For me the equation was simple: I wanted a good camera at a good price. Nikon has a strong reputation for its optics, and they have produced high quality cameras. My wife and I owned an earlier CoolPix camera that took very good pictures, but was poorly constructed. The P50 truly lives up to its Nikon heritage. The camera is small, but has the heft and feel of a solid instrument yet it is easy to handle. The large Nikkor lens captures the light without a trace of distortion. The menus are intuitive, and the features are just right for a serious amateur photographer. Experimenting with the macro feature on camera, I inadvertently caught a bee in mid flight. The P50 captured the details of the cilia on the bee's head and thorax, and almost stopped its wings in mid beat. This is a fantastic little camera at a fantastic price. Above all, this is a camera that lives up to the Nikon reputation for quality.
This camera is very nice! The many types of programmed settings for indoors and low light are very handy. Usually when I want to take a great photo I will fire off several shots (I have two 2 Gb memory cartridges) using a variety of settings until I get close enough. The built-in retouching functions (D-lighting) are nice and work well. When I'm done I download onto my computer and perhaps do some contrast adjustment and cropping. The results are great.
Please, PLEASE read the manual. It will definitely help anyone to use this camera to its fullest potential. I've ordered the AC adapter and charger/batteries to add to my tripod (already own). I also recommend purchasing a tripod; with the camera's timer you can take nice shots even in indoors and low light.
None of my pictures have turned out grainy (yet), and if they ever do I check the settings. Photography is not idiot-proof, you must experiment! I'd recommend only using point-and-shoot settings for daylight/outdoors. Oh, and take multiple shots of a subject, there is enough memory in the camera to do this. Back in the old 35mm film days pro photographers would take rolls and rolls of pictures just to get that ONE great picture. Try the same approach and do not be satisfied with just one shot. This camera will let you do this easily.
If I had a friend who had at some prior knowledge of taking photos I'd recommend it. If you are just a beginning picture-taker, look elsewhere.
Anyone who takes their time to learn all the ins and outs of this camera will be rewarded with a fine product for many months and years to come.
Buy Nikon Coolpix P50 8.1MP Digital Camera with 3.6x Wide Angle Optical Zoom Now
I just purchased this camera after owning a few compact cameras and DSLR's. So far the camera is a gem. Small but easy to grasp, simple and fast to use, change settings, and above all, I've been thoroughly impressed with the image quality, color rendition, and image stabilization features. The optical and digital zoom combined with these features achieved sharp results.The software that knits together panorama intended shots (using the panorama scene feature) is better than most with very little distoration.
A single 2 Gig SD card represents 500 best quality and size photos on this camera even at 8.1 megapixels.
The noise levels above 200 iso is diminished by the higher megapixels and NR builtin the camera.
This is a great travel camera given its wide angle for shooting buildings, landscapes, panoramas and people.
I highly recommend this camera.
Cons: No raw image support and movies are not highly compressed and use up the memory quickly.
Read Best Reviews of Nikon Coolpix P50 8.1MP Digital Camera with 3.6x Wide Angle Optical Zoom Here
P50 is relatively inexpensive, so you can't ask too much. But I can say that this camera works pretty well as a travel mate. Pocket-size, wide-angle lens, AA batteries are what you really need abroad. Easy to hold with one hand. Overall image quality is very good. Coolpix P50 offers plenty of image details till 200 ISO. Noise shows up at 400 ISO and, quite obviously, above. Blurred shots can result in tele mode (102 mm max focal length). I haven't been able to take advantage of the image stabilization (electronic, not optical, vibration reduction): certainly, it's my fault. Compact, well-built, serious body. "Manual" is not very much so. At each focal length, you can manually choose between just two lens apertures (e.g.: 2.8 and 5.6 when at 28mm). On the other hand, "Program exposure mode" is very effective: better to relay on it. As usual, the optical viewfinder doesn't cover the whole picture, but in sunny days I experienced it's by far a better solution than the 2.4-inch display. Default images are a bit on the "soft" side: my advice is to increase contrast afterwards. At the end of the day I'm satisfied. Among the few pocket-size cameras sporting a 28 mm wide-angle lens, P50 is a relatively cheap and smart choice.Want Nikon Coolpix P50 8.1MP Digital Camera with 3.6x Wide Angle Optical Zoom Discount?
I purchased this camera for several reasons. First was the 28mm wide angle lens which is rare for a Point and Shoot (P&S) as most start out around 36mm and higher. The second reason was for the Manual settings, I have always used Nikon Coolpix in the past and had long sought this option. The third reason was that this camera takes AA batteries and thus I can use this to travel without having to buy a power converter so that I can recharge a battery pack.So far I have been very happy with this camera, it does everything I could ever want and lives up to the Nikon name. Some people complain that it does not have a long enough zoom, but long zooms can lead to very bad pictures when using P&S as you lose a lot of light AND when using long lens you must compensate with quicker shutter speedsthis can be tricky for most and generally leads to low quality images.
Essentially this camera is great for going out and taking pics of family and friendsLandscapesand Travelling.
