Customer Reviews

Nikon Coolpix 950 2MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Since I bought this camera in July, I have run over 800 exposures through it. The Coolpix 950 takes some getting used to and the manuals are required reading, but this is a camera worth learning how to use. There are two manuals, one printed and one on CD-ROM, plus the Getting Started sheet. You need to look at all three; each contains information not present in the other documents.

The macro capability is phenomenal. I have a picture of a dime that fills most of the frame. The ability to push the sensitivity of the CCD to ISO 400 and to overexpose by up to two f/stops allows even night pictures by available street light. The enhanced speed (at some cost in picture quality) also allows candids by available light. The Coolpix is also quiet in operation, even quieter if you shut off the discreet beeper that tells you that you have taken a shot.

On the down side, you will have to spring for rechargeable batteries. I have gotten by so far with NiCd batteries plus a fast recharger. A ribbon on your lens cap is also highly recommended. I have also been having some trouble lately with my off-record-play switch, and there is some barrel distortion and color fringing in the lens at its wide-angle setting. The lens' focus at its landscape setting also seems a little questionable at high magnification. I also wish that the manual focus settings weren't so coarse and that it were possible to do a completely manual exposure. (You can set either the shutter speed or the aperture manually, but not both simultaneously.) There is a noticeable delay between pushing the button and actually getting an exposure. This is sometimes a problem for candids and sports photography and when working with animals, but I have still gotten successful pictures in all these categories, and the Coolpix is faster than most digital cameras in this respect.

Other than these few small problems, I am happy with the quality of the pictures I have been getting, and it is small enough for me to carry on my belt for instant access. I could never carry a standard 35 mm camera with similar capability around like that. The Coolpix seems to be holding up well mechanically, even though it gets bumped now and again. (The extra batteries do get a little lumpy when I sit down, though!)

I've been taking and developing pictures for nearly 50 years. The Coolpix 950 is my second digital. It's truly one of the greats with plenty of creative features. The macros are impressive, with distances less than an inch. The Coolpix requires lots of time understanding the many buttons, wheels and software driven features. It seems to me that the Nikon computer people and their mechanical people could have made it easier for the user. The available user instructions from Nikon, including their CD ROM versions, could have been much better designed, even for old photography buffs. Their technical service phone number is a toll call and I got busy signals THREE times even after I connected with their menu-driven answering machine. Their website tech help is very good, but not if you are in a hurry. The camera is a major user of power so you will need long lasting batteries like NiMH. I bought a rechargable ProPower Pack from Unity Digital for $100 that lasts a considerable time. I'd rate the camera itself a 5-star and the support and user help a 3-star, for an average of 4-stars.

I use this camera with a usb sans disk flashcard reader, which I find incredibly convenient. I email pictures to family regularly. The quality is matchless, but I have to ramp down the resolution and size or some files can be over 1 meg.

The quality is so exquisite, that (get this) got a color matched fabric from a friend in NY based on a close up picture I took of a printed upholstery piece. I took a closeup of a diseased mahonia leaf, emailed it to my mom, and she diagnosed thrips and suggested BT.

This is a camera with more capability than I need, but the picture quality and features are worth developing the patience to deal with the online manual and learn. I print pics on a HP722 and the prints look great. (Tho the color degrades after a year. Printer ink problem, not Camera)

However, it has a few shortcomings. The paperless manual is a pain when you are learning. You just CANNOT see the lcd screen on the camera in bright light which makes using the manual settings impossible. The add on lenses (wide angle, etc) are awkward to use. I have lost more of the tiny lens caps than I will confess. I even dropped one on the grass and was unable to find it right after dropping it. I now have 6, having asked everyone I know for one for presents.

Background: I have had a 35mm SLR camera for years and was a weekend photographer. I knew that to quicker exposure times on bright days, that I needed to turn the f-stop to a higher number, for example. I took time exposures by mounting the camera on a tripod with a remote shutter release...I knew some times, but was hardly a professional! Basic stuff.

I spent about 4 weeks reading every review I could find on 2 megapixel digital cameras. It came down to several options.

First, several people tried to convince me to get a Kodak DC280 running about $400. I didn't. Why? Because it offers very little manual control over the camera and Kodak appears to oversaturate the colors too much.

Second, I looked at the Nikon Coolpix 800 for about $400 too. I didn't get it. I went to Best Buy's several times a week and played with the CP800. The picture quality is fantastic (see some of the review websites), but it only had a 2X zoom and offered manual focusing. It did not allow shutter or apeture priority.

Third, I decided on the Nikon 950. I missed out on some of the lowest prices on this back in Mid-April, but found I could get it from Amazon.com for about $570 after rebate. I avoided some of the online stores with bad ratings on the resellerratings.com website.

Why the 950? Well, I have had it for about 5 days now and KNOW I made the right choice. Out of the bag, it takes great pictures under an amazing list of situations in automatic mode. But...there is so much more!

Yesterday, I took it with me to my son's soccer game. I wanted to take some action shots. In automatic mode, all action was blurred. :-( But, I put the 950 into shutter priority mode, set it to take pictures at 1/500th of a second (it was bright daylight), and all action is stop-action. It's great!

I've also used it to take pictures of the moon by placing the 950 on a tripod and positioning the lens against my telescope eyepiece. I used shutter priority mode with exposures of 1/30, 1/60, and 1/125 of a second again. Pictures are stunning. I would not have been able to do this with the 800 or the Kodak.

How to get pictures into the computer? If you have a laptop with a PC card slot, buy a compact flash adapter for about $10. If you have a computer with a USB port, buy a compact flash reader to plug into it (I got mine for about $25). It allows 8MB of pictures to be transferred to the computer in about 10 seconds. No waiting an hour for them to come over the serial port for me!

If you can afford to get the 950, do so. Also try to get some rechargeable batteries, a compact flash reader and a bigger compact flash card.

Strengths: Great pictures in automatic mode. Ability to set the shutter speed. Good zoom. Weaknesses: Buy a NIMH charger and some NIMH batteries (there are places that sell these on ebay fairly cheap...I got 12 of these 1500Mah for $22). The included 8MB compactflash card is small. Buy a bigger one. Similar Products Used: Have had a Quicktake 150 and a Kodak DC50.

This camera is the digital equivalent to a some of the fine utility film cameras such as Canons' Rebel and Élan EOS series: The camera is just as complex as you need it to be - whether you are a `point-and-shoot' user or a need it for professional uses. In my design business use it has far exceeded my expectations.

Prior to purchasing the 950, I would take a product shot, make a print and tape it onto my monitor where I used it as reference to draw the product into an on screen graphic. With this camera, I seldom print the `film' out at all - in fact in many cases I didn't even have to redraw the product in at all. A shade-tree calculation says that this camera has saved me well over 100 hours in the three months I have owned it. Even at my low-low rates this is several times the cost of this camera - even including the optional memory.

The resolution is high enough for everyday publication uses -- print or pixel. A caveat here: the lens does not collect enough light to do studio quality photography. For this reason in most high quality still photo work it is useful to use a tripod to keep the camera steady. The `speed' of the camera is roughly equivalent to ASA 100 film.

While it takes only a few moments to discover the basics for `point-and-shoot' mode it is worth a few hours practice in the `pro' mode. Few of the `advanced' features are really difficult to understand and using them once or twice is so rewarding that learning becomes an easy and fun process - especially since you can erase the film and use it over! With careful lighting I can come very close to studio quality work which compares to my yeoman Canon EOS Élan 35mm.

Particularly handy for me is the macro mode - or close-up mode. You can focus from less than an inch! I sometimes use it over my high-test scanner for documents because it is easier and faster. My partner (whose mechanical ability allows the use of the toaster correctly 7 out of 10 times) uses it for online auctions and has found it to be a blessing: she no longer shuns putting up the low cost items due to the difficulty of getting an image. She is still using the point and shoot modes but they are more than good enough for this use.

Notes and recommendations: Even a casual user will find the need to have more than the supplied 8-megabyte chip. I have a 64 and it is more than enough. Probably an additional 8- or 16-megabyte would do for average use. Uploading pictures using what is in the box is straightforward but cumbersome and requires a serial port. For not too much money you can get a serial or USB drive that makes the CompactFlash chip into a drive - plug the chip in and using explorer or your photo software you can retrieve your photos just like any file on your computer. (We have even used it to move non-photo programs from one `puter to another!) Please note that I have skipped over many features which have bee covered admirably by the other reviewers on this page.

In this fast-moving technological era it is difficult to make a decision to buy as there is another camera coming out in the near future. However, this camera will work for me for a long time and I recommend it to anyone from the family album user to photo professionals for everyday use. With the new online services that will make you paper prints from your uploaded images there are fewer and fewer reasons for cumbersome film and this camera is one of the first to deliver print-quality resolution.

Our coolpix 950 came in the evening before thanksgiving. Once we figued out how to get the battery case opened (manuals are usually the last thing that I read), we were off and running taking pictures. The whole camera was rather intuitive and I was thrilled with the ease of downloading the pictures to my G4. We had also purchased a USB Film reader with the camera. We were surprized by how quickly the batteries ran out (about 1.5 hours of use) but have quickly ordered rechargable batteries. This I can see as the only downside of taking this camera on a long trip. We now have to pack a battery charger and always kep an extra set of batteries on us. Picture quality was amazing clear (I could easily pick out the discolored grout on my kitchen counter). And I am VERY picture about photo quality! Currently taking pictures that are 440k in size. I printed up a picture (epson color 900 printer) of my thanksgiving turkey and pasted in on my fridge - a few people have asked me what magazine I cut the picture from.... very impressive. Overall I am impressed and thrilled with this purchase. My kids (7 & 5) love it because suddenly they can take as many pictures as they like and later we can select to only keep their best shots.

I bought a Nikon Coolpix (my first digital camera) about a six months ago and am very satisfied with it. Previously, I had owned a Nikon 35 MM "point-and-shoot" camera, but was interested in the advantages a digital camera would provide; immediate gratification through seeing your pictures NOW, the ability to send JPG images to freinds and relatives, the ability to delete pictures "on-the-fly", etc. What I got was a mixed bag of results - mostly positive.

Before I go any further, I must advise you to get the following options: two sets of rechargable NiMH batteries which should be standard with the camera (I use the Kodak ones available at Amazon.com), a higher-capacity memory card (I use a 128 MB San Disk - Nikon's OEM), and some sort of adapter to transfer your images quickly - the serial cable is just too slow. I have purchased a SanDisk adapter and insert the memory card directly into the PCMCIA slot on my laptop computer for rapid transfer.

Anyways, in use the camera is fantastic. Initially, I was using the 640X480 resolution setting to save space, but with the new, larger card, I now use the 1600X1200 setting with moderate compression for all pictures. I find that the card can hold about 100 pictures at this resolution. Once I find a picture I like, I use the Microsoft Photo Editor software (comes with Office) and reduce the resolution as appropriate (web pages, etc.). I store my "keepers" on CDROM at the higher resolution - you can always reduce resolution and size.

The picture quality is great. The flash, however, should only be used up to 10' - any further and your pictures come out too dark. Nikon USA has a web page with the latest firmware available for download - which I recommend.

Low points for the camera include the fact that the lens resets to full zoom every time you turn the camera off! I find myself zooming out every time I turn the camera on - this eats up your batteries and takes time. The flap that covers the memory card does not always stay closed and flops open from time to time. Sometimes, the camera takes a while to reset between pictures, so a bit of spontaneity is lost.

There are now newer cameras out there. I find that the 2.1 Megapixel capability of this camera meets my needs and that, given the recent price reductions, I would buy this Nikon now if I were in the market today.

I've owned my Coolpix 950 for over six months now, and it was one of the best investments I've made. The imaging is astounding. I could read the numbers on football players on a T.V. in the background, of a dimly lit bar. I read the reviews in P.C. Mag which said if you want 35mm quality you had to have a camera with 2.1 megapixels, but this baby exceeds the quality of a 35mm. Two things though, The software leaves a lot to be desired, and the flash ram is way to small if you want high quality pictures in any quantity. The 8 megabyte flash ram that comes with the camera will give you 8 high quality pictures. But if you boost it (we bought an 80 megabyte flash ram by SanDisk which is totally compatible) you'll be able to take more pictures than you'll ever need or want. We went to Paris in June and took over 300 pictures (high quality), and the Camera still had a couple of hundred left. You probably don't need the 80 megabyte, but I think you would want the 32 megabyte.

Also, while your at it get yourself some AA rechargeable batteries (also high quality), because you'll go through AA's like they are going out of style. People love to see what you have taken in the little LCD screen and it really chews up the batteries. Also, the flash will use them up! If your going to use this as a web publishing tool you couldn't find a better one. I recommend that you use a real digital imaging tool like Photoshop, or MS Imaging. The flash gives most people red eyes (real evil looking) and you'll need to brush that out with a good imaging tool. Also, you can magnify your images 2 or 3X's and not lose quality, and with a good imaging tool you can crop it, lighten, darken, change color, and make thumbnails with a couple of clicks. Hint: Nikon View is cumberson to work with but you can speed up the downloading by using it away from your browser. Load direct from file, instead of from file open from browser then you can choose from the thumbnails (right click the thumbnail, choose copy)then paste it into Word,Powerpoint or Photoshop. If you use Powerpoint, you have a built in slide show. Good Luck!...you'll love it!

My husband and I are on the far ends of the spectrum when it comes to photography. He loves the CoolPix950 with the advanced mode, I use it with the auto mode for now. Either way we get great pictures, especially with the option to delete and a 32mb Compact Flash card.

To print photos, we bought the Olympus printer that Amazon "recommends" and found it to be small and flimsy. We returned it (as always a good Amazon return experience!) and bought the HP PhotoSmart P1100 with duplexer. The best thing about this printer is that you can just pop the Compact Flash card out of the camera and pop it into the printer, and HP's software is FAR superior to the Nikon junk that comes with the CoolPix.

A few annoying features: (1) the delay between when you press the shutter button and when the camera finally takes the photo. Hard to get used to when trying to photograph your two-year-old offering his stuffed Pooh a drink from his sippy cup (2) the flash is too close to the lens and everything with eyeballs turns red!

We use this camera a lot, especially outdoors. The macro mode is fun too.

I'm a 35mm film die-hard (primarily Nikon), but this digital camera is the first I've seen that could be considered a viable alternative for many uses. Digital will never replace film, but there are times I prefer my Coolpix 950 to my F100.

If you've used a Nikon F100 or F5, this camera will feel right at home, too. Quality through and through.

The only thing it needs is a USB cable instead of the antiquated serial cord included with the unit. I use a USB CompactFlash reader, which I recommend, as it's much faster and more convenient than cables will ever be.