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#1
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Best Coolpix for HD and low light too?
I'd like to consider a newer purse sized Coolpix. I have the 4500 which is
nice, but not exactly purse sized. I like to do a bit of low-light shooting without flash, so it looks like the S8000 isnt up to that, though the 10x optical zoom sounds nice. I enjoy mostly scenery and non-flash shots of our shoulder pet birds. My purse cam is now a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-S750 but the image quality isnt as nice as the Coolpix. I suspect Nikon makes better quality lenses? So suggestions? I need to keep this in the under $300 street price range. |
#2
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Best Coolpix for HD and low light too?
"Jane Galt" wrote in message . .. I'd like to consider a newer purse sized Coolpix. I have the 4500 which is nice, but not exactly purse sized. I like to do a bit of low-light shooting without flash, so it looks like the S8000 isnt up to that, though the 10x optical zoom sounds nice. I enjoy mostly scenery and non-flash shots of our shoulder pet birds. My purse cam is now a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-S750 but the image quality isnt as nice as the Coolpix. I suspect Nikon makes better quality lenses? So suggestions? I need to keep this in the under $300 street price range. Of the current crop of Coolpixes, the S640 looks about the best for your purposes. Its lens is a relatively fast f/2.7 at the short end and it also has Nikon's "4-way VR" -- both of which will help in low-light shooting. The "4-way VR" is actually a combination of optional features and includes Nikon's exclusive Best Shot Selector feature, by itself a big help in low-light shooting (BSS lets you hold the shutter release down for up to 10 shots, then saves the sharpest one; since slow-shutter-speed shots usually vary a lot in sharpness, this helps a great deal). Also part of the "4-way VR" is the camera's offering auto ISO settings up to 6400 -- great for low light, though at the cost of increased noise. I have found high-ISO settings very useful in Coolpixes despite the increased noise, but I may be more tolerant of noise in photos than some other people. I don't have that particular model myself so can't speak about it from experience, but I do have a gaggle of other relatively recent Coolpixes and have consistently fine results from them all. The S640 has a MSRP of $219.95, so street price should certainly be no more than that. And it is very compact -- no problem at all for your purse, you could carry two or three there if you wanted to. |
#3
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Best Coolpix for HD and low light too?
"Neil Harrington" wrote :
"Jane Galt" wrote in message . .. I'd like to consider a newer purse sized Coolpix. I have the 4500 which is nice, but not exactly purse sized. I like to do a bit of low-light shooting without flash, so it looks like the S8000 isnt up to that, though the 10x optical zoom sounds nice. I enjoy mostly scenery and non-flash shots of our shoulder pet birds. My purse cam is now a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-S750 but the image quality isnt as nice as the Coolpix. I suspect Nikon makes better quality lenses? So suggestions? I need to keep this in the under $300 street price range. Of the current crop of Coolpixes, the S640 looks about the best for your purposes. Its lens is a relatively fast f/2.7 at the short end and it also has Nikon's "4-way VR" -- both of which will help in low-light shooting. The "4-way VR" is actually a combination of optional features and includes Nikon's exclusive Best Shot Selector feature, by itself a big help in low-light shooting (BSS lets you hold the shutter release down for up to 10 shots, then saves the sharpest one; since slow-shutter-speed shots usually vary a lot in sharpness, this helps a great deal). Also part of the "4-way VR" is the camera's offering auto ISO settings up to 6400 -- great for low light, though at the cost of increased noise. I have found high-ISO settings very useful in Coolpixes despite the increased noise, but I may be more tolerant of noise in photos than some other people. I don't have that particular model myself so can't speak about it from experience, but I do have a gaggle of other relatively recent Coolpixes and have consistently fine results from them all. The S640 has a MSRP of $219.95, so street price should certainly be no more than that. And it is very compact -- no problem at all for your purse, you could carry two or three there if you wanted to. Before coming back here to see this, I've been loking around, and am very tempted by the Powershot SD4000IS now, except for the price. Whew. Then the Coolpix S8000 is PHAT too. sigh What to do, what to do.... -- - Jane Galt |
#4
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Best Coolpix for HD and low light too?
"Jane Galt" wrote in message . .. "Neil Harrington" wrote : "Jane Galt" wrote in message . .. I'd like to consider a newer purse sized Coolpix. I have the 4500 which is nice, but not exactly purse sized. I like to do a bit of low-light shooting without flash, so it looks like the S8000 isnt up to that, though the 10x optical zoom sounds nice. I enjoy mostly scenery and non-flash shots of our shoulder pet birds. My purse cam is now a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-S750 but the image quality isnt as nice as the Coolpix. I suspect Nikon makes better quality lenses? So suggestions? I need to keep this in the under $300 street price range. Of the current crop of Coolpixes, the S640 looks about the best for your purposes. Its lens is a relatively fast f/2.7 at the short end and it also has Nikon's "4-way VR" -- both of which will help in low-light shooting. The "4-way VR" is actually a combination of optional features and includes Nikon's exclusive Best Shot Selector feature, by itself a big help in low-light shooting (BSS lets you hold the shutter release down for up to 10 shots, then saves the sharpest one; since slow-shutter-speed shots usually vary a lot in sharpness, this helps a great deal). Also part of the "4-way VR" is the camera's offering auto ISO settings up to 6400 -- great for low light, though at the cost of increased noise. I have found high-ISO settings very useful in Coolpixes despite the increased noise, but I may be more tolerant of noise in photos than some other people. I don't have that particular model myself so can't speak about it from experience, but I do have a gaggle of other relatively recent Coolpixes and have consistently fine results from them all. The S640 has a MSRP of $219.95, so street price should certainly be no more than that. And it is very compact -- no problem at all for your purse, you could carry two or three there if you wanted to. Before coming back here to see this, I've been loking around, and am very tempted by the Powershot SD4000IS now, except for the price. Whew. Then the Coolpix S8000 is PHAT too. sigh What to do, what to do.... Buy one of each? :-) The S8000's lens is just over 2/3 stop slower (f/3.5 vs f/2.7 of the S640), which gives the S640 a slight advantage in low-light shooting, all else being equal. Also the S8000 does not have quite the wide-angle capability of the S640 (30mm equiv. vs 28mm), which might be of some importance to you since you've mentioned your interest in scenery. These are reasons I suggested the S640 as being perhaps the best choice for your purposes. Yes, the 10x zoom is nice, provided it works well. I had (very briefly) a Coolpix S10 which also had a 10x zoom, nice lens except for its horribly unreliable autofocus at the longer focal lengths, which made it practically useless. I promptly returned it for that reason, the only Coolpix I have ever returned. Of course that doesn't mean the S8000 has a similar problem, but it did tend to make me leery of superzoom lenses in very small cameras. Other than that, the S8000 has what advantages? It's a 14-megapixel camera instead of the S640's 12, but the 12 is already cramming far too many pixels into such a tiny sensor as far as I'm concerned. I have Coolpixes in 8, 10, 12 and 14 megapixels -- and I routinely set them all to 5 megapixels. The Great Megapixel Race serves no purpose as far as I can see except to help manufacturers sell more cameras to people who think their pictures aren't sharp because they don't have enough megapixels. |
#5
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Best Coolpix for HD and low light too?
On Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:02:00 -0400, "Neil Harrington"
wrote: Yes, the 10x zoom is nice, provided it works well. I had (very briefly) a Coolpix S10 which also had a 10x zoom, nice lens except for its horribly unreliable autofocus at the longer focal lengths, which made it practically useless. I promptly returned it for that reason Good. Then it eventually fell into the hands of someone that knows how to use cameras properly. Contrast detection focusing depends on the camera being able to latch onto any contrasting edges. When fools like you wildly wave around a long focal-length lens and then expect the camera to compensate for your lack of coordination and imbecility it won't be able to focus. Thanks for proving to the world what a moronic, inept, imbecilic, and uncoordinated buffoon that you are. Not to mention providing a "refurb" priced camera to someone that probably has far more talent than you will ever have in 10 lifetimes. LOL! |
#6
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Best Coolpix for HD and low light too?
"Neil Harrington" wrote :
"Jane Galt" wrote in message . .. "Neil Harrington" wrote : "Jane Galt" wrote in message . .. I'd like to consider a newer purse sized Coolpix. I have the 4500 which is nice, but not exactly purse sized. I like to do a bit of low-light shooting without flash, so it looks like the S8000 isnt up to that, though the 10x optical zoom sounds nice. I enjoy mostly scenery and non-flash shots of our shoulder pet birds. My purse cam is now a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-S750 but the image quality isnt as nice as the Coolpix. I suspect Nikon makes better quality lenses? So suggestions? I need to keep this in the under $300 street price range. Of the current crop of Coolpixes, the S640 looks about the best for your purposes. Its lens is a relatively fast f/2.7 at the short end and it also has Nikon's "4-way VR" -- both of which will help in low-light shooting. The "4-way VR" is actually a combination of optional features and includes Nikon's exclusive Best Shot Selector feature, by itself a big help in low-light shooting (BSS lets you hold the shutter release down for up to 10 shots, then saves the sharpest one; since slow-shutter-speed shots usually vary a lot in sharpness, this helps a great deal). Also part of the "4-way VR" is the camera's offering auto ISO settings up to 6400 -- great for low light, though at the cost of increased noise. I have found high-ISO settings very useful in Coolpixes despite the increased noise, but I may be more tolerant of noise in photos than some other people. I don't have that particular model myself so can't speak about it from experience, but I do have a gaggle of other relatively recent Coolpixes and have consistently fine results from them all. The S640 has a MSRP of $219.95, so street price should certainly be no more than that. And it is very compact -- no problem at all for your purse, you could carry two or three there if you wanted to. Before coming back here to see this, I've been loking around, and am very tempted by the Powershot SD4000IS now, except for the price. Whew. Then the Coolpix S8000 is PHAT too. sigh What to do, what to do.... Buy one of each? :-) ROFLMAO If only... The S8000's lens is just over 2/3 stop slower (f/3.5 vs f/2.7 of the S640), which gives the S640 a slight advantage in low-light shooting, all else being equal. Also the S8000 does not have quite the wide-angle capability of the S640 (30mm equiv. vs 28mm), which might be of some importance to you since you've mentioned your interest in scenery. These are reasons I suggested the S640 as being perhaps the best choice for your purposes. The S640 doesnt get such great reviews on Amazon, though not many reviews there. Dont see anything about high def stills or movies either. Most of what I want to do is either scenery or my pet birds, or combinations thereof. ( I take one of my parrots out for walks in parks, on a leash ) I'd also wish for a polarizing filter for any of these but am not sure if they can do that. Makes a big diff in scenic shots. Frankly I'd love a $3000 Nikon DSLR but it's like with guns. They say that the smaller gun you can carry is better than the bigger gun that you have to wind up leaving at home. Same with this. If it fits my purse, I have it in a snap. pun If it's baggage, I probably would leave it at home most of the time, then I'd miss something like that video of Congressman ( Thug ) Bob Etheridge if I saw something like that going on. :-) Yes, the 10x zoom is nice, provided it works well. I had (very briefly) a Coolpix S10 which also had a 10x zoom, nice lens except for its horribly unreliable autofocus at the longer focal lengths, which made it practically useless. I promptly returned it for that reason, the only Coolpix I have ever returned. Of course that doesn't mean the S8000 has a similar problem, but it did tend to make me leery of superzoom lenses in very small cameras. Other than that, the S8000 has what advantages? It's a 14-megapixel camera instead of the S640's 12, but the 12 is already cramming far too many pixels into such a tiny sensor as far as I'm concerned. I have Coolpixes in 8, 10, 12 and 14 megapixels -- and I routinely set them all to 5 megapixels. The Great Megapixel Race serves no purpose as far as I can see except to help manufacturers sell more cameras to people who think their pictures aren't sharp because they don't have enough megapixels. True. Well now that I have a HD 24" LCD monitor ( Asus VK246H ) and HDTV at home, I'm really enjoying true HD, so it would be awesome to be able to take full HD photos and video and see them on these at home, even as wallpaper. -- - Jane Galt |
#7
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Best Coolpix for HD and low light too?
"Jane Galt" wrote in message
. .. [] True. Well now that I have a HD 24" LCD monitor ( Asus VK246H ) and HDTV at home, I'm really enjoying true HD, so it would be awesome to be able to take full HD photos and video and see them on these at home, even as wallpaper. You do know that "full HD", and your monitor, are only about 2MP, I presume? Cheers, David |
#8
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Best Coolpix for HD and low light too?
"Jane Galt" wrote in message . .. "Neil Harrington" wrote : "Jane Galt" wrote in message . .. "Neil Harrington" wrote : "Jane Galt" wrote in message . .. I'd like to consider a newer purse sized Coolpix. I have the 4500 which is nice, but not exactly purse sized. I like to do a bit of low-light shooting without flash, so it looks like the S8000 isnt up to that, though the 10x optical zoom sounds nice. I enjoy mostly scenery and non-flash shots of our shoulder pet birds. My purse cam is now a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-S750 but the image quality isnt as nice as the Coolpix. I suspect Nikon makes better quality lenses? So suggestions? I need to keep this in the under $300 street price range. Of the current crop of Coolpixes, the S640 looks about the best for your purposes. Its lens is a relatively fast f/2.7 at the short end and it also has Nikon's "4-way VR" -- both of which will help in low-light shooting. The "4-way VR" is actually a combination of optional features and includes Nikon's exclusive Best Shot Selector feature, by itself a big help in low-light shooting (BSS lets you hold the shutter release down for up to 10 shots, then saves the sharpest one; since slow-shutter-speed shots usually vary a lot in sharpness, this helps a great deal). Also part of the "4-way VR" is the camera's offering auto ISO settings up to 6400 -- great for low light, though at the cost of increased noise. I have found high-ISO settings very useful in Coolpixes despite the increased noise, but I may be more tolerant of noise in photos than some other people. I don't have that particular model myself so can't speak about it from experience, but I do have a gaggle of other relatively recent Coolpixes and have consistently fine results from them all. The S640 has a MSRP of $219.95, so street price should certainly be no more than that. And it is very compact -- no problem at all for your purse, you could carry two or three there if you wanted to. Before coming back here to see this, I've been loking around, and am very tempted by the Powershot SD4000IS now, except for the price. Whew. Then the Coolpix S8000 is PHAT too. sigh What to do, what to do.... Buy one of each? :-) ROFLMAO If only... The S8000's lens is just over 2/3 stop slower (f/3.5 vs f/2.7 of the S640), which gives the S640 a slight advantage in low-light shooting, all else being equal. Also the S8000 does not have quite the wide-angle capability of the S640 (30mm equiv. vs 28mm), which might be of some importance to you since you've mentioned your interest in scenery. These are reasons I suggested the S640 as being perhaps the best choice for your purposes. The S640 doesnt get such great reviews on Amazon, though not many reviews there. Dont see anything about high def stills or movies either. Most of what I want to do is either scenery or my pet birds, or combinations thereof. ( I take one of my parrots out for walks in parks, on a leash ) Now THAT must be worth taking a picture of! I'd also wish for a polarizing filter for any of these but am not sure if they can do that. Makes a big diff in scenic shots. Very few compact camera lenses are threaded for filters, and really none of the kind we've been talking about (those with lens retracting behind a self-capping gizmo). I should think you could just hand-hold a polarizer in front of the lens and rotate it to suit, though I've never actually done that myself. Frankly I'd love a $3000 Nikon DSLR but it's like with guns. They say that the smaller gun you can carry is better than the bigger gun that you have to wind up leaving at home. Same with this. If it fits my purse, I have it in a snap. pun If it's baggage, I probably would leave it at home most of the time, then I'd miss something like that video of Congressman ( Thug ) Bob Etheridge if I saw something like that going on. :-) Yes, wasn't that something. Yes, the 10x zoom is nice, provided it works well. I had (very briefly) a Coolpix S10 which also had a 10x zoom, nice lens except for its horribly unreliable autofocus at the longer focal lengths, which made it practically useless. I promptly returned it for that reason, the only Coolpix I have ever returned. Of course that doesn't mean the S8000 has a similar problem, but it did tend to make me leery of superzoom lenses in very small cameras. Other than that, the S8000 has what advantages? It's a 14-megapixel camera instead of the S640's 12, but the 12 is already cramming far too many pixels into such a tiny sensor as far as I'm concerned. I have Coolpixes in 8, 10, 12 and 14 megapixels -- and I routinely set them all to 5 megapixels. The Great Megapixel Race serves no purpose as far as I can see except to help manufacturers sell more cameras to people who think their pictures aren't sharp because they don't have enough megapixels. True. Well now that I have a HD 24" LCD monitor ( Asus VK246H ) and HDTV at home, I'm really enjoying true HD, so it would be awesome to be able to take full HD photos and video and see them on these at home, even as wallpaper. I see David has already pointed out that HDTV is only about two megapixels. And that's at the highest available resolution regardless of screen size: 1920 x 1080 = 2.07 megapixels. |
#9
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Best Coolpix for HD and low light too?
Looking some more, the S90 is also tempting, so it's between the
S90 $350 S8000 $250 and SD4000IS $350 It would stretch the budget for the more expensive two ( $350 street price ) if it would bring $100 more joy to my shooting, but what's a credit card for? -- - Jane Galt |
#10
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Best Coolpix for HD and low light too?
"Jane Galt" wrote in message
. .. Looking some more, the S90 is also tempting, so it's between the S90 $350 S8000 $250 and SD4000IS $350 It would stretch the budget for the more expensive two ( $350 street price ) if it would bring $100 more joy to my shooting, but what's a credit card for? -- - Jane Galt If you're paying that much you might as well get a DSLR - the larger sensor will make for better low-light performance. David |
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