The Nikon Coolpix 990 takes all the features of its popular predecessor, the Coolpix 950, and improves upon them. This 3.34-megapixel CCD offers true (noninterpolated) image resolution of 2,048 x 1,536 for easy cropping and high print quality. The built-in 3x zoom Nikkor lens provides 38-115mm coverage (35mm equivalent) for clear, sharp images with 4x stepless digital zoom. It also features a 1.8-inch low-temperature polysilicon TFT LCD screen for easy composition and playback. Nikon's own 256-element matrix metering and white balance promise outstanding exposure and color balance in every image.
Fully automatic with manual capabilities, the Nikon Coolpix 990 provides 4,896-step multi-area autofocus for quick composition without interruption. It provides a built-in five-mode flash and seven capture modes, including 1.5 fps (frames per second) full-resolution image capture, 30 fps QVGA, and 15 fps QVGA movies for 40 seconds in motion-JPEG mode. The 50-step manual focus gives complete creative control, while the macro focus mode allows you to shoot pictures from as close as 0.8 inches. You may choose between shutter priority and aperture priority exposure modes for greater artistic flexibility without added hassle. This camera also accepts all optional Coolpix lenses and accessories, including fisheye, wide angle, and telephoto lenses and up to five Nikon speedlights (with optional bracket) to light up any scene.
Convenience features of the Nikon Coolpix 990 include its easy-to-use and easy-to-upgrade CompactFlash memory (16 MB card provided). This camera is capable of both NTSC and PAL video playback, and it works with both Macintosh and IBM platforms. Although the Nikon Coolpix 990 can connect to your PC via serial connection, it also offers high-speed USB connectivity for plug-and-play simplicity and faster picture downloads.
1 Awesome
I've had mine for 3 years and it's just what I wanted for what I use it for. If anyone wants a great camera to use for just about any task or just fun? Buy it. Buy it now!
2 Old and tired
This product, if still available, isn't a great camera. Look up the canon G2 or G3 or a newer Olympus model.
3 Better than average, but not stellar.
I picked up this camera used to do some assignment work for an online publication. I specifically wanted full manual control and the ability to use an external flash (the internal flash is almost useless).
The large handgrip is a welcomed change from most other digicams out there. It feels nice and solid in your hand while the no-slip surface does its job admirably. The shutter release button is solid and the mode jog dial is placed perfectly. The user interface could benefit from minor usability improvements, but for the most part is easy to use and learn in seconds without consulting the manual. And to echo what everyone else mentions, battery life lasts me about 40 shots with the monitor and flash turned off. I take along a spare set of AA batteries for short outings. For longer outings, I mount a DigiPower DPS9000 external battery pack into the tripod mount
Overall picture quality is good, but not to the level of my 35mm film cameras under moderate scrutiny. For web content, picture quality is awesome, though. Resolution and sharpness are perfectly acceptable for 4x6 prints. Nice to have the 3:2 ratio to let you print uncropped 4x6 images. Macro capabilities are great.
Since I prefer to print my personal images, I feel the Coolpix's weakness is in its color reproduction. Photos printed on a Fuji Frontier 370 system seem to lack a certain saturation or 'punch' in various colors - things seem to be on the dull or compressed side and not very vibrant, even if the original scene was. This is especially noticeable when you hold a digital print next to a film print when both have used the same exposure and focal length and have been printed on the same machine.
Sure, I can spend time in PhotoShop adjusting curves and levels, but that's more time consuming than it's worth if you ask me. For a few photos, no big deal. But if I just shot 50+ images that are keepers, I'm not going to spend countless hours tweaking each one.
I found that a semi-decent shortcut is to get the ICC profile for my target printer and batch up all the images in PhotoShop to have the profile applied automatically. I then spend $0.29/print at my local camera shop getting them printed. Inexpensive, fast, sharp, and durable -there's no way I can print at home at that price or time savings, and I doubt anyone else can.
PROS:
Sharp images (provided you keep the sharpness setting on Auto)
Easy user interface
Inexpensive on the used market
Decent build quality
CONS:
Condensed color range
Slow to focus and fire shutter (2-3 sec.)
Supplied software is almost useless
Viewfinder shows too little of actual image (85%?)
4 A bit bulky, but takes beautiful high quality photos
Technology may have passed this camera by as you can buy a smaller 3+ megapixel camera for less money, but I've used this camera for 2 years with nary a problem. You may be able to get a good deal on a used model. I use it as camera that is shared by many departments where I work, so it gets heavy use.
The quality of photos taken in bright light on the "fine" setting is stunning and prints well as 8 x 10s (you can even get away with larger sizes, if you don't mind a little pixelation). The camera's auotmatic mode is adequate for most shots, but you can adjust the shutter speed and other customizable features. The pivoting lens body is also handy to get into tight spaces. The LCD screen is bright, but can be hard to read outdoors.
Battery life is 40+ photos with rechargables. I don't recommend using Alkalines with this camera, but they work in a pinch.
The biggest drawback with this camera is the flash. The proximity of the lens to the flash means you'll be correcting lots of "red eye" on your PC or Mac. The flash is also very weak in low to medium light situations, and you can't add an external flash to the camera.
This camera sometimes fails to start when turning it on, or shuts off after a few seconds on, but turning it off and on again seems to help. I attribute these glitches to age and abuse due to heavy use rather than poor manufacturing.
5 Excellent pictures lead to great prints
This is a fantastic camera. I routinely use the second or third highest resolution setting and I am able to take pictures that have excellent detail and color. My preferences are close-up shots and panoramic views and this camera excels at both. The 3.34 megapixels is more than sufficient to print off non-pixelated 8x10 photos from my Canon s900 photo printer (also very good). I've used this camera at night to get some good city-scapes (especially considering that I don't have a tripod) and for shots ranging from dreary days in Ireland to sunny mornings in Santa Fe and the camera is great.
I picked the brains of camera-philes before purchasing my digicam and Nikon was repeatedly recommended as one of the best cameras in the price range, regardless of extra features (Sony) and higher pixel concentrations (Olympus, HP, Epson). That advice proved correct. If you can't find this model, look into the CoolPix 4500, which is essentially the 990's replacement.
6 Nikon 990
Overall I love this camera and would recommend it, especially considering the price you can get one for now.
However, here are the cons:
1) Red-eye problems. Nearly every flash photo has red-eye. I have read that this is because the flash is too close to the lense. However, fixing red-eye on your computer is easy, so it's a tolerable defect.
2) Although the camera body rotates, it's not quite as user-friendly as the flip screen that rotates in any direction on the Canon G-2.
3) Resolution. I always shoot on "fine", but still end up with some photos that I'm not crazy about the resolution. Pictures with lots of detail turn out great, but where there is less detail, you end up seeing the little dots. Although people say a 3.0 megapixel camera approaches film quality, I disagree. I see the pixelation even on 4X6 prints.
Conclusion: I'll continue to use (and love) my Nikon 990 until I save enough to replace with a 4-5 megapixel camera like the Canon G-3 or Nikon 5000.
7 Outstanding
I purchased the 990 as soon as it hit the stores and on-line and have been using it eversince. I have taken pictures in the Lower 48, Alaska, New Zealand, Australia, and Thailand in all kinds of tempertures and humidities and have had no problems what so ever! I have even bounced it off the bottom of a boat with no damage thanks to its metal body.
So far I have taken almost 5,000 pictures and the only problem experienced was when I failed to remove the lense cover.
It excells at all distances from a flower at one inch to the moon. OUTSTANDING!!!
8 Great in *most* situations, poor in others
In daylight, you can get excellant quality photos, but in dim light, it is impossible to get sharp shots without a tripod. Raising the ISO to anything over 100 will result in lots of ugly noise in the photo. The built in flash is horrible. It is good to use as a fill flash in outdoor shadows, but will give poor results as a stand alone flash indoors. For good indoor shots, I have found the best results using a tripod and the "slow sync" flash mode. The shutter speed will be very slow, so any movement of the subject will result in blur. Again, dim light is this camera's biggest fault. It will ALWAYS set a SLOW shutter speed, making it impossible to hand hold the camera. Manually setting a faster speed such as 1/30 will not work, because the camera cannot set a large enough f-stop to allow a proper exposure. So, in the right conditions, the 990 can take perfect photos, but in night or indoor situations, you will have to really make some carefull settings and use a tripod to get good results. The macro mode is FANTASTIC. It will take stunning close up shots. I really think that is this camera's greatest asset. The rotating head makes taking close ups in ackward positions a breeze. Another couple negatives though, the monitor is impossible to see in bright sunlight, turn it off to save power and use the viewfinder. This brings up the second negative, if you have an accessory lens attached to the head, it will block out your view through the viewfinder. It looks like Nikon has addressed lots of these problems with the new Cool Pix 5700. I suggest you spend just a little more money and get the 5700, (with lots more zoom and over 5 megapixels), instead of the 990 / 995.
9 TWO YEARS - 990 is still COOL
Have had this camera 2 full years now, this is a follow up
review! I have been researching cameras again and do not
plan to upgrade. The 990 is a great machine for
all serious photographers. Instead of upgrading to a new
camera - I plan to add accessories for the 990.
Do not hesitate to buy the 990, purchase rechargeable batterys and a 128 mb card along with your camera.
10 disappointed
i'm disappointed with nikon's quality. the shutter button seemed to have gotten stuck after only a few months. because of this the camera wouldn't focus automatically and it triggered without my clicking on it.
11 good for all sorts of personal activities
This is good. I'd like for it to be used for productive religious activites. The digital photos I've take of dake-bonoist clicking sessions have warmed my heart.
12 Great BANG FOR THE BUCK!!
I used this camera as part of my journalism class. The camera is an excellent value. The megapixels are enough for most applications, and the price is not large enough to break your pocket book. I am thinking about picking one up this year. For [the price], this camera is a steal. The only thing that I wish this had which only the top end SLR cameras have, are interchangable lenses. But for the average shooter, this is a great camera.
13 The Camera You Can't Outgrow.
The Nikon 990 was my first digital camera, and after eighteen months of use, I don't regret my decision to pick it at all.
I chose it because of
its high pixel count (3.34 Mpixels, which make for large images that can print 8X10 and be indistinguishable from a 35mm print);
its multi-functionality (point and shoot automatic-everything, aperture preferred, shutter preferred, and even completely manual modes);
its popularity (which means that there're TONS of aftermarket lenses, etc. for it); and
its ease of use (I'm sold on the rotating body).
I've never regretted it.
There're warts to the 990, of course; no camera's perfect. The built-in speedlight right next to the lens guarantees harsh lighting, big shadows, and red-eye (the 995 isn't much better); and the fact that a thousand-dollar camera doesn't come with a hot shoe is scandalous.
But the options are there, not only from Nikon but places like EagleEye; and the number of CoolPix 990 user groups on the Internet guarantee a large group of friends you can call on for help.
Once you get through the menu learning curve, the ease of use and quality of the image simply can't be beat. I simply can't imagine a better camera for the money.
14 Great camera
I was hesitatant about buying a digital camera, especially at the price. But after seeing many web sites with images from the camera, I took the plunge.
Shooting digitally is a bit different from traditional photography. I tend to use the LCD screen to set up shots, and you can't really fire shots off as quickly with a digital camera, it has to autofocus, etc.
But, I, and others who've seen my photos, love the quality. I print them out on a HP Deskject 1220, which when using photo quality paper makes brilliant prints.
I took this camera to France. I shot over 1,500 images. I took 4 flash cards with me, since I had no way to upload the images while I was there. The images I got from that trip were worth the price of the camera alone. I now have a bound book of images I printed on my HP.
There will always be arguments over film and digital cameras. I own both. I love each for what they can do.
The Nikon CP990 delivers great quality, a lot of flexibility in use, which takes some time to learn. You can shoot macro, adjust contrast, adjust the EV value, shoot in black and white and even capture 30 seconds of video.
I bought the Nikon wide angle 28 lens. The standard lens just doesn't capture as much as I liked.
All in all, this has been a great tool to have. I shoot almost daily with it.
If you want a digital camera and intend to use it heavily, then go for it. You won't be disappointed.
15 10 months after purchase still love it...
I love this camera, still!!! When I first bought it the battery life and red eye were the two biggest features I knew I would struggle with. As it turns out, the new Duracell M3 technology batteries are really great and have even replaced my rechargeables, as they last longer. So really, I think with these new batteries, one problem is solved (for me). ----Note, I bought the Unity Pro 5 battery pack which lasted about six months...also a good idea, but it tends to overcharge and initially you have to drain some power off the battery----
As for the redeye, I have a pretty simple photo editing program for this and it is a hassle , but a workeable one. I could spend the extra 200-300 for an external flash, but so far it hasn't happened.
Bottom line---this camera takes amazing pictures, particularly in natural light. You pay a little more for it but, then again it is a NIKON.
16 Love the camera
I have a 950, a 990 and a 995. They are all great cameras. The 995 has a 4:1 zoom, and a few other improvements, but this one is a bit smaller - I like it as well. You have more control with these Nikons than any other. And the swivel design makes it possible to take shots in situations you couldn't with any other camera, even IMHO the newer LCD designs like the CP5000 or Canons. This is a great camera, it takes great pictures, and the accessory lenses make it an excellent system.
17 Great!!, But ...
It's a Great Camera
But it have two problems
1-Don't work well with low light
2-The driver fails with Windows 2000
18 Only missing one feature
This thing is well above being a toy, and I love it after a year. The only problem is the red eye, because this thing's flash doesn't do much to prevent it. It looks like they corrected it with the 995 though, as it has a pop-up flash much like those on most SLR's.
19 powerhouse
I purchased the coolpix 990 because I was starting to get into photography. I was a beginner in every sense of the word. The 990 is packed full of features that can be overwelhming. It took me awhile to learn everything, but it was worth it. The only suggestion that I would make is to purchase an external flash. The one that is on the camera tends to promote red-eye. Other than that this is a winner.
20 Follow up: one year on
I reviewed this camera a year ago, a few weeks after I got it. I still give it 4 stars, though my reasons are a little different.
What's good about it: The photos. The quality is amazing. Combined with my Epson photo printer, I get stunning results. Far better than going to a photo lab. The cost. Yes, the camera and accessories are initially expensive to buy, but (as I predicted) I have saved a small fortune in film and developing costs. Ease of use. This camera is as easy to use as you want it to be. There are lots of options, but I find I take most photos using the automatic settings. Also, it's small enough to just throw in a bag without the need for extra lenses, etc. I bought a telephoto lens, but find I rarely use it.
The main problem is batteries. The camera devours batteries like you wouldn't believe. Be prepared to either spend a small fortune on them (and get weighed down carrying around lots of them), or to buy several sets of rechargeables.
Other things to think about: Last time I complained that adding lenses disabled the flash. While this is still true, I have found it not to be as big a problem as I expected. There are many occasions when I might have used a flash with a 35mm camera but don't need it with this one. It is still a problem in many indoor situations, however. Getting the photos into a computer can also be a problem. I have no problems with my laptop, the enclosed usb cable/software works very well. On a recent trip I had to use my husband's laptop instead and couldn't get the software to run properly, despite it supposedly being compatible with Windows 2000. I bought a cheap card reader and this solved the problem. All in all, I am extremely happy with the camera and still recommend it. I haven't used my 35mm camera in over a year, which goes to show just how much I prefer the Coolpix 990.
21 If you try it, you'll buy it!!!
Kudos to Nikon regarding this camera, I've owned it for about a year now and it's one of the best investments I've made! It's flexible, automatic or manual operation and the quality is approching top end 35mm boxes (I've used a Canon SLX for about 30 years) for the majority of one's use. The 3.+MP is the key when shooting images for 8x10 displays. It is necessary to upgrade the memory amount to a minimum of 64MB(~ [$]) and use the 1,500mahr batteries w/ a charger, a set of 4 batteries will cost about [$](with charger, about [$]). I shoot in 35mm mode at high resolution and get about 5-6 hours of battery life & ~ 60 images per 64MB of RAM & use the USB download to my laptop. If most of your work is indoors, get the optional AC adapter ~ [$] I have 2 other digcams, the image quality of those are ok for small displayed images up to about 4 x 5's, but the 990 is top shelf for the price! In summary, I don't leave home without it!
22 Great Camera!
This camera is great. For those of you who are new to photography, it operates as a point-and-shoot. If you are looking to advance your skills, it offers manual ability (apeture, shutter speed and focus). This camera has all the features of a Nikon SLR. This camera takes sharp and clear pictures, and is definately worth the price!
The only downfall to the camera is that is is prone for causing redeye due the close proximity of the lens and the flash. Nikon just introduced the Nikon Coolpix 995 that is essentialy the same as the 990 but with a pop-up flash. That should eliminate the red eye.
I would expect the 995 to drive down the price of the 990. If the price between the two camerasis incidental, go for the pop-up flash to elimate the red eye. If the price difference is alot, stick with the 990 - you won't be disappointed, and editing software makes it super easy to remove redeye.
I upload my images to photoworks.com. Their software allow you to edit the picture before you send it - their red eye reduction is a snap. The quality of the pictures is tremendous - noone ever knows the image is digital!
Good luck with the camera - you are guarenteed to love it!
23 A Great Camera
If you decide to purchase this camera, understand that you are not selecting a point-and-shoot digital camera. This compact camera is a full featured package designed with the 35 mm photographer in mind.
It comes with a complete set of controls -- everything from fully automated exposure to manual control, autofocus and accessory lens. As a result it reacts to your needs and requirements in much the same way as a Nikon 35mm SLR would. Therein lies the rub; to fully exploit the 990's features and capabilities, you have to work with it. The more you use it, the more you will like it.
24 Medical use of the nikon coolpix 990
I am a plastic surgery resident in the United Kingdom. I use the Nikon coolpix 990 nearly every day of my working week. There are several features that make this product particularly good. The macro facility allows me to take pictures of small features (e.g. fingertips and even down the operating microscope) in enormous detail. The large buffer means that there is no delay between pressing the shutter release and acquiring a picture. The colour reproduction is excellent and (importantly) very realistic. Battery consumption is also good when using Ni-metal hydride batteries. I need a change of batteries every 10-14 days despite daily use (20-40 Mb of photographs at basic resolution) with the flash on for nearly all pictures. The only drawback is the built-in flash which works under most circumstances but may occasionally pose a problem when taking pictures at short range because of the asymmetric position. Overall, the camera is so good that it has rapidly become the 'standard' issue for nearly all plastic surgery residents in London.
25 nice
It is very nice. i use it for southern university web pag photos. It did take a while to figure out some of the functions and to be honest i still have not got it all. Takes real nice pictures except when i use the zoom feature w/o tripod. I wish battery life was longer, but i usaly have two hours of true battery life. But the biggest problem is telling other faculty members " not a loaner camera...that would be the other brand."
26 Almost mature technology
The Nikon Coolpix 990 represents the point-and-shoot digital technology ALMOST mature. The shutter delay is hardly noticeable, and most images get written to the drive fairly quickly. Batteries almost last a reasonable amount of time. However, the Quicktime movie capability is a little awkward -- no sound -- and the color of the images seems to always be a problem.
However, if you're looking to buy a digital point-and-shoot today, this is the camera to buy. The independent, rotational-lens design is brilliant. You can point the thing at yourself and view your self-portrait as you take it, which by itself makes this camera a standout in my book. Add to that the top-quality optics and dazzling array of features, and this model is the one to beat.
Given all that, for the time being I'll stick to my (film-based) Olympus Stylus Epic for most of my shooting on-the-go. The Nikon is too big, too slow, too energy-hungry, and waaay too expensive to go everywhere the way the Olympus does.
27 SLR features in a digital camera
One area that the 990 excels over most digital cameras is the ability to control the shutter speed and aperture. This gives you much greater control over the composition and quality of your images.
Most digital cameras give you no control over depth of field. With the 990, setting the aperture is simple and gives you control over this important quality of your photographs. Control over shutter speed allows you to freeze action or blur motion, again giving you creative control over your subject.
Combined with the high quality of the images the camera produces, these features have won my loyality to the Nikon digital line.
28 I love it
I am a camera assistant in the motion picture business. I'd like to think that I understand photography better than most folks. When I first bought the camera I had a bit of buyers remorse. I'll admit it was a bit expensive toy purchase for me. After using it for 3 mos I am blown away with the images I capture. I've taken pictures with it that have been published. I would repeat the purchase in an instant. Everyone writes the same stuff in their reviews so this is about what to get and not get with the camera.
This camera has a lot of features and the documentation is just OK so get the Nikon Digital Photography book. You may actually understand what you are doing then. GET 2 sets of NiMH rechargable Batteries! This camera eats regular batteries for lunch. The NiMH batteries last longer than regular batteries. Get a bigger memory card. 80M will give you about 100 pictures in medium resolution. Get a fast card 8X or better. Don't be cheap here. The faster cards will cut down your cycle time between photos. Something to think about as you are missing shots waiting for the camera to load the image you shot. In theory these things last forever, so buy the best. Get a card reader with your camera. It will dowmload in a fraction of the time camera direct will download. Get the 24mm wide angle adapter lens. I promise you will love it and use it all the time. I have two cases for my camera. One that holds just the camera and my 24mm lens. I take it with me when I want to grab some quick shots. The other case holds my battery charger and other lenses in addition to the camera. It's overkill but it works for me. Whatever you do PROTECT your camera! I don't think I'd buy the 3X extender again. I don't use it that often and it was expensive. "Wider is better" If you are in low light you will want to get a tripod and have your subject stand still. If you can manage that you can get shots with hardly any light. Good luck and enjoy your camera!
29 Awesome Camera for pro-amateurs
This camera takes awesome pictures. My wife and I debated a long time what kind of camera to get, a regular nikon or a digital one. We decided on the digital because we liked the idea of printing photos at home, and sharing photos with family on the internet. And with a relatively inexpensive photoprinter (HP Photosmart P1000) we print photos as good as I've ever gotten back from dropping them off to be developed.
Also, with a little photo-editing you can turn almost any picture into a winner. This lets you to turn pictures that would otherwise end up at the bottom of a shoebox, into family treasures.
We have two children and this camera has allowed us to produce the best pictures we have ever taken of our children.
30 great tool, new ways of seeing!
This great system of imaging has revitalized my photojournalism, providing immediate feedback, color temprature balancing, low light photography, supurb detail with the fisheye and long telephoto, great closeup work. You simply must buy another harddisk with this camera. very controlable, you should spend time with the well written manual. Software upgrade of camera firmware downloaded over the internet from Nikon improved operations. Still a bit slow to record images, but a fabulous tool, extension of the eye. Camera has more ram than my computer! Using photoshop vastly improves the images, better environmentally than using the old chemical systems.
31 Superb!
Having been a Nikon user for 95% of my photographic career, the 990 was a natural purchase. This is a wonderful camera in every fashion! It's made in true Nikon tradition--durable, dependable, and simple to use. Does it do what my D1 will do--no it won't, but it wasn't intended to. However, it does share many similar functions to the D1 or a well-equiped SLR. You have the option of aperture or shutter speed priority, program (and program shift), as well as full manual control. And if you use the LCD panel for viewing, you do have a digital SLR of sorts, so you can use filters (such as a polarizer) and others. So you do have a very capable and creative tool with this camera. My main purpose for buying this camera was to have a digital "point-and -shoot" that wasn't as cumbersome as the D1 or an SLR and didn't require carrying around an array of lenses but still gave me some of the SLR tools that would be useful. In other words, this camera allows me to do digital imaging and keep it simple.
My only bone of contention with the 990 is the flash. Expect to remove red-eye from 90 percent of your people-pictures. And the red-eye reduction feature doesn't help much. The flash is just too close to the lens--period! I bought the flash bracket so I can use my Nikon SB-28 flash and that proved to be a flawless combination. The only problem with that arrangement is that it sort of defeats the point-and-shoot purpose to a small extent. The only other issue would be seeing the LCD panel in bright light outdoors, but I imagine that's probably a typical problem with most of these cameras. But here's a little tip. Take a piece of black posterboard, fashion it into a square tube the size of the LCD panel, put some narrow strips of velcro on it and around the LCD panel and voila--a viewing hood that works like a charm! Also, as is probably also typical for these cameras, don't expect long battery life if you use the LCD panel all the time. Get some rechargeable metal hydroxide batteries. The life span is far, far longer. The Everyready system works very well. Aside from that, for general shooting outdoors and indoors, I love this camera.
I have to be honest and state that I didn't do a lot of comparing. I had (and still have) the Coolpix 800 and loved it as well, and again, being a Nikon freak, there wasn't any indecision here. I simply wanted a "point-and-shoot" digital that had more capabilities than the 800 had. If I'm doing some really serious shooting for publication or exibition, then it's time for the D1 or the old faithful SLR and slide film.
Don't think twice if you're considering this camera. It's top-notch all the way!
32 great camera...a couple of problems
This camera is great! I've done professional photography for a number of years and am very impressed by the results of the 990. Image quality is outstanding. The camera is easy to use. My only complaint is the software included with the 990. It wouldn't recognize the camera on my usb port, no matter what I did. I tried it on 3 different computers, and had the same problem with Windows 95, 98 and ME. I downloaded all the stuff from the web, and finally after many frustrating hours got the images transferred to the computer. Now, it works like a breeze. The red-eye is a problem, as everyone has mentioned before. But, I knew that when I bought the camera, and use it mostly for product, tabletop work. I give it 4 stars only because of the software problems and red-eye...minor problems that can be solved one way or another....END
33 Great Camera With Only One Flaw
I love this camera. It take great pictures and has many features that allow you to contorl it like a normal SLR camera. The one flaw that this camera has it that suffers from "red eyes" quite a bit. The red eye reduction feature only seems to make it worse.
34 Nikon 990: 5 months later
I took 4,500 pictures (so far)in 4 months and the Coolpix 990 is still going strong. This is a general follow-up on my two earlier reviews, Sept 26, 00 CJ, and Oct 22,00 CJinPa. I'm updating this review because of the enjoyment I get from this camera and all the support I recieved from other "posters" as I researched prior to my purchase. If you consider this product, you'll LOVE your purchase.
I snapped a lot of pics with this thing and print out the good shots on my printer for framing. Believe me, I've taken lots of shots, but only a few "really good" ones. BUT, my technique gets better all the time. This "learning curve" would of sent me to the poor house if I used my 35mm Nikon and had to develop all those rolls of film. Digital is "free" after you make your initial investment in the gear. I bought a pile of add-on lenses and flash assys. for the camera to get the most out of it.
There is a great E-Book by Peter iNova "Mastering Nikon Digital Cameras" ($50)that is a detailed 990 camera; instruction manual - photo techniques - editing & printing tutorial that is the PERFECT companion to your 990 purchase. The E-Book is interactive and will help you MASTER the 990 to its potential. Get this if you get the camera, i believe this is a MANDATORY purchase. If this was out when I bought the camera, I'd of saved 3 months off my learning curve.
Well, not many more good things to say that haven't been said before. Excellent quality pictures, great quality camera, and ample support from Nikon (if ever needed). This camera is a great buy that will leave you happy with your investment 4,500 pictures later. Enjoy your new purchase.
35 great camera, a few small flaws.
overall i've been pleased with the 990, the only drawbacks are
(1) disappointed in the manufacturers claims about standard AA battery life, usually 15mins is average, not the hour and half claimed. NiMHs are a must, I use 1600maH which usually lasts 12 hours at least. Get real nikon, ship at least nicads, sure its a cost issue, but its very environmentally wasteful and poor customer relations to ship batteries that last for 15 mins or less. (2) The manual is weak, but is typical of translated manuals. 3) accessories are hard to get hold of, and the remote release is expensive (although its feature loaded) an IR or RF based remote would be nice, most other camera makers offer them. (4) suffers from red eye a lot. (5) low quality software on the PC, even lower on the MAC, crashes often on win2k, even after the update to camera firmware and PC software, crashes on first time use everytime. (6) menu access is slow, camera could do with a faster cpu, latest software release helps things somewhat but it could be better. (7) one very small thing that would only affect a few people, is the inbuilt IR filter for the lens, which means you can't do the near IR style photography thats popular with other digicams.
other than those small quibbles, its generally an excellent camera, its a lot of fun to use. Once you are setup with NiMHs and a decent sized CF card its easy sailing, we've had it for about two months and are still finding new things about it. Pictures taken are great, the jpg compression levels work well,the low is very low quality suitable for web pictures, but the high end is good, and the highest setting, with no compression is excellent.
36 Great stuff!!
We are using the 990 in a manufacturing setting with great results. We are able to go down to nearly two centimeters on objects that we used to pay $200-$300 for pics from the net. This camera is simply amazing. In addition, new software that can be downloaded into the camera itself makes the manual settings even better. I have been a 35mm film guy for over 15 years. This camera, the 990, has changed all of that. I think the 990 has put us on the threshold of a new era of photography. Throw on the extra lenses and this camera can do almost anything. I recommend it highly. We are using photos for a small trade magazine and even some trade show graphics. While you are unable to produce the much larger scale graphics, this little camera is simply out of this world.
37 Nikon Coolpix 990 -- Six Months and Six Thousand Pictures
I bought from Amazon.com and it has paid for itself many times over. I have made over 6,000 photographs with it. I carry plenty of battery and memory (two sets of NiMH AA batteries and a Digipower battery pack), two 32 mb, one 64 mb, and one 80 mb memory card. ON a shooting trip I take about 400 pictures or more per day. Quality is excellent; I have made full page, full bleed color brochures with it. Most of the time I use XGA mode, high quality compression, 400 kilobyte per picture. For pro work I use full size high quality, but still JPEG, 1 megabyte per picture. It is exceptionally well suited to smoothly textured subjects (sky, water, glass) where the lack of grain is paramount. It is somewhat less suited to intricate subjects (forest). The swivel LCD screen makes formerly difficult shots easy (low or high viewing angles). Macro focus is excellent. Color balance and exposure control very good; you will want to edit most of your shots in a good bitmap editor (Corel Photopaint for instance) to rotate upright and equalize color. You can also apply a "film-like" s-curve adjustment to make it look just like film if you wish.
38 Great Colors!
I recently returned a Sony F505v because the pictures looked washed out by background colors. I have had the 990 for 2 days now and can tell you the colors are simply vibrant. The focusing is better, and when set on "A" the camera does everything itself and the pics are wonderful. I haven't been able to figure out if the movies can be recorded with sound so if anyone knows how to get noise with the movie files I would appreciate it. Other than the lack of sound, the batteries are a bit more of a hassle than the ones that went into the Sony because it came with a Lithium Ion powerpack. I purchase Nickel Metal rechargables and expect that it will be ok.
Please tell me how to turn on the sound somebody!
39 nikon blows
three hours after starting to download pictures to my computer i am still waiting for support from nikon. i was told to download a necessary patch, call back in two days, then kevin in tech support hung up on me. i am appalled at nikon's arrogance. they sell a thousand dollar camera without an a/c adapter, without functioning software, and without technical support. this camera is for the sadomasochist. buy kodak, olympus, anything but nikon, in my opinion.
40 This is a great digital camera with few drawbacks
While I have followed the emergence of digital cameras with interest over the last few years, I have to admit that one concern/requirement ultimately convinced me that the purchase of a digital camera made sense: the availability of 3 MegaPixel resolution cameras. The resolution of pictures taken with a Nikon Coolpix 990 is indeed extremely high. This camera has three "resolution levels." I usually use the middle level: the "Normal" mode. The resolution of pictures taken in this mode is very, very good. I would not hesitate to make 8" by 6" prints of such pictures. Rarely do I use the "Fine" mode (there is really no reason to use it in my view). In the "Normal" mode, I believe that I get about 20-25 pictures on my memory card. For my purposes that is adequate. Of course, my initial approach has proven too simplistic: there are other factors (other than resolution alone) that you should consider before buying a digital camera! If are thinking of buying a digital camera to photograph subjects that move quickly and erratically (such as a young child), you will soon realize that taking digital pictures is not ideal. While I understand that the Nikon is relatively quick compared to other digital cameras, it still takes a fraction of a second to actually "take" the picture after pressing the button. So you end up with a lot failed pictures that would have been great if taken with a conventional camera. The menu (for deleting pictures and other functions) is very intuitive and I believe it allows even those of us who don't read the owners manual cover-to-cover (like me) to get a lot out of the camera. I have one problem with the camera that is of a more serious nature: often I take a picture that will cause the camera to "crash" when downloaded or viewed on the display (I often use the useful "slide show" feature). It generates an error message and so far hasn't affected the other pictures on the memory card (but I have not been able to recover the subject picture). I don't know if this is a problem with the memory card or with the camera - but it is annoying. Without this problem, I would have given this camera a 5 star rating... I like the ergonomics of this camera and it feels like it's solidly constructed. Rechargeable batteries (AA) are the way to go (they last surprisingly long). Knowing this camera's features and limitations, I would still buy this camera again...
41 Best of what is out there now
I have had this camera for 6 months, and I must say, it has changed the way I think about digital cameras. I have used nothing but 35mm until now. The download to the computer is fast and easy, but you have to have Windows 98 or newer (to support USB). -image manipulation in anything but HI (TIFF format) will cause moderate to severe resolution reduction -flash is mediocre YOU WILL NEED: a rechargeable battery kit with 4 AA's, and a bigger memeory chip (64mb is more than adequate for my needs). Hey- no one said this hobby was cheap!
42 cooooooool
I bought this camera six months ago and love it . I use sand-disk to transfer to my computer, it prints out 22x28 pictures with no adjustments using epson 9000 printer. note--you need 600 ram on your computer.
43 Coolpix 990 & batteries
Keep plenty of batteries around. This camera uses a lot of them!
44 Even better than my old 950
I too love my 990. I bought it to replace my 950 which was a wonderful camera. I agree with others that the 990's menu system takes some time to master if you really want to maximize the potential of this camera. You can use the auto mode to take great pictures right out of the box though. This camera, just like the 950 is a hog for batteries. I like the fact that I can carry regular AA batteries as an emergency backup, but better yet, get two sets of rechargeables. I use the camera to take "crude" pictures of radiographs and intraoperative pictures. The ability to select for light source makes this much easier. It does a very good job for the radiographs and takes excellent surgical pictures (great color accuracy). The flash unit is fairly weak so consider trying to get the elusive external flash adapter (hard to find in stock). That's my only complaint with these Nikon digital cameras. The accessories are sometimes very hard to get.
45 Instructions need work!
The camera is a wonder! Unfortunately the instruction manual was recently translated from the original Japanese and is a mess. Nikon really needs to get a real pro tech writer to do justice to this fine piece of equipment. The instructions regarding PC set-up are non-existent. There may be a quick and easy way to get all the pictures transferred from the camera to the PC, but if there is it is not mentioned anywhere in either the manual or the accompanying CD. I'm sure I'll be able to work out how to do things, over time, but it would be so much more satisfying not to have to fight the translation. Don Nolen
46 I really like this camera, good choice for ambitious amateur
The Nikon Coolpix 990 has been a great camera-I'm extremely pleased with it. This is a good choice for an experienced or ambitious amateur photographer. Most of my previous experience has been with a Panasonic that cost a little over half what this one did. In comparison to that camera, the Nikon has better color saturation, is quicker at the draw, and of course has more features.... I've been very pleased with the way that the 990 allows control over both shutter speed and aperture, color balance, focus and metering points and several more obscure settings.
All digital cameras are battery pigs, and this is no exception. A good optical viewfinder (including support for zoom) is important in a camera like this for two reasons. First, the color screen is useless in bright sunlight, but second, it provides you with a battery-saving option of turning off the monitor. An LCD screen on top of the camera provides a readout on the most common settings (aperture, shutter speed, resolution & quality, storage, 'ISO', flash settings, manual focus distance). Japanese electronics tend to have lots of features, reached through obscure combinations of buttons. While I would hardly categorize this camera as being 'completely intuitive,' most of the functions are pretty easy to operate. The more advanced settings are reached through a tabbed menu on the monitor, which is reasonably easy to use. I've also found that the monitor is very accurate in both brightness and tone. The monitor has several different modes-if you leave it turned on, the default mode is to superimpose some of the most-used camera settings over the picture. This is similar to but not a complete duplicate of the readout on the top LCD screen. You can also leave the menu on, superimposing it over the image. While this covers part of the image, it also makes menu options available for immediate use. Unless you are in very bright light, what you see on the monitor after taking a picture is what you get-I've never been disappointed that a picture didn't turn out like it appeared on the monitor (brightness and hue are adjustable). Although the monitor is small, the view feature lets you zoom in and scroll around on stored images so that you can look at them more closely.
The configuration of the camera is unusual, splitting the viewfinder, lens and flash from the other half of the camera and allowing their separate rotation. I usually don't rotate the lens, but sometimes it is convenient to do so, allowing you to take pictures over your head or around corners. I bought a small minipod and found that the rotating lens assembly provides some extra flexibility when clamping the camera to whatever happens to be available. The on-board flash is OK, but the red-eye reduction facility doesn't work very well. If you don't use an off-camera flash, you're living with substandard lighting anyway, but there are more effective red-eye reduction systems on other built-in flashes.
It doesn't matter how slick the controls are, or how good it looks if it doesn't take acceptable pictures. I've been quite please with the camera's performance in many different light conditions. I've had fun capturing the Christmas lights in ZŸrich, and my best picture was a misty Fall scene on Mt. Pilatus with yellow and red leaves. It took me 6 tries to get the exposure right (that's why you buy a camera like this), but it perfectly captured that dreamy backlit scene and its Autumn colors. Pictures don't always come out as rich as negative film, but they aren't bad and when they are good, they can be very good.
I've found that close-ups work well, and macro mode is fun. I've even used my 990 to copy signs or even pages in a book. It is a quick way to capture text that you need to refer to later. After you've taken a picture of a diagram or text, view it and use the zoom function to make sure that what you've just taken is legible in the monitor.
The camera has more continuous shooting options than I know what to do with. The multi-shot 16 feature lets you create a single collage that consists of 16 pictures. That's the kind of gimmick that you can't use very often without wearing out your audience's patience. If you want to create a short movie, though, you can do that too.
Speaking of night pictures, I had a terrible time figuring out the self-timer. When you put it in self-timer mode, the close-up icon (flower) comes on, and so does the red eye icon. It turns out that you are stuck with this configuration, which isn't really optimal for night scenes. ... Given the availability of multi-second shutter speeds, and a sensitivity adjustment providing an effective speed of ISO 400, some owners will undoubtedly pay for the MC-EU1 release, and the bulb setting is pretty much useless without it.
I like the USB cable. Once you've loaded Nikon View on your computer, connecting the camera to a USB port and turning it on automatically makes the camera accessible as if it were a removable drive. I've been traveling with just the USB cable and find it a very convenient way to pull pictures into my laptop and delete them from the memory card. Connection of the USB cable automatically turns off the color monitor, and subsequent battery drain seems to be low.
... I think most Nikon owners would appreciate a more advanced text than this, but it is comprehensive and has helped me better utilize my camera.
In summary, automatic operation is very good, and if desired, this camera offers the ability to control every aspect of the photography process. It has less waiting time than many other digital cameras I've used, it is relatively easy to use, and it takes good pictures. It's a winner!
47 A change of heart, nothing finer than the 990.
Keeping this short and sweet (well shorter than most I hope), I just wanted to share with any person interested in this camera some valuable information to consider while shopping for a digital camera. About 4-5 months ago I gave my Nikon 950 to my better half itching to jump on the 3.3 Mp bandwagon. Right off the bat there were only 2 cameras to consider (the Sony DSC-S70 and the Nikon 990), all other 3.3's were just not up to par with these two. After a month of research I decided that the S70 would be the better of the 2 because of the sleek point and click design and sony's proprietary memory stick. Both camera's are true 3 megapixel cameras unlike the predecessor DSC-505V, both cameras have viewfinders (a must-have for day photography), and both cameras deliver exceptional pictures. But with the far stylish look of the S70 at $200 less the S70 was my choice at the time. I then spent the next 2 months trying to locate the camera in stock and at a good price, fortunately Amazon began to sell DCs which allowed me to start pricing cameras again. However, the Sonys were all backordered, which ended up to be a blessing in disguise. A few weeks later a relative purchased the 990 and allowed me to tinker with it. Still a believer on the S70 I was reluctant in accepting the bulkier design of the camera, but after a few hours I found the 990 to be the true champ of the 3.3's. During my tinkering I found a couple facts to consider for both cameras:
1. Both cameras come with an inadequate amount of storage, so getting extra memory is a MUST.
2. 1 battery (or 4 for the Nikon) will not do the job while you are on a trip.
3. Zoom on both are extremely low, so they will never truly replace a 35mm.
Taking those into consideration along with the offer Amazon had on the 990, it was hands down the better of the two for these reasons:
1. The 990 uses CF cards which are a standard in several cameras unlike the proprietary Memory Stick, also you get 16mb with the 990 compared to the 8mb with the S70.
2. A 64mb stick costs as much as a 96mb CF card.
3. The S70's memory write times were significantly slower than the 990 (due to the memory stick again).
4. The 990 uses AA batts which can be found anywhere.
5. The Manual Options for the 990 gives the photographer so much control over their photo conditions.
6. The 990s swivel design is fabulous, something totally impossible on the S70 unless your workaround happens to be your "swivel-neck".
Now does this make the 990 a great point&click? Probably not (dont get me wrong, the 990 is an unbelievable on its "Auto" mode) you will thoroughly enjoy the camera more because of the configurable nature of the camera, if you plan to truly take digital photography seriously then this is your camera. Also, a few quirks you need to adjust to with the camera (all DCs have them, but these I found were actually minor since you can find workarounds for them):
1. Batteries, the 990 inhales them... get a set of at least 4 to a recommended 8 rechargables, they cost a lot, but you will need them, the NiMH rechargers work great.
2. Get at least 32-64mb of memory, 16mb = 1 picture at the 990's absolute highest setting.
3. Upgrade the firmware to 1.1 when you get the chance, the autofocus upgrade is noticable.. quite noticable.
4. The software with the camera is weak, very weak (basic app to download pictures), get a picture editing package.
5. Built-in flash not the best for distant shots, which can be compensated with an external flash.
6. Red-eye is there and red-eye suppression doesn't do the trick most of the time, but get a red-eye removing pen at your local camera shop, they work wonders.
Like I said, every camera has quirks, but if I listed the quirks I discovered about the S70, I would never end this review. Finally, I assume that you can guess which camera I finally purchased off Amazon. I've been messing with it for this past week and I am now a Nikon believer (was one with the 950, but more so with this camera). I'm so eager to take pictures with it these holidays and hope that if you purchased the 990, that you find what I wrote true to your experiences as well. To those who are considering, I hope you find what I wrote informational. Merry Christmas everyone!! :)
48 Awsome macro!
This camera can focus to 2 cm. I've taken some incredible pictures of mushrooms with the macro setting and they are incredible. Definitly worth all the money I paid for it!
49 There's Simply No Comparison!
I started researching digital cameras nearly a year ago, as I had decided a while back that I wanted a digital camera. As an amateur photographer, I was looking for something reliable that produced excellent photographs. There were a plethora of websites containing opinions on which camera to purchase; I even took a few Á¤compatibilityÁ¬ tests, and most of the results named the Nikon Coolpix 990 as my best bet. After asking others for their opinions, I received an overwhelmingly positive response to this camera. There were a few people who deemed the Coolpix 990 too pricey and convoluted, and I did consider getting some other less expensive cameras (like Fuji and Kodak), but my propensity for top-of-the-line items ultimately won. I purchased the 990 here on Amazon, and it arrived in a couple of days (thanks for the speedy service, Amazon!). There were several fears, however. A few people have said that such a high-end camera was not exactly necessary, that a cheaper camera would do the job. Initially, I had only planned to use this camera to post photos on websites, but I then realised that if IÁ?m going to spend a few hundred dollars on a big toy, I might as well have it do everything (namely 8 x 10 prints).
Having just returned from a short vacation in London, England, I can now accurately attest to the 990Á?s excellence. I took this camera everywhere, and I soon abandoned my camera bag and I hung it around my neck for easy access. The tube, Parliament, Tower Bridge, pubs, restaurants, streets, shopping centres....I went to many places and took several photographs along the way. Before this trip I had really only used this camera for a few photos around my town, but now that IÁ?d taken it on vacation, I have a more lucid perception. This camera is phenomenal, and although I cannot ramble on in technical terms, I can articulate the ease with which I took photos, the terrific quality of the prints, and the sheer professionalism of it. Some specific points:
* The LCD is nicely-sized and clear, although I would stock up on NiHM batteries. I played around with the menu settings for such a few minutes, and the batteries completely drained. During my trip I shut off the screen to conserve the batteries.
* The swivel lens is convenient and affords a lot of versatility. Some people consider it odd, but I thought it was a nice touch.
* 16 MB memory card included in the box. Instead of buying more cards, however, I purchased the IOMEGA Pocketzip (formerly Clik! Drive) in order to dump my photos onto it during my trip. Highly recommended procedure!
* Some red-eye when you use the flash, but I've stopped using it altogether, as I prefer the soft effect of photos without it.
In conclusion, I am extremely satisfied with this marvelous camera. I take it everywhere now, and I canÁ?t imagine being as happy with anything else (until the next model comes out, of course). Albeit expensive, it is worth every penny. The photographs are amazing, the settings numerous so that you can customize it to your needs, and the convenience priceless!
50 Kiss your local photo shop goodbye
To make this plain and simple,with the Nikon 990 and the H/P Photosmart 1100 printer, your friends will think your a pro! Excellent photos and outstanding pictures..Thank you Nikon.
51 Great camera with some flaws
I owned this camera for about 4 months, and in the time took over 1000 photos with it (yeah, I know, too much free time!). I used the photos for on-screen presentations, as well as 8x10" printouts. The camera takes just incredible photographs, with accurate colors, and very sharp definition. Here are some other points I saw:
*Êautofocus was fairly quick during the day, but can bog down and become very indecisive in low light
* flash: powerful, but nothing you do can get rid of red-eye in virtually any shot (red-eye reduction mode is useless)
*Êcamera can store photos in separate folders, which is useful for multiple occasions
*Êno support for Microdrive is a fatal flaw
*Êmetering system is extremely accurate; found virtually no need to use the spot meter
*Êmacro ability is second to none
*Êfor dentistry, takes wonderful intraoral photos, utilizing the chair light and the built-in flash; not terribly good, though, if you want to focus on ONE tooth, since the flash will wash things out. The resolution is good enough, though, that you can focus on a quadrant, take the shot, and crop it later.
Overall, found it to be the perfect camera, minus the red-eye problems and lack of microdrive support. So I sold it and bought a Canon Powershot G1 (review forthcoming)...
52 Extra comments
I am semi-retired, my background was commercial photography for about thirty years. I now have a furniture store which both my wife and I own. We also have a crew that builds custom furniture. For our web site we needed good photos. We have designated an area in the store mainly for photography. We chose the Nikon 990 coolpix digital camera because of the 3.34 megapixels and the reputation of the Nikon name. We purchased the camera when it first became available,I have had it since sometime in July 2000. It took me several weeks to learn the camera. The documentation is very difficult to follow. However I feel that I know the camera well enough now to use it to its fullest extent, we are getting incredible results. The Express photo program that comes with the camera is very good. I am able to correct the flower pot shape from looking down on the subject and crop for the desired results. In one previous ratings red eye was mentioned, and I also found that no matter what you do you get some serious red eye problems. In another program (Adobi Photo Shop) I zoom in on an eye so that the eye fills the entire monitor screen then I take all the red squares and turn them into the color I want, with amazing results. If anyone wants to know more detail of how I do it please feel free to email me.
53 Great pics, some quirks
Photo quality is remarkable, including excellent colors and detail. Of course these are the most important aspects of a digital camera. Aside from that, other nice tricks include being able to swivel the lens and take mpeg movies. Some complaints you should be aware of:
- Not having a case seems chintzy when you're paying over $800 for a camera. - Bad red-eye even with that mode turned on. Lens is probably too close to the flash on the body. - Settings are not for the amateur. You need to spend a lot of time with the manual before using the complicated menus. I've used the "restore settings" button more than once. Don't pay for settings you don't use! - Flash seems weak, or I haven't found the right exposure+flash balance for taking shots in imperfect light from more than 12 feet. - Get a large flash card or don't bother. With "normal" photos in 3.3 megapixel cameras weighing in at 750K+, you should have at least a 32MB card. Over 100MB cards are really where digicams come into their own. - Flash card readers are also nice. The Coolpix USB is fine, but if you have 50 pictures it can still take a while. (Have to download new software for Win2000, a little annoying.) - The mpeg movies it produces are 40-second silent films, no sound! (Unless I've really gotten screwed up by the settings...) - The AC adapter is definitely worth it if you use the camera frequently, and you will.
54 Five stars...not enough!!!!!!!!!!!
Wait...you STILL haven't purchased this camera!??! What are you waiting for? I bought the 990 when it first became available at Amazon.com back in July. I've been using it for everything. I take it on mountain bike rides, take it to the beach, use it for fast action sports, portraits, you name it. I love taking movies with it, too. They're very easy to load into Premiere to add special effects. This camera has options and features designed to work in all environments. Make sure you have V1.1 software, though. With V1.0, I was DYING while waiting for the camera to store all the pictures I took while in continuous mode. This is one of my favorite modes, especially with soccer games. But, with V1.1, as soon as you let go of the shutter release, the camera is ready to take more pictures. This fix makes the camera as near perfect as can be!
I purchased the 2X telephoto lens...OH MY GOODNESS. This lens is incredible. I think the pictures are even SHARPER with this lens on. It amazes me. The 3X telephoto lens is now available and I have no doubt that it will exceed my expectations. I also purchased the remote shutter release which adds more features to the camera like time lapse photography! Cool for sunsets/sunrises. Also, if you think the swivel feature of this camera is going to cause problems...DON'T. It's the neatest thing and one of the biggest reasons I decided on this camera over the Olympus.
Well, why haven't you clicked the "Purchase Now" button??? Hurry!
55 My unbiased opinion on this camera
First off, let me say that this camera is incredible, and worth every penny. I've owned mine for about a week, and I've taken some incredible photos that look like they came out of a magazine (and I'm an amateur at best).
Now, let's get realistic about the camera. I want to provide enough factual information to allow people to make their decisions about whether or not this is the right camera for them. TheCoolpix 990 has tons of great points. Most notably, it's 3.34 megapixels (3.24 effective), and thus produces top-quality images with incredible sharpness. Another thing that was had me sold was the fact that you can go into full manual mode with this camera. You can choose either shutter priority, aperture priority, or full manual (including fully manual focus). This aspect of the camera should appeal to the professional or "artsy" photographer who wishes to customize the camera to get the exact effect they want.
After you upgrade the firmware to v1.1, the speed of certain camera operations are a bit faster, but the camera is already originally very fast. Reviewing photographs in "Play" mode is a breeze, and there's not much delay when paging through them.
Buy rechargeable NiMH (nickel metal hydride) batteries and a charger before your camera ships. The alkaline batteries that ship with the camera will die within hours,guaranteed. Also, grab the amazing Maha C204F charger. It allows you to leave the charger plugged in with batteries in it indefinitely, without ruining the batteries at all. The charger will save you several hundred dollars in batteries.
A few drawbacks about the 990 (yes, they do exist): BSS (best shot selection) feature is kind of weak. It's supposed to let you take 10 shots and it chooses the best ("the one with the most detail" I believe the manual says, whatever that means). On some occasions it has actually chosen blurry photos over the sharp ones. I've no clue how this works, but Nikon needs to reevaluate this function. And a warning: don't rely on this camera for good long-exposure shots. Shutter times of 4 seconds and longer in a dark setting will sometimes show a lot of noise in the photograph. This is a very noisy camera (audibly and graphically), so try to limit your exposure times. Also, please note that you will NOT be able to access the "info.txt" file that people in other reviews have mentioned. Yes, the camera saves all photo details (shutter speed, ISO, flash, aperture, etc.) to a file called "info.txt", but you CANNOT access the file unless you're using a card reader. The NikonView software will only let you pull photos from the camera, nothing else.
I'll conclude this here because I could rant on for a while on other great points. The camera is truly amazing, buy it now. Yes, it has drawbacks, but no camera is perfect--and this one comes pretty close to perfection. This camera is comparable to the Olympus C3030, so check that out as well. The features of the C3030 are similar, and in some ways the camera is a little better (the movie mode actually records audio!), and a little worse (uses SmartMedia only).
56 Very impressive
I use this camera at work to produce newsletters and stuff. Previously I used film and scanned the photos; this makes an incredible difference to my productivity. And the results I get are much better than before.
No matter what I ask of this camera, it does the business, makes me feel like more of a pro than I am.
I love the ability to twist the lens and look down on the screen; all cameras should be like this.
You'll need to spend quite a bit of time getting used to the many different screens if you want to use anything other than auto. It's all a bit complicated, but you eventually get used to it.
I would have preferred a wider wide-angle too, and the on-camera flash is nothing special. And it EATS batteries! Also, my example occasionally refuses to switch; the only way is to open the battery cover. It's not exactly small either...
BUT the pictures it takes can hardly be faulted - even blown up to A3 size!
57 Follow-up, 5 weeks later..
I've had this camera now for 5 weeks and like it even better than when I first got it. In my first review (here)I sent my camera out for service, well it only took 8 days from out the door to back in. Nikon service is great and you can track progress along the way via an 800 #. All the review treads here are pretty accurate for this camera, so I'll keep this basic. The Coolpix 990 is an awesome machine. The pictures are beautiful! The camera has a swivel joint that allows you to point the lens assembly in one direction and swivel the LCD so you can see it, allowing for holding the camera overhead and focusing in on your subject over crowds. It allows for very creative pictures. I bought extra memory cards and 4 sets of rechargeable nimh batteries that last forever. I get 120+- pics per set of nimh vs 60+- with regular alkali bats, and all I have to do is recharge them to go again, BIG savings.. There are tons of add-on accys. for this camera; zoom lens, filters, external flashes, panorama brackets, you name it. I'm adding lenses and flashes myself. There is a photo book written for the 990 that details the manual settings, with examples, that allows you to take abvantage of the powerful control options built in to this camera. Your possibilities are enormus. Or you can switch into Auto mode and, point & shoot. There are BB forums dedicated to this camera that have lots information for accy. combos, shooting advice, or knowledge sharing. Before I bought this, I read all the reviews and visited camera stores to physically check all the options available. The 990 has a great feel to it; very solid, an easy menu to navigate, and the control buttons are laid out for a comfortable, quality, feel. Competing cameras are too small for my hands and/or don't take as good a picture. I download my digital pics to on-line developers who mail photo prints back to me. No more bad pictires, and you can't tell the difference between digital vs 35mm film. However, i find that printing the photos on my printer with good paper yields photos that (when framed) rival photo finishing from a developer. This technology is truly amazing. I now find mysely going on lots of picture taking hikes experimenting with the different settings on the camera. I can see the results immediatly in the LCD, learn from my mistakes, delete the bad, make adjustments, and take more good pics -vs- taking a roll of film, getting it developed, spending lots of $ for film and processing, forgetting what settings I did in the first place, and having lots of bad pics. THe savings will pay for the camera and accessories! Oh, and in the 5 weeks I had this camera, I took almost 2000 pictures. Do the math and save the money! (2000 pics / 24 pics per roll = 83 rolls. $15 (film & developing costs) per roll and I would of spent $1,250. and had lots of bad pics to boot over the last 5 weeks. This is Really cool stuff. I don't know what else to say, Great camera, great support from Nikon, and endless resources to improve on your camera skills. You'll never be sorry you got this camera. Once you step into the digital world, you'll never go back to film. Try it, you'll like it.
58 Nikon Coolpix 990: Sophisticated Digital Point & Shoot
I have used Nikon 35mm cameras for many years. I have also bought many point & shoot cameras. When digital point & shoot cameras exceeded three megapixels, I learned I could get sharp 8x10 prints on my inkjet printer that came close to the quality of 35mm 8x10's. The Coolpix 990 has many of the same features as its 35mm counterparts. For example, it has similar metering patterns: matrix, center-weighted, and spot. It also has selectable focusing and spot metering areas, just like the F5 and F100 35mm cameras. It also has flash compensation, exposure compensation, fill flash, red-eye reduction, and slow sync flash, just like the 35mm "big boys". If all this sounds complicated, trust your instincts. This is a camera aimed at experienced photographers, or those who are interested in a fully adjustable point and shoot digital camera with all the bells and whistles. A nice feature of this camera is that it also has an "automatic" mode, which makes most of the decisions for you. That mode yields acceptable results, and is a nice way to get used to the camera. I would recommend this camera to someone who is very interested in top quality digital photography. With the automatic mode, even the more timid or inexperienced members of the family can use it and get good results. One final bit of advice: Expect to buy additional Compact Flash storage media cards. I carry two 128MB cards with me and can shoot all day without worries. Good Luck!
59 I'll keep this short but, BUY THIS CAMERA! NOW!
I looked around for a camera for months and used many of the reviews on Amazon to help, I'm glad I went with the CoolPix 990! Best camera out there! (At least non professional)
You will get great result very easily with this camera. If you have a good quality printer like an Epson Photo 870 or 1270 you can printout some EXCELLENT Film Quality prints (Get glossy paper and people wouldn't be able to tell the difference! Honest!)
60 Excellent Camera if you want control over your images
I received my 990 about 2 weeks ago, and I take it everywhere with me. I share the view of many of the reviewers -- you NEED rechargable NiMh batteries (in the first 3 days I went through 3 sets of alkelines) and a bigger memory card (one reviewer says that you can take only 10 pictures at the best quality on the enclosed 16 Mb card -- in fact, ONE picture at the top quality takes about 9 Mb, so you have to download one before you can get another on.) These petty complaints notwithstanding, the quality of this camera and the control you get are remarkable. One excellent aspect of the camera is that it's a wonderful camera to learn photographic technique on. Every photo taken generates a 5 page data file that records the settings of the camera. Take 4 pictures of a subject at different settings and you can instantly check to see which is the best, and then check what settings you were using -- f. 4.0 at 1/60th of a second, using spot metering, etc. If I wanted to do this comparison on my 35 mm I would have to take notes of every setting, then shoot a whole roll of film and have it developed, before I could view the pictures side-by-side. Now I can take pictures and immediately compare them.
61 The Best out of Several.
I have owned several digital cameras to date, including some earlier Nikon models. I think this is the best of the lot. I am beginning to use it more and more in place of my beloved SLR cameras. The results are definitely comprable with those from conventional professional ones. What else can I say!
62 Simply the best compact 3.3 Mpixel digital camera
I tried it, I borrowed it, so I had to buy it after using it for free a week. The only thing I miss is a pentaprism SLR viewfinder, being able to use my Nikkor lenses and just a little faster action. But, that's begging for a Nikon D1 at 5x the price and 3x the weight (without a lens).
The Coolpix 990 has a sharp 3x zoom lens, rendering 9 Megabyte images from moderate wide-angle to short telephoto with the choice of a quick all-auto shooting mode or a fully customizable auto/manual shooting mode. Also you can choose between previewing the image through the fast real zoom rangefinder or the near-100% digital color LCD monitor, plus you can watch the settings in the simple LCD symbol display or complete data superimposed over the color LCD image.
I like to let the camera choose all settings for quick, instantly ready snapshots, or use any of the multiple features to get the best possible semi-automatic or manual exposure when time and needs are suitable.
Images look great on a 8x10 " ink jet print, I have even sold a picture for a graphics trade magazine cover, and it was a wide-format original which had to be cropped.
The main point, with Nikon Coolpix 990, you always have the choice. Plus, it is well built, compact, rugged, quick, and allows you to choose from a wide range of add-ons to build a system that is ... anything but a D1.
63 Digital Photography is a real and better choice !!!
I had a Nikon 950, and now the 990. I really love the machine. you can really enjoy photography with this tecnology.!! Now we have good printing facilities, (OFOTO, PRINTROOM, etc) and this technology is mature. I will be putting my old type of camara a NIkon N70 to auction. Photography has changed for ever. About 990. Realy good stuff, quick. You need speedy Compact Flash to perform well and update to Bios of the machine will make 990 perform... Really good for low light conditions.!!
64 From a 35mm perspective
I have used 35mm SLR cameras for over 20 years. I was hesitant to delve into the digital realm. Here are the pros and cons of this camera with respect to 35mm SLRs.
Pros:
No film to deal with. You can view the results of your photos immediately. This is great for playing with framing or bracketing (over/underexposing), or other creative things: you can delete the shots that just did not work. The others you can save for printing or for use on the computer. This feature is great for any picture you take. You can see how it turned out. You will know if so-and-so had their eyes closed or if things were moving too fast for the shutter speed. I can not stress how convenient this is. You can delete and then retake bad shots!
The lens on this camera tilts every which way. I use a tripod frequently: I do not have to adjust the tilt angle of the tripod with this camera--I just tilt the camera lens.
The LCD display frees your eye from being stuck to the viewfinder. This is incredibly convenient. You can hold the camera at arms-length and still see what's in the viewfinder.
Compact size. The Coolpix is smaller than most SLRs and the memory cards are so much smaller than film.
Ability to control "white balance". No more yellow indoor shots.
Cons:
Lack of lens flexibility. With a SLR you click-and-twist one lens off and click-and-twist a different one on, period. You have limited screw-on choices with this camera. Also you have to change the camera's computer settings to use these lenses. It takes about 30 seconds (or more if you have to drag out the manual) to make a lens change with the Coolpix.
Aperatures are more limited on this camera. This is especially troublesome for portraits or other photos where a very wide aperature/shallow depth-of-field is often desirable.
Color print quality is subject to the quality of your PC printer. And yes, you can have professional printing done--it's just an extra hassle. If you have a poor quality printer you may need to buy a NEW printer to get the results you want.
I don't know how to explain it, but Coolpix digital pictures are just not the same as film pictures. Some aspects are better, some seem worse.
Battery issues and other issues as mentioned by other reviewers.
Conclusion:
I WILL NOT get rid of my 35mm SLRs--they cannot be completely replaced by the Coolpix for all situations.
I WILL use my Coolpix 990 for many, many snapshots and many kinds of "creative" pictures, as well.
65 This is the One to buy!
OK, I admit, it's an expensive little toy, but well worth it. Great digital camera, easy to use for beginners, but I suggest that a person with a good knowledge of photography buy's this one, cause there is a lot of option that a beginner in photography will never use. I also suggest to buy Ni-Mh batteries if you want to take more than 10 pictures with the LCD screen on. I won't go into all the details, I'm only gonna say that if you buy it, you won't regret it...only your bank account will, but hey, everybody needs to treat themselves sometimes...
66 Great Digital Camera!
I have read, with interest, most of the reviews of this product. This is my third Coolpix Digital Camera. (Coolpix 900 and Coolpix 950.) Each generation has been a significant improvement over the previous generation, and, from my perspective, well worth the upgrade.
I agree with much of the other reviewers comments:
1. Definitely purchase NIMH rechargeable batteries. They last much longer than anything else. I keep 3 extra sets with my camera at all times.
2. It was necessary for me to not only have a larger CompactFlash Card (64MB and 96MB) but to have two or three extras. It is an issue like carrying a couple of extra rolls of film. However, since the CompactFlash Cards are almost infinitely reusable, the more pictures you take, the quicker you recover your costs.
3. Whereas the 990 takes great pictures by itself, you can improve them significantly by using a photo editing program such as Photoshop. I have found this to be true for both print film and slides. You get a much better picture when scanned and edited in your computer.
4. If the quality of the final prints is important, some form of dye sublimation printing process is essential to avoid the pixelation inherent in (particularly older) inkjet technology. Epson's Photo printers seem to have solved the problem, but I prefer the dry media printers. I use an Alps MD 5000, which unfortunately is no longer available in the USA.
When it comes to the drawbacks noted by several of the other reviewers, I believe familiarity with the camera and the digital system of photography will alleviate most of them. One of the reviewers seemed to have had a defective product, rather than anything inherently wrong with the 990.
The only real complaint I have about the 990 (and I believe it is a problem with any digital camera that depends on an LCD view screen) is that it is very difficult to see the images in bright sunlight. I think Nikon should design a hood to shade the screen. I have done makeshift things without great success.
Overall, I am well pleased with my 990. I rarely use my Nikon film cameras, and then usually for long lens shots. I can't recommend this camera too highly.
67 Pretty darn nice camera, but.....
I just bought a Coolpix 990 last week and LOVE the camera. Out of the box, you just put the batteries and flastcard in, turn it on and, point and shoot. It's that easy. USB image transfer to computer is easy, just drag and drop. But the software included isn't that great, Nikon had to send me a backordered disk and the catalog software is a hassle to figure out. I just want to snap pictures. The camera eats batteries, about 60 shots (half with flash)per set of 4 bats, so get some rechargables, nimh are the best. And get an extra memory card too.. I edit shots in PhotoShop or MS Picture-it then print them out. Great resolution and color. Wonderful pictures. Bye bye 35 mm film. Now the negatives. My camera broke today, 8 days out of the box. I have to send it to the service center. Tech support must be hearing a lot of the same thing, (wont shut off, zoom clicks, no menu differientation) its like the program shorted out or something. SO am I satisfied? YES! I don't want a refund or another camera (I looked at them ALL), just the camera fixed and back in my hands. I highly recommend the camera to all, it's a great camera, easy to use, takes great pics, and I can do a lot of advanced stuff too, but not til it's back from the shop. Happy snapping. CJ
68 The 990 is jaw-dropping
First of all, I've owned the Olympus D-220 digital camera since it came out 3 years ago and had a great time with this 1/3 megapixel camera at home and at work combined with an Epson Stylus Color 600. I've taken about a thousand shots in this time, remarkable since my film camera still has undeveloped rolls from 4 years ago (just too lazy to get it developed). My 3x5 printouts came out surprisingly good, both for baby pix as well as for my office brochure. After extensive research online (including reading all these Amazon reviews) I decided to step up to a multi-megapixel camera, and the 990 has not disappointed. Certainly this is not a point and shoot like my old digital camera. However, it has a nice automatic as well as manual setting; it behaves like a point and shoot if you want it to (and takes amazing shots on this setting). After spending a few days reading the comprehensive manual, I am amazed at the finesse you can now apply to photographs if you have the time and inclination; 8 second exposures, grey scale photos, rapid-fire mode (I get up to 10 shots at 1.5 exposures a second), a macro feature allowing shots as close as 1 inch...it goes on. The size of my photos has jumped from a 72k jpeg to 700+k jpeg for an average shot, and now my hard drive needs upgrading, but thats a different story. I haven't been able to tell the difference between FINE and NORMAL setting at 2048x1056, and hence my 128M Lexar compact flash that I bought gets me about 160 photos per outing. I am still printing with an Epson 600, and plan to upgrade when Epson gets it right with its 870 and 1270 series printers and the color fade issue. With a few very minor tweaks with Photoshop on my Mac, these are eye popping photos. Couldn't be happier.
69 Know Digital First, then buy the right camera
Read www.dpreview.com before you start down the path to purchase a digital camera. The Nikon 990 is a good camera, no question. It is not the best choice for a point and shoot family camera, but is good for ther person that desires a good deal of control over the image captured.
The 990 does have quirks. Besure that it has the features you want first and that images will suit your use.
There is no good reason to be surprised by your digital camera purchase.
70 NIKON's CoolPix 990 is VERY-VERY Cool. More than Cool!
As a semi-professional commercial photographer, I know what quality is and how much it costs. Bottom-Line for starters, the Nikon-990 makes great color shots with very (not so suprising) High-detail. The Advertisments say "good" for 8x10 photos; as a very picky guy, NIKON is telling the truth. The 5x7 prints are shockingly clear with brilliant colors. Since not many prints are not made larger than 5x7, the superlative colors in this print size will likely give the Film Camera buffs a challange. This camera is easy to use & small, however has an exhaustive number of features. My wife and our 13 year old, carry it on all vacation locations; And when I don't want to carry my larger and heavier commercial camera. I was truly shocked at the excellent picture quality of the NIKON 990 which also includes great software, so after a picture taking day/nite, one can easily connect to the yellow video plug on your TV (or Hotel TV) for a slide show of the days activities. I would recommend purchasing two (2) 80MB memory card with the camera purchase, so you'll get plenty of picture opportunities (an 80MB card has room for 50 shots per card at max its resolution) without having to worry about running out of memory. So for a day's shooting two 80MB cards will give the equivalent of four (25-shot) rolls of film. Since you can erase shots that you don't like, take MANY, MANY shots and then pick the best ones you like to save, and for printing or e-mailing. I bring my laptop with me on trips, so in the evening, I can copy the photo-files to the lap-top's hard disk, and erase the camera memory card, so there's room for another 50 photos available in preparation for the next days photo activities. NIKON provides serial, USB cables, and software to accomplish this simply. Definitely do NOT buy a digital camera with less than 2,000,000 pixels. (The older models, presently having good sale prices, are technology of 3 years ago, and you'll wish you spent the extra money for a higher resolution camera). Since NIKON has been the camera business for many, many years, its no surprise that they have created an electronic imager (the CCD Chip) with EXCELLENT Color quality and detail. This is must have, you'll not be dissappointed. If you're on a tighter budget check out the KODAK-280 at less than $500 which takes excellent photos for a 2,000,000 pixel camera. If you have another few hundred dollars, check out the SONY or OLYMPUS dye-sublimation printers, which produce actual photo quality continuous tone prints up to 4x5 sizes; These printers are not dot-matrix's with all the little dots. The camera and the printer makes for a great combo family gift for under $1,500, that anyone in the family can use without having to even turn on a computer, as the printer prints directly off the camera memory card. Don't make yourself craze, since DIGITAL Cameras are slightly different than a typical film point-and-shoot cameras, be sure to read the instruciton booklet, before pushing all the buttons. The documentation NIKON provides is very easy to understand. So take it slow when you open the Box for the first time. It's intuitive to use, after the first 2 outings, you NOT need to keep going back to the booklets. My wife and 13 year old son love this camera (as do I)and they have no trouble dealing with the camera's features, which are exhaustive. This 3.340,000 pixel camera is one of the best I've tested yet. ONE more point, the camera can twist at its middle (permitting the lens to point up or down, with the LCD Pannel staying directly in-line with your eyes) which is an amazing engineering idea which gives the photographer a whole new perspective for taking pictures without having to have the camera pressed against your face. The LCD screen is bright even out doors. JLW/2000/08/25.
71 First digital camera that can keep up with a 135mm camera!
As a french advertising agency, we were waiting for a digital camera that would be able to keep it up in quality with a 135 mm camera. Tired of having to run to get slides scanned, films processed, we finally were told by a friend professional photographer that the 990 seemed to be the first camera that could help us jump those annoying and long processes.
We bought it and, oh! What a great piece of hardware. Buy it with lots of memory on the compactcard, an extra rechargeable battery pack and there you go. This camera makes fabulous quality (specially in HI/fine mode) top quality photos, finally usuable for A4 print and use in Xpress or Indesign. The colors look great (even in studio use, as the menu proposes a choice of different artificial lighting sets -tungstene, neon, etc...).
72 Great Digital Camera w/ some drawbacks
Let me start out by saying the CP 990 is a great "digital" camera but it is by no means a replacement for an SLR (Single Lens Reflex) camera. Below is a list of the good and bad...
Good: 1) The 3 million megapixel output is terrific and I have used services such as ofoto.com and shutterfly.com to print out high quality 8x10s. 2)The option of full automatic or manual control (including white balance, metering, aperture, shutter speed, film speed, etc.) is very convienent. 3)The USB connectivity (lacking on the CP 950) makes downloading photographs onto your desktop unit a breeze. 4)Will accept filters, teleconverters, and wide angle adapter 5)Lightweight with unique design 6)The compactflash card loads from the side (older CP models load from the bottom - very inconvienent when using a tripod) 7)Lens is the equivalent of 28-80mm (on a 35mm format)giving you good versatility
Bad: 1)Drains batteries quickly 2)Using the highest quality setting (i.e. 3 million megapixel) allows only 10 shots to be taken with the 16mb CF card included 3)When using a teleconverter or wide angle adapter lens - the flash turns off automatically and you are forced to use the LCD in order to frame the photograph 4)Flash is incredibly weak. 5)Software included is virtually useless
My suggestion for anyone buying this camera is to invest in rechargeable batteries and charger (preferrably NiMh). Also invest in a larger compactflash card, at least an 80mb if you are going to take a lot of shots without the convienence of being able to download each hour/day. Another reviewer suggested buying a CF Card Reader to use with this camera rather than downloading from the camera to the desktop. This is an excellent idea, however, I have a solution to buying both a larger CF card and reader. Buy a Lexar CF card and receive a jumpshot cable for free. I have an 8X USB jumpshot cable that came free with a CF card I purchased. I plugged that into my computer and it now acts as a removable external drive. Additionally, Lexar CF cards are comparably priced to Sandisk and other manufacturers'. Finally, I recommend buying a decent software package, like Photoshop.
Overall this is a very good camera and one that I am extremely happy with and recommend to anyone interested in a high quality digital camera.
73 Good Camera, Skip the Extras
... I've previously been using a JVC digital camcorder (which flaked out on us - if you ever get one, be sure to get a good extended warranty to cover complete equipment failure), so I find myself comparing the Coolpix to the camcorder. Picture quality on the Coolpix is excellent, although it seems to not perform too well under low lighting (at least, not without using the flash). The optical zoom isn't that spectacular, either (only 3x). Daylight pix are great though, sharp and clear, and there are none of those JPEG "artifacts" you see from cheaper cameras.
I found the Coolpix to be quite usable right out of the box. It comes with 4 AA batteries, which don't seem as short-lived as I'd been fearing. Then again, I'm more used to the camcorder whose battery only lasted 15-20 minutes, so the Coolpix seems far superior there already. I did, nonetheless, order a set of NiMH batteries + charger.
Save your money on the extras, though - if you're only taking photos for the web, you probably don't need a bigger compact flash card - the 16Mb card included with the camera will hold 40 "basic" quality images, which are 2048x1536 pixels. And forget about buying an expensive card reader. ... Or you could just buy an a/c adapter for your camera and run off electric while you download images from the camera.
74 Hit and miss
Boy - when this camera can get a good focus lock, there's enough lighting, the planets are in alignment, and angels sing, the pictures that come out of this camera are OUTSTANDING.
The only problem, though, are those pesky angels and planets. They just don't cooperate.
I've used an Olympus C2000-Z for the past year. I found the pictures to be of somewhat consistent quality - some better than others - maybe 3-5 out of a "roll" (16MB smartcard) to be worth sharing with my family.
I bought the Nikon 950 before I got the Oly - and had to return it out of frustration with the user interface and the inability of the camera to obtain a focus lock - and take the picture.
And that's if the camera didn't lock up. Heck - it's not Windows. You shouldn't need to "reboot" your camera. In a week, the 990 locked up (requiring me to take the batteries out) five or six times. The 950 was just as bad.
I found a better UI with the 990 - but similar frustrations with focus. In low light situations, you better be on a tripod, and have a flashlight handy to let the camera get a focus lock. From what I understand, there are cameras coming out (Fuji has one) that have what SLR owners are used to - a low light focus assist illumination lamp. This camera desparately needs one.
If you need to take a picture of something moving - get a focus lock BEFORE your subject gets into view - or the camera becomes very confused, and you're left staring at the viewfinder's blinking green "I'm not ready to take a picture - I can't focus" light. And your subjects look at you, smiling politely... "Did you get it?"
"No."
"Boy, that camera is slow, huh? I thought the box said 'superhigh performance'?"
"Ha ha. Very funny. Where's my old Oly? I want this shot."
Anyway - make sure you buy it at some place that has a 30 day money back guarantee. You may need to exercise that guarantee.
(Besides the bad focus and system hangs, I also found Nikon's Windows software to be buggy. You'll want to get a standalone USB card reader. And why didn't Nikon embrace SmartCard Type II? I want to use that IBM microdrive, gosh durn it!)
BTW - Digital photography is GREAT. I'm hooked.
75 Great Equipmnet - download software needs help
As a longtime Nikon groupie I expected an excellent piece of hardware and that is what I got. I am annoying my friends and co-workers no end. However, one suprise was that the download software does not include a TWAIN interface - a major disadvantage for us Photoshop users, and the supplied software appears to have a major memory leak with Windows98. Even though I have 256 Meg of ram installed, shortly after transfering photos from the 990, I get an 'memory is low' message and always have to reboot. This is an excellent camera, but the software needs a major overhaul.
76 Great camera with outrageously bad telephone support
I bought a Nikon Coolpix 990 camera on June 23.
When I unpacked the camera, I noticed that some of the software that was supposed to be in the box was not there, but--in its place--was a piece of yellow paper referring the buyer to a "24 hour, 7 day telephone support number"
I called the number at about 8:25 PM, EDT and got a series of recordings that told me that "...your call is important; please continue to hold and we will be with you shortly...."
I continued to hold for 50 minutes and, finally, a live person answered. After giving him my name, address, phone number and the serial number of my new camera, he said that there was nothing he could do for me and that I would have to call *the same number* again, Monday through Friday, during normal business hours.
I replied that this level of "customer support" was unacceptable, especially since I had paid over $1,000 that same day and would not be able to use all of the camera's features without the missing software.
This way of handling customers is outrageous.
I would suggest to anyone even remotely considering buying any Nikon product that they call Nikon USA prior to buying and ask for Nikon's assurance that some *real* customer support will be forthcoming.
77 Did my Research~Love Coolpix 990!
I am a professional photographer with over 23 years experience in advertising, medical and PR. The "swivel" lens sold me as I researched the Olympus 3030 and this 990. I put to hard use: PhotoShop 5.5 software and Epson 1270 printer, using an Apple Graphite imac - works for my particular purposes.......... AND I am very particular! I realize I will need to invest in add-ons - just need to find out where I can get them-hope [store] sells the flashbracket and flash add ons. JOY! Just BUY IT!
...
78 Read before you buy.
This is a review for users of 35mm cameras who are thinking of moving over to their first digital camera. (Gadget junkies can safely ignore this post.)
Let me start by saying that this is a great camera. For my purposes the 3M pixel resolution is as good as film. But if you are just moving over from a 35mm for the first time you are in a for a few rude surprises. Some which are endemic to all digital cameras, some Nikon 990 flaws.
1. The built in flash is worse than useless for indoor portraits. The redeye problem is horrendous and unsolvable with the built-in flash. You'll find yourself buying an external flash (~$150)and bracket (~$50). Why they didn't put a hotshoe on the camera is beyond me.
2. If you bought the camera for it's 3m pixel resolution you will find the 16M card supplied as useful as a 16M Windows machine. You need at least one 128M card (~$250) which holds ~80 pictures (unless you plan to tether yourself to a computer.)
3. The LCD display and autofocus eat Alkaline batteries for lunch. You'll go through a set every 1.5 hours. At minimum you need rechargable NiCad's. If you're going to be outdoors for awhile consider a rechargable external Nicad pack (~$50)
4. Shutter lag time seem a lot longer (worse) than 35mm cameras. About 1 1/2 seconds from when you push the shutter to when the camera goes "click" in auto mode. Ouch.
5. If you are used to "motor drive" on your 35mm this camera will drive you crazy. There is a 1.5 second delay between photos for the first two photos and 7 (yes seven!) seconds for the following one. You simply cannot shoot a series of "action" pictures at high res.
6. Oh, hope you didn't expect a carrying case when you bought your camera. It's ok because once you buy the external flash and bracket you need a larger one anyway.
7. Getting pictures into your PC via the compact flash cards are a no brainer if you have either a) USB or b) PCMCIA adapter for a portable. In either case you need an compact flash adapter (~$50 for the PC ~$10 for a portable computer). Of course you can connect your camera directly to the computer, but trust me, get an adapter. Make sure your USB port works before buying the camera.
8. Hope you bought an Epson 1270 or a printer with equivalent quality (~$450)to print your photos. If not, get a cheaper (less resolution) camera.
9. Get familar with Shutterfly.com to send photos to your relatives.
Summary: Great camera. If you're happy taking pictures of the family on a 35mm the resolution of this camera won't disappoint or embarass you. However, the amount of work and manual reading may. Plan on spending another $500+ for peripherals. Learn battery management skills. Learn how to make every shot count.
79 Don't buy this product for its support
I bought the coolpix 990 but have yet been sucessful in getting the accompanying software installed. Installation attemps for Nikon View V3 return C:\program files\common files\nikon\maidmods\D1_D5.tmp file not found. Each attempt results in a different .tmp file not being found. I have tried to reach the 1 800 support number on multiple occassions at different times of the day and night only to be on hold for ever. Do they really have support? Also, beware of the restrictions regarding USB access when running Windows NT or upgraded versions of Windows.
80 Great Camera! Nikon just keeps getting better.
Best camera I ever had. With Lexar Media flashcards you can hold at least 79 pictures in normal XGA mode. I takes up alot of batteries. Use recharble nikads. Run them up and down a couple of times. One feature I love is the delete button. I can take some good pictures but out of 100 pictures I normaly have to throw away at least 5. You also can print as many pictures as you want. So what, it's around $900.00 in about 3 years you could pay off that because you don't have to pay for film, devolping and printing. The LCD display is 100% acurate. Why spend the extra money for a camera that has "You see what you get" when you can have this camera. I was so impressed that I threw my film camera away without thinking about it.
81 service
This is just to short note to let those who may consider buying a Nikon digital camera that whatever caveats they may have heard concerning the bad service record of Nikon is NOT TRUE in my experience. Once I understood how to find them, which was not easy until just recently when they got their duckies in a line, I found them EXTREMELY prompt, ready to help and sympathetic to those of us who are perplexed by even the most simply compute quandary. The 990 is great. So here it is. A great product with a maker who stands by it, wants to help when you need it, and does.
82 Get a Lexar Media 160MB USB CF+ card and a JumpShot cable
The included 16MB card holds about 22ish images on the normalsetting (2048x1536, crystal clear). I picked up a 160MB CF+ card (204images on normal setting) from Lexar Media (USB enabled) - and a couple of their JumpShot USB connector cables (home, work, laptop). I took the camera on a trip and shot 173 pictures and 4 videos - and had lots of room left on the card! I have also been using the card as an extremely portable (1" x 1" x 1/8") hard-drive between work and home. With a JumpShot cable, it plugs directly into a USB port of your computer and becomes a regular hard-drive --> no camera needed for download, save your batteries for taking pictures! Good bye ZIP, JAZZ, and SCSI detachable drives! Hello ultra-portable high-speed CF+ cards!
83 Great camera, with one major flaw....
My needs in a digital camera were simple, or so I thought. I take a lot of photos, 10-15 or more rolls at a time, which can get very expensive when you take into account the cost of film, developing and printing. It is also time consuming, as I scan the best ones and print them out as 8 x 10s. Not to mention a pain, carrying lots of film, lenses, filters, etc. around with me. My aim was to save money and time, but I didn't want to sacrifice quality, either.
The Nikon Coolpix 990 takes excellent photos, and 8x10s print very nicely. I added a $400 flash card and that has plenty of room for lots of pictures (about 80 at fine quality), as poor shots can be deleted immediately. Downloading the pictures to my laptop is a breeze with the included usb cable (another review said that cut and paste doesn't work, but it works fine for me). It's rather heavy on batteries, but once I switched to rechargeable AAs there was a big improvement. One plus digital cameras have over film is being able to adapt to current lighting conditions - no fiddling with filters if taking photos indoors without a flash, for example. So far, I was very pleased.
The major flaw, for me, came when I used the optional 2X lens (bought at the same time as the camera). Nowhere in the literature I read before I bought the camera did it mention that attaching the lens disables the flash. You can't even use an external flash with it. I take many shots in poor light and at a distance, and this renders the camera unusable in those circumstances as I am often also unable to use a tripod. I was more than a little annoyed to find that after spending close to $2000 total, I still had to take my 35mm camera with me. I don't know if this is peculiar to the Nikon or common among digital cameras, but I didn't see it mentioned anywhere.
Despite this, I am pleased with the camera, and would recommend it, especially if most of your photos are taken outdoors or in bright indoor lighting. On my last trip I shot only two rolls of 35mm film. At this rate the camera will have paid for itself within the year in film and film developing savings, and it's worth its weight in gold for the time I save on scanning and retouching photos.
84 It keeps getting better
Nikon has been paying attention. One of the things I disliked about my Coolpix 950 is that it has a non-changeable default on the zoom which zooms all the way out when it is turned on. The 990 lets you decide. I use a MAC G3 powerbook and found that downloading images by cable to be slow and cause frequent crashes and lost images. A PCMCIA reader for $15 solved this problem and speeded up the process. LCD is still terrible in daylight and no hood is being made available. Accessory lense adapters still block the optical view finder. Card slot is located on side now which is great when using a tripod or copy stand. This camera works great for copywork! Rechareable NMH batteries or Quantum pak are the way to go for power. Or turn off the LCD and save power. The Coolpix 990 is worth stepping up to!
85 Holy Cow!
Amazing! This camera takes pictures so clear and high-definition that I will never use film again. The USB connection to my PC makes downloading amazingly simple - just drag and drop. It does everything - including 40 second QuickTime movies! I am a believer.
86 Photographer
Fantastic Digital Camera. Very high resolution, excellent optics, excellent light metering.
Easy to use for amateurs as well as sufficiently flexible for use by semi-pros. Battery life has been significantly improved from the previous 2 generations. "The" must for whomever has interest in digital photography.
87 is this camera really in stock? ship in 24 hours?
let me know if you have this camera in stock for immediate delivery
88 Amazing digital camera
Briefly put... This is the best digital camera to date for non-pro-photography use ($3000+ range). The feature list is complete, and the optics are excellent (you'll be amazed by the resolution).
For WinNT (non-USB users), I would recommend a parallel port compact-flash card reader ($50 +/-). And don't forget some extra compact-flash cards.
89 Great Camera - Low Quality Support
This camera just arrived from Amazon to me yesterday.
Since I have used and owned several high-end consumer digital cameras I note the following should others be interested in this camera.
1. This camera is for a true enthusiast, a person testing high end consumer digital cameras before buying the professional line for business, or for I guess, a person who just has the bucks to have the latest.
2. I love it since I am constantly imaging events or children and need to have a camera that is fast (does not take for ever for it to focus and capture the image from the time you click the camera to the time it captures the image to put on disk. It records to disk (memory/digital film - whatever you want to call it), It needs to have capacity for high storage, fast downloads.
3. The camera itself in comparison to other cameras of this style and caliber is quite easy to use. (The swivel feature is really nice to get those angles that are harder to get)
4. Minimal weight and size for its features. Nice.
5. Getting the images to computer uses the drag and drop concept of windows. Since at the point of arrival, this camera did not have its software ready to make upload easy like most cameras have. Per the note packaged in the camera, it will not be available for Win 98 users till June 2000ish.
The drag and drop is not intuitive. You should have reasonable windows knowlege to figure out that you need to open both the Nikon viewer and a window set on the location of where you want to put the images. DRAG and DROP. Copy and paste does NOT work.
But once you get the idea using the camera with USB cable is so fast in comparison to that of serial.... this flies.
6. Though they do now have 24/7 cs....I was on hold for 2 hours 10 minutes before the line was cut off. Though I had them on speaker phone, was able to have dinner and dress the kids for bed, it was annoying.
7. So, since Nikon service is rather poor (unless you are talking about the sales dept), I reccomend that if you buy this camera, and are spending this kind of money on a camera, you need to have: good digital camera knowlege/experience, very good windows and windows imaging knowlege, wants to be able to have high quality prints made when that "oh so special" image is actually captured to disk and a really trustworthy dealer.
90 Nikon's best digital yet
In truth, this is the first digital camera that I have owned, though I have owned Nikons and Leicas for years. I tried the 950 and was very impressed, but the CoolPix 990s improved resolution, refinements, flexibility and ease of connectivity to my PC (plug & play using the USB cable supplied with the camera) make this a hand's down winner in all respects. I've purchased separately a larger capacity memory card since the 16MB capacity memory card supplied was inadequate for a day's worth of photos (approximately 20 normal shots). Notwithstanding the inherent demanding power requirements of a digital camera (keep a spare quad of AAs with you at all times), the CoolPix 990 is a must for any serious digital shutterbug.
91 An excellent product for digital imaging
I'd have to say that until this camera came out I'd been banking my imaging needs on 35mm that'd been scanned. With the 990 I feel the days of film development are long gone for this product serves my needs above and beyond what's necessary or even expected.
I am running this product in a professional environment and it is performing exceedingly well. Some of my work has been in macro (e-mail me for a sample macro pic) and general studio work. The generous number of features makes this camera rival some high-end 35mm SLR's. If you photograph for the web (As I do) this product surely will not disappoint.
The down side is that it came with only a 16mb Flash Card and a USB to plug into the camera. I will likely buy a USB card reader so that I can plug my cards in to my PC for uploading pics.
92 Digital is a format commitment...
When jumping into digital "film" you have to realize it is a format that requires support peripherils. You can't buy a digital camera and hope that is all you need. A flash card reader is a must. The uncompressed TIFF images are huge and transfer time through a serial cable would take for ever. A little research into the format would be smart (you are spending $1,000 on the camera). The 990 answered all of the problems, if you can call them that, of the 950. More pixels, side flash card access, fast imaging, manual focus... you get the picture. Definately THE mega-pixel under $1,000 to own. Disregard all other reviews and buy the camera! It is easy to use in auto mode and as difficult as you want in manual mode. A great camera that makes sense.
93 Nikon has a winner, IF you have a card reader.
Out of fairness to Nikon, I need to provide a sequel to my previous critical comments. When used with a CF card reader to communicate with your computer, this system is nothing short of astounding. This is the first digital camera I have used, and I expected to get a semi-toy that mainly lived because of the gee-whiz digital 'film'. This is no toy. It's got most of the features of high-end 35mm cameras, and is a legitimate professional tool. Of course, its 3.3 megapixel resolution can't compete with properly exposed 35mm film, but for many applications it is enough. I printed a full-size 8 1/2 x 11 page, and the detail was pretty respectable. The range of focus and exposure control options (including, of course, fully manual) make this a camera that can handle many of the oddball situations where I've had to burn lots of Polaroid film to get the setup right. It's a shame that Amazon's catalog pages fail to indicate how limited this system can be without the extra-cost card reader (not a lot of money, but it also burns a bunch of time to try to figure out how to get by with the cables it's shipped with).
94 A wonderful instrument, with one major GOTCHA.
I am amazed at the quality and feature set of thiscamera. While it is not up to the resolution of 35 mm film, you can doa lot of useful photography with the new 3.3 meg pixel count. The gotcha is that it does not ship with a serial (com1/2) cable... So unless you have Win 98 or 2000 installed on a computer that has NEVER had Win 95 installed (? This is what the Nikon manual says) so you can use the USB cable. My recommendation is to buy a SanDisk ImageMate for parallel port (about $50), and some extra memory cards; then you'll never have to be concerned about the data transfer time or OS compatibility. END
95 The best just got better
The Nikon 990 is a complete makeover of the Nikon 950. It manages to combine the best features of the 950 with many of the things people have been asking for since the original 900 first came out. The optics are superb and the 3.34 megapixel resolution produces a picture that rivals film. The layout of the camera is improved and the joypad on the back makes navigating the menus quick and easy. The programable function keys let you have the features you need under your fingers when you shoot one handed. The only way it could be better would be if it was waterproof.
