NIKON COOLPIX 100

Image quality in non-macro mode is good, though the f4 lens will use fill-in flash in most indoors situations. With flash, results are reasonable indoors but without it, pictures are drab, flat and under-exposed. The best results are outdoors in natural light.

Macro mode is another story. The flash is automatically disabled, because it would burn out images at that range. Without it only the best light will give adequate exposure. Even then images are somewhat blurred and fine detail is missing.

Leaving aside the vagaries of PC Card, the Nikon CoolPix couldn't be much easier to use, both to take pictures and to get them into your PC (provided you have a PC Card). As with all cameras in this price range, the resolution means any images printed in sizes much above 5 « 3in are going to show their digital origins. Some compression artefacts are visible, as is the dither pattern, but for newsletters and Web sites the Nikon provides good results with excellent build quality and ease of use, all at a good price.

Nikon is marketing the CoolPix as a computer peripheral and not as a camera. Image quality for holiday snapshot-size prints won't match a half-decent compact camera at a fraction of the cost. You're paying for the ease and convenience of digital photography and, if the resolution and PC Card limitations of the CoolPix suit your needs, it's a worthwhile product.

Author: Phil Evans