I have been looking for a backup camera to use in railfanning. Last week I received a "20% off everything" coupon from Staples, and since I needed ink, paper, etc. I headed for the nearest Staples. On a whim I checked their digital P&S camera rack and saw the Nikon Coolpix S3300 marked $79.95. Hmm, 20% off and we're talking $64 for a 16MP with VR lens, 6X zoom. Bought it. Negatives: Manual is a CD, not much good when you are out in the field and need to look something up. Positives: Can adjust the file size you are shooting from 4608 X 3456 pixels, RAW or JPEG, 16 MP, all the way down, in 7 increments, to 640 X 480 pixels, perfect for internet. Today I took it along on our hiking group's outing and it is impressive. Looks like it has very little shutter lag, a must for shooting trains in motion, and the quality looks good. The ISO Auto function worked well with photos taken in bright sun to deep shade in the forest. I have a photo special booked for early May and will take it along. I would post one of the hike photos here but they are not railroad related.
Jim, Sounds like you got just the right back up! I got a D3100 over the weekend and the 55-200 lens as they did not have the 55-300 . So far I am still learning the tech parts, but the camera shoots great depth of field using the thumb wheel to change the Apr in manual is awesome , I can start out at f18 and run up as high as I want and take a look nearly instantly and choose the f I want and then shoot .. i really like this camera , have not tried the movie part on trains yet but that will happen soon. Close ups are way easier than with my cool pix 6100 . I may start shooting 24" x 72 in back drops for sale sometime this summer and this camera is spot on.
Jim, Good buy. I and others would also like a report on the D3100's performance indoors shooting model trains.
