When photography is not the primary purpose of an outing, I enjoy having an unobtrusive camera with me to document my travels without having to fiddle too much with camera settings. So far, the P7000 has performed very well in "point and shoot" mode and it is nice to have the capability to easily take manual control of the camera when the opportunity for a picture that goes beyond the "I was there" snapshot presents itself.
The Nikon P7000 is a little larger than I would have liked; much too big to fit in a shirt or pants pocket. A small belt pouch will probably work, but is less than ideal. The larger size does have advantages though. The essential functions of the camera can all be set with buttons and dials on the camera body without delving into layers of menu choices, and the camera is large enough to be easy to hold and to manipulate the nicely arranged manual controls.
I do have two complaints. Occasionally, the camera has difficulty focusing. All auto-focus cameras struggle to some degree in low light conditions, but sometimes the P7000, even in good light, just can't seem to find the focus. This is a known issues which was supposed to be fixed in the latest firmware version. After updating the firmware, the problem seemed to occur less frequently, but it still happens now and again. The good news is that the focus is quick and accurate 99 percent of the time. But that 1 percent can be a little frustrating.
Another issue that was supposed to be addressed in the firmware update is that in RAW mode the camera locks up for about 5 seconds while the file is written to the card. It is better but still slow after the firmware update. A faster card will probably help, but I am not bothered too much by this since I rarely do any "action" photography where shot to shot time is important. Still it is a bit of a nuisance. In jpg mode, the camera is very quick.
Overall, I am pleased with the camera and look forward to using it on my river trips this summer.
There's almost a 3-D quality in this shot Edd. Like the colors as well.
ReplyDeleteWhat camera do you use usually? Your photos are beautiful--per usual :)
ReplyDeleteSoccer Mom--thanks. I use a Pentax K10D DSLR for the vast majority of my photography. I also do some black and white on film using an old Pentax MX 35mm SLR.
ReplyDeleteI plan to use the Nikon P7000 much as I did the old point and shoot that it replaces. Sometimes it is nice to have a small, easy to use camera that is easy to carry around. You know the old saying--"The best camera is the one you have with you"
very interesting, thanks
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