Nikon Coolpix 885

Review Date
November 2, 2003

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Used product for
2-5 years

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 2 votes

Reviewed by
Steve Bennett , Intermediate

Price Paid
$650.00 at Best Buy

Summary
This camera is great if you don't mind system errors that are a nightmare to resolve, and in some cases not resolvable. Also, the reds are horribly oversaturated and Nikon will tell you it's your computer monitor. They won't admit to it and it drives me nuts. I wish I had never bought this camera.

Similar Products Used
Many different digital cameras. This is the most expensive I've bought, and the worst.

Customer Service
They seem to think YOU are the one with the problem.

Review Date
September 6, 2003

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Value Rating
 2 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Reviewed by
Yew Edwin , Casual , from Malacca, Malaysia

Price Paid
$420.00 at Penang, Malaysia

Photography Experience
0-1 years , Outdoor

Summary
Nikon Coolpix 885 is fairly good DC for outdoor, but would be a nightmare for indoor. Reason: with built-in flash on, you battery would be exhausted in just 15-20 minutes after continuously shooting.
I felt regretful to purchase this camera, after comparing to Canon products, eg: A-70.

Strengths
Good picture quality for outdoor

Weaknesses
Slow storage to CF card ( Can be up to 15 seconds if 128MB card is almost full )
Slow deletion from CF card ( if 128MB card is almost full )
Very bad battery lifespan !

Customer Service
Lens jammed after 8 months used. Replaced by Nikon Malaysia in just a week !

Review Date
July 23, 2003

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Reviewed by
Ollster , Intermediate , from UK

Price Paid
$540.00 at Jessops

Photography Experience
11-20 years , Other

Summary
My first Digi camera after years on 35mm. I found it a good sturdy reliable beast. It has been round the world with me from the USA to South East Asia and taken plenty of punishment (and has the scars to prove it). Plenty of features for beginner to intermediate. However I still use 35mm for my best photos.

Strengths
Feels good in the hand.
Build quality.
Many many custom features for the level of camera.
Nice zoom.
I found the battery to be excellent.

Weaknesses
Some photos slow to download to card (get a fast card 24x)
Red a bit to strong (easily sorted on the PC)

Similar Products Used
Sony F717
Nikon 775
Canon IXUS

Customer Service
Never used.

Review Date
June 9, 2003

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Used product for
0-1 years

Reviewed by
canio , Intermediate , from Minneapolis, MN

Price Paid
$350.00 at online

Summary
This is a bad camera. The interface is reasonable, and the software is rather fine, but the artifacts, color rendition, and performance under low light make this an absolutely poor value for your dollar.

My other two lower-resolution digital cameras (HP 215 1MP and Vivitar 3365 2.3 MP) give, by comparison, sharper, cleaner and better color-balanced pictures, for less than half the price.

While this camera, again, has nice manual features (focus-point weighted metering, pseudo manual focus, bracketing, etc.), they are rendered useless by the end result: very bad photographs.

I never trusted the hype around Nikon, and this being my second Nikon purchase, I've been disappointed a second (and last) time.

One of the shutter blades once came off, while I was using Macro setting for the first time; I sent for repair and their service was quick. But noticed that after that I got the "System Error" screen a lot. This is a bad product.

Besides having the Canon 10D in my crosshairs (I own EOS lenses), I have shopped around and for the same value and features, lower-end Canonshots and Kyocera cameras are by comparison a work of art.

Strengths
Auto shooting modes.
30 sec video (QuickTime) option - no sound
Manual exposure modes
Very light, compact

Weaknesses
Awful color noise.
Poor manufacturing quality.
Battery hog.

Similar Products Used
Vivitar 3365
HP 215

Customer Service
Fast, cordial. Call wait average 20 minutes.

Review Date
May 28, 2003

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Used product for
0-1 years

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5, 1 votes

Reviewed by
John Sullivan , Expert , from London, UK

Price Paid
$595.00 at Jessops, Croydon, Lo

Summary
This is a totally unreliable camera. The first Nikon Coolpix 885 I bought got the dreaded "System Error" message and froze up and was replced under wrranty after about 1 week after purchase from new. Its replacement has lasted 1 year 1 month so it out of warranty with exactly the same error. The pictures are good (albeit too red) when you can actually get it working.

Strengths
Fairly easy to use, reasonable pictures

Weaknesses
The most unreliable product I have ever bought. It has not been droped, got wet or been kept in a humid atmosphere. DON'T BUY ONE. There are hundreds of reports of them developing a "System Error" if you search the net.

Customer Service
Not interested in the problem and charge excessive price to fix despite it being a common systemic fault.