I bought the Nikon Cooolpix 5900 from ebay for 13000, WHICH was a steal, considering that the price in the shops is still23000. I did a bit of research before buying and I found a lot of useful stuff at dcrc.com that's digital resource.. a lot of what I've written is from dcrc..And now I have a 7900, for 15000, again from ebay, which has a few more features and a more resolution..
When you buy a digital camera these days, the number 1 thing people tend to zoom on, much like in using processor clock speed to judge a PC, is the resolution: How many million pixels has it got? Most feel, the more the better, but that applies only if you want to take really large prints, or if you want to zoom into a really narrow area and blow up that area.. If all you want are the usual maxi and 6x 10 prints, a 3.2 MP should be fine, but I would recommend 4.0 MP as a basic starting range now, you can get that for sub 10000.
Coming to the Nikon coolpix 5900 and 7900.
Photo Quality:
Truly excellent!Such clarity and crispness!I really recommend this camera for clarity it is that good...
Even on large blow ups, the clarity is preserved
Looks:
Looks are important, for anything.. this camera looks small, sleek and cool.The body is metal, not plastic,they feel quite solid and should hold up well over the long term. The Coolpix 5900 comes in a silver body, while the 7900 is black. The important controls are within easy reach of your fingers, and I found it easy to hold and operate the camera with one hand.The 5900 is a nice metallic grey and the 7900 is in matte black
LCD display:
Quite large at inches across,and much better than the last generation of 1.6 inches. The newer S1, 2,3, 4 and P1 and L1 are 2.5 inches, but has no optical viewfinder. The LCD is quite clear, except in bright sunlight and then you can use the optical viewfinder
The Coolpix 5900 and 7900 have a larger-than-average 2.0'' LCD display. T The LCD has 115,000 pixels, which is about average. Outdoor visibility is also average.
I feel a large display makes a big difference, and the 9 series Nikons are very good at 2 inch, though the S1 would be even better! and the large display sure looks cool!
D Lighting
The D-Lighting feature is Nikon's name for a ''digital flash''. This lets you brighten dark areas of your photos that could be caused by strong backlighting or insufficient flash coverage. it works quite well, especially when your subject is dark and you have a virtual flash that can be applied later!Just think!, you don't have to dump those dark, blurred out photos
Continuous Shooting and Movie modes
There are a few different continuous shooting modes on the two cameras. The movie mode works great, you can almost dump that camcorder for most occasions, but the quality of the video and sound are not comparable, but they are very good, nonetheless..You can record video at 640 x 480, 30 frames/second, with sound until the memory card is full, unlike some other models that record only for a minute or so. Anyhow, the built-in memory holds just 12 seconds of video at the highest quality setting, so you'll want a larger card for longer movies. A high speed SD card is required for this movie mode
The Coolpix 7900 (only) offers an electronic vibration reduction (VR) feature which helps reduce the effects of ''camera shake'' in your images. This is only for shooting movies -- not for photos. I find the movie mode just great, as taking video snaps are much more effective to store memories I feel you need a large card, at least 256 or better,512 MB.
Scenes:
16 scene modes. My favorite is ''Panorama'' where you can take a whole panorama (Naturally) the camera shows you where to overlap the next shot in the panorama and with the supplied software you get really breathtaking panoramic scenes.. I love the panorama for landscapes, large group photos and almost anything. It really is a cool function where digicams really score over regular cameras
More about Panorama, as asked for:
The Panorama feature is one of my favourites.. Have you ever thought of photographing a lovely landscape, or a group of friends, anything that needs 2 or 3 frames ? Well, Panorama mode keeps 25% of the 1st photo in a transparent mode, so that you can overlap the next photo and so on, seamlessly. The panorama software combines it into one long, perfect Panorama. This can also be applied vertically for tall cliffs, buildings and what not. Its a great feature, one more that puts digital cameras ahead of the usual film ones...
Museum helps you to snap without the flash, and several more, one of which is ''face recognition assist'': Yep!, the camera can recognise faces and focus on them! Creepy! and great fun..
Battery life:
Quite good, lasted me for approx 200 photos, you might need a spare battery if you take a lot of shots and movies. You have a chargable lithium ion battery, which is OK, but if they were AAs you could buy extras in an emergency, if the battery is dead. AAs are available for 5600 and 7600. You need an extra battery if you don't have enough charge in, especially if you are camping in the Himalayas or something equally out of range of a charger
Cost
13000 to 15000 on ebay.. 250 to 350 USD abroad
Pros
Very good photo quality :The snaps are really breathtakingly sharp, especially if you adjust sharpness to high ·
Compact metal body · Will last a long, long time
Great scene modes · Panorama is fantastic!
Useful D-Lighting, See above
Redeye reduction features · No more red eyed monsters·
AF-assist lamp makes the autofocus easier and more accurate
LCD ''gains up'' in low light: this means you can see the LCD screen well even in sunlight·
Great VGA movie mode : My favorite feature!
Cons:
1.Only 13.5MB on built-in memory
Very little else, I feel..except.
Pro photographers can't tweak the settings much except for the white balance
