New Camera — Nikon Coolpix 5700

My family is going on a trip to Greece for two weeks at the end of this month for my brother’s college graduation. We’re leaving May 24 and returning June 10, but I’ll write more about the trip in another post.

So, I bought myself a new digcam with some of the proceeds from my recent freelance-to-hire gig (which is still on-going). The Nikon Coolpix 5700 is a 5.0 megapixel camera with an 8x optical zoom. I suspect that Nikon may be releasing a new camera to replace it over the summer since they’re currently offering a $100 rebate (c’est la vie).

So, I bought the camera and some accessories as well:

• I got the camera itself at Digital Foto Club. Cheesy name aside, they’re rated Platinum+ at ResellerRatings. I would have normally bought more than just the camera there, but their prices on accessories weren’t very competitive.

• Lenmar Mach 1 Speed Charger at B&H Photo-Video-Pro Audio (who’s also Platinum+ rated at ResellerRatings, for what it’s worth). Purportedly, the Mach 1 can charge 850 mAh batteries in 30 minutes.

• Also from B&H, three Power 2000 Li-ion batteries (800mAh), clones of Nikon’s EN-EL1 battery. I figure that four batteries (these three plus the one that comes with the camera) along with the Mach 1 charger should allow me to get through two weeks of snapping photos in Europe.

• I also picked up a case at B&H, the Lowepro D-Res 30AW. This was recommended by some chums on DPReview’s forums for the Coolpix 5700. The guy mentioned that it was a snug fit for him, but that was with his “three batteries, a couple of filters and a couple of extra memory cards” (and I hope not to be carrying around quite that much in my camera bag).

• The camera comes with a wimpy 32 MB CompactFlash card, so I needed to upgrade that right away. Two 512 MB sticks from Crucial should solve that. (Hmm, are the cards still known as “sticks” even though they’re square?)

• And, I also picked up a USB 2.0 6-in-1 Sandisk card reader for easier file transfer. I almost bought Crucial’s portable 6-1 reader, but I then realized that it’s only USB 1.1. I ordered this guy from YesMicro (60 reviews and a perfect 10.0 at ResellerRatings).

And conveniently, I saw over the weekend that Half Price Books had National Geographic’s Photography Field Guide for just $10 (the list price is $25). I already had the original, but I picked up the other books in the series — “People and Portraits” and “Landscapes” (and there’re probably more copies still there).