Nikon COOLPIX A 16.2 MP Digital Camera with 28mm f/2.8 Lens (Silver) (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

Very nice piece. Extremely sharp optic. Lens was was the fourth sharpest Nikon optic tested on DXO labs site. Very light and compact. Use it for backpacking. Took it into Shenandoah National Park. Up Old Rag, down into canyons w/ waterfalls. Great pics of bears w/ it. Combined w/ a Velbon UT-43D & a Gossen Luna Pro SBC it makes a very powerful and versatile photo kit. DSLR quality w/o the bulk. Plus the 28mm lens on this thing out performs the standard kit lenses. Wish it had the in camera ND filter. Can't figure out why so many reviewers trashed the A. Except for the fact that they are comparing it to what its not. A DSLR. Also probably because of the pretentiousness & snobbery inherent in the photo community. All the camera really is, is a black box w/ a lens on it. So you get the best lens/sensor combo you can get your hands on. To many bells & whistles out there. I think that Nikon was pricing the A as a cheap alternative to a Leica. If you can get a factory refurb unit of an A the price point isn't that bad. The A's color scheme looks more natural to me also. The Leica & Fuji cameras seem to have a color scheme similar to the Fujicolor films of old. With the trademark green cast you can't filter out. The Cosina/Voightlander 28mm brightline OVF works well with the A. There was also a Nikon 28mm brightline OVF made for the P6000 that looks like it was made by cosina/voitlander. Both are a more cost effective $100-$200 option than the official OVF for the A that rings in @ $396. The Fotasy hood/shade combo works well w/ the A (see my other reviews) Fantastic little camera. A DSLR in your pocket. A Leica on the cheap!!!! Highly recommended.

Bottom Line Up Front: Exceptional images, tack sharp and great color. Quick focus. Quality build, feels good in the hands and handles well. All the essential settings and knobs are accessible. Highly recommend if your shooting style is compatible working with a fixed wide angle lens (28mm full frame equivalent). Light, small and unobtrusive. Discrete, not intimidating and doesn't scream "professional." An excellent carry around camera and back up to a full DSLR. Seems a bit pricey, but you're getting what you pay for - high quality images. Great for street scenes and environmental portraiture. I consider the 28mm equivalent lens a bit too wide for tight head shots, but have used it with success in a pinch. I'm a professional documentary photographer and a pro DSLR mounted with a prime 35mm or 85mm is my primary tool of choice; however, there are times when whipping out a large intimidating professional camera wouldn't be appropriate - enter the Coolpix A. I've been looking for a compact carry-around camera that will produce high quality images and this little Nikon fills the bill. I've been shooting the camera extensively for about a month now and have been very pleased with the camera's performance and the images that it's produced. Ensure that shooting with a fixed wide angle lens (28mm FX equivalent) suits your style. If so, then this camera is definitely worth considering. If you want a mirrorless camera that can change lenses or zoom, then look elsewhere. If you are looking for a compact, robust, rugged wide angle fixed lens camera that produces excellent images, the Coolpix A may be for you. Would definitely recommend seriously looking as this camera.

A great discrete camera that's not awkward to bring to party, and still take great pictures at those venues (low light) where nearly all phone cameras fall short.Let's face it. It's a compact camera with APS-C sized CMOS inside. The fixed lens is quite up to the task (well some soft corners and flare control left some room for desire). Low-light performance was of its own league in compact world (except when compared to the now-common 1"+ larger sensor pocket cams, now it's so close). Picture quality is awesome.However, where it fall shorts, is pretty close to the borderline of "bad". While it has amazing image quality in low light, focusing in general is slow and not so accurate at times. The zone focus is a joke only covering the center, the only way that works when you hand your camera to others to take a picture of you is to set it to do face recognition, which works ~80% of the time. Not to mention it just get worse in low light condition, kind of defeated its purpose.I would also suggest a dedicated video button to take videos. I ran into this a couple times that I want to take video and had to flip through the menu just to found out the moment was gone as I found the "video mode".

First off, the build quality of this camera is solid. I love the simplicity of the design. Where I live, dslr's scream pro. This camera gives me amazing sharp pictures without the attention of a dslr. I recently went on a family trip to Washington DC. I set the camera to Aperture Priority mode at f5.6 and shot all day for 5 days. When I presented my pictures on my 50" panasonic plasma for the family, everyone was impressed with the clarity and transparency of the pictures. One of my favorite features of the camera is exposure compensation and watching the effects in live view. I get perfect exposures no matter how bright or dark it is. As a side note, I also own a D600 and love it. However, I have not invested in a wide quality lens for it yet. I plan too. Anyways, the pictures I get from my coolpix a blows my current 24-85 vr lens on my d600 out the water. Lastly, the focus is not blazingly fast. However, for what I plan to use the coolpix a for, which is mostly travel and street shooting, its very good. I never felt like I missed a moment because the focus was too slow. The coolpix a is awesome in my opinion. Highly recommended!!!

Amazing camera , with exception of auto focus. It is breathing all the way and finally could confirm wrong focus 1 of 10 times.