Review posted for Nikon Coolpix 3200!
By
Dave Etchells
(Wednesday, May 26, 2004 - 12:17 EDT)
While Nikon is best known for their "high end" cameras and lenses, they've done a good job of meeting the needs of novice shooters too.
They pioneered the concept of extensive "scene modes" to let inexperienced users bring back good-looking photos from what would otherwise be challenging situations, and at the low end of their line have made cameras that are consistently easy to use. The Coolpix 3200 is this year's update of 2003's very popular Coolpix 3100. In my testing, the 3200 generally acquitted itself well, delivering excellent color under a wide variety of conditions.
My one objection to it was that its photos tended to be rather contrasty. This makes for snappy-looking images under subdued lighting, but leads it to lose highlight detail under harsh daylight conditions. This may or may not be an issue for you, depending on your personal tastes: Some people really like snappy, high-contrast images, not caring so much about highlight detail, while others like more subdued-looking photos.
Check out the 3200's test images that are linked from the review, and decide for yourself how you like them. If the 3200's tonal character suits you, it's a nice, very easy to use little digicam, great for families or non-technophiles looking for a simple camera with good color. Check it out!
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