Customer Reviews

Nikon Coolpix P3 8.1MP Digital Camera with 3.5x Vibration Reduction Optical Zoom (Wi-Fi Capable)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have owned this camera for 3 weeks and I had a hard time choosing between this and the Casio ex-z850. So I did not choose. I tested and bought them both for different reasons. Nikon cameras have the best glass elements and it is obvious when you take pictures. I have owned 6 other point and shoots and I own the Nikon D70. I hope to soon own the D200 with the 18x200 kit, if Nikon ever releases it to merchants!

The P3 does not have a lot of features but the ones that are present are great!

„X Great Picture Quality you can count on
„X The VR feature is a miracle, and 99% of my pictures are not blurred
„X Great Macro Feature that yields good pictures
„X Best point and shoot for night time shots with or without a flash
„X Color Quality of photos is wonderful
„X The body of this camera is larger than most, but small enough to put in your purse or shirt pocket. I have small hands, yet I like that it is a little larger
„X There are 5 flash options
„X There are 3 choices for enhancement of 9 of the 16 scene modes
„X The camera is easy to use and intuitive
„X You can control to a degree the aperture and program modes
„X Movies are clear and sharp when recorded
„X I love the D-lighting and red-eye features that can be used in the camera
„X I get great ISO results with this camera;
„X Portraits are easy to make and the results are beautiful
„X 5 options for various Picture sizes
„X 6 Continuous shooting modes
„X 8 WB options and five image sharpening selections
„X BSS (Best Shot selector is great to have)
„X Several other in camera adjustments for photos
„X I have not used the Wifi- feature yet

Cons:
Only shoots in Jpeg
No viewfinder (I find I do not need it)
Difficulty installing camera's WIFI program onto my computer - Nikon USA has additional instructions on their website that you may find helpful to assist with any difficult installs

So why did I buy both The Casio 850 and the P3? The Casio is a great Pro-photographer camera, and you have to understand how to work the many great features, which can be difficult if you do not know what you are doing. I love many of the features on the Casio camera and it shoots as well as my D70, but the ISO most often is noisy and must be corrected in Photoshop. You have to be careful that the photographs are not too sharp. It is a great landscape camera and yields incredible pictures for a point and shoot. Even though they market the camera as being very intuitive and an easy shoot, in my opinion, there is a lot of clean-up work to perform in Photoshop.

However, I can count on the P3 for perfect pictures for all other situations and almost no adjustments are required in Photoshop. It shoots better indoors and has better night time photos than the Casio 850 in my view. Also, you get great outdoor pictures too. All in all, Nikon did not add lots of new features to the P3; they made the existing ones better. I like that. I travel a lot in my work and it is not easy to carry the D70 and several lenses with me at all times; however, the P3 is a great stand-in camera and when I use the Casio 850 and P3 together to substitute for the D70 I have the best of both worlds. I realize that everyone can not afford two cameras nor are two needed...

The reviews for the P3 camera are either boring or missing in action. I think this is a great camera, if you want a camera that is simple to use, yields beautiful pictures, and is dependable.

There are some sample p3 photos at this website [...]

The Coolpix P3 has a lot of things going for it: 8 megapixels; sharp 3.5x zoom with Vibration Reduction; good quality 2.5" LCD; good in-camera menus; and good battery options. It also has the most "trick" hookup...WiFi.

First, as I've stated in many reviews, the VR should not be undervalued, even if this is a relatively short zoom for stabalization. It can aid in almost any situation, most notably low-light non-flash photos, and really enhances flash photography in low-light, so that we can see more of the background detail.

In-camera post processing is truly enhanced with the "D Lighting" control. Essentially, this features allows you to lighten the darker areas of a photograph while not lightening the middle or light areas. This can help bring out underexposed backgrounds with flash, or allow us to see the eyes under that ballcap. It doesn't work perfectly (it sometimes lightens the shadowing that makes detail stand out), but it's a very welcome feature.

The EN-EL5 battery is a bit larger than most cameras take, but it has good performance, and is reasonably priced. Additionally, you may use a Duracell CP-1 disposable battery. This is great! The problem with rechargable batteries are: 1) people forget to recharge them, and 2) they do loose their charge just sitting around. The CP-1 has a nearly 10 year shelf life, meaning it will be ready when you need it.

For the $50 extra (vs. the P4), you must determine if the WiFi capability is worth the expense. For most, I feel the answer is "no". WiFi is not as fast as USB 2.0, and, heck, I'm only 3 feet from the computer! But some will find it invaluable.

It's size will be a bit too large for some (but just right for some, too); it's zoom isn't class leading (Canon Powershot SD700 gets to 4x); it's battery charger could be smaller (e.g. SD700); etc. Exposure are good, but could have a higher degree of accuracy.

Overall, I can see why some would put this at the top of their list. But I'd pocket the $50 and get the P4.

Outstanding value. Image quality is superb. Viewing screen is excellent. Snapshot type photography is easy. The camera also offers more complex capabilities. WiFi was hard to install. Otherwise, no signficant startup issues. Liked it so much I bought a second one for my son for his international travels this summer.

I did alot of research when I decided to upgrade to an 8mp camera and it was a tie between the P3/P4 or the Canon s80. I decided on the Nikon because I did not think I was going to really use all the manual controls offered on the Canon. If I did, then I would buy an SLR instead.

This is a terrific point & shooter. Picture quality is SUPERB. Pictures are bright and clear across the entire ISO range - even at the very highest settings. I do not notice any blurring or noise in any shots so far (including night & indoor shots). Colors are accurate and even. Also, the camera feels well made and the controls are logically placed and easy to use. It does not have all the manual controls of the Canon but it has just what you need and the auto settings are excellent. Everything on the camera works well from the flash to the LCD screen. Also, Nikon's customer service is great. i had a slight problem loading the drivers onto my Windows ME PC and called at 10:45pm. The support agent (yes they actually have live tech support!) picked up within 3 mins, was very friendly, helpful and knowlegeable.

I like many others did a lot of research on my next purchase of a digital camera. I previously had a Sony and was sick of the lack of quality in pictures, photo editing software, and the clutzy menus. So I purchased the Nikon P3. It is very user friendly and has many nice features that are excellent. It has a good zoom and the scene buttons are perfect for certain lighting situations. I also was impressed with the capabilities of the software editing tool included. I thought the WiFi was very easy to set up and was very handy to use with my laptop when we were on vacations. Just turn it on and download! It also eliminated one of the many cords attached to my desktop...

So why the 3 stars? We were about ready to leave for our honeymoon and received a refurbished Canon SD700 in the mail by accident so we kept it and figured it would be great as a backup during our honeymoon. Well, it became our primary camera after we took it for a test drive in Kauai. It takes amazing pictures! There is a beach scene that took the most colorful water shots I've ever seen. We took the same shots with both cameras to compare the first few days and hands down the Canon was better.

Not to mention the battery life on the Nikon fizzled out after the first day of shooting, while the Canon went strong for probably close to 3 days. Using the VR Zoom also decreased the battery life on the Nikon. The 4X zoom on the Canon was far better as the Nikon didn't have as good of stabilizer for close shots. You could take a picture shaking with the Canon and it would come out completely clear! We took a picture of a lighthouse that was probably close to a mile away and used the 4x zoom and it looked like we were standing right in front of it taking the picture. No blurry results at all. I actually used the Canon in place of binoculars to see a mountain goat way down in a ravine of the Wimea Canyon and took a picture - pretty impressive!

Basically, when it comes down to it, the Nikon is a good camera with some neat "bells and whistles" but I think it takes a little bit to figure out all the in's and out's of it to take good shots and what's important is that it takes great "every day shots". The Canon SD700 hands down is a professional camera for an ordinary user and is less expensive.

I originally thought that having a smaller camera would allow for a cool "side-camera" for those times when I didn't feel like carrying my "regular-sized" camera around.

After receiving the Nikon Coolpix P3 - my mind was changed! This is now the first and only camera I'll be taking with me.

It is incredibly easy to set up and to learn. In no time, I was taking shots with lots of different pre-set scenes, allowing the auto feature to take control of the shot decisions, and even uploading photos to our secure wireless network.

The most amazing feature that I never expected in such a small camera is the flash. I am 35 years old and have never in my life had a photo taken where my eyes weren't red. That includes all the digital cameras that have red eye reduction features that are supposed to correct for it. I was stunned to discover that with this camera - - - -no more red eyes!

I can't recommend this camera enough. If you get one, you'll likely find that it is the only camera you'll need in no time.

Nikon P3 camera has all the features that an amateur /beginner photographer can require.

1-Resolution: up to 8 Mega pixels, pictures are sharp and crisp.
2-Program photography: easy and quick to use
3-Advanced modes photography: allows the setting of individual parameters
4-Preset scenes including portrait, night photography, fire works...etc up to 16 scenes in total.
5-Smart image correction inbuilt especially the D-light which automatically corrects exposure.
6-Vibration Reduction allows neater pictures in low light conditions when the camera is hand held

Interesting features:
1- Multi shot ability: various settings for multi shot including one that allows to take up to 100 pic in a row (low res of course)

2- The software enclosed is of great value and allows various picture editing and manipulation

3- WIFI: this is a great feature allowing the transfer of all the pictures wirelessly to your PC. It also allows to print directly from the camera to a designated printer ( no need for a print adapter if you have a wireless router). And finally how about shoot and transfer immediately to the PC!!! this allowed me to do a real time slide show!!! the slide show will show you the pictures as soon as the are received on the PC.

I used it for:
1-Taking a dinner pic with friends and printing it instantly as a souvenir for them to keep.
2-taking Pic of the kids playing in the garden and instantly uploading to a slide show running on the TV.

A great product.

Great camera with many useful features. No USB cable was included however which has led to a 4 week chase and no results yet from Amazon, Nikon, or Cameta Camera, the supplier. Poor followup in this case. Now I understand that Nikon no longer supplies this cable.

I got this camera because it was at the time cheaper than the P4 version. I wanted an easy to use point and shoot camera. I was recommended Nikon because they are the best at taking pictures. I have not really done many indoor photos so I can't comment on them but I have taken lots of pictures. I work at a horse rescue and this camera has proven great for taking pics and the uploading them on the web. The detail is great. Also the vibration reduction was a major factor when choosing for me as often I am not the most steady when taking a pic and take a lot of pictures that are action shots. I love the editing features that are in the camera as I can do it before I upload them onto the computer. I have also used the video capacity to film a horse going over a jump and was greatly impressed with the quality for such a small camera. Most of the time I have allowed the camera to choose the best parameters for the pictures but I have started to look into what can be done and have enjoyed messing around. Over all for the money I have paid I am impressed. I haven't used the wireless download one because my computer won't allow it and also I have got a card reader so I don't need to. When taking pictures you do have the usual shutter delay but no more than any other camera I have tried. So if you want an easy to use relatively compact camera with good specs then I would say this is a good one for you.

This is my first digital camera. The basics are easy to learn and simple to master. However, the Coolpix has so many capabilities, it may be months before I get to most of them. I did try to get it to download wirelessly initially, but was unable to master that, but with the included wire, it was a very easy download. Perhaps after using it for awhile, and re-reading the manual, I'll figure it out.
I bought an extra battery to have when shooting many pictures at an event, but I have as yet to need it. The battery lasts a long time, even when shooting all pix with a flash. It does take a couple seconds to recover from the flash, but it seems good/acceptable to me. I have never yet needed a second battery even when taking 50+ pictues. One suggestion, though would be a way to see the level of battery charge.
You definitely need a memory card. The camera is only good for about a dozen pictures or so without one.
Overall, I'm very satisfied and look forward to learning much from my new Coolpix