» Nikon Coolpix 8400 8MP Digital Camera with 3.5x Wide Angle Optical Zoom Lens

Nikon Coolpix 8400 8MP Digital Camera with 3.5x Wide Angle Optical Zoom Lens Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: super wide angle fixed lense SLR
Comment: Awsome wide angle camera that is serving my purposes just fine. I needed a wide angle camera because I did not want to have to change lenses all of the time. Also needed something that is light weight too because I have MS and can't handle heavy cameras.
The pictures are better than film! I am very pleased with this camera. I have no idea why Nikon stopped production of such a fine camera but they need to bring it back as far as I'm concerned. The price is right and my experience with the seller was excellant! Shipping was super fast too. I highly reccomend the seller....pcmonde via Amazon.com

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Very good quality, bad concept
Comment: Very good camera and very bad concept. We need more zoom.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: IT GOT ME MY JOB AS A PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER
Comment: I owe alot to this little camera. I just bought the nikon D80 and I am keeping it because it has never let me down. It got me a job as a photographer with it's clear images and high resolution my clients were always stunned (i do architecture photography)...I now have a very succsessful freelance business and I am a PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER!
I can't say enough on how much I appreciate the opportunity this camera gave me. I LOVE THIS CAMERA!!!
Also I may add its a trooper...
I have used and abused and never has it gotten wierd...
People look at it and always tell me"wow big camera it looks very professional...and i would laugh and say nope its a pro-sumer camera...but its feels like a pro!

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***WARNING***This is not a camera for portraits or for action***BUT ITS GREAT FOR OUTDOORS, NATURE, ARCHITECTURE, ECT...

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The Shutter Lag and EVF Will Drive You Nuts
Comment: If you're looking to capture "The Decisive Moment" with the Nikon Coolpix 8400, STOP---DO NOT BUY THIS CAMERA!!! For that matter, carefully check any digicam or other camera with which you want to capture "action," because what you think you see, may not be what the camera has the ability to capture as an image.
Let me briefly explain where I'm coming from: I made my living as a field photojournalist for 40 years. By the time I retired out of the business I had probably created something like a million color and b&w film images. I owned and used mostly Nikon equipment all those years (although I sure liked working with Leica rangefinder cameras and short focal length lenses), starting with the original Nikon F SLR (which I still have) and finishing up with the N90S and probably ten different lenses of varying focal lengths. I like Nikon equipment a lot.
I decided to begin working with digital images last year. I was attracted to the Coolpix 8400 because the "spread" on the zoom lens was the 35mm camera equivalent of 24mm--85mm. When I worked with film I probably used my 24mm and 105mm Nikkors more than any others in my bag, so this little Coolpix beauty had just about what I was looking for in one package.
Let me say that while the problems with the viewfinder and shutter lag make this camera absolutely useless for editorial photojournalism, it is, nevertheless, a marvel of human ingenuity. For many other uses---such as taking pictures of fire hydrants or cows standing in a pasture (put another way, things that don't move), it works wonderfully well.
Seriously, I shot an assignment here in Tucson that was essentially architectual in nature. The images can only be described as superb (if I do say so myself). I worked only with the camera and a tripod on the shoot. Working inside I simply changed the light balance within the menu on the 8400 (which you can pretty much do on any digital camera these days), did not have to check the scene with a separate exposure meter, etc. Point being that with film I often carried a bunch of light balancing filters and sometimes a separate Gossen exposure meter and all sorts of lights to shoot an assignment. Even then, I'd sweat blood until I could get the processed film on a light table. Of course with digital, I (you) don't have to worry about any of that stuff. One can check the image immediately and know instantly if you're good to go.
Alas, the shutter lag on this, and many other digital cameras made these days, is the "downcheck" which makes me unable to recommend the 8400. There is also the delay in the electronic viewfinder to deal with. The combination of shutter and viewfinder lag make it absolutely impossible to capture an image, the precise composition of which lasts only a split-second. I have taken many good pictures of people working, "action" shots and the like, but it was only by taking large numbers of images of any given activity and then retaining the one or two that said what I intended that I achieved my purpose. Essentially, my shooting eye (which is pretty damned good) had nothing to with it. It's like a soldier trying to kill an enemy with a machine-gun---if he fires enough rounds, one of them is going to hit the other guy. Marksmanship has nothing to do with it. Same-same shooting with electronic viewfinders and shutter lag. If you shoot enough images, statistically you're probably going to get a good one. But it's not a very good way to do things.
So if you're looking to capture what Henri Cartier-Bresson (I'm not sure I've spelled his name correctly) so artfully described as "The Decisive Moment," look at a digital single-lens reflexes, or wait for improvements in digicams.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: My Best Buy of the Year!
Comment: This camera proved to perform better than I expected. Easy to operate, yet has so many bells and whistles. There are several tools and capabilities that come with this camera, it is very important to read the manual in its entirety in order to maximize the benefits. The basics stuff on it is so good it might deceive you into thinking you got it all. Its wide angle lens coupled with high resolution is an excellent solution for photographing my artwork for further work on my computer or for reproductions/printing.

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