Nikon Coolpix, The Cool Camera (Nikon Coolpix 4300)

Member Name: sifair

Product:	Nikon Coolpix 4300
Date:	02/05/07 (151 review reads)
Rating:

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Disadvantages: See review

The Nikon Coolpix 4300 is the first ever digital camera I bought. At the time I bought the camera I wanted it to be able to take decent photos in all sorts of different light conditions and different situations.

I was very impressed with this camera when I first bought it as I found that inside the box there wasn't just a camera, there was various different photo programs that came with the camera as well as a few different leads such as a USB cable so you can transfer images from your camera to the computer. One of the first things I felt let down with though was the lack of a memory card. Unfortunately the Nikon Coolpix 4300 does not come with a memory card but that is alright nowadays as you can get large memory cards for as little as £10 if you shop around.

One of the discs in the box is Nikon's own software, this is very useful and one of it's best features is that every time you put images on the computer they are put in separate files so the images don't get muddled up with another set of images. Another piece of software that comes with the camera is quicktime 5 which is a media program for watching videos.

The Nikon Coolpix 4300 also has the ability to capture 40 seconds of video in decent quality but the only problem with this is that there is no microphone on the camera so there is no sound captured whatsoever which is disappointing but it doesn't really matter because I mainly bought this camera for taking pictures. Also if you wanted to use this camera to take videos it can only capture 40 second clips which is rather short so you won't be able to capture much action.

Although the camera only has 4 mega pixels this does not stop the Nikon Coolpix 4300 from taking good pictures. When the images are loaded up onto your PC you will notice that the images have lots of excellent vibrant colours as well as a high resolution for lots of good detail. There are 12 different scene modes on the camera which are very useful especially if you are trying to take pictures in bright light or if your taking pictures of fireworks as the images tend to come out better if a scene mode is selected in these situations.

In the dark the camera uses flash automatically so you don't have to fiddle about with anything but I do find this rather annoying as people usually end up having there eyes closed on these pictures due to the very bright flash. You don't have to stand the perfect distance away to take a photograph with this camera as you can use the zoom in and zoom out buttons to get the picture just right. There are useful features on the camera such as format, this is where you can wipe off all the photos you have taken once you have put them on your computer. There is also a quick view button which you can press to view the pictures you have taken on the small camera screen.

Also you can delete single photos by pressing the delete button on the back of the camera. The camera can also be set to automatic mode so you can set up the image then get in the shot yourself if there is nobody to take the picture or if you all want to get in the shot.

The Nikon Coolpix 4300 has a few bad points:
Small Screen – It is sometimes hard to see the pictures on the camera screen as it is so small.
No Memory Card – You have to buy a memory card separately.
No Case – If you want a little bit of protection or something to carry the camera round in you have to buy it separately.
Big/Heavy – Because it is a few years old the camera is quite big and probably won't fit in your pockets, unless you have really big pockets! It also weighs quite a bit and is a bit annoying to carry around.

Apart from the bad points listed above the Nikon Coolpix 4300 is a very good camera that takes good images and can be used in a variety of different situations, it also comes with good software and now that it it is a few years old you can probably pick it up fairly cheaply.

Summary: Great cheap camera

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