I owned the very good Sony DSC W350 (i liked considerably), but I managed to get out from a rental car. Concerned with the time I purchased my Sony and then, Nikon released an exciting new line, so that i figured I'd give one among their compact compact digital cameras a shot. Profit many Nikon's DSLR equipment, however point and shoots have been completely a little disappointing to my opinion throughout the years. But I liked the S8000 and thought i would try it out and I'm glad I did so...this can be a wonderful point and shoot, better still than the Sony in just about every way.

First, I place many emphasis on the type and model and shape of your camera and if this just feels natural with my hands. The S8000 is rather smaller than average light, and sometimes really petite cameras just feel awkward for me. I'm very happy say the fact that S8000 gets it about perfect it's easy to hold, the controls sense they're that you expect them, and I never accidentally hit say, the power button when I'm on the lookout for another thing. I also usually tend to like designs that place the lens in the center of your camera, unlike some designs (which include the otherwise excellent Panasonics) that often position the lens off center. With a small amount practice, I find myself like I can also work the Nikon with my eyes closed, and I never feel awkward with the wine.

The built in LCD monitor is usually wonderful and straightforward to enjoy a book under most conditions, except maybe in very bright direct sunlight. Still, my eyes aren't fantastic, but I have no trouble navigating the menus or reviewing shots after I've taken them. If you are an added plus, the menus are structured would probably that's a lot like Nikon's DSLR cameras, so if you're accustomed to Nikon's other products, you'll feel right inside your house here.

It's another fast camera. I will not locate the start up time be particularly quick, but when you've it on, focus, zooming, shutter lag, flash recycle and similar matters are very, very fast indeed. The autofocus system appears to be about as fast as the system around my Nikon D3 generally, and that is really impressive unsurprisingly. Some of the older point and shoots I've owned, I felt like I'd miss shots by reason of shutter lag or the length it loved focus...not too with all the S8000.

As for image quality, Need to say which was skeptical than a 10x lens could perform as well when i want. Honestly, I'd rather have a super sharp 4x than the mediocre 10x, this kind of was my biggest concern with the Nikon. Well, I'm ready to say that We pleased by wide zoom range inside Nikon this is certainly one really high end lens, around as you look at it in conjunction with all the other features your camera offers. It can great close ups, allowing you to focus as long as about 50 % an inch from a subject. They may be to use a great optical anti shake capability, permitting you to hand hold the digital camera in fairly dark situations without relying on a flash. The wide angle end with the spectrum looks natural without a number of the distortions you sometimes see in such a method of camera. The scariest thing I'll say about the lens is this it offers some purple fringing with the long end of one's range nothing that cannot be fixed in Photoshop, however it is noticeable.

Overall, Take part in see much difference inside 10x lens for the Nikon versus outstanding 4x lens on my former Sony regarding image quality. The Nikon appears to produce slightly warmer colors with increased saturation and just a generally more vivid appearance. The Sony was natural looking, and not loads of difference otherwise. I really do discover that Nikon may seem to apply slightly less digital sharpening than Sony, but it can is handily corrected in whatever editing software used if you wish to. Frankly, some cameras tend to push the sharpening a little too far, and portraits are more likely to turn out looking a lttle bit harsh subsequently. The Nikon gives you an increasing natural look that a lot of people will get pleasing plus you can add sharpening after the fact if you have to.

If you are a novice, a thing to note is the fact that at the telephoto end of one's zoom range, the S8000 is equivalent to a 300mm for a 35mm camera. This offers a relatively good magnification it also amplifies your tendency to find blurry pictures by inadvertently shaking the digital camera (to illustrate, just like you press the shutter release). Nikon's vibration reduction system helps a great deal, but the truth is have any use for bright lighting (hence, high shutter speeds) to acquire consistently sharp pictures using this end of your zoom range. I'm certain we'll see subsequent reviewers complaining about fuzzy images inside the long end of the zoom range, rarely are doubt this is why. As a side note, you has a tripod socket, so it is possible to put together perfect pictures in low light, even along at the 300mm end of this range but I rarely see people carrying around a five pound tripod because of their six ounce camera.

The camera fades to ISO 3200, however in my use all this time, I'd only recommend nearly ISO 400 for images you need to print, maybe 800 for email/web images. Higher ISO than 800 discover look pretty poor, needless expenses. Certainly, it is the nature with the beast these compact cameras have compact image sensors, this means you just can't raise the sensitivity without introducing many noise.

The built in flash is okay, however it is not super powerful. It offer uniform lighting above the frame, regardless if using wide angle views a pet peeve of mine on other cameras. The S8000 boasts automatic red eye reduction remarkable, in order to rarely see people pictures having a number of red eye. Not surprisingly, I'd go for great noise free performance along to ISO 3200 thus don't need the flash in the first place, but absent that, the flash is a reasonable compromise.

Nikon includes their venerable D lighting system, which is essentially tips on how to bring detail to the image when could possibly huge contrast variation. It does work well, in particular, all sorts of flash shots, or when you have any person browsing the colour tone against a sunny background. Since you can add these effects post processing, I am inclined to turn the feature off in my cameras, however does work well overall.

There are several other included features I don't get much use outside. You were film mode. I suppose considerably more than simply prefer to take videos, I'd possess a camcorder, a fantastic tiny point and shoot. Nikon doesn't appear to have put several thought within the video mode anyway...it's "only" 720p, in what feels like an insufficient design choice, you can not zoom the lens while filming. Another included feature I just don't find myself using will be the burst mode that lets you be the equivalent of 16 lower quality (3MP) images in an rapid sequence...generally, if I'm doing high speed action photography, I'm executing it with my DSLR, not the point and shoot. When compared to the Sony Lengthy ago i owned, you can also get no panorama or HDR modes, but honestly, I cannot miss either worth mentioning.

Overall, I believe Nikon possesses a winner here and i also absolutely recommend it for anyone who is wanting a concise but capable point and shoot.