Nikon Coolpix 4300 > Reviews > Great Pictures

Author's product rating:   

Picture Quality	Excellent
Range & Quality of Features	Diverse
Ease of Use	Easy
Overall Look & Design	Good
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Great picture quality, lightweight, point and shoot or manual
Disadvantages:	Bulky shape, manual settings a bit fiddly

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

It was time to upgrade our Olympus 2.0 megapixel and to be honest I wasn't convinced it was necessary, I was happy with the photos we were getting and as we only really use it for family snaps and holiday pictures I didn't want to spend a lot on a camera with a load of features we will never use.

I was happy with a point and shoot camera, my husband was looking for something which would allow him to play around a bit more and neither of us wanted to spend more than £300. After trawling around a few camera shops we decided on the Nikon as a)it seemed to offer everything we were looking for and b) it had £50 off (we paid £250 back in December 03 I think you could probably pick it up cheaper now).

As a point and shoot camera I am delighted, the photographs are crisp and clear and it seems to cope well in all different lighting situations. The Lithium battery lasts really well and recharges quickly. I like the indicator for zoom, which shows very clearly when you move out of optical zoom and into digital zoom, as the quality does deteriorate in digi zoom.

I also use this camera in a school setting and it copes admirably with the bashing and not so gentle handling it gets at the hands of my class of four and five year olds

The camera offers a setting for various common "scenes" fireworks partys, museums, portrits etc as a "halfway house" between auto and manual but I haven't used them yet.

The two main drawbacks I have found are that
1)there is a significant delay between depressing the button and the camera actually taking the picture, which meant we had a lot of pictures with people just walking out of them. I have adjusted my timing now but it did take a little getting used to.
2)The camera is quite bulky. Although light, this camera does not slip as easily into a pocket or handbag as my Olympus. It is comfortable in the hand though so not a major problem.

As a manual camera, as I suspected, we are not using half of the facilities the camera offers, but as my husband expands his knowledge it will offer him a great starting point without us needing to buy another camera

I would really recommend this camera as either a first or second digital camera, it takes great pictures easily but offers you the facility to take more control over your pictures should you wish to be more adventuresome.