Nikon Announces P7100, S1200pj and AW100 CoolPix Cameras

I know I know, no DSLR replacements as of yet but hey, we have some cool point and shoots lol. I suspect the DSLRs are on their way in the next few months as we wait for Sony to release their new lineup followed by Nikon and Canon.

When it comes to point and shoots I don’t tend to go into details and break down the specs. In all honesty the specs in a point and shoot are meaningless. Nine out of ten people who use point and shoots know how to turn them and take a picture and turn it back off.

This is what Nikon released today and I had a chance to play with during a recent trip to Nikon in NYC.

Nikon P7100 high end point and shoot camera designed for a people who do not want a DSLR but want most of the features of a DSLR. This camera is also for a PRO who doesn’t want to always cary around their full rig but still wants to shoot RAW and maintain some manual controls. The price for this camera checks in at $499.95 which is close to Canon’s G series cameras.

Nikon CoolPix S1200pj is the second generation point and shoot with a built in projector. This is such an amazing technology, to be able to squeeze a projector into such a compact camera. The key features to this update is the much brighter projector that can project up to a 60 inch image in ideal light conditions.

I think one of the coolest features of this camera is its ability to connect to an Ipod, Iphone and Ipad. This means that anything you see on those devices you can now share via the built in projector. You can show your movies/videos as well as your portfolio.

I could see this being a hot little camera for business people who have to have the coolest toys and are just ding to hook this up to their apple IOS devices.

What does get lost slightly with this camera is what its original intent is which is capturing still images. This camera comes in at 429.95 which is a lot of money in my mind to spend for a point and shoot. If you already own a DSLR or your someone who has a need for a pocket projector than maybe this camera/projector is for you.

I saved the camera I am most interested in trying out for last, the Nikon AW100. This is Nikons first foray into a rugged waterproof camera and I think it is poised to do very well. It is designed to be shockproof from 5 feet, can be submerged up to 33 feet and can handle temperatures as low as 14 degrees Fahrenheit. Additionally it has a built in GPS with map support that can actually track your movements. I will be interested to see how much battery power the gps actually chews up.

I am most interested in testing this camera out underwater. I always find it fascinating to be able to capture not just stills but video with audio while under water. Another new feature I did not mention in the video is something called action control where you set a function to activate when you shake the camera. That means you will have the ability to change modes if your hands are in gloves or you just feel like shaking your camera.

This camera comes in at $379.95 which is pretty close to its competition. This camera is for the outdoors person or people who are pretty tough on their camera. If you are taking a cruise or travling the world it would be really cool to have your images tagged with the built in GPS so all your friends can see where you have been.

Now I know many of you were waiting for the next crop of DSLR’s to be announced and I would be lying if I didn’t tell you I was as well. I do expect big things out of the next release but I have no idea when that will be. If I had to give an educated guess I would say we may be looking at a release near PPE in NYC which is coming up at the end of October.