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Nikon Coolpix 990
I've had a Nikon Coolpix 800 for about 18 months, and had excellent results with it. My idea was to evaluate the camera for personal use, and also see to what extent we could use it in Don's Graphic and Web design work. It succeeded spectacularly. I used it on my 2000 trip to the U.K. and have printed many of the images. One A3+ print was awarded honours at a photographic exhibition -- this from a 2.1 megapixel camera. For business it was used for product shots and also for general client photography. Images were used on the Web, and for posters and brochures.
With our trip to Greece and Crete coming up in May, I decided to upgrade to the Coolpix 990. Not just technolust, but a realisation that the 800 lacked a lot of features I was accustomed to. The 990 has really filled the gap. Using it, is very much like using my trusty Nikon 801 SLR -- practically all of the things I need such as exposure EV adjustment, and instant alteration on f-stop or shutter speed while still using the matrix metering are right there. Plus a lot more on the digital side. The actual features are best found on this review site, which has a most comprehensive review of the 990 -- as well as many other cameras.
Memory: The first consideration was the Compact Flash card. With due thought about our overseas trip to Greece and Crete in May, I realised I needed another card (already have a 96 MB card). I tried local web sites and found the price ranged from $NZ550 to over $NZ1000. But I asked the sales manager at the Nikon agent why the Lexan cards were so expensive: he replied that the transfer rate from, the camera was several times faster than the standard, and this reduced the lag between shots. I find that on Normal compression, the lag is about 2 seconds. Gulp .. bang went $1000.
Lenses: Next was the 3 x telephoto attachment (all these screw on the front of the lens). The inbuilt zoom is equivalent to 36 - 115 mm standard 35mm. As 115mm is about 3 x normal view, the combined 6 x produces the effect of a 345 mm telephoto. Unfortunately, due to the optical setup, one can't zoom the camera very far back towards normal without vignetting. However I already have the 2 x attachment, equivalent to about 250mm standard, so I'm covered for most situations. The biggest virtue of a variable zoom is to be able to frame a slide; with digital, as long as you get the subject in frame you can crop where necessary.
Update: The 3 x lens is brilliant. I've had some excellent shots with this; it really needs a tripod for best results
I already have a wide angle attachment from the 800, which is 0.66 x. By observation through the camera and using a protractor ot measure the angle of view, the result of approx 90 deg seems roughly equivalent to 26mm standard (if I remember my lens tables correctly). There's a noticeable barrel distortion on verticals; but I suppose I can't ask for the same results as my 24mm standard Nikon lens at several times the cost!
Flash: The flash bracket is rather basic, being a bent metal strap; but it has good solid knobs on the screws to attach the camera. The flash shoe has a cable to plug into the camera body for TTL. I already have a Nikon SB22 flash; and also the curly extender cord which allows me to put the flash onto the brolly for soft shadowed product shots. Also no red-eye with portraits! This was something I really missed on the 800; I tried a slave flash, but had to tape tissue wads over the on-board flash to cut down the light.
Remote Cord: A dinky oval form, with shutter release and zoom control buttons. Also has an interval timer -- but I've never found the need to take unattended sequences yet. Still, it's there if it's wanted...
Others: I bought the AC power adapter for use when doing product photography; this bypasses the need to keep switching the monitor off and on to conserve batteries. Also a Lowepro waist bag big enough to take all the lenses and bits.
Assessment:
I took over 300 shots on the forestry shoot, and everyone including the client is pleased with the results. Using the FINE setting, I get files between 1.1 and 1.2 MB -- these expand in Photoshop to about 9 MB; 2048 x 1536 pixels equates to 3.15 megapixels. I've just printed a couple of pix for our competition, and they print beautifully on A4 at 300 dpi. I have no doubt I'll be able to turn out quality A3+ as well. Macro shots (as with the Coolpix 800) are excellent.
I'm becoming more familiar with operating the camera; although there is a small problem with the built-in flash -- I've stuffed up a setting somewhere, and the pix I took at Sue's party last night are far too dark. It was OK before, so it's something I've not reset properly. The flash bracket and remote TTL flash worked brilliantly for product shots.
I've tried the remote switch with camera on a tripod, but it's fiddly to set up and I didn't actually use it in the end.
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