I will be travelling to France for the first time this summer and expect to take a very large amount of photos at 1600x1200, with a particular emphasis on landscapes and architecture. I have a spending limit somewhere around $1000 and am trying to decide between the Nikon Coolpix 950 and the Olympus C-2000. They both have desirable features that the other lacks, most notably the remote control for the Olympus. I am an amamteur photographer and will most likely not be using a tripod. Can anyone recommend one particular camera over the other?

Also, I am wondering whether or not to wait for the 2.5 megapixel Olympus C-2500L to come out, but need to know about availability, price, features, etc.

Thanks in advance for any help.

-Steven M. Castellotti

-- Steven M. Castellotti (SteveC@innocent.com), May 12, 1999

Answers

If you have read me , i recommend the nikon, i have only satisfaction with the olympus seems to be so ugly that even if it s as good as the nikon.. i prefer the nikon.. good luck ! philippe

-- Philippe Lepoivre Paris (phl@cogitel.fr), May 13, 1999.

Hi, Normally I'd reccomend Nikon but evidently there are several problems with the Coolpix 950.

Check out the following for more info:

http://come.to/digitaldarkroom http://photo.askey.net/default.asp?articles/950vspro70/

The second site has a detailed comparison of the coolpix VS the Canon Powershot-Pro. Having read the extensive review and looked at the comparisons, I'd NOT buy the Nikon!!

Howard

-- Howard (hposner1@swarthmore.edu), May 13, 1999.

Hello from France ;-)

About C2500Z : it should be available only at the end of the summer, so don't wait for it !

It you are an amateur user, maybe you'd like the better compacity of the c2000z. Remember to choose a DC differently from choosing a scanner : you'll never travel with your scanner in your pocket !

For such product, listen to your feeling, it is the only way to have a DC you both appreciate for caracteristics AND you appreciate using it

... and have good holidays !

-- baptiste (baptiste.soto@phox.fr), May 14, 1999.

After careful research, I chose the C2000 over the CP950. I like the considerably smaller size, faster lens (f2.0), and non-swivel operation. If your budget is $1000, forget about the C2500, which will be $2000. I travel a lot and try to avoid tripot use as much as possible, so the extra (almost) f-stop the C2000 lens has over the CP950 is VERY important. Just got my C2000 yesterday and have been playing around with mostly automatic shots. Great little thing. Flash pictures are perfectly e

-- Tri Tran (Trischulte@aol.com), May 15, 1999.

It seems like alot of people have come down to choosing between the Oly C2000 and the Coolpix 950. I opted for the Oly 2000 because I had read some negative reviews about the flash reliability of the 950 and I also really liked the size of the Oly. I am not disappointed. It is extremely easy to use and the photos are wonderful. If you're going on a trip though, I recommend you take alot of 16 mb disks with you or have a laptop that you can download your images onto. Good

-- Rona Oberman (ronaoberman@earthlink.net), May 23, 1999.