Nikon's P3 reviewed

It's not been long since Nikon announced their latest volley of (WiFi enabled) digital cameras, and we've been pretty curious to find out how the P3 in particular stack up to the competition. Digital Camera Review snagged one of those 8.1 megapixel, 3.5x optical zoom, 802.11b/g-equipped shooters to play around with, and they seemed to dig the camera in whole with its Vibration Reduction (VR) image stabilization and manual features, even despite its chunky size and drab aesthetics. The WiFi still isn't apparently anything to write home about -- and it won't be until your camera doesn't require a host computer to do things like move around photos (or post them on the Interwebs) -- but the P3 definitely seems to have the hobbyist-ready features and image quality to make up for the limited use wireless and its size.

[Mike Thomas @ Apr 3rd 2006 3:02AM]

I justed picked this camera. the WIFI makes life much easier.

[coquelicot @ Apr 3rd 2006 3:16AM]

what the story with wifi? do I remember correctly that it requires some application running on the machine to use wifi, ie. you cannot associate the camera with access point and shoot-and-send the pics *directly* to the Net?

Needless to say, the application is probably Windows only... :-(

[Nick @ Apr 7th 2006 8:22AM]

I love my P3.
I bought it rather than upgrade to the new Canon Ixus
because the software runs on my Macs.
The WiFi works fine but does need the software. It creates a new folder and downloads the latest pics into it. You have to be logged on as you though or else it does the same for the current user!
Not had a problem using the camera so far.
Haven't read the manual yet but will when I go on holiday next week and will try out all the features.
I wish it could be stood on its end though, like the
Ixus, which is great for taking macro close-ups.

[nikon coolpix l3 @ Apr 13th 2006 9:12AM]

this peace of hardware rocks!!!

[Nikon Coolpix P3 @ Apr 28th 2006 10:01AM]

wow...I's so nice

[Pamela Davis @ May 6th 2006 9:54AM]

I have narrowed my selection for a new camera down to the Nikon P1 and P3, but I can't figure out what distinguishes them. Can someone recommend either one over the other?