the travel camera

01.03.2016

The Best Camera Is The One That's With You

- Chase Jarvis

There are lots of cameras out there. Small onces, large ones, light and heavy. Nearly all of them are making great pictures. But only when they are travelling with you. So when you are travelling a lot like I do, you have to find the right camera for your needs. The mirrorless cameras are a nice solution, but you still need a bag and that can be a problem some times. 

Fuji just recently launched the new X70 and I thought it could be a nice solution for travelling. But I'm not a fan of this x-trans technology so I searched for an alternative for a pocketable camera. And ...... I found a used Nikon Coolpix A. A Nikon Coolpix A in mint conditions for 300 Euro.

The Coolpix A is a bargain. You can get it used with less than a few hundreds clicks, so just warmed up, not used. And the IQ is amazing. It sports  a 16 mpix sensor made by Sony, the same one from the Nikon D7100. The 16 mpix Fuji X-trans sensors seems to be based on the same sensor generation. The Coolpix A comes without an AA filter.  The lense is 18.5 mm that gives you a 28 mm equivalent view to full frame.

But that is all tech talk, the important thing with a camera is the IQ, can a small camera deliver deliver the same IQ like a large one. I compare the aps-c results with my results from FF cameras. And I have to say, this 3 years old camera is delivering a decent quality. I will have no problems to print these pictures large, 60x90 cm and even larger.

Also under difficult light situation the Coolpix A is delivering great results.

The IQ is great, but there are also some drawbacks. The Coolpix A has no EVF, but it is a small camera so not a real issue. But why is there no histogram NIKON? That should be there as it helps in difficult light situation. The autofocus is not the quickest. But when I'm travelling I don't want to shoot sport or runnings kids. So I'm fine with that. Overall, I'm quite happy with that little camera and I doubt to find a better one for that price. Small to fit in a pocket and great IQ, that is all I wanted.