Review 1 of 5
Price Paid:
$260.00
from Ebay seller Summary:
As the other posters have mentioned, this is great all-around camera. Nikon designed this to be simple, intuitive, and fast to use. If you're looking for complexity and manual controls, you're looking at the wrong camera. I shoot with this alongside my medium format gear and there is nothing I haven't been able to do with it yet; within the limits of its iso and 3x zoom.
I bought the silver version of the camera for aesthetic reasons. I also dropped it on pavement shortly after getting it and besides some scratches (I hate new-looking gear anyways) no functional problems. Start-up time is fast, particularly if you turn off the welcome screen. Shot to shot time is also fast, and you can shoot rapid fire in buffer mode if you want. You get to select 7, 5, or 3 megapixel resolutions, or smaller sizes, and you choose fine, normal or basic image quality.
I find the layout of the camera to be very intuitive. The dial on top rotates easily from camera to movie to settup, plus 3 scene modes and another position to access more scenes in a menu. I use full-auto and don't worry about scenes. The arrow pad is great. It gives you instant access to a histogram and exposure compensation (right), macro close-up (down), self-timer (left), and flash options (up). I use these functions all the time and LOVE not having to scroll through menus to access them.
The camera is small and light, easy to carry, and I don't worry about it becuase the body is metal (I use my stuff). I can carry it everywhere discretely.
One of the great functions of this camera are its movie capabilities. On the highest resolution, you make movies with sound that look like movies made with a camcorder. Pretty awesome. I shoot movies a lot and love it. Movie lengths are limited only by the size of your memory card. You can also zoom during filming. With the supplied cable, plug your 7900 into a tv and play your movie for eveyone to watch, complete with sound. Then flip through your pictures. On a 32 inch tv, movies and pictures look great.
The main problem I have with this camera is it's low light, indoor shooting. I have been successful with it, but it takes some getting used to. Focusing at night can be hard. What makes it worse is if the camera's not use if it's focused or not, it says it's not. Which leaves you feeling unsure about your photography until you upload your images and check them out. To date, however, it has taken successfully-focused night shots 90% of the time. The other issues is auto-white balance indoors. Give it up; just put it on daylight and use your flash. I get all kinds of weird colors when I don't.
Other limitation is the 3x zoom, but that's why it's 7mp! Strengths:
Small size
Looks great (in sliver!)
7 mp resolution
Sharp ED lens
f2.8 at widest end of lens
Great close-up abilities
Fast operation, zooming, and processing
Lowest iso is 50
Spot meter
Long battery life
Easy controls
Weaknesses:
3x zoom
No manual controls (never a problem for me)
No flash exposure compensation (that I've found)
Highest iso is 400
Auto white balance indoors
Low light focusing can be problematic
Similar Products Used:
Nikon Coolpix 850
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