Currently Amazon is selling the Nikon P7000 for $229!!! It used to be $400. I got one for myself and I am enjoying it so far. I am a Canon/Panasonic user, so Nikon’s menu system was a bit confusing and it takes some fiddling around to get used to but all the manual controls are awesome. I recommend this for those who want a bridge/enthusiast camera without breaking the bank. A bridge camera is a point & shoot, that is compact enough, shoots RAW, and has a bigger sensor than your average compact p&s. They’re great if you want to step up from your p&s or if you want similar image quality to your DSLR and not have to carry one around. Sometimes I feel awkward lugging around my DSLR to certain places. Keep in mind that if you mostly shoot in Auto mode, then please stay away from this unless you plan on learning the settings and changing them to your needs. The image quality is amazing and closely resembles that of a DSLR. Navigating through the menu isn’t as much of a breeze as Canon or Pana but some people don’t seem to mind it. Nikon has released two firmware updates already and it has improved the P7000. Originally I bought the Panasonic LX5 because I had the LX3 and loved it but I felt the quality of the LX5’s hardware is not as sturdy and I had problems with the LCD showing a green/yellow tint which made it difficult to know the accuracy of white balance and color tones. It might have just been a defect but I became discouraged so I looked into other models such as Canon S95, Canon G12, and Nikon P7100. I’m not a Canon fan-girl, but I just happen to be the most familiar with their system and they’ve never disappointed me. These models are around $400 also. Kind of crazy knowing you could get a DSLR body for around the same price. Anyhow, I eliminated the S95 very quickly because it looks very plain and like any other p&s, also the 5cm macro is ridiculous! Worse macro of all the models mentioned. Canon has newer model called S100 and it’s $429 right now so the price of the S95 could drop very soon. I would have loved a G12 because of it’s flip-out screen and retro rangefinder style like the P7000 and P7100. The latter has a flip-out screen also but is twice as much as it’s predecessor. I am very surprised with the performance of the P7000. People always say Canon is the best and while I may mildly agree that it’s popular, I think other brands are just as good if not better. It just depends on the specific model. Anyway, I’m trying not to ramble too much so I’m just going to give a list of cameras in the same category/class. Some of them I have bought, played with and returned for various reasons. Okay, so if you DO get Canon, make sure to turn iContrast OFF! That feature is horrible and it ruins the pictures.
- Nikon P7000 - loving it right now, and I’m taking it to Disneyland tomorrow :D
- Nikon P7100 - successor to model above. Some tweaks such as rotating screen and improved menu speed. Costs almost twice as much though.
- Panasonic LX3 - nothing bad to say about this. it was my first advanced p&s and it’s still the best. Pretty much the same as Leica DLUX 4. Mmm Leica!
- Panasonic LX5 - IQ is supposedly better than LX3 but I couldn’t deal with the screen and the plastic body. LX3 has aluminum. Costs less than LX3 which is kind of weird since it’s newer.
- Canon G12 - excellent IQ, great ease of use and I think it looks really nice despite some people claiming it’s ugly and bulky.
- Canon S95 - a more compact version of G12, with worse macro. Doesn’t look as cool.
- Canon S100 - current S model. It is supposed to be the best out of all Canon’s advanced p&s but it is also the most expensive.
- Samsung EX1 - read good reviews about this one but I’ve no experience with it. IQ is obviously excellent and the interface seems to be easy to navigate. Also has a flip-out screen and has f 1.8 aperture.
- Olympus XZ1 - I was super excited when this came out so I got it right away. I love white so that’s what I got but again with the plastic hardware, I didn’t like it and it felt cheap. The f 1.8 aperture was what drew me in though, but the lens wasn’t as sharp as I’d like it to be. The AMOLED screen was horrible. I know it’s supposed to be better than regular LCD but I just didn’t like it. It was unrealistic and inaccurate. I much prefer low resolution LCD’s lol. As for IQ, noise reduction created too much smearing. This may look good to some people but I like clarity and I don’t mind noise if it’s minimal. At least my images won’t look like paintings.
- Fujifilm HS20 - the only Fuji camera I’ve ever used is the the mini 7s instax. This one has impressive specs and a slightly bigger sensor but it looks and feels like a DSLR so you might as well get one instead.
images shot by the P7000
^^ cutie patootie
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