Old but is it still coolpix? (Nikon Coolpix 100)

Member Name: mattsterrr

Product:	Nikon Coolpix 100
Date:	04/05/05 (174 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Awesome for it's day, Big time nostalgia trip, Technologically advanced then

Disadvantages: It isn't 1997 anymore (unfortunately), None really in 97, No digital zoom or LCD display

The Nikon Coolpix 100 was released way back when in 1997 when digital photography was still pretty much in it's adolescence. It's so old that it's now a discontinued line but in it's day it really was something pretty special.

With a maximum resolution of 512 x 480 and a minimum resolution of 320 x 480 it was, comparatively speaking, quite effective. It had 0.3 million pixels which by today's standards wouldn't even be considered good enough to include on a mobile phone but in 1997 it was good.

The design made it look more like a remote control than a digital camera, but what do you expect? It was the nineties after all. It had a maximum shutter exposure of 1/10000 secondand a built in flash with Auto, On, Off and red-eye reduction settings. It also had 1MB of onboard memory for storing your images.

Because of the technology advancements in digital photography in 1997 (or lack of them, as we now know them) the coolpix 100 didn't have digital zoom and it didn't have the usual LCD display. The 1MB memory with no capability of expansion meant that the picture capacity was somewhat limited but this was the beginning of something big. It was certainly what began my love affair with digital photography.

You can probably buy one on ebay, but I'm not really convinced that even nostalgia would lead you to do that. It was incredible in it's time, but it's time was 1997 and it should stay there and in our fondest memories.

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