Customer Reviews

Nikon Coolpix 4200 4MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am by no means a camera expert. I am a mother of two kids that wanted a quality camera to catch all the "photo" moments. That meant it needed to be small and lightweight enough to carry around, start quickly so not to miss the shot, and above all, give me a clear picture.

This camera has done all of that plus! This is my third digital camera and by far the best. The pictures are exceptionally clear, complete photo quality! The buit in red eye reduction is a wonderful feature as I like to print directly from the camera to a personal photo printer. My husband was amazed at the quality of the pictures from this camera.

I won't get into all of the features of the camera as most people do not use them, but there are plenty. It's very easy to change settings on the camera as you become more familiar with it and may want to use specific settings.

The camera has a very sturdy feel to it in hand, and has proven pretty durable since I carry it everywhere in my purse and it takes the beating my bag does.

If I had to say anything negative it would be that you have to remove the battery for charging. This is not necessarily a negative, just not what I am used to doing.

Again, I am no expert, just a mom with some great photos of the kids!

The camera has a very nice size -- fits equally well in my shirt pocket and in my hand -- and weight. The built in red eye reduction for portrait photography works well.

Don't bother with the picture project software; picasa picasa dot com (for windows) or iPhoto (for Mac) are transcendally better.

After an hour with the manual you will love this camera.

It is barely larger than a credit card and about 1.5 inch thick. It is a metal case but it is very light weight. Picture quality is good and the shutter response time is reasonable in normal light condition. The product description here is incorrect about the movie mode. It can record movie with audio. The quality is good but it is in QuickTime format. That means you cannot play it with Microsoft media player. It is a little inconvenient. But the quicktime file (.mov) is a lot smaller than the microsoft video clip format (.avi). A file of 30 second clip with medium quality is only about 9M. The software comes with the camera is not very useful. The file transfer using this software is slow. I usually pull out the SD card and copy the file to the computer using a card reader.

I have used a professional quality 35mm camera for the last 20 years. Was in no hurry to buy a digital camera. Either the quality was not good enough or it required a mortgage. My equipment was fine for making art quality pictures, but too cumbersome for parties and trips. This camera is the size of a credit card and still feels good in your hand. You don't worry about dropping it. The print quality is excellent. Easy to use. I highly recommend it. Would suggest buying the extra battery and camera case. There is very little warning when your battery is low. Looked at the Cannon cameras and found them too bulky for my shirt pocket and not easy to use. The zoom control on Canon's cameras is terrible.

Don't get me wrong. I love this camera. It is compact, easy to use and looks really cool. The menus are VERY intuitive. I didn't even have to open up the manuel to figure out all the functions. This is good for when other people use my camera b/c I don't have to explain everything to them. I can also operate the camera w/ one hand. I stis comfortable in my hand adn pocket too. All the auto options are nice, however you can't change alot of stuff manually, so if you are really into do-it yourself photos this isn't for you. If you want to the camera to do most of yoru thinking, the Nikon rocks. I haven't been super thrilled w/ the quality of the photos but then again I haven't been trying that hard to get good pics. The software that comes w/ the camera is really good though and the auto redlight removal built into the camera works great.

Best function: continous mode (you can take 16 frames in a row w/ no reload time) great for action shots like football or track.

Worst part: has a harder time focusing when the flash is turned off.

I like it, but at $50 more than the Canon Elph S410 it's up to you if the ease of use is worth it.

One of the reasons I purchased this camera was for the ease of taking close-up photos. There are "macro" options easily accessed without a struggle on this nifty tiny, and I mean tiny camera. (Don't let the above specification shot fool you. This camera will fit in your shirt pocket.)If you don't like "small" cameras, this is not for you. The access to all options on this camera are easy. The dial on the top allows you to change the menu. Then, press the menu button under the screen and make any changes you so desire. The number of options you have with this camera are only limited by your imagination. I wish I could paste a picture of one of my fish tanks here to give you an example of the close-up detail. The difference from my previous camera is incredible. The auto-focus was a little confusing at first. It does so much auto-focusing, the picture looks a little blurry on the screen, when you push the button down half-way. Then the image becomes clear. You can turn this feature off. The only real drawback is the battery pack. It's an expensive one. Keep an extra on hand. At least there's an energy saving feature. The default is 60 seconds, which is good for saving the battery, but bad for setting up a shot. You can alter the length of time for the energy saving feature, too. In fact, I think you can alter just about any feature on this camera, except the size, the batteries, and the memory it requires!(Also figure into the cost of this camera a secure digital memory card.)

After 8 months with the Nikon Coolpix 4200, I am convinced I could not have found a better camera. Photos are as good as any I would hope for. The auto point and shoot setting has yet to disappoint me, and yet the options for special situations let me make the images I want, easily-- from macro mode all the way to photographing the northern lights. Menus are a snap to use and intuitively arranged, the camera "fits" my hand, buttons are where I expect to find them. The LCD screen shows clear and crisp images that let me know immediately whether I have the picture I want, or should try again. And presto, a quick cable connection, and everything loads into iPhoto in no time. -- Hooked, I keep looking at other similar models, and am convinced this is the one I'm happy to have with me.

Very good camera but I feel one needs to be a little bit pro in operating this camera. Auto mode doesn't always work good. The SCENE-> Indoor/party mode was good when taking pictures indoors and under light.

Few photographs still had some red eye. I think Nikon claims that this is the first camera with inbuilt red-eye reduction. Though red-eye is not eliminated in all the snaps, most of the snaps didn't had any red-eye and they really look great. Also, most of the snaps are shaken probably due to the manual movements while taking the picture. But all the photographs taken using a tripod weren't shaken and are really good.

The camera performed very good in pitch dark.

Except for the automode which was not working well (when compared to SCENE->INDOOR mode)everything in this small package is great. I really like this camera very much. I had a Kodak DX series before in which the auto mode was very decent and works well indoors and outdoors. And thats probably why I feel the auto mode is bad.


Finally, I would say this is a great camera. I would have given 5*'s but due to auto mode, I will have to cut one.

This was a decent little camera for it's time. By today's standards it's a bit bulky for the megapixils it offers. There is a design problem with the battery cover / door. It's on the bottom corner of the camera and spring-tensioned. It is pushed down and slid it into a locked position, held by little plastic tabs. These tabs break off easly, leaving the battery door hanging partially open. The camera still works, though you may have to use your pinky to tension the battery door. When travelling we've bumped into a number of people at tourist spots with the same camera. Most have broken battery doors. I like the photos it takes, but this flaw that would prevent me from buying it again.

This is my second digital camera and it is great. Within about 15 minutes of opening the box I was up and running. The manual and the Quick Start guide are great. The color is good. There is no irritating delay between clicking and the time the picture takes. This was a big pain in my first digital. The red eye compensation actually works EXCEPT if the background is orange or red and the flash starts up. But any of the commonly used picture software packages can readily handle this problem.

The movie mode is good provided you have the memory. The camera comes with one battery but you MUST have a spare specially if you are going to shoot movies.

There are a few areas that can use improvement. These are:
01. You can store only about 10 pics in memory. So it would
have been good if Nikon included a SDK memory card.
02. Installing and removing the battery is awkward because
in doing so one has to be careful not to press the click
button. But then something has to give if you want a
small sized camera.
03. The screen size is 1.5" a 2.0" size would have been great.

All in all though for the price this is a great value.