Nikon Coolpix 5400 or Canon G5?

[jon_dicks]

I currently have an old Canon A40 and I want to upgrade to either a

Nikon Coolpix 5400 or Canon G5. I do not want to make the jump to a

DSLR yet as I am a minolta user and am waiting for the Minolta DSLR's

to hit the shelves. I want to upgrade to a good compact. Any thoughts

on which of the above is the better camera? I have all the read

reviews I can find but would like to hear from people who have used

them for a few months. There seems to be confusion over which camera

will give the better image quality.

Thanks

Jon

[mark_herring]

Stay in touch on this!!!---I'm in the same boat. I love the A40 and the biggest motivation for an upgrade is a longer zoom.

The 5400 and G5 are both 1/1.8 sensors, and both are 4X zoom. The biggest difference I see is that the 5400 goes down to 28mm equivalent. The G5 has the faster lens. I'd expect the image qualtiy to be similar

I'm considering the Nikon 5700: larger sensor and wider zoom. I wont miss the wide angle end, since I have started using stitching for all the wide angle stuff (where the subject most often holds still!) With the rebate, the 5700 is now under $600.

[jon_dicks]

Thanks Mark,

I have almost convinced myself to just get the new A80 to tide me over. I am not comfortable with the suitability of the S50, G5 or Coolpix 5400. The 5700 has not dropped in price in Europe yet. The G5 is quite cheap over here at about $399.00. The S50 is only slightly cheaper which seems weird to me. So the question is - Nikon with less funny purple colours and good macro or the G5 with sharper images. I just don't want to spend a lot of money only to be disappointed.

[steve_bauer2]

I was in an identical situation. I decided I wanted something to

tide me over until I settled on a DSLR. When I first started

shopping, both of the cameras you mentioned were in the $800

ballpark. You might have noticed that the G5 is getting the

distinctly more enthusiastic reception. I ended up continuing to

play around with a digital Elph, but still felt the need for

something more robust. When prices plummeted on eBay, I

decided to make my move. For me, the wide angle lens was the

deciding factor -- so I got the Coolpix 5400. I paid $440 for it on

eBay. I must say, I can see immediately why this camera isn't

getting glowing reviews. It focuses poorly in low light, and the

commands are maddening. The manual focus is the worst I've

seen in a point-and-shoot, and I must own 10 film point-and-

shoots. With that said, I have learned to use the 5400 and it

does take very good pictures, in fact. There are a number of

scene modes that will help work around the camera's

weaknesses. It's wonderfully light and quiet. If the wide angle is

not important to you, I would barely recommend it -- ask for it for

a birthday present! Do not spend $500 on this camera. I was

disappointed when I started using it, very. But I've been using it

more and more -- although I doubt I will still use this camera in

two years. In fact, I'm already drooling over the new Panasonic/

Leica Lumix. At about four times the price of my 5400.

[river side]

A80 has 1/1.8" CCD, no external flash, no TIFF or RAW and no remote.. that pushes it down a notch when compared with the more expensive 5400 or 5700

[ronbudway]

I have a 5400 that I am generally pretty happy with. Here are some things I do not like

-- As stated earlier the manual focus feature is useless, low light pictures are very

diffucult (true of all digicams), contols are very complex, and lastly (and this prob.

doesn't matter for most), if you want to use the self timer you can only do so with the

auto focus set to close-up, soooo (because the manual focus does not function) it is

impossible to, say, take a family portrait with the timer, or take a 10 second night

shot without the act of pushing the shutter release button blurring the pic.

 

Things I do like -- very small and extremely well built, great ergonomics, wide angle,

dizzying array of features, outstanding close-up perfomance, and you can easily

sharpen up the pictures using the included software.

 

I could just as easliy have chosen the G5 and would probably be at least as happy

with it. I would check out the Olympus offerings. I know the reviewers aren't as

enthusiastic about the picture quality, but the 5050/5060?, I think, have the wide

angle AND the fast lens, and many posters here rave about them.

 

Good luck.

[jon_dicks]

I have just been looking at the C5060. No proper review on dpreview yet but some other reviews I found seem to think it is a great camera with low noise etc.

[steve_bauer2]

Ron, actually it is possible to use the Self-timer for family

portraits, night landscapes, etc.

 

You may choose, in the Scene mode menu, "landscape." That

will fix the focus at infinity. Then press AF twice and the timer will

come up. Crazy, I know, but it does work.

 

Also, you can first choose the nearly-unusable manual focus

BEFORE selecting the timer. If you use a small aperture (or

flash), you can work with the depth of field and estimate the

distance. It does work, although it really highlights the many

poorly designed features of this camera.

 

On the bright side, I have a semi-pro job tomorrow night -- and

the silent Museum mode will come in handy. This is after

spending thousands on Leicas and Silent Hexars.

 

I highly advise reading the admittedly very bad manual again and

again -- several features will become illuminated. In the end, I

would advise a buyer to wait a few months -- surely better wide-

angle cameras will be on the market.

 

Cheers.

[Spearhead]

There's a few feature differences between the cameras, but there are huge ergonomic differences. What that means is that you need to test both cameras, at least at the store, and find out what you prefer.

[ronbudway]

Steve -- Thanks for the tip. That's what I get for thinking scene modes are beneath

me.

[steve_bauer2]

Ron, Happy to help. :-)

 

I too used to think that these Scene modes and Auto-everythings

that are on most of today's cameras were for Dummies. Au

contraire. If you read how they work -- the fixed f-stops and focus

distances -- they are the thinking photographer's best friends.

As I said in my "review," the Scene modes are the key to getting

the most from this intensely confusing, anti-intuitive camera.

 

Happy snapping!

[pawel_kazmierczyk1]

i don't know the coolpix, and have only G3 not G5. But since the latter two are almost identical, here is my take on the G3/5:

 

PRO:

- fantastic for self-photography (remote control included in the kit), and you can zoom in and out, and THEN focus on the middle of the frame

- great swivel/turn around LCD display - check out dpreview to see how it works, but it is VERY uselful

- battery life is very good (but you will still want a spare battery)

- ergonomics is good- most buttons are where they should be, and the camera is intuitive. Most useful functions (white balance and ev compnesations) are avaialble directly via a cursor control

 

CON:

- low light focusing is poor

- manual focus is nearly useless

 

Overall, i like G3. But is lacks the wide angle mode - check out Minolta A1, it has a good range of features and costs some 650USD (adorama)