Nikon Coolpix 2100 2MP is a good choice for digital photography beginners, offering a compact size, 2-megapixel resolution, 3x optical zoom, and a bevy of automated scene controls that are customizeable.
The 2-megapixel CCD sensor captures bright images that can be printed up to 8 x 10 inches. However, 2 megapixels just doesn’t seem enough, especially when 3-megapixel cameras–like the Nikon 3100–are becoming so affordable. The movie mode captures smooth video up to 640 x 480 pixels for 7 seconds (or a more jaggy 15-second, 320 x 240-pixel videos), but it doesn’t offer any sound.
One of the most impressive features of the Nikon 2100 is its size. From the online pictures we originally viewed, we imagined it to be large and a bit clunky. While it’s a bit on the chunky side, the 2100 is surprisingly small. Plus, the rounded ergonomic hand grip rested comfortably and securely in our hand.
The Nikon 2100 offers a whopping 14 scene modes that automatically set the camera’s white balance, exposure, and focusing point for different situations. The easy-to-learn software system features large icons and text to guide you through your choices. And some of the modes even provide an “assist” feature, with outlines of figures or landscapes to help line up the shot.
We had fun playing around with the scene modes and snapping pictures that made the most out of the shooting environment. However, we felt we lost some spontaneity if we relied too much on switching through the modes.
Helpful consumer’s review
I upgraded this camera from a Canon A200. Operation wise, the menu system of the Nikon was much more intuitive and easier than the Canon. One thing I hated about the Canon is you have to install software drivers just to have the camera be recognized. However with the Nikon first thing I did was put in the batteries, CF card, took some shots, and plugged into my computer via the USB cable and I was able to see it as a removable drive, and then drag and drop my pictures onto the desktop. It is truly plug and play and you don’t need to install any software for it to work. The battery life is also very very good with a 1600mA NIMH rechargebale, I already took 200 shots with LCD and have yet to recharge them. Anothing area where this camera excels is its lens, the Nikkor lens I found to be much much sharper than the Canon lens, which are known to have softness as one of its characteristics. The zoom lens adds a lot of versatility to the camera. One favorite thing I like was that there is only one connector for both the TV out and the USB upload, as they use the same interface on the camera. This is more efficient than having a separate hole for USB and another hole for TV out. Also this camera seems more efficient in utilizing Compact Flash space. For example, I can get 155 shots on a 64MB compact flash on Normal mode, when an average 1600*1200 picture is only around 400k, which is less than about 500k for other cameras. I’ve noticed this exists in other Nikon models as well from online reviews that I have read. All in all, to sum it up, this camera is relatively small, have sharp lens that display excellent detail and accurate colors, and is very easy to use. One more thing I like to point out is that even due to a lack of AF assist lamp, the camera does well in low light situations. Perhaps it doesn’t need an AF assist lamp, which is why it was left out in the first place. It takes pictures in the night without flash as if it had night vision technology integrated, I was surprised how well night shots turned out for a relatively inexpensive camera. One thing I would improve for this camera would be user selectable ISO in manual mode, this would lessen a little bit of noise in low lighting situations, but however being a 2MP camera, the noise are not noticeable to the naked eye. I would recommend this camera to anyone on a budget, but demands sharp and true colored pictures.
