For my holiday to the Czech Republic I decided to buy a good camera so that we could capture all our beautiful moments. Because I wanted to be able to film not only good photos but also good, I chose the Nikon and ordered it from Coolblue.
After using the camera extensively lately, I would like to share my findings!
I chose the black version and I think the camera looks nice! On the front and back there is a kind of rubber profile that makes it easy for me to hold the camera with one hand without it slipping out of my fingers (despite my small cramps). The camera feels a bit heavy, which I always find pleasant. You can fold out the flash with a slider and it does look a bit fragile and not quite “foolproof”. It is namely a plastic clip with a spring in between, but if you are careful with this I see no reason why it should break.
I am still a starting photographer myself and I have to say that it took me a while to find out what is possible (which I only like). The camera has different modes where you can choose what you set yourself and what you let the camera determine. With "manual" you can set the shutter speed and aperture yourself with the 2 wheels on the device. You also have a setting in which one of the 2 settings is automatic and the other is therefore selected manually or with "automatic" both by the camera. It's great fun to play with, and once you figure out what you're changing with, the manual setting is also easy. The photos are also very beautiful this way. I also find the record button on the device ideal so that you can quickly choose between filming or taking photos without having to go through a menu.
The screen is not a touchscreen, but the camera is easy to operate thanks to the rotary wheel. In addition, I find touchscreen on my phone frustrating enough now and then, so ideal for me! The camera also shows in a compact sentence what the option does at the bottom of the image. That saved a lot of browsing in the manual.
What I also like and like is that you can open the screen in both directions so that you can always see what you are doing with low or high photos. Fortunately, this cover is made of metal, so it also feels sturdy when you bend the screen. Taking selfies of bravely sitting in a ski lift with fear of heights also went well (the light greenish tint in my face and despair in my eyes caught the camera well with the portrait function)
When I bought the device I also put the corresponding Nikon app on my phone.
This is certainly useful to be able to send some cozy “Yes we are already drinking beer” photos to family/friends without having to put them on the computer first. The function to download a smaller size of the photo from the camera is also ideal, so that your entire memory is not full. Pairing the two devices was a huge hassle with a lot of cursing and a matter of patience. But once she understood what to do it worked perfectly.
What I think is a nice addition to the camera is the possibility to make time-lapse recordings.
I especially made use of this during the trip to the Czech Republic by pointing the camera in the car at the road or at ourselves, which gives a very nice picture of the beautiful routes that we have completed (and how much I can actually chat and can't stand still sitting in the car).
What I do find a pity about this is that the time-lapse movies are always only 10 seconds long. This is a setting that you cannot change. You can change how many seconds the camera shoots a frame. But the end result is always only 10 seconds. There are also plenty of other options, such as scene selection, with which you can capture a sunset, for example (or that beautiful green face with the portrait function in the ski lift).
If you plan to film with this camera, you should keep the following things in mind. Firstly, you really need to buy a very good and especially fast memory card, otherwise you cannot film in 4K. I had bought a reasonably fast 256GB memory card for next to nothing, not knowing that there is so much difference these days. This worked for the photos, but not for 4K filming. The camera just couldn't save the data fast enough and the filming stopped after 7 seconds! So keep in mind that you'll need a Class 10 U3 memory card, which can be pricey. Another thing to keep in mind is that you need a good video card to play the videos on the computer.
You can also film with a compact camera no more than approx. 7 minutes in 4K (30fps), approx. 14 minutes in full HD (60 fps), and 27 minutes in full HD (30fps) uninterrupted. This has to do with the import tax per product group. This is long enough for me, but it might be nice to know in advance if you want to shoot longer films continuously.
This was not a problem for me because I am less tedious with filming than with writing reviews ;)
Long story short, this has been a very good purchase!
PS: my boyfriend didn't think so, he was annoyed that I wanted to take some pictures of every mushroom and blade of grass with 300 different options and positions, but I'm very happy with it :D :D :D
