The Nikon Coolpix 775 is my third digital camera to date, and the best of the bunch. Previously I had a Largan Chameleon (very basic VGA capability), and a Minolta Dimage 2300 (reasonable picture quality, but heavy and no optical zoom). I upgraded to the Nikon when I needed something compact, with good picture quality, and an optical zoom. The Nikon hasn't let me down in any respect. It has a 2mp CCD, which is slightly less pixels for your money than the 2.3mp Minolta, but I find the picture quality surpasses the theoretically better Minolta. I use it mostly for web images, but have also printed from it with great results. It goes everywhere with me, and is always at the ready. Battery life is good, running on a Li-ion rechargeable battery, and the charger is included in the price. Having to take a separate charger for the Li-ion battery on longer trips can be a bit inconvenient, but this is offset by how light and compact the camera is for general use. Battery life can be saved by using a power lead (optional extra) when
reviewing pictures, playing them back on a monitor or TV, or transferring them to your computer.
It connects directly to your computer (PC and Mac compatible) via a USB connection for picture transfer. The software is straightforward and easy both to install and use. You can also connect it directly to a TV to view individual pictures or slide shows. The lead for this is supplied.
Media is compact flash cards, and an 8Mb card is supplied. The camera has 3 quality settings (fine, normal, and basic) and 3 size settings for pictures (full, XGA, and VGA). You can set any combination of these to control the size and quality of each picture, depending on your intended use. This will give you anywhere between 8 pictures at the best quality/largest size to 161 at the basic/VGA setting on the supplied 8Mb card.
The controls are mostly well-laid out, and simple to use for the basic functions. Looking at the top plate first, the on-off switch is on the right. It is circular with a lug which is controlled by your index finger with the camera in the shooting position. This unit surrounds the shutter release button. You depress this button halfway to focus the camera on the scene, and then depress it fully to take the picture. To the left of this, at the back of the top plate, is the mode dial. This controls the picture taking modes, like Auto, portrait, landscape, back-lit subjects, night portraits, party/indoor, sunsets, and beach/snow pictures. Basically, these settings tell the camera which type of picture you want to take and it works out the technical details for you to give you the best results for the conditions. This dial is also used to put the camera into movie mode (you can take up to 15 secs of silent movie), and to review the pictures already taken.
Turning to the back of the camera, at the top left is the viewfinder. This allows you to compose the scene like a traditional film camera, and approximates what the optics are seeing at any zoom setting. With the viewfinder to your eye, you can also see 2 lights to the right of the finder which show whether the camera has found focus, and whether the built-in flash is ready to fire. Under the viewfinder is the monitor. This also shows you what the optics are seeing, and displays all the mode information, battery status, capacity left on the compact flash card, etc. If you find you need larger magnification than the 3x optical zoom offers, you will need to compose the picture in the monitor, as the digital zoom effect will not be seen in the viewfinder.
Under the monitor are 3 buttons. The left button allows you to toggle between macro mode, distance mode, and setting the self-timer for the shutter release. The middle button sets the flash mode (on, off, red-eye), and the left button gives you access to the camera’s menus. To the right of the viewfinder is the multi-selector. This consists of the up, down, left and right arrow buttons, and allows you to control the zoom lens, and navigate through the menus.
The menus are too extensive to cover fully here, but the main things to know are that they allow you to set the picture size/quality, white balance, sharpening of the pictures, numbering , delay before automatic powering down if the camera is left on, and various other helpful things.
The final two buttons are located to the right of the monitor, and are used for transferring the pictures to your computer (top) and for showing a quick preview of the last picture taken (bottom). Pressing the bottom button once loads a tiny thumbnail of the last picture taken into the top left of the monitor, and pressing it again enlarges this picture to take up the whole monitor.
My main quibble with the layout of the controls is that the position of the lug on the on-off switch makes it easy to switch it on accidentally when putting it into a case or bag. It will power down automatically, so there is no danger of running the battery flat in such circumstances, but it leaves the lens exposed. If you're not paying extra for the Nikon bag, choose your camera pouch carefully. A neck strap would also have been more useful than the wrist strap.
Overall, a great purchase, and a very versatile camera for the money. It's widely available from photography specialists, electrical retailers, and online, with prices ranging from £270 to £315. Update December 2003: You will still find this camera available new in a few stores, but the price has fallen to around £170. Ebay generally has one or two listed as well. If you are considering purchasing new, do compare it with the Nikon Coolpix 2100, which has mostly the same spec except there is less of a delay in starting up/reawakening the camera, and between pressing the shutter button and the camera taking the picture (shutter lag). These aspects of the 775 were pretty standard for the technology of the time so weren't really seen as a problem (compared to what else was available), but advances in the technology led to Nikon updating the model and renaming it the 2100.
Further details can be found on Nikon’s website: www.nikon.co.uk
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Advantages: Semi-professional camera, feels and acts like an SLR, uses F mount Nikon lenses Disadvantages: Auto mode does not give as good results as coolpix cameras. Traditional poor documentation
chrisf 06.02.2004 ·
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