Nikon Coolpix 3100

I bought the NIKON COOLPIX 3100 New SIX YEARS ago exactly and my friend also purchased the same digital camera. Since then i have used the camera extensively in all aspects and found it very versatile to use and manage the systems - basically a neat item to add with my other four cameras. However my friend and i are very frustrated with the Battery element we experience the same problem even with careful charging - i now have FOUR sets of batteries AND a new charger (4 cell)! Going on a shoot i can get only TWO or THREE pics at a scene before BATTERY EXHAUSTED -and so AM I !We are feeling infuriated with this happening now and think the cameras are finished. No - not out of Memory - the camera needs to be replaced !!!!WHY ?

After 18 months the tiny piece of plastic which holds the battery compartment closed broke on my Nikon Coolpix 3100. I returned it to Nikon who told me that they were confident with the design and build quality and that "indeed, the return percentage rate on this model supports our view" - I had to pay £30 to get it fixed. Two years later It broke again. I wrote to Nikon again to complain, they are still adamant there is no fault with the design.

My battery compartment is now held shut with an elastic band - I am looking for a new camera (Not Nikon) with a different design closure on the battery compartment.

I paid almost 200 dollars for this camera when it first came out years ago. Of course, this camera is much less money to purchase now. I have certainly gotten my moneys worth out of this camera.

Overall a good little camera for it's price that is dead easy to use and has some useful functions like portrait mode and group photo mode.

Unfotunately the batterys supplied are just not man enough for the job and to get any reasonable battery life you need to buy some higher charge rechargeable batterys.

Picture Quality is reasonable, but I have seen better.

Overall worth considering for a budget Digital.

I have been using a Nikon Coolpix 3100 for about 6 months now and I am very happy with it. I bought the camera from the official Nikon shop when there was a great deal of giving 128mb CF card free of charge. The photos taken with the camera are always superb under almost all conditions. It only shows some deficiency under low-light conditions.

Nikon Coolpix 3100 - After charging the batteries twice, the nib securing the battery-compartment door snapped off. When I returned it to the high street department store I bought it from, they agreed the same had happened to their demonstration model & agreed to exchange. Great cameras, let down by simple weakness.

Had my Coolpix 3100 for about 2 months now and am as happy with it now as when I bought it. For the price range and size I don't think there is a better camera out there, the picture quality is fantastic in daylight conditions and very good in artificial light which is where a lot of other digital camera's have problems. The manual settings give you enough options to make the camera feel like; more than just a point and shoot, and the scene modes give satisfying results so be willing to have a play around. Also the camera has options like continuous shooting and best shot selector, these are features that are uncommon to camera's in this price range. The 3.2 MP resolution gives you excellent A4 prints without any noticable pixelation, so unless you want to do serious enlargements this camera will do the job nicely.

I read a lot of reviews and looked at a lot of other camera's before buying this one and still believe I made the right choice.

Having said all that, anyone in the market for buying a digital camera should consider the Canon IXUS 400 as an alternative, this is without doubt one of the best digital camera's around today and is much better value for money now that the price has come down.

My advice! if your budget suits go for the Canon, if not you could do a lot worse than the cracking little Coolpix 3100.

The Nikon Coolpix 3100 is a fantastic little digital camera for it's price range although me and one of my friends have found that the batteries run low really fast and this becomes quite annoying when you need to take that picture you have always wanted.

Overall, the Nikon Coolpix 3100 is an excellent small digital camera that takes good photos in "normal" conditions. A pure point-and-shoot so don't expect too much.

All functions accessible by menus. This is a real pain; and difficult to remember where everything is.

Default is flash on auto and must be turned off in dark conditions.

Camera so small it is difficult not to tilt the camera when taking photos.

In dark conditions, the camera under-exposes the pictures so one must manually (and by eye) over-expose the photo by as much as 1 stop.

Takes excellent photos in uniform moderately bright light.

The camera is over-sensitive to bright parts of the picture. One has to minimise the amount of sky in landscapes or everthing else comes out badly under-exposed.

the view finder shows an excessily small part of the picture; so much so it can only really be used in emergency (like when one can not see the LCD screen.

The batterys that came with my camera where useless and I had to replace them. The camera is particular about what card it uses. The first two I used failed (the one supplied is too small to be of much use).

Camera small and light and if these are important to you, this is a major feature.

This Nikon Coolpix 3100 is a very fragile digital camera. I had it in my pocket & picked up my son. I heard a pop. The LCD was cracked. The manufacture would not cover this under warranty & repair costs were going to be nearly as much as the original purchase price.