Friday, May 27, 2011

Nikon Coolpix S3100 quick review


Nikon Coolpix S3100 camera, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.




I just bought a Nikon Coolpix S3100, as I need a digital camera for times when I don't want to lug around my Canon DSLR, I found this camera on Futureshop's website on sale for pretty cheap so decided to buy it.

What do I think? Compared to my old Canon SD1000 digital camera, it is even thinner than that. The Nikon S3100 has a very cheap plasticy feel to it, although I read reviews that it's aluminum body - certainly plastic. It's pretty slow to start up, slow for taking photos. It's generally slow, my old SD1000 was better than this camera. The SD1000 was generally just much better as it had a nice metal frame, the options were simple to amateurs and beginners, while for the Nikon, it takes alot just to change ISO, you actually have to go into the settings and change ISO for each setting - pretty annoying.

For macro, it has alot of trouble trying to focus (and locking) onto the photo, but fiddling around for a few minutes eventually fixes that. I tried taking a photo of the iPhone screen and it had trouble focusing until I changed to a different "Macro Scene", then it was clear. The photos are a bit too soft, as I've read in reviews, but for what I need it for - possibly taking outdoors photos when I'm in a rush, it will do the job.

For some shots, I feel that my iPhone may actually take better photos than this camera, but I guess we'll wait and see over time.

I rate this a 2/5.

What do I like about it? Compact feel, was only $130, lots of "Scenes" for different things (ie macro, outdoors, pets, etc),

What do I hate about it? Too plasticy of a feel, LCD screen is incredibly fragile, it has problems focusing in on photos, you need to play around with menues alot for what you need. I guess you get what you pay for!





Update: On June 2 I returned the camera, I just couldn't deal with the slowness of the device. Futureshop was very friendly and welcoming, letting me to return the device with zero hassle, I was quite pleased! My mom bought a camera instead, a $220 Sony camera, so I'll get my old SD1000 back. The last picture is the best photo I took of the bunch, and that's not saying much.

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