot
pixels as some have reported. Battery life is good (much better
than the FujiFilm). I prefer the Li-Ion to AAs.

There is no such thing as the perfect digicam, but the CP995 sure
is very close.

I've put up a few of my first shots with the 995 (simple
point-&-shoots) for all to have a look. Hope you like them. The URL
is:

http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~cv/

Just my personal experience, hope it helps. Comments/criticism
welcome.

Cheers,
Costas
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Thx Jerry I'll check it out. Unfortunately here in the UK we don't have as much choice in accessories etc. as in the US. Hopefully they'll be able to ship in the UK. I've contacted http://www.2filter.com for filters and they said there's no problem. The Hakuba strap looks very nice.

Costas
Jerry said:
The wrist strap I bought was 3.95 a Hakuba at B&H PHOTOVIDIEO I
really like it. Nice and secure.. Jerry
Costas Vlachos said:
Hi All,

Just got my Nikon CoolPix 995 last week (UK, firmware v1.6). What
can I say... What an awesome piece of equipment! Kudos to Nikon!
Here are my first impressions:

Looks, shape & ergonomics:

Excellent! When I first saw the 995 I thought the design was a
little too extraordinary, but after I felt it in my hand and
started using it I can definitely say it is one of the most
comfortable cameras I've ever used! Before the 995 I tried the
FujiFilm FinePix 6900Z and, although it's SLR-shaped, it just
didn't feel as 'right' as the 995. The swivel lens is just AWESOME,
I can even shoot waist-level while walking or do self-portraits and
macros at odd angles with no problems. My advice is: Don't be
put-off by the shape of the 995. Try it first and then decide.
You'll be pleasantly surprised!

Image quality (outdoors):

Very good. The matrix metering really does a good job in
point-&-shoot, and I like the colours and overall image quality. If
you feel the images are a bit on the soft side, you can always
increase the sharpness to +1 and get quite good results. Also you
can play with contrast, lightness, saturation to fine-tune the
images to your taste. The FujiFilm only has sharpness control and I
couldn't stand the over-saturated colours. Noise levels on the 995
are very low too (only tried ISO 100 so far).

Image quality (indoors):

Well... can't say for sure yet. I use medium-wattage incandescents
throughout the house (I like the light to be a little dim), so it's
a tough job for the camera. I haven't done extensive tests, but the
performance so far seems to be OK. No wows, but very acceptable.

Mechanical noise & speed:

I don't understand why people say the 995 is noisy. Have you tried
the FujiFilm? I find the camera's mechanics quiet and focusing is
fast and accurate (that is when there is enough light, why they
didn't add an AF-assist lamp is beyond me). Speed-wise, everything
is nice & fast. CF transfers are quick and the camera returns
control quickly after shooting (haven't tried the TIFF mode, only
hi-res FINE). One thing I noticed is that when browsing the
pictures in the CF card it seems a little on the slow side, but
maybe this is normal with digicams (considering each pic is more
than 1 MB in hi-res FINE mode).

Things I didn't like:

The LCD is a little bit difficult to use in direct sunlight. Still
usable, but you can't really see things like polarising filter
effects, etc. Lack of AF-assist lamp. Lack of a decent wrist strap
(the supplied neck strap is really lame). European charger takes
6.5 hours to charge battery (good Lord, what have we Europeans done
to deserve this???). A spare battery is a must.

Overall:

I'm very impressed. Have tested dark-frame for hot pixels, found
none (well, there were a couple of very faint ones at > 1 sec,
but nothing to worry about. Dark-frames of 1 sec and less were
practically totally black). LCD is very bright & crisp, with no hot
pixels as some have reported. Battery life is good (much better
than the FujiFilm). I prefer the Li-Ion to AAs.

There is no such thing as the perfect digicam, but the CP995 sure
is very close.

I've put up a few of my first shots with the 995 (simple
point-&-shoots) for all to have a look. Hope you like them. The URL
is:

http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~cv/

Just my personal experience, hope it helps. Comments/criticism
welcome.

Cheers,
Costas
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I don't have much experience with digicams, so I assume the 'softness' is only natural at the highest resolution. For the pictures I used A-Mode (all settings to 'auto') and also M-Mode where I set the sharpness to +1 and the contrast to 'more'. Check the pics of the Jaguar. The first (DSCN0082.JPG) is in A-Mode, whereas the second (DSCN0083.JPG) is in M-Mode with sharpness +1, contrast 'more', and white-balance 'sunny'.

My only previous experience with a digicam (only kept it for a week, then returned it), was with the FujiFilm FinePix 6900Z. I must say that at 3 MP I also observed 'soft' images, even with sharpness to 'hard'. Correct me if I'm wrong, but perhaps we need to go up to 5 or 6 MP to get good downsampled 3 MP images. Viewing an image taken with a camera's native maximum resolution is bound to be soft when viewed at 100% monitor zoom (no downsampling). Check Phil's DiMAGE 7 samples. Viewing the pics at 100% (1 monitor pixel = 1 CCD pixel) results in quite 'blurry' images, but if you downsample them to say 3 MP and view them again they will look sharper than those of a native 3 MP camera. Does this make sense? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Costas
Mike said:
thanks
Costas Vlachos said:
Hi All,

Just got my Nikon CoolPix 995 last week (UK, firmware v1.6). What
can I say... What an awesome piece of equipment! Kudos to Nikon!
Here are my first impressions:

Looks, shape & ergonomics:

Excellent! When I first saw the 995 I thought the design was a
little too extraordinary, but after I felt it in my hand and
started using it I can definitely say it is one of the most
comfortable cameras I've ever used! Before the 995 I tried the
FujiFilm FinePix 6900Z and, although it's SLR-shaped, it just
didn't feel as 'right' as the 995. The swivel lens is just AWESOME,
I can even shoot waist-level while walking or do self-portraits and
macros at odd angles with no problems. My advice is: Don't be
put-off by the shape of the 995. Try it first and then decide.
You'll be pleasantly surprised!

Image quality (outdoors):

Very good. The matrix metering really does a good job in
point-&-shoot, and I like the colours and overall image quality. If
you feel the images are a bit on the soft side, you can always
increase the sharpness to +1 and get quite good results. Also you
can play with contrast, lightness, saturation to fine-tune the
images to your taste. The FujiFilm only has sharpness control and I
couldn't stand the over-saturated colours. Noise levels on the 995
are very low too (only tried ISO 100 so far).

Image quality (indoors):

Well... can't say for sure yet. I use medium-wattage incandescents
throughout the house (I like the light to be a little dim), so it's
a tough job for the camera. I haven't done extensive tests, but the
performance so far seems to be OK. No wows, but very acceptable.

Mechanical noise & speed:

I don't understand why people say the 995 is noisy. Have you tried
the FujiFilm? I find the camera's mechanics quiet and focusing is
fast and accurate (that is when there is enough light, why they
didn't add an AF-assist lamp is beyond me). Speed-wise, everything
is nice & fast. CF transfers are quick and the camera returns
control quickly after shooting (haven't tried the TIFF mode, only
hi-res FINE). One thing I noticed is that when browsing the
pictures in the CF card it seems a little on the slow side, but
maybe this is normal with digicams (considering each pic is more
than 1 MB in hi-res FINE mode).

Things I didn't like:

The LCD is a little bit difficult to use in direct sunlight. Still
usable, but you can't really see things like polarising filter
effects, etc. Lack of AF-assist lamp. Lack of a decent wrist strap
(the supplied neck strap is really lame). European charger takes
6.5 hours to charge battery (good Lord, what have we Europeans done
to deserve this???). A spare battery is a must.

Overall:

I'm very impressed. Have tested dark-frame for hot pixels, found
none (well, there were a couple of very faint ones at > 1 sec,
but nothing to worry about. Dark-frames of 1 sec and less were
practically totally black). LCD is very bright & crisp, with no hot
pixels as some have reported. Battery life is good (much better
than the FujiFilm). I prefer the Li-Ion to AAs.

There is no such thing as the perfect digicam, but the CP995 sure
is very close.

I've put up a few of my first shots with the 995 (simple
point-&-shoots) for all to have a look. Hope you like them. The URL
is:

http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~cv/

Just my personal experience, hope it helps. Comments/criticism
welcome.

Cheers,
Costas
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Hi Costas

On my monitor the pics seem sharp. I think a lot has to do with monitor size, refresh rate, video card and resolution. Plus colour balance. I had a 990 so perhaps most of my stuff is balanced for the nikon images. I thought your pics had a lot of colour and seemed as sharp as my 990. The true test would be in the printing. But keep shooting and just wait untill you get into the macro and digiscoping part of the camera.
Dave
 
well , I dont know , I just took a look at DPREVIEW coolpix 990 sample gallary and looked carefull , I did not find it soft at full resolution , actually I found it very pleasing at both full and downsampled resolutions. But most of these are macro shots , maybe you should also take some macro shot and then it will be easier to compare. also you might want to try a picture with just the sky in the frame to check for edge problems.

thanks

Mike
Costas Vlachos said:
My only previous experience with a digicam (only kept it for a
week, then returned it), was with the FujiFilm FinePix 6900Z. I
must say that at 3 MP I also observed 'soft' images, even with
sharpness to 'hard'. Correct me if I'm wrong, but perhaps we need
to go up to 5 or 6 MP to get good downsampled 3 MP images. Viewing
an image taken with a camera's native maximum resolution is bound
to be soft when viewed at 100% monitor zoom (no downsampling).
Check Phil's DiMAGE 7 samples. Viewing the pics at 100% (1 monitor
pixel = 1 CCD pixel) results in quite 'blurry' images, but if you
downsample them to say 3 MP and view them again they will look
sharper than those of a native 3 MP camera. Does this make sense?
Correct me if I'm wrong.

Costas
Mike said:
thanks
Costas Vlachos said:
Hi All,

Just got my Nikon CoolPix 995 last week (UK, firmware v1.6). What
can I say... What an awesome piece of equipment! Kudos to Nikon!
Here are my first impressions:

Looks, shape & ergonomics:

Excellent! When I first saw the 995 I thought the design was a
little too extraordinary, but after I felt it in my hand and
started using it I can definitely say it is one of the most
comfortable cameras I've ever used! Before the 995 I tried the
FujiFilm FinePix 6900Z and, although it's SLR-shaped, it just
didn't feel as 'right' as the 995. The swivel lens is just AWESOME,
I can even shoot waist-level while walking or do self-portraits and
macros at odd angles with no problems. My advice is: Don't be
put-off by the shape of the 995. Try it first and then decide.
You'll be pleasantly surprised!

Image quality (outdoors):

Very good. The matrix metering really does a good job in
point-&-shoot, and I like the colours and overall image quality. If
you feel the images are a bit on the soft side, you can always
increase the sharpness to +1 and get quite good results. Also you
can play with contrast, lightness, saturation to fine-tune the
images to your taste. The FujiFilm only has sharpness control and I
couldn't stand the over-saturated colours. Noise levels on the 995
are very low too (only tried ISO 100 so far).

Image quality (indoors):

Well... can't say for sure yet. I use medium-wattage incandescents
throughout the house (I like the light to be a little dim), so it's
a tough job for the camera. I haven't done extensive tests, but the
performance so far seems to be OK. No wows, but very acceptable.

Mechanical noise & speed:

I don't understand why people say the 995 is noisy. Have you tried
the FujiFilm? I find the camera's mechanics quiet and focusing is
fast and accurate (that is when there is enough light, why they
didn't add an AF-assist lamp is beyond me). Speed-wise, everything
is nice & fast. CF transfers are quick and the camera returns
control quickly after shooting (haven't tried the TIFF mode, only
hi-res FINE). One thing I noticed is that when browsing the
pictures in the CF card it seems a little on the slow side, but
maybe this is normal with digicams (considering each pic is more
than 1 MB in hi-res FINE mode).

Things I didn't like:

The LCD is a little bit difficult to use in direct sunlight. Still
usable, but you can't really see things like polarising filter
effects, etc. Lack of AF-assist lamp. Lack of a decent wrist strap
(the supplied neck strap is really lame). European charger takes
6.5 hours to charge battery (good Lord, what have we Europeans done
to deserve this???). A spare battery is a must.

Overall:

I'm very impressed. Have tested dark-frame for hot pixels, found
none (well, there were a couple of very faint ones at > 1 sec,
but nothing to worry about. Dark-frames of 1 sec and less were
practically totally black). LCD is very bright & crisp, with no hot
pixels as some have reported. Battery life is good (much better
than the FujiFilm). I prefer the Li-Ion to AAs.

There is no such thing as the perfect digicam, but the CP995 sure
is very close.

I've put up a few of my first shots with the 995 (simple
point-&-shoots) for all to have a look. Hope you like them. The URL
is:

http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~cv/

Just my personal experience, hope it helps. Comments/criticism
welcome.

Cheers,
Costas
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
If you do nothing, CP 995 is in Auto-sharpening mode. In that mod 995 often tends to be soft. If your setting is NORMALl - you always get sharp pictures like the 990. You can of course also use the setting sharp.
Mike said:
thanks

Mike
Costas Vlachos said:
My only previous experience with a digicam (only kept it for a
week, then returned it), was with the FujiFilm FinePix 6900Z. I
must say that at 3 MP I also observed 'soft' images, even with
sharpness to 'hard'. Correct me if I'm wrong, but perhaps we need
to go up to 5 or 6 MP to get good downsampled 3 MP images. Viewing
an image taken with a camera's native maximum resolution is bound
to be soft when viewed at 100% monitor zoom (no downsampling).
Check Phil's DiMAGE 7 samples. Viewing the pics at 100% (1 monitor
pixel = 1 CCD pixel) results in quite 'blurry' images, but if you
downsample them to say 3 MP and view them again they will look
sharper than those of a native 3 MP camera. Does this make sense?
Correct me if I'm wrong.

Costas
Mike said:
thanks
Costas Vlachos said:
Hi All,

Just got my Nikon CoolPix 995 last week (UK, firmware v1.6). What
can I say... What an awesome piece of equipment! Kudos to Nikon!
Here are my first impressions:

Looks, shape & ergonomics:

Excellent! When I first saw the 995 I thought the design was a
little too extraordinary, but after I felt it in my hand and
started using it I can definitely say it is one of the most
comfortable cameras I've ever used! Before the 995 I tried the
FujiFilm FinePix 6900Z and, although it's SLR-shaped, it just
didn't feel as 'right' as the 995. The swivel lens is just AWESOME,
I can even shoot waist-level while walking or do self-portraits and
macros at odd angles with no problems. My advice is: Don't be
put-off by the shape of the 995. Try it first and then decide.
You'll be pleasantly surprised!

Image quality (outdoors):

Very good. The matrix metering really does a good job in
point-&-shoot, and I like the colours and overall image quality. If
you feel the images are a bit on the soft side, you can always
increase the sharpness to +1 and get quite good results. Also you
can play with contrast, lightness, saturation to fine-tune the
images to your taste. The FujiFilm only has sharpness control and I
couldn't stand the over-saturated colours. Noise levels on the 995
are very low too (only tried ISO 100 so far).

Image quality (indoors):

Well... can't say for sure yet. I use medium-wattage incandescents
throughout the house (I like the light to be a little dim), so it's
a tough job for the camera. I haven't done extensive tests, but the
performance so far seems to be OK. No wows, but very acceptable.

Mechanical noise & speed:

I don't understand why people say the 995 is noisy. Have you tried
the FujiFilm? I find the camera's mechanics quiet and focusing is
fast and accurate (that is when there is enough light, why they
didn't add an AF-assist lamp is beyond me). Speed-wise, everything
is nice & fast. CF transfers are quick and the camera returns
control quickly after shooting (haven't tried the TIFF mode, only
hi-res FINE). One thing I noticed is that when browsing the
pictures in the CF card it seems a little on the slow side, but
maybe this is normal with digicams (considering each pic is more
than 1 MB in hi-res FINE mode).

Things I didn't like:

The LCD is a little bit difficult to use in direct sunlight. Still
usable, but you can't really see things like polarising filter
effects, etc. Lack of AF-assist lamp. Lack of a decent wrist strap
(the supplied neck strap is really lame). European charger takes
6.5 hours to charge battery (good Lord, what have we Europeans done
to deserve this???). A spare battery is a must.

Overall:

I'm very impressed. Have tested dark-frame for hot pixels, found
none (well, there were a couple of very faint ones at > 1 sec,
but nothing to worry about. Dark-frames of 1 sec and less were
practically totally black). LCD is very bright & crisp, with no hot
pixels as some have reported. Battery life is good (much better
than the FujiFilm). I prefer the Li-Ion to AAs.

There is no such thing as the perfect digicam, but the CP995 sure
is very close.

I've put up a few of my first shots with the 995 (simple
point-&-shoots) for all to have a look. Hope you like them. The URL
is:

http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~cv/

Just my personal experience, hope it helps. Comments/criticism
welcome.

Cheers,
Costas
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I agree. The images are very sharp on my monitor. I'm glad you posted Dave, I was beginning to doubt my eyes.
Dave Smith said:
Hi Costas
On my monitor the pics seem sharp. I think a lot has to do with
monitor size, refresh rate, video card and resolution. Plus colour
balance. I had a 990 so perhaps most of my stuff is balanced for
the nikon images. I thought your pics had a lot of colour and
seemed as sharp as my 990. The true test would be in the printing.
But keep shooting and just wait untill you get into the macro and
digiscoping part of the camera.
Dave
Click to expand...
 
I also find Phil's CP990 gallery more pleasing than the CP995 one. But I believe this has more to do with composition and subject matter that with actual camera capability. The 990 images look stunning, especially the eye close-up and macros. But look at the 990 landscape samples (for example 000405-1546-48.jpg or 000414-1634-56.jpg). To me they seem identical (in sharpness) to the ones I shot with the 995. Also, remember I was just playing around, no proper settings and attention to composition, and I was using an un-coated UV filter in front of the lens. I've heard people say the 990 is sharper than the 995, but could this be caused by internal sharpening (maybe the 990 tends to sharpen more than the 995)? If that's the case you can always set the sharpening to +1.

About the edge problems, as I said they were only caused by the UV filter which slightly blocked the field-of-view at full-wide-angle (vignetting). It's NOT a lens or camera problem. Check out my samples:









If you check the EXIF data in these images you'll see that the focal length is not 8.2 (full-wide) but higher. In this case the vignetting disappears and there is no edge discolouration. If I take out the filter the edges are clean and crisp even at 8.2. This can also be confirmed by Phil's CP995 gallery samples and numerous other CP995 samples on the net.

Having said that... Still it is not acceptable. I don't want to take out the protective UV filter every time I want to shoot at wide-angle. Has anybody else tried the UV filter (the one in the CoolPack) at wide-angle? Do you also get slight vignetting?

Costas
Mike said:
thanks

Mike
Costas Vlachos said:
My only previous experience with a digicam (only kept it for a
week, then returned it), was with the FujiFilm FinePix 6900Z. I
must say that at 3 MP I also observed 'soft' images, even with
sharpness to 'hard'. Correct me if I'm wrong, but perhaps we need
to go up to 5 or 6 MP to get good downsampled 3 MP images. Viewing
an image taken with a camera's native maximum resolution is bound
to be soft when viewed at 100% monitor zoom (no downsampling).
Check Phil's DiMAGE 7 samples. Viewing the pics at 100% (1 monitor
pixel = 1 CCD pixel) results in quite 'blurry' images, but if you
downsample them to say 3 MP and view them again they will look
sharper than those of a native 3 MP camera. Does this make sense?
Correct me if I'm wrong.

Costas
Mike said:
thanks
Costas Vlachos said:
Hi All,

Just got my Nikon CoolPix 995 last week (UK, firmware v1.6). What
can I say... What an awesome piece of equipment! Kudos to Nikon!
Here are my first impressions:

Looks, shape & ergonomics:

Excellent! When I first saw the 995 I thought the design was a
little too extraordinary, but after I felt it in my hand and
started using it I can definitely say it is one of the most
comfortable cameras I've ever used! Before the 995 I tried the
FujiFilm FinePix 6900Z and, although it's SLR-shaped, it just
didn't feel as 'right' as the 995. The swivel lens is just AWESOME,
I can even shoot waist-level while walking or do self-portraits and
macros at odd angles with no problems. My advice is: Don't be
put-off by the shape of the 995. Try it first and then decide.
You'll be pleasantly surprised!

Image quality (outdoors):

Very good. The matrix metering really does a good job in
point-&-shoot, and I like the colours and overall image quality. If
you feel the images are a bit on the soft side, you can always
increase the sharpness to +1 and get quite good results. Also you
can play with contrast, lightness, saturation to fine-tune the
images to your taste. The FujiFilm only has sharpness control and I
couldn't stand the over-saturated colours. Noise levels on the 995
are very low too (only tried ISO 100 so far).

Image quality (indoors):

Well... can't say for sure yet. I use medium-wattage incandescents
throughout the house (I like the light to be a little dim), so it's
a tough job for the camera. I haven't done extensive tests, but the
performance so far seems to be OK. No wows, but very acceptable.

Mechanical noise & speed:

I don't understand why people say the 995 is noisy. Have you tried
the FujiFilm? I find the camera's mechanics quiet and focusing is
fast and accurate (that is when there is enough light, why they
didn't add an AF-assist lamp is beyond me). Speed-wise, everything
is nice & fast. CF transfers are quick and the camera returns
control quickly after shooting (haven't tried the TIFF mode, only
hi-res FINE). One thing I noticed is that when browsing the
pictures in the CF card it seems a little on the slow side, but
maybe this is normal with digicams (considering each pic is more
than 1 MB in hi-res FINE mode).

Things I didn't like:

The LCD is a little bit difficult to use in direct sunlight. Still
usable, but you can't really see things like polarising filter
effects, etc. Lack of AF-assist lamp. Lack of a decent wrist strap
(the supplied neck strap is really lame). European charger takes
6.5 hours to charge battery (good Lord, what have we Europeans done
to deserve this???). A spare battery is a must.

Overall:

I'm very impressed. Have tested dark-frame for hot pixels, found
none (well, there were a couple of very faint ones at > 1 sec,
but nothing to worry about. Dark-frames of 1 sec and less were
practically totally black). LCD is very bright & crisp, with no hot
pixels as some have reported. Battery life is good (much better
than the FujiFilm). I prefer the Li-Ion to AAs.

There is no such thing as the perfect digicam, but the CP995 sure
is very close.

I've put up a few of my first shots with the 995 (simple
point-&-shoots) for all to have a look. Hope you like them. The URL
is:

http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~cv/

Just my personal experience, hope it helps. Comments/criticism
welcome.

Cheers,
Costas
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Oops! Sorry about my previous post, I forgot that the images would show up directly in the message... Apologies to the modem users out there....

Costas
 
Thanks for the info Dave. About printing I've tried printing in special photo paper on my EPSON Stylus Photo 1290 at work and the results are very good. Extremely sharp & vivid when printing two 3 MP images in one A4 page. If you print a single image on A4 it's still very acceptable. Haven't yet played with colour management & calibration but first results seem very positive.

Costas
Dave Smith said:
Hi Costas
On my monitor the pics seem sharp. I think a lot has to do with
monitor size, refresh rate, video card and resolution. Plus colour
balance. I had a 990 so perhaps most of my stuff is balanced for
the nikon images. I thought your pics had a lot of colour and
seemed as sharp as my 990. The true test would be in the printing.
But keep shooting and just wait untill you get into the macro and
digiscoping part of the camera.
Dave
Click to expand...
 
Mike,

Visit my page again:

http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~cv/

and follow the link to the sky shot.

Cheers,
Costas
Mike said:
thanks

Mike
Costas Vlachos said:
My only previous experience with a digicam (only kept it for a
week, then returned it), was with the FujiFilm FinePix 6900Z. I
must say that at 3 MP I also observed 'soft' images, even with
sharpness to 'hard'. Correct me if I'm wrong, but perhaps we need
to go up to 5 or 6 MP to get good downsampled 3 MP images. Viewing
an image taken with a camera's native maximum resolution is bound
to be soft when viewed at 100% monitor zoom (no downsampling).
Check Phil's DiMAGE 7 samples. Viewing the pics at 100% (1 monitor
pixel = 1 CCD pixel) results in quite 'blurry' images, but if you
downsample them to say 3 MP and view them again they will look
sharper than those of a native 3 MP camera. Does this make sense?
Correct me if I'm wrong.

Costas
Mike said:
thanks
Costas Vlachos said:
Hi All,

Just got my Nikon CoolPix 995 last week (UK, firmware v1.6). What
can I say... What an awesome piece of equipment! Kudos to Nikon!
Here are my first impressions:

Looks, shape & ergonomics:

Excellent! When I first saw the 995 I thought the design was a
little too extraordinary, but after I felt it in my hand and
started using it I can definitely say it is one of the most
comfortable cameras I've ever used! Before the 995 I tried the
FujiFilm FinePix 6900Z and, although it's SLR-shaped, it just
didn't feel as 'right' as the 995. The swivel lens is just AWESOME,
I can even shoot waist-level while walking or do self-portraits and
macros at odd angles with no problems. My advice is: Don't be
put-off by the shape of the 995. Try it first and then decide.
You'll be pleasantly surprised!

Image quality (outdoors):

Very good. The matrix metering really does a good job in
point-&-shoot, and I like the colours and overall image quality. If
you feel the images are a bit on the soft side, you can always
increase the sharpness to +1 and get quite good results. Also you
can play with contrast, lightness, saturation to fine-tune the
images to your taste. The FujiFilm only has sharpness control and I
couldn't stand the over-saturated colours. Noise levels on the 995
are very low too (only tried ISO 100 so far).

Image quality (indoors):

Well... can't say for sure yet. I use medium-wattage incandescents
throughout the house (I like the light to be a little dim), so it's
a tough job for the camera. I haven't done extensive tests, but the
performance so far seems to be OK. No wows, but very acceptable.

Mechanical noise & speed:

I don't understand why people say the 995 is noisy. Have you tried
the FujiFilm? I find the camera's mechanics quiet and focusing is
fast and accurate (that is when there is enough light, why they
didn't add an AF-assist lamp is beyond me). Speed-wise, everything
is nice & fast. CF transfers are quick and the camera returns
control quickly after shooting (haven't tried the TIFF mode, only
hi-res FINE). One thing I noticed is that when browsing the
pictures in the CF card it seems a little on the slow side, but
maybe this is normal with digicams (considering each pic is more
than 1 MB in hi-res FINE mode).

Things I didn't like:

The LCD is a little bit difficult to use in direct sunlight. Still
usable, but you can't really see things like polarising filter
effects, etc. Lack of AF-assist lamp. Lack of a decent wrist strap
(the supplied neck strap is really lame). European charger takes
6.5 hours to charge battery (good Lord, what have we Europeans done
to deserve this???). A spare battery is a must.

Overall:

I'm very impressed. Have tested dark-frame for hot pixels, found
none (well, there were a couple of very faint ones at > 1 sec,
but nothing to worry about. Dark-frames of 1 sec and less were
practically totally black). LCD is very bright & crisp, with no hot
pixels as some have reported. Battery life is good (much better
than the FujiFilm). I prefer the Li-Ion to AAs.

There is no such thing as the perfect digicam, but the CP995 sure
is very close.

I've put up a few of my first shots with the 995 (simple
point-&-shoots) for all to have a look. Hope you like them. The URL
is:

http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~cv/

Just my personal experience, hope it helps. Comments/criticism
welcome.

Cheers,
Costas
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
seen it , right , no problems , shitty filter !
Costas Vlachos said:
Visit my page again:

http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~cv/

and follow the link to the sky shot.

Cheers,
Costas
Mike said:
thanks

Mike
Costas Vlachos said:
My only previous experience with a digicam (only kept it for a
week, then returned it), was with the FujiFilm FinePix 6900Z. I
must say that at 3 MP I also observed 'soft' images, even with
sharpness to 'hard'. Correct me if I'm wrong, but perhaps we need
to go up to 5 or 6 MP to get good downsampled 3 MP images. Viewing
an image taken with a camera's native maximum resolution is bound
to be soft when viewed at 100% monitor zoom (no downsampling).
Check Phil's DiMAGE 7 samples. Viewing the pics at 100% (1 monitor
pixel = 1 CCD pixel) results in quite 'blurry' images, but if you
downsample them to say 3 MP and view them again they will look
sharper than those of a native 3 MP camera. Does this make sense?
Correct me if I'm wrong.

Costas
Mike said:
thanks
Costas Vlachos said:
Hi All,

Just got my Nikon CoolPix 995 last week (UK, firmware v1.6). What
can I say... What an awesome piece of equipment! Kudos to Nikon!
Here are my first impressions:

Looks, shape & ergonomics:

Excellent! When I first saw the 995 I thought the design was a
little too extraordinary, but after I felt it in my hand and
started using it I can definitely say it is one of the most
comfortable cameras I've ever used! Before the 995 I tried the
FujiFilm FinePix 6900Z and, although it's SLR-shaped, it just
didn't feel as 'right' as the 995. The swivel lens is just AWESOME,
I can even shoot waist-level while walking or do self-portraits and
macros at odd angles with no problems. My advice is: Don't be
put-off by the shape of the 995. Try it first and then decide.
You'll be pleasantly surprised!

Image quality (outdoors):

Very good. The matrix metering really does a good job in
point-&-shoot, and I like the colours and overall image quality. If
you feel the images are a bit on the soft side, you can always
increase the sharpness to +1 and get quite good results. Also you
can play with contrast, lightness, saturation to fine-tune the
images to your taste. The FujiFilm only has sharpness control and I
couldn't stand the over-saturated colours. Noise levels on the 995
are very low too (only tried ISO 100 so far).

Image quality (indoors):

Well... can't say for sure yet. I use medium-wattage incandescents
throughout the house (I like the light to be a little dim), so it's
a tough job for the camera. I haven't done extensive tests, but the
performance so far seems to be OK. No wows, but very acceptable.

Mechanical noise & speed:

I don't understand why people say the 995 is noisy. Have you tried
the FujiFilm? I find the camera's mechanics quiet and focusing is
fast and accurate (that is when there is enough light, why they
didn't add an AF-assist lamp is beyond me). Speed-wise, everything
is nice & fast. CF transfers are quick and the camera returns
control quickly after shooting (haven't tried the TIFF mode, only
hi-res FINE). One thing I noticed is that when browsing the
pictures in the CF card it seems a little on the slow side, but
maybe this is normal with digicams (considering each pic is more
than 1 MB in hi-res FINE mode).

Things I didn't like:

The LCD is a little bit difficult to use in direct sunlight. Still
usable, but you can't really see things like polarising filter
effects, etc. Lack of AF-assist lamp. Lack of a decent wrist strap
(the supplied neck strap is really lame). European charger takes
6.5 hours to charge battery (good Lord, what have we Europeans done
to deserve this???). A spare battery is a must.

Overall:

I'm very impressed. Have tested dark-frame for hot pixels, found
none (well, there were a couple of very faint ones at > 1 sec,
but nothing to worry about. Dark-frames of 1 sec and less were
practically totally black). LCD is very bright & crisp, with no hot
pixels as some have reported. Battery life is good (much better
than the FujiFilm). I prefer the Li-Ion to AAs.

There is no such thing as the perfect digicam, but the CP995 sure
is very close.

I've put up a few of my first shots with the 995 (simple
point-&-shoots) for all to have a look. Hope you like them. The URL
is:

http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~cv/

Just my personal experience, hope it helps. Comments/criticism
welcome.

Cheers,
Costas
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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