Need Coolpix Selection help

[constance_cook]

My longest-time best friend has had a run of incredibly bad luck.

Three weeks ago he had a stroke and while hospitalized for 2 weeks,

they discovered a tumor in his heart that caused the shedding that

instigated the stroke. Last Sunday night they let him go home until

heart surgery could be scheduled. On Monday morning, the ball and

socket of his hip joint disintegrated. He is in the hospital again

having had a replacement as well as a titanium rod put into his femur.

He has had rheumatoid arthritis since birth so rehab will be

difficult. His heart surgery is Tuesday.

 

He was into photography while he was at the university but can't

afford it now. He is always after me to give him one of my cameras.

I would, but I know he can't afford it. It came to me this morning

that I could buy him a Coolpix which would entertain him while he

recovers. His wife has a good computer because she works from home on

legal material. She can only work limited hours due to scoliosis he

could use it for his photographs. They have a 12-year old daughter

that he always shows me photos of when someone else has taken them and

given them to him.

 

Is this a good idea? And if it is, which Coolpix model should I get?

I am willing to spend in the $400 range. I went to the B&H site but

I have no experience with these cameras and I know that some of them

are considered better than others.

 

I would appreciate your assistance.

 

Conni

[orensztajn]

Well sorry for your friend, I have a coolpix 4300 and it is an old model and sure you could find them very cheap now. Is a very good begineer into digital camera very goo at macro mode 4cm (look some of my photos please). In manual mode you have pretty much control of everything but as I said before, it is an old model and shutter lag may be frustating sometimes. The 5200 is also good.

Good luck!

[neelphoto]

Does it have to be a Coolpix? If not, the Olympus C-7070 comes to mind. Its a great little camera in the price range you are looking at. I wish your friend a speedy recovery.

[qiang_lin]

Personally I don't think Coolpix is a good choice. Performance/Cost ratio is not as good as competitors. I would recommend Olympus C5000 or Canon A85.

 

Try www.pricegrabber.com, you can find pretty good deals from reputable retailers.

 

Best wishes to your friend.

Qiang

[wilfred_wong]

First, why a coolpix? There are many capable camera in the range if not just limited to coolpix. Some take great jpg, some good at low light, some are ultra compact, fast shutter lag, good movie, super zoom etc.... I now mostly use Fujifilm F810 which take superior RAW files (compare to other small cameras). It has good movie mode (but produce HUGE file) but i'm not very happy with it's jpg and i hate XD cards. What do you think is most important to him?

 

Sorry to hear that your friend has such problem. I know someone have the tumor in her heart (it's a really rare disease). Lost one eye's eyesight, very poor vision on another one, lost more than 50% ability to move her right arm after the stroke.... The tumor removed very sucessfully, and the wound recovered fast. but the worst thing came: depression. She now eat soooo little (now weight no more than 80 pounds), stay in bed all day, refuse to take med, refuse to see Dr. refuse execrise.... Her families are so helpless and now kinda giveup. Do the best to support him..and aware any other possible problems...Good luck to your friend.

[david_kelly1]

Conni: Forgive me if you've already thought this through: I'm a hemiplegic stroker so control layouts are really important to me. For example, I can guide my left hand only visually -there's no touch sensation. But after I have set all the custom functions on my F100, using visual feedback to keep the CSM button depressed, the blessed thing is an entirely right-handed camera. It's like some Nikon engineer said "Let's design a camera that is prosthetic in all modes for David Kelly!" If your pal's stroke didn't impair either of his hands, I apologize for bringing this up; otherwise make sure that whatever you get him doesn't have some essential little button located where he can't push it.

[constance_cook]

Thanks to all of you for your helpful advice.

 

David: I checked and he has recovered use of his right hand, which was originally affected. The left side was OK.

 

The reason for thinking of Coolpix is hard to explain without it sounding like something it's not. He is the dearest, kindest man in the world. He is my "other brother." He loves my Nikon cameras and I'm afraid he would think I didn't care enough to get him one when I have them. If this makes him sound ungrateful or grabyy, that is far from the case. I just wouldn't want him to think he was slighted. I'm sure there are individual models of other brands that are as good or better but he wouldn't know that (and neither do I because I don't have digital cameras in this price range). I just want to engage him in something interesting and occupy his mind while turning out photos they can enjoy with low/no cost. His recuperation will be long and slow. He has his bypass in the morning.

 

I feel really helpless and I just want to do something for him that he will enjoy.

 

I do appreciate all your suggestions.

 

Conni

[david_kelly1]

I get your point - in that case KEH.com has a couple of coolpix 5700's in "excellent plus" -which is their way of saying indistinguishable from new- betweeen-$300-$400. Make sure you either get in the deal

or can add the requisite lithium-ion battery, charger unless the camera acts as a charger, and compact flash card(s). This is a very impressive and capable camera indeed and there's no way your pal could feel slighted. It has the look and heft of a "Real Nikon."

[david_kelly1]

I should add that it also has a very respectable 70 millisecond shutter lag - important if he's going to be shooting active kids.

[neelphoto]

Conni, I totally understand your point for choosing Coolpix. I shoot Nikon but when I bought the Olympus C-7070 for my wife, who just wants to press one button to get her pictures, she asked me, 'Why not Nikon?'. I really had a tough time trying to convince her that there are better cameras that the Coolpix models.

[david_kelly1]

The spec sheet is missing from the description of the better-equipped of the two KEH Coolpix 5700s -you can read it by clicking on the other one.

[ShunCheung]

I too am not very familar with digicams either. However, while Nikon is having a lot of success in DSLRs, it is not even among the top 5 in terms of digicam sales. Sony and Canon are the top two. There is a lot of competitions in digicams and the profit margain is low; it is clearly not the area Nikon is focusing on at this time.

 

It is probably a better idea to identify the digicam that fits your friend's restrictions and needs. If that happens to be a Coolpix, great. If it is something else, those others are big names too. For example, Sony is a good brand although I am not too crazy about their non-standard memory sticks.

 

Hope your friend will have a speedy recovery.

[guy_p]

Since you are fixed on a coolpix you must have already thought of this, but ...

 

I tried a coolpix once, just to see what they are like, and although I don't have big hands the tiny size and tiny buttons drove me nuts. If your friend has large hands then operating the buttons, combined with his medical conditions, might be a little disheartening.

[constance_cook]

Thank you for all of your responses as well as good thoughts for my friend.

 

David Kelly has been especially helpful because of his own experience.

 

I was not "fixed" on the Coolpix except for the reason I gave. And in this case, the best camera is maybe not the right camera. If I were getting one for myself, I would undoubtedly go for something other than the Coolpix. I have two digital cameras - a 2500 P&s which is quite nice for cute cat pics, scenes from the roof garden, etc. for e-mail - it does what it was meant to do. And a D70s that likewise, does what it is intended to do. I use it to shoot events here in the college for the newsletter and bulletin boards. I don't have anything in between those two and so didn't know what I was doing.

 

Unless you have one of these relationships (friend, wife, what-hae-you) it is hard to explain, but it is real and leads to sometimes less than optimal outcomes which the other party will be quite happy with.

 

Now a kudo for Keh. David Kelly took the time to track down two cameras for me and advise me about accessories. So this morning, I called Keh and told the salesperson what I wanted, why, and what the recommendations from the board were. He told me he would send it along (the Coolpix), my friend can use it and if it works out for him, end of story but that if he found he had difficulty with tiny buttons/settings to let him know, send it back and that he would look into other cameras that would meet the limitations I tell him about. How thoughtful and I appreciate it.

 

I'm looking forward to getting the camera and giving it to him. It will be better than getting something for myself. But I am, aren't I?

 

Again, thanks to all.

 

Conni