7 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
Lucky w/ a Quickie Purchase
Date of Review: Jul 3, 2005
The Bottom Line: Buy the Coolpix. If it's in your price range and you want good photographs don't pass on this one.
Recently I had to travel without the arrival of a camera [previously ordered but undelivered before my departure time] that was different from the Coolpix 4300.
(I ordered the Konica Minolta DiMage Z10).
In most instances I would have let the memories of the visit lapse in my memory over time. This trip was to Baghdad and I felt it was an opportunity that simply had to be shared with family and friends through the pictures to be had during my stay.
I stepped into the PX and browsed for a mid-priced camera with a solid brand name.
To my delight I crossed paths with the Nikon Coolpix 4300 and have since had the chance to compare it to the Z10.
This Nikon beats the Z10 in picture quality and while it doesn't stay up with the Z in action photography and zoom ability I've decided not to regard it as an extra camera to be passed onto my daughter; I will keep it for what I call my "National Geographic shots in the desert".
The pics of the sunset and reflections off the water, images and details of people-shots can't be had by the Z. Coolpix wins that battle.
As has been mentioned by others, power supply does need to be given attention after every use when you are out for a day but I had no problems as long as I charged it over night.
Get an extra battery if you intend to be "out in the field for the day" just in case you do extend the power supply range using your 1GB memory card (which you'll also want to buy with the extra battery; I couldn't believe I filled my factory-supplied memory after much less than 20 shots).
Action shots may need to have longer intervals between frames; some shots were missed as the image was being written to the memory.
The card I was using may have been the problem and the faster technology type memory like the SanDisk Ultra SD memory card may improve that, or maybe I could have lessened the image resolution; I'm no expert, you find out yourself.
Taking video was OK; don't move across the horizon very fast[distortion in the resolution] and attempt to keep the camera pointed in one direction, at least through the 40 secs they give you. Don't look down on this time spec. What are you doing trying to take video with a photo camera anyway?
If you love beautiful color and great detail and have the patience to find shots that bring out these kinds of characteristics, you will have the patience to deal with the power issue.
In the end, after all of this patience, you will love this camera.
If you don't have the patience you probably don't know what good photography is.
This camera produces great photography.
