Nikon Reviews

For the price of this flash, I would consider alternatives such as a Sunpak PZ5000 which offer many advanced features for a smaller price tag. Also the batteries that this unit requires tend to be costly versus commonly used AA cells. The "pro" flash, SB80DX is a great product but more than double the price of the PZ5000! I wish Nikon would keep up with its competitors in the amateur photographer market.

I have been using this flash unit for about two months, and the results are quite good. I have not yet changed the batteries, but I would advise keeping a spare battery or two in your bag as a precaution.

The recycle time is quite good > I can get about 2 frames with flash in about 3 seconds; I have just bought an accessory (Sto-Fen filter) to soften the shadows.

Also, you generally get the best results when it is set to
D-TTL.

As far as cost goes, Nikon's policy is somewhat limiting; if use of a non-Nikon accessory (Flash, lens, cable, etc.) results in damage, then the warranty is void. Kind of restrictive, no?
So, for the price you get a good flash, but testing it against a competitor is somewhat risky.

Using this flash with my Nikon 5700 coolpix camera. Though only TTL and manual mode are available, it meet my expectation. Recharge time is excellent. It is a bit heavy and the CR123 batteries can be expensive. Overall strongly recommend this product.

I have to say right up front this camera takes fuzzy pictures! we cannot figure out why! If we eliminate using the zoom that reduces the fuzzy pictures but we still get 2 or 3 in the roll. I recently took a picture of my daughter smiling for the first time and was so excited about gettting the film developed. Of course, there were 2 pictures fuzzy and one was the pic of my daughter smiling. I was mortified. I do not recommend this camera at all and am shopping for a new one. I did look up on the internet and not often but i did find another person with the same problem. I would have taken the camera back but it did not start this problem until 4 or 5 months into use!

This camera is a great buy. The timer function is great for when you want everyone in the picture and there is no stranger around to take it. I have taken many family pictures this way. All pictures seem to turn out great despite our lack of photography knowledge. I liked ours so much, I bought one for my mom and she finally gave up her disposable camera addiction. The result is that she too gets great pictures. Some cameras have too many bells and whistles and some not enough...this one is just right.

If you still want a film camera and don't want to break the bank, this camera is a perfect candidate. Probably the best feature of this Nikon camera that even Nikon's literature won't tell you is the design. No I'm not talking about the way it looks, but rather where things are located. For once a camera maker has located the flash in correct proximity to the lense! Compare this camera to the others when you are in the store (or even online for that matter). The flash is located farther away from the lense than on pretty much all the other makes and models I've looked at. Why is this important you ask? This is one of the few cameras I tried in my quest for a new camera that did not produce garish red-eye. I didn't even need to use the mostly gimmicky red-eye reducing feature to get good pictures. I maybe get one picture per roll that exibits noticeable red-eye... and my house has poor lighting to boot. If the flash on a camera is located far enough away from the lense you don't have the red-eye problem so prevalent in the increasingly tiny cameras you see nowadays. Kudos Nikon! You got it right! Watch... they'll discontinue this design next week or something. Also, the majority of pictures I took were very clear, exhibiting as much, and in some photos, more detail than some of the more expensive, feature laden cameras I tried. I tried Pentax, Olympus, and Canon's new U line. The only issue I have with this camera is the shutter speed (1/200th of a second). If your subject moves quickly, which kids often do... expect some blurred photos. But all the portrait-type shots I took, where the subject was still, were very clear and detailed. Photos taken between 4 to 8 feet were excellent. Photos taken further away or using the zoom extended to max are good, but I wouldn't say excellent, they do appear a little grainy and sometimes out of focus, but I noticed graininess when using the zoom on ALL the little point-n-shoots I tried. Also when using this camera, there is a little circle in the viewfinder used to lock the focus on the subject. This is very accurate, or shall I say touchy, because you need to place the circle EXACTLY on what you want to be in focus. If you place the circle on the subject's shirt, the shirt may be crystal clear, but the person's face a tad out of focus. This is a perfect camera for taking head-n-shoulder group or individual portrait shots. For the price you pay for this, it takes very capable pictures and you don't have to stress about red-eye, mainly because it is built right. I would give this camera 4 stars because of the slower shutter speed, but because it's one of the few cameras I've come across where the lense and flash are laid out correctly, combined with the value pricing, I give it 5 stars.