Customer Reviews

Nikon Coolpix 4100 4MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

The 4100 is an easy to use camera with several nice features that deliver better than expected results. It is perfect for vacations and parties, and most other personal uses. This is not a camera for photo enthusiast requiring lots of options and lots of zoom capability. Overall, it is a great bargain.

Pros:
- Priced a significant amount lower than competing models
- Very easy to use and intuitive menus
- Great picture quality (not excellent)
- Compact and solid, but not at the expense of usability
- Usefull scene and picture framing tools

Cons:
- The batteries won't last more than twenty five pics w/flash
- The LCD display is not so great in sunlight
- The 3x optical zoom is only good enough for close objects and portrait shots (this is why it is not 5 stars)
- The digital zoom seriously sacrifices image quality

I have been using the Nikon 4100 for two months and have found it very difficult to use. I use a camera for work, documenting defects in building construction. The other two cameras I use are a Cannon Digital Rebel and an Olympus D-520. To compare the group, lets get the good things out of the way first. It is small and fits easily in a pocket. It uses 2 AA batteries, so it is easy to get and carry spares. The quality of the photos is what you would expect in a 4 MP camera.

THE UGLY..the start up sequence for the 4100 seems at least twice as long as the Olympus. Once on, the time between button push and actually taking a picture makes the camera difficult to use (even when photographing static components). Frequently, it will not take a photo had you have to turn it off and back on (get a sandwich and take a break). I have never used the camera for a full day when I did not have to turn it off and remove and reinstall the memory card because the camera "lost" the card. The buttons on the back are very sensitive, making the camera almost impossible to use with one hand. When using it with one hand, you end up making sound recordings, movies, etc. There is more but this should give you the picture, no pun intended!

First off let me say, how this excellent digital camera has got some bad reviews from people is "Mind boggling!" One person remarks he has been using this camera for months and is difficult to use... The Nikon 4100 is a *Point and shoot* camera and it comes with a instructional video CD. The instructions are simple to read with clear diagrams. Among the his other comments as "THE UGLY..the start up sequence for the 4100 (which I think is a cool animation with sound), long the 5 second flash recharge... and STRANGER, "having problems taking pictures in (even when photographing static components)" What ever that is???. And "Taking the memory in and out" To I guess??? "Start -er- up!" Here's another "Very poor focusing system, grainy pictures" "This camera is a mutt"...Well I say "BOOLA" to you! *LOL shaking my head in mind boggling aw*

As a Graphic Artist for 15 years I have seen the evolution of digital cameras threw the years. You want to talk about pixels and grain 8 years ago.. this camera is light years ahead in how it simplified, point and shoot... with it clear and useful settings, eliminating the complex use of shutter speeds and Fstops, the Nikon 4100 does it for you. Read your manuel, trust the different screen modes in your events in taking pictures. There is even a Nikon friendly website ( www.nikoncoolpix.com/splash.html ) where you can share your pictures and information forum with other Coolpix users...find that with other digital camera name brands.

The 4100 and the 3200 Coolpix are both identical as the only difference is the 1 extra megapixel advantage with in the 4100, you won't be able to tell the difference. As an sworn Olympus user. I have found the 4100 takes very clear quality pictures and insignificant grain, indoors and out... I use it to produce pictures for cover illustrations at it's 300 dpi setting, up too 11X14 print size for use in the news paper print media and some hi gloss cover art. I am as picky as you get being artist and a stickler for detail. The flash does take 5 to 6 seconds to recharge but I'm in no hurry as it gives me time to think about my next shot... unless your at some party in a drunken frenzy just snapping away which I might ad there is a stetting for that too... ( party mode) As I may remind you how many pictures your old 35 mm camera came out over flashed and over blurred or darker then space... Now you remember! Digital is here to save the day and so is Nikon.

The 4100 and the 3200 Coolpix do need rechargeable batteries as the it's manufactured recommended (NiMH) batteries or CR-V3 lithium batteries... it is pointless to use Alkaline batteries in any digital camera using a built-in flash unit and view screen.

Buy a large capacity SD card to store you pictures at the highest setting / 4meg. I suggest 256 or better 512.

This is not a movie camera so don't expect DVD quality movies... it makes movies at 15 frames a second at 640 x 480 pixels... get a video camera if ya want hi 8 movies. I did send a 15 sec holiday movie greeting to family, via internet and it did a good job... it's the thought in sound and picture that counts at this point not the VGA quality.

If you need some more intelligent and constructive comments from novice or professional people just like you go to http://imaging-resource.pricegrabber.com/rating_getprodrev.php/masterid=3140957/id_type=masterid

The Coolpix 4100 is a Nikon and lives up to the highest standards of it's company name. My only peeve is I wish it had a bigger screen and easy to see in bright sunlight. View my pictures and you be the judge as only you can decide if the coolpix is for you, not some strange and off the wall comments deciding for you. I give The Nikon Co. Kudos for developing a low price, hi quality in a small package, easy to use point and shoot digital camera. I give it 5 stars.

This camera takes great shots. Nikon optics are known superb. Other negative comments are overexaggerated such as slow shutter speed. Yes, its not a fast as the $1,000.00 SRLs, but,these are not the same class cameras. The bottom line is the optics, and the abilty to view your photo's on the spot for a better second "take".

If you are looking for a very easy to use, ultra compact, 4Megapixel digital point and shoot camera that takes very good quality images, performs as well or better than, and is priced below most of the cameras in this class, than this camera is a very good choice. Are there better more versatile, more feature loaded 4 MP cameras out there? Yes. But at this price, this camera is hard to beat.

I am a very experienced photographer with my 35mm SLR but the Nikon Coolpix 4100 is my first digital camera. I chose it for its simple graphic menus and ease of use. I wanted a point and shoot that was small and light to carry with me but not so thin and tiny that it cost $600 and was impossible to get a good grip on. This camera is small but not tiny and has very nice ergonomics and is comfortable to hold without worry of dropping it.

I do not agree with the negative comments and reviews about this camera. PC magazine gave it only a fair rating but Steve's Digicams and CDNET and a few other sites recommend it. So you may want to investigate more but it is my opinion that this is a good 4MP camera. It is extremely simple to use and almost anyone should be able to take it out of the box, put it on auto mode and take very nice pictures with it. My 8 year old son can operate it and take pictures with it, and that was another reason I chose this camera. As for battery life, yes it eats alkalines-don't bother with them- Get rechargables or a CRV-3 pack and battery life will be better than average or very good depending on how many flash pictures you take or how much reviewing you do.

The scene modes are nice in that they will automatically adjust the cameras ISO speed, shutter, and aperture to challenging lighting situations, so that you can take good shots in otherwise tough light. The ones I have tried so far seem to work well.

I have had this camera for several days now and I have been pleased with the results so far. I have run it through a series of tests and from what I can see it is a very cabable camera and the images are crisp, detailed and clear, with nice true to life color.

There are some weaknesses but for what it will be used for 90% of the time by 90% of people these are probably not major issues. It does tend to have a little noise in the shadows and dark areas but I think most cameras in this price and size range do because of small sensors. It has a little trouble focusing in low light but all digitals do as far as I know. Colors in the blue violet range can be a bit off depending on the light conditions. The flash is a little weak but if the subject is within 10 feet or so it does fine.

It lacks manual control. If you want the ability to adjust a whole lot of stuff that will probably make your pictures turn out worse than if you let the camera do it for you, then choose a different camera like the Canon A75 or A85. The Nikon 4100 does let you adjust white balance, exposure compensation, and color options along with all the different scene modes. I find I am experimenting with all of them. Advanced users may want more controls to experiment with than this camera offers but for a small, simple point and shoot that takes very good pictures it delivers.
Is it perfect? NO. that is why I gave it 4 stars and not 5. For ease of use it should get a 5 for sure.

It has been over a year now since I have bought this camera. I had upgraded from the previous Nikon 4000 model (which was equally good, but did not have a sound function for movie mode capturing.) And about 800 plus pictures and 300 movie clips later, (Although I can't post some of the pictures I made with the camera here... since I didn't make the purchase through Amazon but another store) I still love the camera very much. I have been through a lot with this camera. From the get go, It's a great buy. I recommend others buying a camera for the first time to get it. Absolutely. And I'll also post some helpful hints as to what to expect when buying this camera:

Pros:
1) Small enough to fit in your hand perfectly, (esp. with a person with small hands like me)

2)Uses AA batteries... trust me, with two Duracell batteries in there, I get about and average of 140 pictures. Its great.

3)Takes great pictures (when I say great, believe ME... it takes some GREAT pictures). And I also know too when shopping for a camera, its a pain in the behind, but it definetely helps if you know someone (like me) who has used the product EXTENSIVELY, and its fantastic. Trust me when I have it went through extensive usage... I took possibly 800 pictures plus with it. You really learn with time to really get to love this camera. I would love to share some pics that I have taken (but like mentioned the camera was not purchased on Amazon, and it's very comparable to pictures that could be taken with a 4,000 dollar professional digital camera. And I'm still an amateur photographer.

4)Those very handy scene modes... really great function when you learn to really know how to fully utilize them. But remember, as with any new digital camera purchase, keep in mind there will absolutely be a learning curve, where you need to use the product and know what everything does until you fully max out the camera's true potential.

5)It's pretty darn sturdy for a small camera. It's true. I dropped the camera on hard concrete, from about say oh 7 feet off the ground, and when I picked it up, I was almost in tears thinking I broke it. But I turned it on, everything worked perfectly fine. This camera is so awesome.

Now the Cons:

1) It's really hard to take pictures in low light situations. For instance, the screen looks really dark, or very grainy. Like say taking some pictures at a Chili's restaurant or something like that. You really have to work the camera to get some good pictures, and some times you won't get anything. Expect that. But when you pull it off, oh man are those some good pictures.

2) The movie mode. Again, in low light situations, its pretty grainy and doesn't understand the light flow around quite well. But oh well, its not a camcorder or anything so I guess you shouldn't expect too much from it. But in good lighting situations, it takes some good clips.

3) The time it takes from picture to picture. For this function, I need a higher end camera to get faster pictures yes I know, but its still pretty darn annoying to wait till the blinking red light on the viewfinder turns a solid green. I missed some good shots waiting for it to finish saving.

4)Digital zoom. That function is pretty much worthless. Every attempt at using the functions made 99% percent of my pictures look like junk, and thats WITH good light available. Simply limit use to the 3x zoom available and you should be fine.

5) And thats about all that I can think of at the moment. *whew*

**Final Word: This is a great camera for a beginner since its easy to use, and for intermediates also. For professionals, probably not, due to many limitations it may have. (But its not meant for that reason anywho, so that doesn't count. It's a fantastic point and shoot camera. Period.)

This camera takes great pictures, and is fairly easy to use once you figure it all out. I will use it for simple things and as a secondary camera to my large 35mm SLR. I am a fairly skilled photographer so not having manual controls for f-stop and shutter speed is frustrating, but the different modes do all that so if you can figure them out you're alright. The biggest problem with this camera I have had is battery life. I have had it three days, and it has gone through three sets of Duracell alkaline batteries. Had no problems with the software; a simple way around the previously mentioned "problem" of the program wanting to scan all your pictures is to tell it not to do it. Hope this helps!!!

I have this camera for 4 months now. Generally, it takes good pictures. However, if you have young children and intend to take a lot of inside photos, where the flash is used, I would not recommend this camera for the following reasons: (1) the shutter delay is very noticable (after you press the button and by the time the picture is captured, the kid has moved out of the picture), (2) when the flash is used, this camera take a long time to recharge the flash and until the flash is recharged you cannot take another picture (the delay is roughly 10 seconds for an inside shot -- for me). Anyway, I was so fustrated by having a lot of shots of my kid's head and missing a few pictures waiting for the flash to recycle, I broke down and got a Kodak. But I will still keep this camera as a backup because it is fairly compact and does OK for taking outside pictures.

I have just recieved this as a Xmas gift and was very impressed with the size and how easy it was to use. Got great black and whites as well as video streams. However I have take 24 pictures and have eaten through 6 batteries. The store does not tel you that you will get about 10 pics (this is without video) for every 2 AA batteries. The flash and screen eat up the batteries. I was about to buy a battery charger and realized for not that much more you can buy the 4200. Same great features and size but comes with a lithium ion battery in it which can take a full memory card before recharging, definetly the better deal. Though you save some with the 4100 upgrade to the 4200 if you don't want to be recharging or replacing batteries every 10 shots!

This is my first digital camera purchase.I bought the Nikon 4100 mostly because I love Nikon products.I bought this particular camera because of the price.I love it.It is simple to use for the beginner..yet has a lot of nice added features.The movie mode is lots of fun to play with.I think it takes great pictures.I have been happy with the picture quality.I love the small size.I highly recommend this camera to anyone.