Nikon 16MP Digital Camera w/18x Opt Zoom

Read and watch this “very good” review over at cnet

Let’s check out the product page

Review from DP Review

I bought this. The first one I got from woot had some problems and had to be sent back. So far, the replacement has been good. Great pictures in bright light, decent pictures under low light. Lots of settings to play with.

Edit:
Here is a preview of a pic using the zoom function

PCMag.com calls this camera “fair”

I bought one of these the last time they were on WOOT. I’m not sure if I have a defective one or not, but this camera will not shoot any pictures that are in focus, in the the" AUTO" mode… NONE… I have NEVER owned a Nikon before, and NEVER will again… The good thing is this camera was cheap… Now I can see why… As for me never NIKON again…

Make sure that on “auto mode”, you don’t have any special effects set up in the menu. I had this problem. Pics looked good in the preview, but full size looked out of focus. Turned out to be a “soft” effect.

Don’t give up on a company because of possible user error or ONE bad sample. It’s your decision but you’re giving up on a whole range of good products because you bought an inexpensive model that either doesn’t work right or you didn’t take the time to read the manual that came with it.

Nikon makes excellent DSLR’s and bet some of their point and shoots are good too. Good luck figuring out what the issues is, it looks like a possible solution was posted…and that it’s simply a ‘softness’ image effect.

I bought one a couple of offers ago. Got it delivered to the States, then brought over to Thailand and received it last week.

So far it has been a great little camera that fits in my pocket, unlike my Nikon D5100 dSLR.

The zoom is incredible and not as bulky as the 300mm zoom lens on the dSLR. People notice you holding the dSLR, but ignore you with the S9300 and they do not guess its secrets. I know which will get more use now. Ideal for travelogue photos and trip reports.

The wide angle and Super Zoom shots (450mm) are both clear and unbelievably good.

In fact I have a friend going to buy one from this batch.

Only downside is the “Charge battery in the camera” which takes 3hr 55 Min, so buy a plug-in wall charger and recommend a spare battery

I own one of these as a throw away camera. The photos are definitely only “fair” compared to other similar cameras sold by Canon, Panasonic etc. Some would say “poor”. I think this is just a cheap generic pocket camera that Nikon puts their name on. I doubt that it’s made by Nikon. Real Nikons take “good” or “excellent” photos. The 18X zoom is nice. It has lots of video features. The rear LCD is big and bright. Battery life is decent even though the battery is small. You can charge the battery without removing it from the camera, either by connecting to the computer or using a USB wall charger. The camera is small and light enough to carry easily in your pocket. You can turn the GPS on or off. The top zoom button and the rotary 4 way controller on the back both work poorly, either not responding at all or jumping randomly on the menu screens. That makes it difficult to do things like change settings or review photos.
You can’t judge photo quality on a computer screen, because you only have a maximum resolution of about 100 DPI. By comparison, an inkjet printer can print at 1200 DPI or more. People who only look at photos on their computer, make small prints no larger than 8X10, and who don’t crop photos, will be happy enough with the photos from this camera. The ones that aren’t blurry anyway.
An issue common to all the little Nikons is how they program the automatic settings for low light. The camera will go down to shutter speeds as long as 1/10 second. That’s fine if your subject isn’t moving. But many subjects are moving, like people, pets, cars, etc. VR only fixes camera shake. It doesn’t stop movement. To stop movement you need a reasonably high shutter speed. This camera can’t generate adequate shutter speeds in low light, which means blurry photos.

Anyone know if with any settings you can manually adjust the focus? I bought a Canon on Woot earlier that is a nice camera but really missing some means o manually focus when the camera doesn’t know what I want to focus on or can’t keep the lock.

Turn camera on. Set top dial to normal photo (green). Press MENU button on back of camera. In Shooting Menu, rotate controller to “AF area mode” and press center button. Rotate controller to highlight “Manual” and press center button. Press MENU button again to exit. While shooting, press center button then use rotary controller to move focus point to where you want it. Camera will focus on that spot until you move it again to a different spot.

Thanks… That’s not bad but really looking for something where I can manually change the focus itself, even if it is via buttons on the back.

I bought this last time on Woot. I had intended to give it as a birthday gift to my nephew. I turned it on and everything seemed to work well. I wrapped it as a present, and when my nephew finally received, the battery would not charge. It was then out of warranty, so I guess I’m just screwed. Thanks, Woot!

Also another tip with automatic cameras… set to P and get your exposure and focus where you want it, half click to lock in your settings, (don’t let off the button till you take the shot) Then you can move the camera to exactly where you want it without losing your settings.

There are few, if any, compact cameras that offer convenient manual focusing. Most use some motor-driven scheme that does not allow fast and accurate focus. It would be nice if you could just turn the lens by hand, but they are much to delicate for that kind of thing.

In addition, there are no focusing aides, so the whole process is pretty bad. Keep in mind that you are in a decided minority wanting that feature in anything other than a DSLR or ILC camera. Welcome to the world of full auto everything.

$75, 3 months ago.
Hot?

Electronics are often shipped with fully drained batteries. Charge it for a full 24 hours before declaring it dead.

If that doesn’t work, you can replace it with an EN-EL12 Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery Pack.

When I said it would not charge,It’s because I tried to charge for a full 24 hours. It was partially charged when I received it and all the functions worked fine. When plugged into the charger, nothing works, no lights, nothing! I’m not going to just buy a new battery when it could be the charger, or the circuitry between the charging port and the battery that has to remain in the camera.

Did you explain the situation to Woot or just come on here to complain? In my experience, Woot has been very understanding of reasonable failures, even outside of their LEGAL obligations.