Cheap ! Nikon Coolpix P100 10 MP Digital Camera with 26x Optical Vibration Reduction (VR) Zoom and 3.0-Inch LCD (Black)

Posted by The Best Zone on June 3, 2010 Leave a comment Go to comments

Nikon Coolpix P100 10 MP Digital Camera with 26x Optical Vibration Reduction (VR) Zoom and 3.0-Inch LCD (Black) Review

I’ve been looking for a long time to replace my aging digital camera, and the Nikon Coolpix P100 fit the bill perfectly. My only complaint so far is the rather stupid battery level indicator: when it comes on you’re almost out of battery! No early warning, no way of checking your actual battery level at any time. My older camera included a battery meter icon that was divided in several bars, so you could actually estimate pretty well the remaining battery charge at any time by just counting the number of bars shown on the battery icon. Not so with the P100: as per page 26 of the manual if the battery icon is OFF your battery is still OK (it actually states “Battery Fully Charged”). Once the icon appears it means “Battery level LOW, prepare to charge or replace the battery”. So this basically allows a situation in which the battery level might be slightly above the warning threshold, so you might actually think you are still good to go, when in reality you’re almost out of battery. I presume the Lithium battery used in this camera is of the “intelligent” kind, so implementing a better battery charge meter should have been very easy in terms of the ability to accurately read the battery status. My 8+ year old Sony camera does that.

This is my first Nikon camera, so unless this type indicator style has been the norm, frankly I can’t understand why Nikon would implement such a useless battery level indicator. Granted I would never leave without a spare battery, and from experience with my earlier camera, your battery charge will invariably always be exhausted when it is needed the most, so I always had a second battery on hand. But this is beyond the point of this discussion.

My opinion of the very least battery charge meter resolution I could live with in this camera:

No battery icon shown: Battery between 100-50% charged.
Battery icon shown steady: Battery charge between 50-10%.
Battery icon flashing: less then 10% charge remaining.

So Nikon, the Coolpix P100 is undoubtedly a great camera, but perhaps you could fix the flimsy battery level indicator with a Firmware download/upgrade and that can be performed from the end user side. Mine has v1.0 so I hope something will be done to correct this mistake. This model being brand new, hopefully as more people buy it and also realize this small but significant shortcoming, more complaints will be heard and hopefully something will be done about it. If anybody else agrees with me, please also write a review about it. And if the Firmware upgrade becomes available, please let me know.

Nikon Coolpix P100 10 MP Digital Camera with 26x Optical Vibration Reduction (VR) Zoom and 3.0-Inch LCD (Black) Feature

10.3 megapixels for stunning prints as large as 16 x 20 inches; backside illumination CMOS sensor
26x wide-angle optical zoom-NIKKOR ED glass lens
Bright 3.0-inch vari-angle high resolution HVGA Clear Color Display
Full 1080p HD movie recording at 30fps; HDMI output
5-way VR Image Stabilization System; Smart Portrait System

Nikon Coolpix P100 10 MP Digital Camera with 26x Optical Vibration Reduction (VR) Zoom and 3.0-Inch LCD (Black) Overview

CAMERA, COOLPIX P100, BLACK,10M-CMOS

Available at Amazon Click To See Best Price!

Customer Reviews

OK, but a little disappointed – B. Larson – Winona, MN USA
I really want to love this camera but I can’t quite…

First, the good stuff:
Great pictures. I’m very happy with the photos and videos. Image stabalization and auto features work very well. Even zoomed all the way in I get great shots.
Nice list of features and the 26x zoom is great – one of the main reasons I picked this camera.
Mechanically it is a liitle too light-weight. I know it’s not a full size DSLR but I was disappointed with the feel. It seems too small for my hand and just does not feel comfortable.
Zoom is hard to control – kind of all or nothing.
It has done a few wierd things where I have had to restart it.
Worst of all, the zoom is starting to sound very noisy. I think I’m going to have to contact Nikon to see what that’s all about.
Not bad for the price, but I wish I would have spent more and gotten something a liitle more solid.

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Jun 03, 2010 09:32:59

Camera & Photo 30Inch, Black, Camera, Coolpix, Digital, Optical, Reduction, Vibration