After just 2 days of trying out the Coolpix A, these are some of my initial impressions of the camera:
1. The AF speed is very acceptable, not as slow as some people say. It focuses quite fast even in the Macro setting unlike many cameras which will hunt or AF more slowly in macro mode. To me, it felt faster and more confident than the X100.
2. The battery life is in fact quite good although the specifications seem to indicate otherwise. Up to now, the battery indicator has not dropped even one bar.
3. One feature I like is that each time the image zoom button is pressed, the image of the focus area wherever it is in the frame is magnified until it fills the whole display and when the shutter button is half-pressed, the magnified focus area snaps into focus on the LCD screen letting the user confirm that the point where he wants to be in focus is really in focus. I had thought that this feature is usually available in other cameras only for manual focussing.
4. The high ISO performance is really good. Seem to me to be better than the Sony RX100 and the Fuji X20 both of which tend to depend on image stacking in jpeg mode to produce better results than shooting in RAW mode at ISO 3200.
5. Saving to memory card is super fast. I shoot in Raw+jpg(fine) mode and uses a Class 10 SDHC card and saving to card after each shot is almost instantaneous.
These are a few test shots:
#1
1/30s f/2.8 at 18.5mm ISO 3200
#2
1/40s f/2.8 at 18.5mm ISO 3200
These 2 pics were shot in a very dimly lit room on Saturday night although it does not look like it was very dark from the photos.
#3
1/30s f/2.8 at 18.5mm ISO 1800
#4
1/160s f/2.8 at 18.5mm ISO 100
Back-lit subject.
#5
1/160s f/8.0 at 18.5mm ISO 100
