nikon coolpix 3700 review

Picture courtesy of Prashant Thakkar.

Average Ratings
Value for Money9/10
Overall rating8/10
100% Recommended3 out of 3 Reviews

Review of Nikon Coolpix 3700

By richx Rank: Staff Sergeant on 6th Jun 2004

richx's Ratings
Time Digital Camera Owned1 - 6 Months
Image Quality8/10
Battery Life7/10
Features7/10
Ease of Use8/10
Value for money9/10
Overall value8/10
yes richx's recommendation

Good Points

Size
Build quality
Operation speed
Ease of use

Bad Points

Short flash range
Lack of manual controls
Noise (when ISO increases)

General Comments

First impression of this Nikon Coolpix 3700 digital camera is the size and build quality. Although not as small as other tiny cameras in the market (IXUS family, Pentax S-series), I can safely say this is as small as it gets without compromising quality. The build quality is also impeccable, with the exception of the battery/memory card door.

The second thing that strikes you about this camera is its operation speed. If you turn off all the fancy startup stuff, the camera will be ready to take your picture within 2 seconds of power-up. Auto-focus speed is also exceptional for a small camera like this, being fast enough for most well-lit candid pictures. However, as light level drops, the camera will take longer to get a focus on your subject, but this is only normal with digital cameras. A 3 megapixel picture takes about a second or so to be saved to a Secure Digital card.

The buttons are well-placed as is the menu design. Almost anyone who borrowed the camera could use it after a few minutes. The four-way joystick takes awhile to get used to, but never frustrating, although larger hands might find it difficult to control. The zoom control buttons could have been bigger though. The preset scene modes are handy for various situations, since this camera doesn't provide any manual control except white balance (good one at that!).

Battery life is acceptable for a camera of this size, with enough power to handle 2 days of photography while on vacation.

Image quality is first-rate for a compact 3 megapixel camera, except when the light levels drop and your subject is out of the flash range, and the camera will automatically increase the ISO level, and that produces alot of noise in the picture, even when printed.

All in all, this is a good camera for the money, and is especially popular with female buyers/users.

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