Brit in Russia
New member
The superb construction made me choose this over the Canon G5. Also using the original Canon Digital IxUs (2.1MPP) a few years ago, and the resultant neutral colors from this camera (unlike my previous Kodak DC265 and DC280 which rendered beautiful color) made me give Canon a miss and go Nikon. Also a friend had the Nikon 990 which from what I recall was one of the best cameras of its day.
Strangely, the build reminds me of another Nikon Camera, the F3, an SLR that was built like a tank, and was the mainstay of 35mm Film photographers during the 80's. Build is excellent, and the camera just feels good in the hands, although the controls are a bit confusing, especially given the vast number of features available.
Low light photography is a real pain - lack of AF assist makes this troublesome to focus - although when I do get a good shot it is outstanding. I just don't like leaving this to luck (as I sometimes have to do).
Night photography can be excellent, setting the camera to infinity and using a tripod, amazing pictures. The ISO 400 setting also comes in very useful taking low light outdoor pictures handheld. So its not all bad news.
I like the manual controls, often using ISO 400 handheld with flash turned off outside in low lighting (but only for landscape type shots, as I said, portraits in this light and the such like are hit and miss).
The Review Mode Mini-Picture preview is next to useless as many have commented - it is also HIGHLY annoying. Hopefully the next SW release will fix this "feature".
Problems:
Low Light Shots can be troublesome.
Write times still slow using a 256MB Lexar USB 40X Card.
Although the LCD Preview Screen is excellent to view - even in direct sunlight - it is a bit on the small side.
Strangely, the build reminds me of another Nikon Camera, the F3, an SLR that was built like a tank, and was the mainstay of 35mm Film photographers during the 80's. Build is excellent, and the camera just feels good in the hands, although the controls are a bit confusing, especially given the vast number of features available.
Low light photography is a real pain - lack of AF assist makes this troublesome to focus - although when I do get a good shot it is outstanding. I just don't like leaving this to luck (as I sometimes have to do).
Night photography can be excellent, setting the camera to infinity and using a tripod, amazing pictures. The ISO 400 setting also comes in very useful taking low light outdoor pictures handheld. So its not all bad news.
I like the manual controls, often using ISO 400 handheld with flash turned off outside in low lighting (but only for landscape type shots, as I said, portraits in this light and the such like are hit and miss).
The Review Mode Mini-Picture preview is next to useless as many have commented - it is also HIGHLY annoying. Hopefully the next SW release will fix this "feature".
Problems:
Low Light Shots can be troublesome.
Write times still slow using a 256MB Lexar USB 40X Card.
Although the LCD Preview Screen is excellent to view - even in direct sunlight - it is a bit on the small side.