Otel Garcia
Forum Enthusiast
I wanted a daily carryaround/travel camera to replace my now aging [film] Olympus mju (aka Stylus in US) f3.5, which has served me for 9 years. The 3700 appealed to me because of its smaller dimensions than most Coolpix cameras.
The camera feels solid in the hands, although quite small, even for someone used to the old Olympus. The ON-OFF switch is not very intuitive since you have to turn it in the same direction for both On and Off, but it's something I got used to eventually. I still think the Olympus Stylus approach of a sliding cover serving as power switch is better, and protects the lens better.
Like my older film compact, this is a "flashy" camera. You need the flash unit for sharp pictures. If you do your part (a steady hold or tripod support), the camera will also yield sharp results with available light (flash OFF), but the shutter lag will get in the way most of the time if you shoot handheld only.
As previous reviewers have noted, the selectable AF point also serves as a selectable spotmeter, very handy for tricky light. Too bad it takes 3 presses of the joystick to do it.
Problems:
some hot pixels in my unit, may not be representative of the whole production (i.e. your experience may vary). UPDATE: by now, the hot pixels have become annoying, hence, the lower rating for image quality.
Also on my unit, battery life is only average. In movie mode, my unit also exhibits the audio sync problem reported by others.
The camera feels solid in the hands, although quite small, even for someone used to the old Olympus. The ON-OFF switch is not very intuitive since you have to turn it in the same direction for both On and Off, but it's something I got used to eventually. I still think the Olympus Stylus approach of a sliding cover serving as power switch is better, and protects the lens better.
Like my older film compact, this is a "flashy" camera. You need the flash unit for sharp pictures. If you do your part (a steady hold or tripod support), the camera will also yield sharp results with available light (flash OFF), but the shutter lag will get in the way most of the time if you shoot handheld only.
As previous reviewers have noted, the selectable AF point also serves as a selectable spotmeter, very handy for tricky light. Too bad it takes 3 presses of the joystick to do it.
Problems:
some hot pixels in my unit, may not be representative of the whole production (i.e. your experience may vary). UPDATE: by now, the hot pixels have become annoying, hence, the lower rating for image quality.
Also on my unit, battery life is only average. In movie mode, my unit also exhibits the audio sync problem reported by others.