Norm plays with his birthday present, a Nikon 5700 digital camera. You only get one chance to make a first impression.
The arts are not a luxury.
In 1999, I bought my first digital camera, a 2 megapixel Nikon 950[1]. It was expensive, but the deal was, I wouldn't buy another for at least two years. I know I agonized for a long time about which one to get (hardly news, I do that for most purchases over about the price of good lunch). I don't recall exactly how or why I arrived at the 950, but I've enjoyed it very much, and taken a great many photographs with it.
It's 2003 now and a little mental arithmatic should convince you that I've upheld my bargain. So when my birthday rolled around this year, a new digital camera found its way onto the short list. When it reached the top of the list, I began sifting through the current crop of 5 megapixel beauties to pick one.
It's all about compromise, there's nothing perfect out there. I wanted 5 megapixels, a fully manual mode, macro capability, compact flash media, and the ability to add additional lenses (especially a wide angle) and a remote shutter release.
What do I think? I'll probably write more as I learn more about the camera (it arrived just a couple of days ago), but here are some first impressions:
Five megapixels. Sweet! (Click on the picture twice for the unscaled image in its full glory.)
![[Photo]](thumbs/wetlily.jpg)
Wet Lily
There's a lot to learn. This is a complex piece of technology. Fair enough: I want a lot of control over my camera, that means there have to be a lot of knobs to turn.
8x optical zoom. Also sweet.
But it's a slow lens. And I think I'll miss the wider-angle available on the 950 when I head out on the road. (Look for some tourist snaps of Vancouver to test that theory.).
Electronic viewfinder. The jury's still out.
Yes, it struggles to focus in low light. I think it's ok though. Time will tell.
It feels good to have a “proper camera” back in my hands. I really like the split-body design of the 950, but I have 35mm roots and the 5700 feels like a camera.
I'm going to miss the unobtrusive portability of the 950. The biggest compromise I made, perhaps, was away from a “pocket camera” design. It was a compromise I had to make for the other features I wanted.
Manual focus mode doesn't actually tell you the focal distance you've selected. And you have to select it by spinning the command dial up to a maximum of 63 “clicks”. What's up with that?
[1]Most likely coming to an eBay web page near you soon.