Coolpix 5400

I have read in a few reviews that this cameras performance is poor under
'low lighting' conditions as it has no AF illuminator.
Can anybody quantify 'low light'? Will it work in restraunts, bars and
family parties or is poorly lit a torch 5 miles a way?

Thanks


Jamie

i would say as a general use camera it is a serious problem. nicer
restaurants, with dimmed lighting are problematic. it will focus,
eventually, but it takes so long that it makes the typical slow lag time
into what i consider to be impossible to use effectively for shooting
people. external flash compatibility is an issue too as you need one that
will fire the infrared autofocus assist on the flash for it to be any help.
for daylight it does indeed capture great pictures, however the lag time is
not a joy even if you set it to single focus (as opposed to continuous focus
as used when tracking a moving subject) and even if you pre-focus by
pressing the shutter release button half way.

"jamie" wrote in message
...
I have read in a few reviews that this cameras performance is poor under
'low lighting' conditions as it has no AF illuminator.
Can anybody quantify 'low light'? Will it work in restraunts, bars and
family parties or is poorly lit a torch 5 miles a way?

Thanks


Jamie

I have read in a few reviews that this cameras performance is poor under
'low lighting' conditions as it has no AF illuminator. Can anybody quantify
'low light'? Will it work in restraunts, bars and family parties or is
poorly lit a torch 5 miles a way?

I have onbe of these and have been generally pleassed with it as a glorified
point & shoot. However, its pretensions of being a more serious camera fall
short of my expectations. FWIW, I use it on aperture priority, with the
focus areas active, I manage the white balance to the light, etc. My gripoes
are the LCD is too small to work with accurately, the menu scheme is
counterintuitive and overly complex, and the thing takes forever to come off
its standby mode, thus many shots can be lost waiting for it to warm up. In
fact, it better to turn it off, it boots faster than it comes off standby,
just eats a bit more battery.

The image quality is just OK, lots of moire and noise compared to a D1x, for
example, with the same 5 mpxl chip rating. Overall I'm rather diappointed in
it and would advise you try before you buy.