Customer Reviews

Nikon Coolpix P50 8.1MP Digital Camera with 3.6x Wide Angle Optical Zoom

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

For me the equation was simple: I wanted a good camera at a good price. Nikon has a strong reputation for its optics, and they have produced high quality cameras. My wife and I owned an earlier CoolPix camera that took very good pictures, but was poorly constructed. The P50 truly lives up to its Nikon heritage. The camera is small, but has the heft and feel of a solid instrument yet it is easy to handle. The large Nikkor lens captures the light without a trace of distortion. The menus are intuitive, and the features are just right for a serious amateur photographer. Experimenting with the macro feature on camera, I inadvertently caught a bee in mid flight. The P50 captured the details of the cilia on the bee's head and thorax, and almost stopped its wings in mid beat. This is a fantastic little camera at a fantastic price. Above all, this is a camera that lives up to the Nikon reputation for quality.

I gave away my Nikon Coolpix 3200 and waited awhile before purchasing another Nikon. At the store I didn't go for the most expensive Nikon Coolpix--just one that was recommended for low light shooting. I'm moderately familiar with photography so I do not mind experimenting.

This camera is very nice! The many types of programmed settings for indoors and low light are very handy. Usually when I want to take a great photo I will fire off several shots (I have two 2 Gb memory cartridges) using a variety of settings until I get close enough. The built-in retouching functions (D-lighting) are nice and work well. When I'm done I download onto my computer and perhaps do some contrast adjustment and cropping. The results are great.

Please, PLEASE read the manual. It will definitely help anyone to use this camera to its fullest potential. I've ordered the AC adapter and charger/batteries to add to my tripod (already own). I also recommend purchasing a tripod; with the camera's timer you can take nice shots even in indoors and low light.

None of my pictures have turned out grainy (yet), and if they ever do I check the settings. Photography is not idiot-proof, you must experiment! I'd recommend only using point-and-shoot settings for daylight/outdoors. Oh, and take multiple shots of a subject, there is enough memory in the camera to do this. Back in the old 35mm film days pro photographers would take rolls and rolls of pictures just to get that ONE great picture. Try the same approach and do not be satisfied with just one shot. This camera will let you do this easily.

If I had a friend who had at some prior knowledge of taking photos I'd recommend it. If you are just a beginning picture-taker, look elsewhere.

Anyone who takes their time to learn all the ins and outs of this camera will be rewarded with a fine product for many months and years to come.

I just purchased this camera after owning a few compact cameras and DSLR's. So far the camera is a gem. Small but easy to grasp, simple and fast to use, change settings, and above all, I've been thoroughly impressed with the image quality, color rendition, and image stabilization features. The optical and digital zoom combined with these features achieved sharp results.

The software that knits together panorama intended shots (using the panorama scene feature) is better than most with very little distoration.

A single 2 Gig SD card represents 500 best quality and size photos on this camera even at 8.1 megapixels.

The noise levels above 200 iso is diminished by the higher megapixels and NR builtin the camera.

This is a great travel camera given its wide angle for shooting buildings, landscapes, panoramas and people.

I highly recommend this camera.

Cons: No raw image support and movies are not highly compressed and use up the memory quickly.

P50 is relatively inexpensive, so you can't ask too much. But I can say that this camera works pretty well as a travel mate. Pocket-size, wide-angle lens, AA batteries are what you really need abroad. Easy to hold with one hand. Overall image quality is very good. Coolpix P50 offers plenty of image details till 200 ISO. Noise shows up at 400 ISO and, quite obviously, above. Blurred shots can result in tele mode (102 mm max focal length). I haven't been able to take advantage of the image stabilization (electronic, not optical, vibration reduction): certainly, it's my fault. Compact, well-built, serious body. "Manual" is not very much so. At each focal length, you can manually choose between just two lens apertures (e.g.: 2.8 and 5.6 when at 28mm). On the other hand, "Program exposure mode" is very effective: better to relay on it. As usual, the optical viewfinder doesn't cover the whole picture, but in sunny days I experienced it's by far a better solution than the 2.4-inch display. Default images are a bit on the "soft" side: my advice is to increase contrast afterwards. At the end of the day I'm satisfied. Among the few pocket-size cameras sporting a 28 mm wide-angle lens, P50 is a relatively cheap and smart choice.

I purchased this camera for several reasons. First was the 28mm wide angle lens which is rare for a Point and Shoot (P&S) as most start out around 36mm and higher. The second reason was for the Manual settings, I have always used Nikon Coolpix in the past and had long sought this option. The third reason was that this camera takes AA batteries and thus I can use this to travel without having to buy a power converter so that I can recharge a battery pack.

So far I have been very happy with this camera, it does everything I could ever want and lives up to the Nikon name. Some people complain that it does not have a long enough zoom, but long zooms can lead to very bad pictures when using P&S as you lose a lot of light AND when using long lens you must compensate with quicker shutter speeds- this can be tricky for most and generally leads to low quality images.

Essentially this camera is great for going out and taking pics of family and friends- Landscapes- and Travelling.

So much has been written in previous reviews I'll stick to the following:

I use this camera with lithium double A's and an "sdhc" sd card.

1) The time lag between flash shots has now been fixed! Previous coolpix models I have had include the Coolpix 3200 (about 6 - 10 seconds between flash shots), the Coolpix L1, and more recently even the L15 (about five seconds between flash shots). The P50 is down to about a second or two. Went crazy at a dark restaurant and the pictures are great.

2) The colors in the pictures are the best of any coolpix I've had so far. Previously I had to fight with the camera settings to reduce yellow tones or pink tones coming off the "whites" but the P50 just seems to nail it. period. indoor pictures are looking very, very, accurate.

3) The menu settings are an improvement with the inclusion of an extra wheel to manually go from manual to video to point-and-shoot.

downsides.....? it's a little big to go in the shirt/pants pocket.

My reasons for purchase were similar to another reviewer... sd card compatibility, viewfinder, accepts AA batteries... the wide angle lens is cool especially for restaurant shots, etc. What has surprised me (positively) is how fast the camera is now between pictures and how good the indoor pictures are turning out.

I'm very happy with this camera's balance of price to performance.

This is my first digital camera. I have a degree in photography, although my job is not shooting now. I've used digital cameras occasionally on the job, but have been holding out at home, using film. Film is very comfortable for me. But we wanted to start to share photos with distant family, quicker.

One thing I decided was to limit my shopping to just one brand (my old FE2 imparts some serious loyalty). I don't have time to compare feature for feature and spec for spec, all these different brands and prices and stuff. I realized I had to make my decision work for what I was going to shoot and who would be using the camera. We go camping, we visit relatives, we bake cookies: average family activities. The camera will be used by me, my wife, and our kids (6 & 8). I'm considering this camera my gateway to digital, and plan on using it for several years at least. Given that, plus...

My list of features to make my decision:
Nikon was my base brand unless I couldn't find something that fit.
Manual exposure and shutter control.
Time lapse (nice to have, not mandatory).
Ability to turn off the LCD screen and use an optical viewfinder. (P50 can do it on some modes, not all)
AA batteries.
Less buttons = better.
8 MP
About $200, plus or minus $50.
Mac-savvy.

This list helped me make a decision fairly quickly, and I didn't lose any sleep over not looking at 20 more-similar-than-different options in the marketplace. This camera fit, and I've been very happy. My only issue, which I hear is true of all these cameras in this price range, is the lag time on the shutter. I'm convinced we have Gigs of cheap memory only because camera manufacturers need a way of mitigating this serious shortcoming of digital cameras in this price range.

I haven't installed the software on my Mac, because iPhoto is perfectly acceptable for what I'm doing: sharing a few pix, ordering prints, and getting organized. I just plugged in the P50 and iPhoto launched automatically.

So far, I've taken great pictures in the daylight, no-flash indoors, several modes. Everyone in the family has tried it out with success. So far, so good, no issues.

I also looked at the P5100 (outside my $, plus it had more buttons than the P50).

I bought this camera from Amazon at $149.00 almost one month ago. This little camera is small enough to be considered pocketable. Probably it is the cheapest wide-zoom camera on the market with manual controls from a reputable company. Lets start a brief analysis of this little camera.
I would like to start pointing out the good things, first of the all is the wide 28mm lens very fast only at this point (f2.8). This lens goes from 28 to 102mm (3.6x optical zoom) with limited vibration reduction capabilities. The lens is totally retractable so u dont need a lens cap to cover it. One of the critical things on this lens is its speed when the zoom goes beyond 28mm, it jumps to f5.6 automatically. However at this setting the lens is sharper at the edges.
Another good thing is the optical viewfinder, bright enough to frame and take pictures although to me is always better to use the LCD screen.
To start up the camera takes more than 3 seconds it means the camera is slow, to reach the long end of the zoom is also slow and it takes more than 1.5 seconds.
The body construction looks and feels solid, the camera is made of plastic enterily but the type of plastic is different from cheap kodak and canon cameras.
The built in flash is weak, you will need to up the Iso to get bright pictures at night.
Macro shooting is good, but it works only at wide end, do not try to get as close as 5 cms at long end.
It supports SDHC cards.
Very limited manual controls but its better to have the chance to control some settings than have nothing. Aperture can be set only to f2.8 or f5.6, there is no more options available. Shutter speed goes from to 8 seconds to 1/1000 (enough for starters)
Iso performance is good up to Iso 400, forget to use Iso >400, the noise and NR eat son many detail than become any picture unusable.
The lag between shot to shot is good when the built in flash is Off, I measure 1 second aprox. but things change dramatically when the flash is raised up, the lag time goes beyond 3 seconds.
Picture quality is good to excellent at Iso 64 and f5.6, edges are sharp and the overall image quality has good exposure at default settings. At f2.8 the shutter speed flies but there'a compromise, the edges are quite a bit soft.
The P50 does NOT have a REAL VR, it comes with something called eVR (electronical Vibration Reduction) what does it mean? it simply applies some sharpening to the picture, the result is unuseful I rather prefer to apply sharpening via external software.
My overall conclusion is the Nikon P50 is so cheap than it's really worth the money, people like me who looks for wide angle cameras would be happy with this camera. I bought it as a complement to my DSRL equipment and I feel quite a bit satisfied with the results.
To qualify a camera there are some features to be considered, but the offer has to be according to the price, wide angle zoom cameras are always more expensive than typical 35mm cameras (at wide end) so if you surf the web, you are not gonna find similar alternative to this Nikon model for the price, do not hesitate and buy it...

Let me just say that a lot of people are saying images are grainy and seems limited.. They are wrong!
I used this with ISO 2000 and captured fan on high speed and it captured it crystal clear in it's tracks.

I have also heard that images are noisy, although do they question why? If you take time to read the manual
this camera can cover just about any situation you can throw at it. If the aperture indicator is red guess what? Something is wrong...not enough light so change dial or your aperture and wait for green.

People now days want everything so simple and have no patience. Do you think Ansel Adams got his pics on the first try? No it was trial and error. If you practice first then take to party,club or vacation then you will know exactly what mode to use and go from there.

It can retain your settings in Manual and Program mode. Like having two presets for yourself. Has High ISO setting for almost pitch black pics. No where near as good as Nightshot from Sony but hey do you really want Green Photos?
If you actually spend more than 60 minutes with this you will have no excuse not taking Amazing Photos!!!

Amateur to Serious Hobbyist should be more than satisfied with this has more than enough modes to handle almost anything.

Now Most Amazing part..You simply cannot touch a Compact or even Semi-Pro model under Almost$300 with Wide-angle Lens 24-28mm most always have 34-38mm. What's the difference?

Well say your with your family at dinner in a nice restaurant. How far do you wanna back up before you can get everyone in the picture? Well most Point and Shoot and Compacts have the 34-38mm and you will
definitely chop someone off or try to zoom and lose everyone accept Center Focus. Well with 24-28mm
you can now get the whole table and not lose anyone! See quite a nice feature for under$200.

Last this has a mode almost no one knows about unless you read manual or experiment. Has Auto Face Detection that everyone seems to be wanting. You know when you have group of people and centers on the closest face and aligns the rest in synch? It has this. Wanna make Voice memo where you were while taking pic? You can do it with this. How many times did you say man where were we when we took that? Oh yeah..Wait..no not there. Well now just record your voice and say family vacation in St Tropez june 1st Beach and viola you now know exactly where you were and when pic was taken.

People just take the time to Read and Explore and Give this camera a Fair Shake It will Amaze you. Once Again!! If you take the time and do a little experimenting with it. I wouldn't want you to miss out on an Amazing Camera because people that don't take time to read or know how to properly use miss rate or review this product!

I've had this camera for almost a month now and I have found the photos to be quite sharp at all focal lengths---wide angle to telephoto. This is a good little camera---not perfect, but good. If you want to see some photos I took with it email me and I'll send some to you. [...]
UPDATE: AS OF 3-5-2008 I'VE HAD THE CAMERA FOR ABOUT 6 MONTHS....AND NOW I CAN REALLY SAY, THIS CAMERA IS GREAT! I WENT TO TAHITI WITH IT AND TOOK SOME VERY GOOD PHOTOS SOME OF WHICH I ENLARGE TO 16X20 WITH VERY SHARP AND CLEAR RESULTS. THIS CAMERAT ABOUT $[...] IS A BARGAIN! GRAB ONE BEFORE NIKON DISCONTINUES IT!!!

Regarding the proprietary battery as compared with AA batteries, when you are out on safari in Africa living in a thatched hut or tent and your proprietary battery runs out of power, do you want to be running all over the jungle at night in a fruitless attempt to find a battery at a local "sari-sari" store while you hear lions and hei-enas roaring and sounding off all around you? With the Nikon P50, you can easily carry enough AA batteries with you on your trip so you won't have to risk your life searching for the proprietary battery all over the jungle on those cold nights with wild animals searching for YOU! Got it? :o)



So, you ask, "who needs a 28mm lens?" You do! Most people concern themselves with how LONG is their telephoto lens. But, most people who "know" know that it is the WIDE ANGLE lens that is most important---most of the "best shots" are made with a WIDE ANGLE lens. For example, you're in Europe and you are trying to "get a shot" of that Cathedral of Notre Dame over there. You NEED a WIDE ANGLE lens. You are in the California Poppy Fields and you want to get the expanse of the golden-yellow poppy flowers with the huge blue sky filled with white clouds above---you need a WIDE ANGLE lens. You are sitting at thanksgiving dinner and you want to take a photo from the foot of the table with everyone sitting on the left and right---you NEED a WIDE ANGLE lens. You are in the garden of the California Mission and you want to take a photo of the ENTIRE garden surrounded by the mission walls---you NEED a WIDE ANGLE lens. It's Christmas day and you want a photo of the ENTIRE GROUP of visitors in front of the Christmas Tree---you NEED a WIDE ANGLE lens. This is where the 28mm lens (or 23mm on this camera) comes in! So, you NEED THIS CAMERA! Otherwise you'll be cutting off heads and leaving Aunt Sylvia out of the "Christmas Group Photo" this year---and she'll disinherit you and you'll live a life of poverty and misery everafter! :o) If you agree or disagree or know of ANY other digital point and shoot camera that has a WIDE ANGLE lens please write, Email:boland7214@aol.


PS: There is also a Canon SD800 which has a wide angle lens and an optical viewfinder. I like that one also. But the "killer" for me on that one is the proprietary battery necessary to operate the Canon SD800 over the use of AA batteries used in The Nikon P50 that are very cheap and you can find in almost any store in the world. With the proprietary battery you have to worry about someplace to recharge it----home or hotel----and sometimes you may be on a train or plane or in Eastern Europe where it may not be possible to find an electrical outlet to recharge the proprietary battery. With the AA's you can buy new ones at many stores or just bring a supply of 10 or 20 of 'em with you.

PPS: Why do you need an optical viewfinder when you have an LCD screen? The simple reason is that the LCD's SOMETIMES get "washed out" in bright sunlight. And, another reason, I think, is that the optical viewfinder is "faster to use" under "pressure circumstances" like when you want to "grab" that smile on your kids face. Why not have both is my opinion. If you disagree fine, but two ways to view and take photos seems better than one. It's just common sense. (Plus, some people are "far sighted" and have difficulty clearly viewing a the little LCD screen a few inches from their eyes.) boland7214@aol.c

UPDATE: THERE IS ONE "SMALL" THING ON THE CAMERA THAT BUGS ME..UNTIL YOU LEARN HOW TO DEAL WITH IT. THERE IS A "DELETE BUTTON". SO FAR SO GOOD. WHEN YOU WANT TO DELETE YOU PRESS THE "DELETE BUTTON". EASY, RIGHT? NOOOO....! WHEN YOU PRESS THE "DELETE BUTTON" ALL YOU GET IS THE ABILITY TO DELETE ONE..YES...ONE...PHOTO AT A TIME! SO, IF YOU HAVE, SAY, 500 PHOTOS ON THE SD CARD,IT WILL TAKE YOU A LOOOONNNGGG TIME TO DELETE ALL OF THEM ONE BY ONE. BUT, THEN, HOW DO YOU DELETE ALL OF THEM AT ONE TIME? IT ISN'T EASY TO FIND, AND THAT'S THE PROBLEM---ANSWER TO THE PROBLEM? IT'S SIMPLE ONCE YOU KNOW ABOUT THE SOLUTION: GO TO "PLAYBACK MENU" AS ON P. 98 BY PRESSING THE > BUTTON AND AFTER PRESSING THE > BUTTON PRESS "MENU"...AND PRESSING THOSE TWO BUTTONS ONE AFTER THE OTHER WILL GET YOU TO A SCREEN THAT GIVE YOU A CHOICE TO DELETE ONE OR ALL OF THE PHOTOS. SO, YES, THIS IS A GREAT CAMERA...SO BUY IT...BUT I HOPE THE ABOVE WILL HELP YOU BE ABLE TO DELETE---IT TOOK ME JUST NOW ABOUT 15 MINUTES TO FIGURE IT OUT! If you want to see several HUNDRED photos taken with this camera send me an email to [...]