After owning Canons for years (including, and up to, my PowerShot G5), I thought I'd give Nikon a shake. Their feature set on the Coolpix 8800 was almost too nice to pass up. This new digital camera isn't without its share of bugaboos, however. I've found that with the latest firmware upgrade [1.4], new issues that have arisen; now I can't take a flash photo without the LCD going blank for a couple of seconds. The gate to the CF slot doesn't have a good locking mechanism, the image severely pincushions at the 10x zoom level, and every Coolpix 8800 cable and add-on is proprietary. That said, I'm definitely having fun with the Coolpix 8800. Enthusiasts have been raving about Nikon digicams for several years now, so now I'm trying to see what all 'Coolpix' fuss has been about. Can't wait to try out the BSS and extended movie modes!
Would I get the Coolpix 8800 again? I'll let you know after I've had a while to play with it. The “vibration reduction” feature has been sorely missed in a digital camera for years. I'll send a couple of my initial snapshots to the sidebar in a few minutes. Gotta read the manual first.