Nikon COOLPIX S9100 12.1 MP CMOS Digital Camera with 18x NIKKOR ED Wide-Angle Optical Zoom Lens and Full HD 1080p Video (Black) (OLD MODEL)

The best camera is the one you have on you! This is the camera I keep with me where ever I go. It's getting on the large size to just slip in your pocket, but I use a case that clips onto my belt. That gives it better protection anyways. It fits much better to my man-hands than my last Nikon point and shoot and I don't feel like this one will slip out of my hands. It has good grip and a rubberized texture that helps me to hold onto it. I opted for the black which I think looks the sleekest. The S9100 feels solid in the hands, just the right weight. Powering on is fast, it's ready to shoot within a couple of seconds. It is also the quickest focusing camera I've had and in a normal lit room I don't suffer with shutter lag like I did with my old cameras. I've read reviews before I purchase that some were complaining about how fast the zoom is. I actually like that and depending on how much to move the zoom lever controls how fast it zooms. I hate waiting for a camera to decide it's going to zoom after you've held the lever down. I've missed too many shots because of that. It's not a problem with this camera. This is the first camera I've had that has a dedicated video record button. Just hit the button and you'll be recording HD video. There were several modes of video that you could shoot, 1080p, 720p, high speed, VGA, see the specs for complete listing. The high speed was fun to mess with on moving subjects. Just make sure you have reset the video mode once you are done so you'll be ready next time. There are not many manual controls, but that's not what this camera is geared towards. It's a competent point and shoot with some cool extras. You can change the exposure, flash mode and there a macro mode on/off. There are some creative modes the most fun to play with is the selective color. You can choose a color then you will see and take pictures that are black and white except for anything that registers that chosen color. When you rotate the selector dial into the back lighted subject mode there is a HDR mode. The little I've used HDR on this camera, I would recommend using a tripod to steady the camera. I'm still discovering this feature but will probably still use my DSLR for creating HDR photos. The S9100 is a great all around point and shoot camera. It's quick, takes great crisp pictures, packs a 18x zoom lens, shoot HD video, and has some creative modes to play with. I think most users that only want a point and shoot or user that have a DSLR and just want an everyday camera will be happy with the S9100. I've been able to get more clear crisp pictures that I do with my DSLR and if force to only have one camera I would keep the S9100.

I bought this camera before traveling to South Africa in May after considering the Canon SX 230 HS, the Panasonic DMC-ZS10, the Sony HX9V and the Samsung WB210. I have a Panasonic ZS3 and it has served me well, but I wanted a longer zoom. While there were a fair number of reviews of the Panasonic and Canon, there weren't as many of the other cameras, including the Nikon. The Canon had pretty good reviews, but the image quality seems to be worse in the recent Panasonic cameras, and the ZS10 was panned by several sites for this reason. One review highly recommended the Nikon: [...] So I bought the camera and took it to South Africa. It was my backup camera and the one I used when I didn't want to carry around my DSLR camera. I got some very good photos and learned some things in the process. First, 18x is a heckuva zoom in a compact camera. When you go to full zoom, it is hard to keep from shaking the camera when you press the shutter. So for low light shots at full zoom, use the 2 sec timer to separate the pressing of the shutter button from the actual exposure. This really reduces blurring in this situation. Second, I found the auto scene select feature frustrating, and did better using the auto mode or selecting the scene mode myself. Third, yeah, at high iso values there is some noise in low light photos, but no worse than the competition and better in some cases. And I got decent shots even up to 1600 iso as long as I didn't try and blow them up too big (5x7 would be ok). Fourth, there may be a little softness in some shots, but many shots are very sharp, especially when you consider the 18x lens in this compact camera. Of course, several reviews came out after I bought the camera and returned from my trip. But those seem to confirm that this really is an excellent camera and under-rated by many of the reviewers on Amazon. Recommend checking out the photographyblog.com review above and the following: [...] [...] [...] [...] [...]