Nikon Announces Coolpix 5400

Here's a link to the release at DPreview:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0305/03052802...coolpix5400.asp

Things I see right away:

New wide angle converter lens (WC-E80) = .8*28=22.4mm equivalent :-(

Ultra wideangle fisheye - 190 degrees

Buttons moved and Mode Dial added

Better Macro capability

My quick impression - the 5000 is way better for underwater use. Hopefully this will drive the 5000 price down further...:-)

Cheers

James

I wonder if anyone is going to bother making a housing for it. Maybe Ikelite. I doubt any of the others recouped their investment on the CP5000 housing.

My quick impression - the 5000 is way better for underwater use.  Hopefully this will drive the 5000 price down further...:-)

Just curious ... why do you think the 5000 is better for UW?

-Mickey

It has the 19mm WA lens. Wider the better...

Cheers

James

And the 5000 does hard wired TTL with even many older strobes............

So will the 5400 Ike (do TTL w/ most strobes). I don't think Nikon changed that - It has the same hotshoe and ttl "meter." The new camera is also supposed to do rear curtain sync, which is cool.

This will be a great camera, no doubt, but I'm not sure if it is an "improvement" for UW shooters.

Cheers

James

The one weakness of the 5000 is the slooooow autofocus. If they improved that significantly this could be a very good camera for UW.

"rear curtain sync"?

I do agree on the slooow autofocus. Hard to believe you can get pissed off while diving but, that can do it sometimes. And, in such a peaceful setting.

I used to have a Coolpix 5000. Initially, I thought it was a superb camera, and in many ways it is, but the autofocus/shutter lag drove me nuts. For that reason alone, I never considered taking it underwater. On Little Cayman last week, one diver had a housed 5000. In a way, I envied him, since his rig weighed about half my housed D100. However, he sent me a link to his photos a couple of days ago, and they weren't remotely the quality that I got (they were good, however, and I have seen some stunning photos from a 5000). I guess it's a matter of what you want. Right now, if you are looking for the very best setup and greatest flexibility, I think you have to go with the housed DSLR.

I still envy the guys with the tiny little housings that weigh next to nothing, but I could never trade places after seeing what a DSLR can do.

Jim

It's actually just the autofocus that is slow. I set the camera on preset WB and manual focus and was able to shoot a Beach Volleyball tournament with no problem.

Preset WB improves speed??? I'll try that.

I like the mode dial.

Why do you think they kept the rangefinder, after ditching it on the 5700?