Got A New Cam - Nikon Coolpix L610

It was time. To say final Good-Bye to our dear Sony CyberShot W70... Though I believe we should never be 'emotionally attached' to things ( only humans are worth it ;) ) W70 indeed was dear to me. The time it was bought. I needed a camera then. But it was more than four times my stipend then! Still I owned it. Which was a very special story dear to my heart. And that made the camera special too... Well, after 6 years of glorious term, it retired now... Though I thought of repairing it, it may not be financially wise, as the new one will cost only marginally more than the repair charge!

So there came the thought of buying new camera. Sony, obviously was my first choice ( don't know why, but when I want to buy any electronics items, it will be my default preference ! ). But this time, I wanted a cam with a better optical zoom and I don't really like Sony lens much ( though the salesman at Croma told me that Sony G lens are the best lens available in India. When I asked about the Carl Zeiss lens, he told that is the world's best ! ). And Sony cam with Carl Zeiss lenses were beyond my budget. Though it was within the price of my old camera, this time my budget was half of last time ;)

Exhaustive ( almost ) online research. Discussions with photo friends. Hands-on experience at Croma. After all this I chose Nikon Coolpix L610, putting Canon Powershot 160IS aside. The expert opinions and what I saw through the lens, made Nikon the choice. And then the shopping. Thanks to my friend Vipin, this time I tried a new online store - tradus.com. They gave me a good offer at Rs 8,910, while other stores or physical stores offers it at 10,600.

I was thrilled to see what all they shipped. The camera works on AA batteries and they included 2 alkaline and 4 Ni-MH batteries and charger! The kit costs almost 3,000 stand alone... 4GB SanDisk card, pouch and a big surprise - HDMI cable :) I liked the package.

I liked the way the camera built. Apart from the battery cover, everything was so nice and sturdy. The lock of the battery compartment was tricky and I didn't like it much. Nikon even gave provision to tie the strap on both sides compared to only one in my W70. Placing it top, first I thought was bad, but once I started using it, I found it was best... It gives better support. The lens zooms in and out effortlessly. One point I noted that the alkaline batteries are draining quick. But the image needs a bit time to process making time between clicks long. But it is forgivable. Will write in detail about the clicking experiences later.

The first impression is this much. Let me click some pics and I will post my opinion about the camera - the way it works...

PS : The picture on the post is not clicked with L610 !