I got one as a present for my birthday, but to my surprise the quality is not what I expected it to be... The plastic's already cracked in two places and the LCD display has a lot of dead pixels. And as it has been bought in Austria I can't return it. Otherwise, the photo quality is good, but the software program is too complicated and often crashes. drug rehab facility
Strengths: For the time it was made The feature set and customizability were fantastic, and haveing three available user presets was and is a godsend (something many prosumer cameras to this day still don't have!). And the 8x Zoom also was a huge plus (keep in mind this camera came out long before the current crop of 10 & 12x "SuperZooms). Also wonderful is the tilt and swivel LCD, something that I wish every camera had. But to me the biggest strength of all is the quality of the pictures it takes.. I have since had a Panasonic FZ-20 and a Cannon S2-IS and looking back through the thousands of photo's I have taken with all three the Nikon still took the best pictures, hands down.
Weaknesses: There are several weaknesses this camera has that anyone using one has to consider. First- This is not a pick it up and it does everything for you camera, It is a complex tool capable of some great shots, but you have to take the time to play with it and learn it (more so than the competition), Second- Being one to like shooting in low / natural light situations I often found the AF system lacking with lots of hunting and retry's to get a good lock (often settling for focusing on the nearest high contrast object to the focal distance I was shooting at), and Third- There have been more than a few people who have had their lens Lock up completely while zooming and have had to had their camera sent off for repair (this happened to me once, but luckily a slight tap on the back of camera with the heel of my hand freed it. NOTE: because of this I bought a third party set of lens barrels for the add on lenses and left the shorter one on my camera at all times since the lens moves in and out during all zooming, this protected the lens from any little bumps that might cause a lock up and helped to prevent any dust/grit from getting into the lens area ... a very worthy investment for anyone owning this camera.
Bottom Line:
Had One and Loved it! This little camera renewed my love affair with photography!
Similar Products Used: Panasonic FZ-20 (5mp, 12x Optical Zoom with IS) and Cannon S2is (5mp 12x Optical Zoom with IS). Just ordered a Nikon D50 DSLR ;)
Strengths: Good built in white balance, good auto focus when the light is good, the swing out monitor, easy to change out battery, easy access to memory card, good quality zoom lens.
Weaknesses: slow image capture in RAW but the quality is excelent, many small buttons and I have big hands, batteries drain too fast and lose their charge when not in use.
Bottom Line:
The 5700 is my only digital camera. I get great image quality in RAW format and recomend that setting for taking pictures. Jepg works great too but I like to play with my images in Photoshop CS2 and you have more latitude when working in RAW. The camera has trouble auto focusing in low light so beware if that's your thing.
The swing out monitor is a great feature, you don't have to keep the camera at eye level when shooting. I've also had excelent results using it on a tripod. I've used it with good results for everything from art photos to family birthdays. Make sure you get a large memory card 500+ MB, RAW files are large. If you use jpeg the files are much smaller. The batteries discharge pretty fast if you use the flash or RAW so I keep 3 extra charged ones with me when out shooting.
Strengths: Zoom range
ISO 100
Shooting modes - Program, Apeture, Shutter, Manual
Capableof shooting in JPEG, Tiff, & RAW
Hot shoe for external flash
Great auto white balance
Small and lightweight
Weaknesses: Slow to zoom - as are all compacts
Shutter lag - not as bad as a lot of compacts
Slow to write - but I'm not aware of any advanced compact that has write accellerate
Bottom Line:
This is an incredibly capable little camera. It is compact and lightwieght, so it is great for those who don't want to pack a SLR with a bag full of lenses. I like the zoom range (35mm to 280mm - 35mm equivalent) as it is very versatile and covers the majority of my needs. I like that it has ISO 100, which is where I leave it 99% of the time. The colors and details are very nice, and the auto white balance is fantastic.
I love the shooting modes, (Program, Apeture Priority, Shutter Priority and Manual) as it allows me the flexiblity to shoot like I do with my SLR. Having flash options such as balanced fill flash and a hot shoe for an external flash is great.
Being able to shoot in JPEG, Tiff and RAW is awesome! All in all, this is a great camera for the price, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone looking for an advanced compact digital camera.
Strengths: Complete control like a SLR. Great color, saturation, detail, and white balance. Easy to use controls.
Weaknesses: Shutter lag - like with all the compact and even advanced compact digital camera's. It must be solid (steady) in order to get detailed photo's.
Bottom Line:
This is a very capable advanced compact camera for the money. The 16 MB compact flash card that comes with it really limits the user, so get a bigger card. I got a 512 MB CF card and my enjoyment (and useage) went up exponentially. I'm amazed at the detail this camera is capable of (from a stable platform). Colors and saturation are great, and the auto white balance is light years ahead of the earlier Coolpix models. Also, startup time is about half of the earlier Coolpix models, and shutter lag is reduced to about half a second. If you're a beginner, then you'll have to grow into this camera. If you're an intermediate or advanced photographer, this camera will make a great addition to your camera bag, or to take along when you don't want to be burdened with a full blown SLR and accessories.
