Tough transition from a Nikon N70 to Nikon CP8800

[diane_rose]

I'm a semi-professional photographer who is having a tough time

transitioning from a Nikon N70 to a new Coolpix 8800 digital camera.

I was wondering if there were any others out there with similar

experience with the 8700 or 8800. If so, I would love to hear any

tips you have for making the transition easier.

 

I take primarily landscape and scenics. I sell my work, often in

large print sizes (up to 20x30"), so I need to shoot with large file

sizes.

 

I have an overseas trip coming up next month. I'm trying to learn

the new camera well enough by then that it becomes second nature,

but I'm so frustrated by the learning curve (slow write times and

tripping over menus) that it's become a painful process.

 

If you have any tips for how to get used to shooting digital with

this camera (e.g. how to compensate for slow file write and

focusing, how to customize the menus, etc.) -- I'd be very grateful

to hear from you. The manual really falls short, and I thought it

would be a lot more intuitive.

 

If you have grappled with this, I'd appreciate any advice.

Thanks!

[anupam]

I don't have any solution for you, but I am wondering why transition to a coolpix from an SLR, especially if you are a professional. Surely, the D70 is much more capable and would use your N70 lenses. I have tried using a coolpix model several times and was hugely disappointed.

 

-A

[mike_elek]

The point and shoot models sometimes require compromises of the photographer, and it sounds like that's the case here.

 

You're probably used to the ease of use afforded with an SLR. With this model, most things are controlled by a button, toggle switch or menu selection. I agree with the previous post that a D70 might be the better tool for you.

[godfrey]

I never liked working with the Nikon Coolpix cameras. Their controls just don't seem very

logical to me. If I were you, I'd go with a D70 instead. It's a much more proficient camera.

 

Godfrey

[diane_rose]

I grappled with the decision over the D70, but in the end I'm very low tech and don't like to carry multiple lenses. I'm not thrilled with the lens I have on my N70 (Tamron 28-200). I toyed with getting a D70 and finally getting a new higher-quality lens...but I didn't have the budget (and realistically I hoped the digital camera would replace the N70).

 

What attracted me to the 8800 was the zoom range with VR and the ability to print large sizes (Nikon specs say the D70 prints up to 11x14 whereas their specs for the 8800 say they make high quality 20x30" prints).

 

I'd rather not start a thread on why this was a bad choice. I'm still optimistic that it will work well for me, if I can just get myself over the learning curve. I don't know any other photographers locally to talk to and I haven't had time to work with it on a consistent enough basis. I was hoping to learn from others' experience when they confronted the learning curve...

[diane_rose]

PLEEEEASE do not reply telling me to buy another camera. That is not an option and suggesting it is not helpful. I'd appreciate *constructive* advice, about how to work with what I have.

 

I understand there are many people out there who don't approve of my choice. I'm trying to connect with others who have this camera and can help my situation.

 

[bTW, the 8800 is hardly a point-and-shoot! It has all the key features of my N70 (except the detachable lens) and more. That's sort of the reason for my problem -- trying to figure out which features I need to use and how to avoid tripping over unnecessary menus...]

 

Constructive advice would be greatly appreciated - thanks.

[marnedog]

Diane,

The best place to fine that answer is to visit www.photosig.com

There you have the capability of seeing what the camerea is fully capable of doing and also tha ability of asking how the results were achieved. For your camera the link is: http://www.photosig.com/go/photos/browse?id=30908 This will be a start. Best of all this is a user forum with no a--holes remarks.

[diane_rose]

Thanks Dan!

[bruce_garrett]

Hi Diane

 

I have used a Coolpix 8700 and 8800 as my first foray into digital photography.

 

The 8800 is an excellent camera capable of outstanding results.

 

For landscapes and scenics you are limited by the 35mm widest setting but in Program

mode set to Landscape at Extra Fine jpeg on VR you shouldn't have any problems. With 8

megapixels you can zoom in and crop and still retain reasonable definition and large

prints are possible.

 

There is a Wide Angle Adapter (WM-E80) available for the 8800 that increases the widest

setting to 28mm. It does exhibit quite serious linear distortion but might be worth a try.

 

You cannot get around slow write times if you want to retain high definition even with the

fastest CF cards. I have shot RAW images as well as Extra Fine jpeg and after adjusting the

RAW file the difference between the two is negligible with much slower RAW write time. But

there is a distinct improvement in quality when using Extra Fine jpeg over standard jpeg.

 

The manual can appear daunting at first but if you simply concentrate on your areas of

interest (ie landscapes) it will become less confusing. The 8800 is a complex camera and

has many functions some of which you may never use. The transition from film to digital is

a steep learning curve because digital has many more facilities that are not available in

film cameras. It's now rather more than focus, aperture, shutter speed and film speed.

 

If you set up the menus before you go out shooting it speeds things up considerably. But

in daylight simply shooting in Program mode should ensure a high success rate... at least

until you master the other settings by trial and error.

 

You might take your N70 plus a 24mm or 28mm prime as a back-up to your 8800.

 

Hope this helps... happy shooting.

 

Bruce

[diane_rose]

Thanks Bruce - that's good to know. Do you have any advice on setting up the menus?

[craig_gillette]

One of the real defining differences between different digicams is the user interface. The answer to every digital question isn't dslr. I don't know this one but would suggest that spending time with the manual and practice is your best bet. The slow times might be partially a result of using "slow" cards but that kind of depends on the camera and cards being used. You may find that trading off TIFF or RAW and shooting jpeg speeds things up. You'd want to closely evaluate some samples in all modes to see if you can live with the trade.

 

Slow focus is the nature of most of those beasts. Pre-focus when you can. Also consider that this uses an EVF so there is some added delay inherent in the eyepiece display that you have to include in your "pre-acting" to a shot. That may actually be causing more problems that the focus/shutter timing - what you are seeing in the finder isn't real-time. Maybe 1/20-1/10 second delay?

[conrad]

I used to use a Nikon 5400, which is not too entirely different from the 8800 in function. Maybe these suggestions will help:

 

- Customize the My Menu button so it has all the options you will need the most and none of what you can get to from another button or dial. For example, there's no need for having things like ISO, white balance, and the image size settings on My Menu when they are setting right there on the mode dial. There's also no need to keep anything on My Menu that you are only going to set once and never touch (such as Image Adjustment or Image Sharpening in my case). For example, on my 5400 I only had Metering, Speedlight Opt, shooting mode (single or continous), auto bracketing, focus options, and BSS. Everything else was either a set and forget or could be found on the mode dial.

 

- Lean how the AF system behaves. On the 5400 the nine point AF system was slow, hardly usable in low light, and didn't always focus on what you wanted. If you disabled the AF Area Mode it forced the system down to a center point only mode that was much, much faster and able to focus in much darker situations. You just had to focus and recompose. With landscapes and scenics you'll probably be able to get away with the AF system's landscape mode, but for anything else see how setting AF Area Mode to Off goes. With your N70 you would have had to focus and recompose, so in this respect your 8800 will handle much like your N70 does.

 

- There is next to nothing you can do regarding slow write times. All I can suggest is check some other forums and see if you can find any write time reports with the 8800 using different brands of cards. Different brands of cards will have different write times in different cameras. In my 5400 I found that SanDisk Ultra II's were faster than SimpleTech cards, but your mileage may vary.

 

- To make the camera recycle quicker you can turn go to Review Options in the Set Up menu and set it to Review Off. This sets the camera to not display the image you just made, but in JPG shooting mode makes the camera get ready for the next image in under 2 seconds. With it set to Review On it will recycle in 3 seconds. In raw mode it takes the 8 seconds for the camera to be ready for another shot.

 

- Learn to use the raw mode. This is where you can get the most image quality out of the camera, which you'll need every drop of if you plan to make 20x30's. Use quality raw conversion software on your PC to process the files. Not that crappy Nikon View or Picture Project junk that comes with the camera. Either Adobe Camera Raw or Nikon Capture should suite nicely. Yeah, it will take forever for the camera to recycle for the next image, but your adjustment options in post are far greater than you get shooting JPG's. See http://www.luminous-landscape.com/ for more information than you probably care for about all the benefits of raw for landscape photography. Besides, that mountain or tree probably isn't going to go anywhere in the next 8 seconds so relax. Study the scene and think about your next image until the camera is ready.

 

- Learn how to read and use the histogram the camera displays for the images in its playback mode. The histogram is your light meter on steriods. See the URL I mentioned in the last paragraph for more info than you probably care for on that one too.

[diane_rose]

Thanks for the useful information and links --it's greatly appreciate!

[ton]

I've just got the CP8800 a month ago. Great camera. Takes fantastic pictures at max telephoto and macro and anything in between. Incredible detail in pictures that you dont see in viewfinder or with your eyes! Fastest way for landscape is is to set it on full automatic mode, then press the AF button once to set focus to infinity and just zoom and shoot. Need a closup?, press the AF button twice to set it to macro, frame and shoot (camera is focusing all the time in this mode). Then of course you can get a really quick setup by turning the selector knob to the Scene Mode. Here you get 16 pre-programmed modes like portraite, landscape, nightscape, sunset, dusk/dawn, sports, macro, fireworks, museum etc etc. This has got to be the best feature of the camera for those that don't want to go into manual mode. I tend to switch a lot between the scenes instead of filding with the menus to set flash, focus, exposure, or shutter speed. I just remember the specail features of each scene mode. Fast, simple, and intuitive. I am also using a very fast 1GB card and get reasonable write speeds at 8Mpix fine jpg. The camera is light and compact, and you don't need extra lenses for most conditions.

[david_wharton]

I just got back from 4 weeks in Thailand and made thousands of exposures with the CP8400, which is pretty similar in terms of handling to the 8800. I'm very pleased with the results. I was shooting TIFFS so had to learn to take the slow writing speeds into account. Several times I saw a better image come along while I was waiting for the previous one to write. Sometimes I even trashed the one that was writing in hopes of getting the one I saw coming. JPEGs write and recycle a lot faster, and they don't take up as much disc space. I shot TIFFs anyway. A couple of other observations you may or may not find helpful: have lots of batteries with you and recharge them every night. I brought 4 and on a couple of occasions wished I had another. I also had 4 1-megabyte cards and several times wished I had more. I wsa getting 42 full-size TIFFs to a card. Allow yourself time to edit and download every night. I didn't want to lug a laptop around, so I took a Nikon Coolwalker with me to store images. It has a 30G hard drive, but even so, by the end of the trip I was having to trash images from earlier in the trip to accomodate later ones I thought better. Maybe the "extra fine" JPEGs would have been a better way to go. Hope that helps - enjoy your trip.

[diane_rose]

Thanks - that is good to know. I have 2 follow-on questions for you:

 

1. How much time were you spending shooting every day? I have 2 batteries and 2 1-gig memory cards, but I'm not able to get out and shoot for more than an hour or two a day.

 

2. Was there a reason you didn't shoot RAW instead of TIFF? I thought I'd read that RAW is as good on detail (perhaps marginally better?) and takes about half the space. I shoot mostly landscapes so I've been planning to shoot RAW (as soon as I figure out my PS-RAW reading problems...)

 

Thanks again for your input. I appreciate it!

[james_finch]

Im going from the D100 to CP8800 and finding it rewarding. I've added the Nikon 1.5 tele and the .8 wide angle and they are helpful. The VR is excellent, helping me forget the VR lenses I had. To me, lugging the extra lenses around became a burden. I also got an Epsonp-2000, which stores 40G of photos and I enjoy that device very much. They also have the p-4000, an 80G unit. The 3.8 inch viewer makes for great revueing.