Nikon Coolpix 8800

I just received this camera yesterday. I have not had much time to do much
testing yet, but I will be doing so over the next weeks. Please follow
this thread if you are interested in the results.

For now, I can tell you that I am initially very pleased. The quality of
the build is noticeably better than that of the original 5700. Out of the
box, the first images I shot were very good. Stay posted. Other 8800
owners, please post your experiences in this thread. Thanks.

Yuri

"Yuri Drekov" wrote in
:

I just received this camera yesterday. I have not had much time to do
much testing yet, but I will be doing so over the next weeks. Please
follow this thread if you are interested in the results.

For now, I can tell you that I am initially very pleased. The quality
of the build is noticeably better than that of the original 5700. Out
of the box, the first images I shot were very good. Stay posted. Other
8800 owners, please post your experiences in this thread. Thanks.

Yuri

I have my eye on this camera as an upgrade to my 5700. I look forward to
your comments. Thanks.

--
Bill

Yuri Drekov commented courteously ...

I just received this camera yesterday. I have not had
much
time to do much testing yet, but I will be doing so over
the next weeks. Please follow this thread if you are
interested in the results.

For now, I can tell you that I am initially very
pleased.
The quality of the build is noticeably better than that
of
the original 5700. Out of the box, the first images I
shot
were very good. Stay posted. Other 8800 owners, please
post
your experiences in this thread. Thanks.


Yuri, I bought a Nikon 5700 late last summer. The 8800 was
out but I didn't think I need that many mega pixels (still
don't).

But, from the get go, my 5700's flash performance both
with the built-in Speedlight and two different Nikon-
specific external flashes has been just dismal!

I worked for weeks with Nikon tech support and even sent
it in for service. No go.

Flash works fine in close areas, such as my house rooms or
basement and it works fine in public places such as
museums when there's a well-defined set of walls/ceiling
and/or the flash hits the entire subject.

But, the general situation of shooting cars in museums -
my main interest - proves that exposure is very
inconsistant and tends to be underexposed by as much as 6
f/stops, maybe more.

I have some anecdotal evidence that Nikon had a design
defect in the 5700 which caused its Speedlight sensor to
get "confused" when a good deal of the light "missed" the
subject and went careening into the background. Ditto,
when the sensor couldn't catch bounced light off walls and
ceilings. Finally, darker cars expose much darker than
light ones.

I've been coping by putting the 5700 into full manual and
using my flash's guide number (currently, I have a Sunpak
433D).

Sorry for the long intro, but I wanted you to understand
the background to my question:

QUESTION for Yuri, in two parts:

1) When you had your 5700, how did you rate its flash
performance? Did you use an external? If so, which one?
And, what subjects did you typically shoot? Did you do any
museum shooting, where ambient lighting is nearly non-
existant?

2) Based on 1), how would you rate your 8800 so far?

I really hate to dump an otherwise perfectly good digital
(the 5700 is superb outdoors, but I appreciate that you
think the 800 is even better), but I will pop for the 8800
to get better car pics in museums if I have to.

If you prefer to talk to me privately, please E-mail me at


--
ATM, aka Jerry

Yuri Drekov commented courteously ...
Out of the box, the first images I shot were very good. Stay posted.

Hello Yuri,
I would be extremely interested in any comments you may have on using fast
shutter speeds with the CP8800, say 1000 and above. Will keep checking back
here.
Kind regards,
Leo