 It's a Point & Shoot camera |
| Review Date: March 21, 2009 |
| Reviewer: A. L. Smith, American Southwest |
The Nikon Coolpix P90 is what it is, a Point & Shoot Camera. It is not a DSLR and was never designed to replace a DSLR. Duh!
I do a lot of back country travel both in 4X4 vehicles and on foot and the P90 is a dream come true. It's light and packs easily on my belt, it's versatile and the super zoom lets me frame shots without climbing all over a mountain. It has easy to use controls and I can shift in seconds from a macro shot of a cactus blossom to an action shot of a javalina running along the river bottom. I would love to take the DSLR guy on some of my hikes and let him pack a camera, tripod and three or four lenses around for the day. I wonder who will get all the shots and who will still be several miles back trying to shift lenses!
Honestly, I've been the whole SLR/Darkroom route and I have eight film cameras and a dozen lenses sitting in a box in the closet. I started using digital cameras back when you paid a lot of money for a 2 megapixal camera. I bought a Coolpix 4500 and took almost 3000 pictures with it. I banged it around, dropped it in the dirt and it never stopped taking really good pictures.
Nikon knows how to make great cameras and the Coolpix P90 is a great camera. Don't let the "flamers" fool you with their horrific reviews. They buy a Point & Shoot camera and complain bitterly that it doesn't do the same thing a DSLR does. Wow, I suppose the same person buys a Saturn and complains because it doesn't handle like a BMW M6.
I've been playing with my new P90 and have over a hundred pictures in 5 days. It's going to be a great camera and a fantastic travel companion. |
Like a Dream
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| Review Date: March 27, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Malachi A. Richardson, |
This camera has sparked my interest as a photography hobbyist. The zoom issues described in previous reviews are easily solved by tweaking the iso, aperture or shutter speed. The camera also has several settings such as aperture or Shutter priority modes to assist with evenly regulating exposure making it easy to use for 1st timers. After reading the manual every picture i took came out in amazing quality. The tilt screen makes taking pictures at impossible angles easy. The 24 inch zoom lets you take close ups from impossible lengths.
it also comes with Vibration reduction to stabilize said zoom shots
Noise reduction to help when high iso is necessary.
Auto and manual whitebalance settings
In camera digital lighting and editing.
This camera may not be a DSLR but in my opinion it takes pictures just as well with half the effort. |
Pleased with the Nikon P90
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| Review Date: April 23, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Carol Lugg, Colorado Springs, CO USA |
I had decided to upgrade from the Canon S5 IS, because I really like a point and shoot camera with LOTS of zoom! I have always been a Canon person. My first choice the Canon SX1, but it was going to be expensive, and no one seemed to know the actual release date, so I decided against it. Then, there was the Canon SX10, but it didn't seem like much of a jump from the S5. I not only wanted lots of zoom, I also wanted to be able to take continuous shots rapidly. The S5 IS is really slow in this respect. This was to be my Mother's Day present, and I wanted to make sure I got just what I wanted!
After doing a LOT of research, I began to think the Nikon P90 might be a good choice for me. I had looked at the many pics taken with it on Steve's Digicam web site, but I always struggle to know if they have been photoshopped, or manipulated in some way. I went to a local camera shop, to try out the Canon SX10 against the Nikon P90, and they made my job easy, because they didn't have the Canon model in stock. Oh yes, and I also tried the Panasonic Lumix, but it was just too light for me, and the zoom on it is only 18X. I tried the Nikon P90 around the store, and it seemed like a good fit.
My first shots had a lot of blur to them. It really frustrated me, and I was concerned I had made the right decision. It seemed that no matter what I took a picture of, it was blurry. Also, we have a clear view of Pike's Peak, and I love to get those early morning shots of the mountain, and they just didn't seem to "pop". Our 16 year old son, who really knows his way around a camera, gave me some tips, and now, I really think this is an awesome camera! My early morning shots of Pike's Peak still aren't the best, but just about anything else I take a picture of, comes out awesome! The colors are true, and it is a LOT of fun to use! I just got a tri-pod today, and not having really used one before, I am learning how much it helps steady shots!
There are maybe two downsides to this camera, and to me, they are small ones. First, is the back LCD screen. It doesn't swing out like the Canon cameras do. One real plus to the swing out idea, is that when they swing back in, they can be flipped over, against the camera, so as to protect the LCD screen. I am just used to that is all. I need to get a protective screen cover for it, and I think it will be fine. The other 'downside', is that if I really use the camera most of the day, I pretty much use up my battery. This camera uses the Li-ion batteries, so for me, it was imperative I get an extra. I found a seller on Ebay that sold two of them at a really good price, and they came fully charged, and in small plastic cases too! Now I have 3 camera batteries!
So, if you are looking for a really fun, point and shoot camera, with lots of zoom, I highly recommend this camera. I almost didn't buy it, because I saw some reviews of it that weren't stellar. For once, I am glad I didn't listen to the crowd! |
Excellent Camera
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| Review Date: April 23, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Jeffrey T. Maxfield, Seattle, WA |
| I have owned several Nikon Digital Cameras and was considering an SLR when I read the reviews on this camera. It is everything and more than promised. I just returned from a trip to Italy and the pictures are the best I have ever taken. The wide angle is not quite as wide as my old Nikon 5000 with a wide angle lense and adaptor, but more than sufficient. In Paris I was able to photograph the entire facade of Sacre Cour standing in front of it. The sports feature is incredible. I used it to take pictures of my grand daughters little league game. I got every step of her bat swing and each picture was clear and in focus. It took 15 pictures in less than a minute. This is a great camera. |
Amazing photos in daylight, fast zoom and fits in some pockets
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| Review Date: April 28, 2009 |
| Reviewer: A. Vancleave, Colorado |
I bought the P90 since my wife has a compact P&S and I wanted to fangle with manual settings.
Picture quality: Simply beautiful. Overall the camera takes amazing photos in daylight and cloudy lighting, they are spectacular in auto mode and even better with slight tweaking.
The zoom and lens: I've taken stunning shots in full 24x zoom of skiers in action shots with chunks of snow flying sharp and detailed. The optic stabilization is perfectly adequate to hand hold the camera taking shots in full zoom - and I disagree with the reviewer "E.C. Bummer" and am highly suspicious of that review. So I gave this a 5 instead of a 4 to balance. I've also taken some very nice macro shots of tulips and the focus has been very cooperative and speedy.
Learning curve and manual settings: Getting familiar with adjusting the manual settings for aperture, shutter speed and contrast and white balance does not take long. In about a week and 100 photos I was fully familiar with dialing in the settings and modes. It takes some patience if you want to experiment out of auto mode and be comfortable changing the setup; and you will take some awfully exposed shots in the process - but that is the point of this camera. I do like the overall layout and the menu for changing manual settings - fast and logical with 2 programmable profiles for preset settings.
Lowlight and indoors for any digital camera is a challenge - just a nature of the beast. I've had good results but you will get the usual noise if there is not enough light. You will get very good results indoors relative to the technology, price and less expensive P&S's and even more expensive cameras made just a year ago.
Video: Honestly would have expected more from this. I took a 5 minute vid snowboarding down a mountain. Perhaps this was an extreme test but the video was unwatchable pretty much. I have seen much better results with compact cameras with video recording. No HD. Likely in good lighting with minimal shake the video recording probably does nicely for online video uploading.
LCD and viewfinder: I do agree the LCD does not seem to give a fair representation of the images and there is a delay once an image is displayed in play mode before the processing adjusts the image to high resolution. My high-end gaming machine did the same thing - so not sure if it is because of the 12MP images or something else. I prefer the viewfinder in daylight anyway for taking images.
Size: I was able to fit the camera in the hand pocket of a Columbia jacket. It is large for a P&S and I could certainly feel the weight in my unzipped jacket while snowboarding with it. In your hands it is light and comfortable however. I do like holding it.
What would make this camera better:
1. Ability to go from 'off' to 'play mode' to review pictures. Instead the camera has to wake up the lens and the lens cap must be removed.
2. The camera can be turned on when the lens cap is on. The lens will try to force itself out against the lens cap, eventually giving up and the camera provides an error. Just does not seem this is good for the optic mechanics.
3. I wish there was a lock for the stabilization of the optics. When traveling I can feel the parts moving in my hand. Seems like the ability to lock everything would preserve the life of the optics.
4. No screw for filters. Would have been nice have thrown a polarizer on for bluer skies. The camera does have many digital settings to try to get to filter type results.
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Can't find video reviews for this product yet, sorry.We're looking into it.
