Nikon COOLPIX 100: 25 years later! RETRO review

[@DennisFang1]

I actually love the look of the images. I really do think that one day, the retro digital camera look will have the same appreciation as the disposable film camera look that is so popular right now

[@DinoBytes]

I've heard a few people express this preference now, so you may be onto something! I like some of them but not most of them, but like instant it could just be a case of finding a model that most often delivers the style I want. After all, instant is far from 100%.

[@Dedubya-]

Interesting review, those pictures really gave the illusion they were taken 25 years ago. No photoshop filter required.

[@DinoBytes]

Hah, exactly! They did have a bit of a dated look to them!

[@xmeda]

Having such imaging device in 1996 would be great!

[@yuidfbse]

What a wonderful and nostalgic review! Love your new channel Gordon❤️❤️❤️

[@DinoBytes]

Thanks! I'm really enjoying making these! Please watch them all!

[@AndrewWaltonPhotography]

Another great review - I have a soft spot for early digital cameras and have started to collect them (while they're still cheap!) Whilst working off AAA or AA batteries is seen as an inconvenience in relatively new cameras it is a godsend when buying these old devices. Keep the old camera videos coming!

[@DinoBytes]

Thanks, and yes agreed on the AAs which solves one of the big problems with old cameras!

[@rudyreimer302]

Cool stuff doing retro reviews. I still have my first digital camera purchased in 1997/1998. It’s a Nikon 995. It was awesome for its time. Got filters and other accessories that made it fun to use. I was the first grad student at my university to use digital pics in my thesis. Keep up the great content!

[@DinoBytes]

The 995 was brilliant! I mention it in my COOLPIX 900 review, so check it out to see the genesis of this series!

[@thecandidframe]

Nikon was my first job out of college. So, I was around for the release of this, and I also used the E2, which most people don't even remember. It makes me feel like a dinosaur, but I'm grateful to have seen the progress from then to now. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

[@DinoBytes]

I remember the E2! I mention some of those old pro bodies in my Nikon D1 video...

[@thissidetowardscreen4553]

Awesome review. Really enjoy you exploring and presenting old digital cameras in a positive way.

[@DinoBytes]

Thanks, I'm really enjoying making them!

[@FauxtakuLounge]

I like the idea of the camera being built into the removable memory system.

[@TheLeiPol]

I like these reviews of vintage digital cameras. My first digital camera back in 2000 was a Blueberry Kodak DC240 (1.3MP) that matched with my Blueberry iMacDV. I still have a working Kodak mc3 (0.3MP) that took images, movies and also could play mp3 music. It used CF cards. It was a fun device.

[@DinoBytes]

I need to get hold of some old Kodaks...

[@lim2001burger]

I still have my mc3 kicking around somewhere! It had the screen that didn’t have a backlight, which made it easier to see in bright conditions!

[@Bolton115]

Back in 1996, one of my friends got a Casio digital camera that produced picture which.. explained why you could fit 8 or 10 of 'em on one floppy disk. I was lucky enough to have lots of film cameras-and a well heeled brother in law who let me borrow his scanner for connection to my Picasso IV RTG equipped Amiga 3000. So I didn't get a digital camera until about 2002. Although my Y2K era digital camcorder could record 640x480 stills of startlingly bad quality onto an SD card. I really enjoy these retro segments, please keep 'em coming!

[@DinoBytes]

Many more to come!

[@rpgarcia]

Excellent review sir! My first digital camera was the Nikon Coolpix 950. Loved the swivel design and the convenience of using AA batteries. Upload more videos of vintage digital cameras please.

[@DinoBytes]

Thanks, many more videos to come! Hopefully you also saw my COOLPIX 900 review which mentions the 950...

[@UdoKrawallo]

Nice retro review again! This form factor also reminds me of the pocket camcorders that were popular for a time back around 10 years ago. Are you sure PCMCIA is so outdated? Sure I haven´t seen new laptops with it for years, but it was pretty common in notebooks around 2005/06. I used it then for stronger WiFi cards. Later on it was presumably only on more professional orientated devices, my Fujitsu Celsius from 2011 has two of them. I would recommend getting a Centrino 1st generation machine with PCMCIA, they are usually sold for low money(I got one for 25 €), run XP and are therefore not that far away from modern day machines 😁

[@DinoBytes]

Thanks! Yeah, PCMCIA may have still been around about 2005, but sadly still too old for my collection!

[@xmeda]

@@DinoBytes Oh, all you need is to make the collection wider :D I've repaired and upgraded some nice Dell Latitude C400 laptop from around 2002 which appeared in junkbin at work. I've bought new 120GB HDD, 2x 512MB banks of memory, better wifi module, WinXP sp3 and yes it has PCMCIA card slot and USB. What a beast! Still quite usable for web browsing, emails and some retrogaming today :) Unfortunatelly it only survives 4-5min on battery, but 230V adaptor works well. Machine like that comes handy for old HW like cameras, scanners adn similar stuff that does not drivers for modern OS and you have to use W98 or WXP. With such Dell you can have one HDD with W98 OS and other HDD with WXP and be ready for anything in rather small package that you can get for less than $20 including those upgrades ;)

[@DinoBytes]

@@xmeda nice idea! I'm holding out hope for one of my favourite old ultra portables like the Sony Vaio 505...

[@Bolton115]

@@DinoBytes I've got a Windows Vista era Sony Vaio (think around 2005) and it's got two PCMCIA slots, as well as FireWire. One of the few good things about 'Worsta' was that it required computer vendors to install modern (at the time) hardware-3D acceleration was a pretty strong prerequisite. This means that a laptop nice enough to run Vista will also run 7, probably smoother than it did Vista. The other awesome thing nowadays is that a 240GB SSD is $20-and really wakes up an old machine with its orders of magnitude faster seek times versus those ancient, slow mechanical drives. They'll all run Linux, too.

[@DinoBytes]

@@Bolton115 I have a Vaio laptop from about 2006 and sadly it lacks PCMCIA and FW! So I'm looking for an older one. You're right, it's about finding a balance between one that performs reasonably and is potentially upgradable, vs one that is old enough to have all the right connectivity!

[@SteveMorton]

Great work Gordon. It reminds me of my first mobile phone pictures

[@DinoBytes]

Thanks!

[@NateEdel]

Fun to see this again! I had one of those back in college, by the time they were 2-3 years old they were already outgoing tech as I definitely wouldn't have paid US$500 on a student budget. Kodak's contemporary model, the DC50, was fun - my boss at the time had one, and let me borrow it.

[@DinoBytes]

Nice to hear from someone who used the 100, I think you were one of the few! Hope you also see my COOLPIX 300 video!

[@DinoBytes]

I retro-review Nikon's FIRST consumer digital camera, the COOLPIX 100 from 1996! Buy Gordon a coffee: www.paypal.me/cameralabs Gordon's In Camera book: amzn.to/2n61PfI / Amazon uk: amzn.to/2mBqRVZ Cameralabs merchandise: redbubble.com/people/cameralabs/shop Nikon COOLPIX 100 sample images: www.cameralabs.com/nikon-coolpix-100-retro-review/ Music: www.davidcuttermusic.com / @dcuttermusic Equipment used for producing my videos Sony A6400: amzn.to/3hul53c Sony e 24mm f1.8: amzn.to/2TqWNzk Rode NT USB mic: amzn.to/3AdHcUp Rode Wireless Go II mic: amzn.to/3xkCvGo Rode Lavalier Go mic: amzn.to/3ygzzKY MacBook Pro 13in (16GB / 512GB): amzn.to/3hrwMYD As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases

[@LyndonPatrickSmith]

Wow - pcmcia slots - I had almost forgot about those! Remarkably good skin tone on that selfie…you actually have a tan!

[@DinoBytes]

Yeah, if it shows a tan, then it's not accurate. I'm like a ghost!

[@oikakeakabei2982]

Yes, it stands for "People Can't Memorise Computer Industry Acronyms".

[@TheCanucklehead]

This was my first digital camera. Bought it as refurbished for $99 in 1998. Lots of fun with that. My ThinkPad was perfect for copying to. It's what started me off. Fun to see you working it.

[@DinoBytes]

Thanks for commenting! I think you're one of the first people I've heard from who actually had one!

[@TheCanucklehead]

@@DinoBytes Thanks. Enjoyed it. But 21 photos was such a small number. I remember on a Florida trip running back to hotel room to empty the camera so I could shoot some more.

[@DinoBytes]

@@TheCanucklehead hah, yes, I remember those limited frame counts. Interestingly some of the memory limitations were considered acceptable at the time as they were roughly equivalent to a roll of film. BUT of course you can load a new roll whenever and wherever you want!

[@joeprete7424]

Nice work Gordon!

[@DinoBytes]

Thanks!

[@cyrfung]

My first digital camera was Canon PowerShot A620 from 2005. Digital photography changed so much in 10 years.

[@DinoBytes]

It has indeed!

[@ssthapit]

I am really enjoying reviews of old digital cameras on Dino Bytes. Keep them coming. The first digital camera I used was my dad's Nikon Coolpix 950, which I thought was pretty cool. The first serious digital camera I bought was the Olympus C-2100UZ. Look forward to these being reviewed too.

[@DinoBytes]

The 950 was excellent, did you see my 900 review? I will do the 950 in the future...

[@ssthapit]

@@DinoBytes I am going to watch it next. Thanks.

[@patrickfitzgerald2861]

Fun! Thanks Gordon! 😎

[@DinoBytes]

Glad you enjoyed it! Have you watched my other camera videos?

[@Trance88]

This is a neat and convenient system from before flash memory was really available. I have a Dell laptop from 2006 that I believe has a slot this camera can slide into.

[@deathdoor]

0:20 that's really cool!

[@thegreatujo]

I started with the Nikon Coolpix 2100 back in 2003, so not far from what you show here. Nice channel btw. Keep up the good work.

[@DinoBytes]

Thanks! Many more vintage camera videos to come soon!

[@Penguins247]

I do remember this from back in the day, but my first digital camera was a Kodak DC210 - Kodak would have sold millions if they'd made a battery bandolier available for it too ;) Feedback if you're interested, I found the music alongside the slideshow a bit too loud compared to the level of your speech? Very good to see this again though, thanks for sharing Gordon!

[@DinoBytes]

I must retro review a Kodak soon...

[@omniart5714]

We need that other one series camera review, too... Also, where's my Canon Pro1 review you promised? 😎😎😎

[@DinoBytes]

Ha ha! I have the Pro looking longingly at me as we speak! I'm trying to not to the same brand two in a row, so probably Sony or Canon next.

[@lim2001burger]

Another great video :) love how inventive the camera manufacturers had to be in the early days. I know that type of thinking didn’t pan out for Nikon with their keymission 80, but it’s a shame that the camera form factors don’t get that interesting these days. The closest contemporary for that camera now would be the DJi pocket series...I mean apart from phones 😅

[@DinoBytes]

Yes you're right, the action and vlogging market is more varied...

[@lim2001burger]

@@DinoBytes I wonder if Nikon will let you borrow their one attempt at making an Android powered P&S camera? I got the Samsung galaxy camera 2 (still do) and that had a lot of promise.

[@DinoBytes]

@@lim2001burger maybe... I'm finding that most companies that are still around, have a cabinet with some classic models in their lobbies somewhere, but the collections are often limited or never allowed to be opened! So I'm grabbing what I can!

[@metalrat2]

Great stuff!

[@DinoBytes]

Thanks!

[@lauralulu4444]

Nice review! I love old cameras and I love the lofi/ vintage look the pictures have. I have an old Sony Mavica and I love that thing so much :) it's nice that this camera uses AA though. I hate that Sony always uses their own battery types.

[@DinoBytes]

Thanks! I hope you get to see my review of the first Sony Mavica. Yeah I have had to buy a few replacement batteries for my Sonys...

[@creativeglowltd]

Thanks Gordon, great job! loving the insights instead of just a simple retro review as well as the sample pictures. I purchased your book and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. A question I have, perhaps an idea for a video is: why in a world with so much Gear Acquisition Syndrome and someone like you that could have any camera uses mostly micro fourth thirds or aps-c? I saw the video from Gerald Undone where you said that you use a a6400 to shoot all your channel videos that plus all the cameras you use for the pictures in the book made me wonder.

[@DinoBytes]

Thanks for buying my book! As for my own gear choices, it really boils down to using the products that do what I want, and the fact is for what I desire, APSC and M43 is sufficient. In some cases I do miss the selection of lenses available for full frame - for instance Canon never really put much effort into APSC and it's definitely second fiddle for Sony. But I love what I can get out of Fujifilm cameras with little to no effort, and likewise many M43 too. Plus for video, the A6400 - which filmed all of these dinobytes - and camera labs - videos looks great to me! Do you ever look at my video quality and think it's below par versus other creators? My lighting is basic as I use natural light, but in terms of detail, I think the A6400 4k is fantastic!

[@creativeglowltd]

@@DinoBytes thanks so much for your reply. I agree with you. As someone with so much experience, many reviewers / KZbinrs should take note of your comments.

[@DinoBytes]

@@creativeglowltd it's all about finding what works for you, gives you the result you want, and that you're happy with. You do also have to be at peace with discovering cheaper gear may be good enough! But I'm fine with anyone who wants to spend more!

[@omniart5714]

Another proof any new camera today IS good enough... Thats why photographer skills matter today so much... 😎

[@DinoBytes]

Thanks!

[@moviebod]

Hi Gordon, my first digital camera was from QVC, a channel that my wife had recently (1998) discovered and in a fit of wanting me to think how wonderful it was, she bought me a Ricoh For about £420 which took Smart Media I think. I can check which model mumber it was when I get back to Blighty as I am currently in Nova Scotia.

[@DinoBytes]

Ricoh made some cool cameras back then

[@bluefalcon1975]

My first digital camera back in 2001 was a Olympus E-10 4Mpx with lens fixed to the body!

[@DinoBytes]

I remember that one, it was really good! I'd love to do a retro review on it...

[@bluefalcon1975]

@@DinoBytes Yeah...very good indeed for the time. It would be interesting to see a review on this camera! Unfortunately mine is scrapped :(

[@dunnymonster]

My old but still fully functioning Windows XP laptop has a PCMCIA slot which currently has a 2 x USB adapter in it so I guess if I ever happen across one of these Nikons I'm good to go 😀

[@DinoBytes]

I need to pickup an old but working laptop from the late Nineties... I'd recommend keeping hold of yours just in case you need it!

[@peter221peter]

I love your reviews - they take me down memory lane!! My first digital camera was a Kodak DC120. Shaped like a chocolate box (interesting how there were all sorts of odd designs almost as if they wanted to differentiate digital cameras from analogue by deliberately shaping them differently - my next digital camera was the Nikon Coolpix 950 that had a two part pivoting body). The DC120 was advertised as the first camera under $1,000 with more than 1,000 pixels. Ironically I think it had slightly fewer than 1000 pixels and cost more than $1,000 (in Australia anyway!) It had a frustrating proprietary Kodak RAW file format that almost nothing these days can read!!

[@DinoBytes]

AH yes, proprietary RAW files! I haven't had the joy of dealing with any of them this time around. Back in the day, yes, but not again now. I was more than a little frustrated to dig out an old Kodak PhotoCD the other day only to learn Photoshop dropped support for it ages ago too! I think I need to build an old laptop running old Windows with old Photoshop on it!

[@Bolton115]

@@DinoBytes There's at least a fair chance that DigiKam under Linux might read that PhotoCD's files. Several Linux image processing apps are underpinned by opensource libraries that have been in development since that PhotoCD was a new thing, so they might still support it. Worth a non-destructive USB stick bootup into Linux to find out :-)

[@DinoBytes]

@@Bolton115 good plan!

[@모루나-v9h]

Thank you for the review. It was a very helpful review for me I was able to get a Cool Fix 100 at an old used market not too long ago, but I bought a reader with you, but I couldn't use it at allWhich model should I use for my 😭 laptop? I want to do it until the end

[@DinoBytes]

My PC Card / PCMCIA reader didn't work with the COOLPIX 100, so I had to use an old laptop with a PC Card / PCMCIA slot in it. Look for an old laptop from around 1995-2000.

[@truckingpix]

pretty cool!

[@mattdp846]

That Coolpix 300 looks interesting.

[@DinoBytes]

I have it here, but it requires a cable I don't have...

[@RetroToonsOfficial]

Your Content Are Awesome i Mean I like It

[@DinoBytes]

Thanks!

[@LE672AJ]

Inserting it into an external reader wasn’t enough to wake it. Literally needed the feel of the real deal to perk it up. Reckon some men’s pills adverts follow a similar logic ;) haha

[@DinoBytes]

Yeah it sounded like that as I was saying it!

[@NunoxFerreira]

Never saw this model before....but looks cool...🤗

[@DinoBytes]

That's what this channel's all about! Nostalgia for stuff you knew but surprise at stuff you didn't!

[@ziginox]

I wonder if the Coolpix shows as an SRAM memory card, instead of flash memory? I keep my old ThinkPad T60p for that purpose, it's such a weird bridge of old and new tech from when it was introduced. I hope we'll see that Coolpix 300 on here soon, I really want to see some stylus action!

[@DinoBytes]

I think you may be right! I do have the 300 here, but no cable to extract anything from it...

[@SinaFarhat]

Cool! :)

[@HiCZoK]

my 15" hyundai crt was mostyl used at 640x480 on desktop. The pics would almost fill the whole screen.

[@DinoBytes]

I loved doing that!

[@yawningmarmot]

I wonder what camera you use to shoot these reviews? The autofocus seems very nice!

[@DinoBytes]

Thanks! I use a Sony A6400

[@yawningmarmot]

@@DinoBytes Thanks for replying! I'll check it out :)

[@dct124]

Speed and convenience, well times haven't changed much 😂

[@dominiclester3232]

Great review, nice hat! (the CoolPix 100 selfie of you, looks better than you in the video, methinks)

[@DinoBytes]

Hah! Not sure if that's a complement or not, but I'll take it!

[@federicomondini205]

Hi, nice video and good tips, I just got my hands on this camera, and now I will have to find an old computer ti read it, do you know what is the value of this camera and for how Mitch I could sell it?

[@DinoBytes]

I don't think it's worth much, but you could see what they've gone for on eBay

[@79Hokie]

I still have mine! :-)

[@DinoBytes]

Your COOLPIX 100? Cool! I don't think I've met anyone who had one - what did you use it for, and have you used it recently?

[@79Hokie]

@@DinoBytes I have not used it recently. I still have my very first digital camera the Casio QV-30. Apparently the QV-30 was from 1996 and yes, finding a computer you can use these on can be a problem.

[@DinoBytes]

@@79Hokie I remember reviewing the QV 30 as well! Must do some Casios soon...

[@dct124]

I think this is the camera everyone mistakes as a iPhone in one of Mike Tyson ppv fights.

[@PaulWon]

Can you do one on the first fujifilm digital camera?

[@DinoBytes]

I'm trying to, but they're quite hard to get hold of...

[@GaryR55]

How about the first Sony CyberShot?

[@DinoBytes]

I've already reviewed it, the DSC F1.

[@CuddleMuffin_rr]

U should do a video on the Nokia n95 camera phone

[@DinoBytes]

That's a fine idea! I reviewed it when it came out...

[@klausphotobaer5754]

Colors remind me of early Mavicas by Sony !

[@DinoBytes]

I'll be reviewing one of those soon I hope!

[@Bolton115]

@@DinoBytes Floppy disks on standby!

[@DinoBytes]

@@Bolton115 ha ha! I have a Mavica arriving by post soon, hope it works!

[@ChaitanyaShukla2503]

It does seem like most camera makers have started to follow a certain blueprint these days and are quite hesitant to do things differently like we saw in early days of digital photography.

[@DinoBytes]

You're absolutely right - the products I've covered so far on this channel all look completely different, whereas today everything looks the same...

[@mohammadal-tamimi6287]

What you doing here Mr Townsend. There was no camcorders in the 18th century.

[@DinoBytes]

Er, what are you talking about?

[@mohammadal-tamimi6287]

@@DinoBytes You look like John Townsend from his youtube channel (Townsends)

[@DinoBytes]

@@mohammadal-tamimi6287 interesting channel! He has way more hair.

[@AmadoWildlifeVideos]

Mars bars do tend to overheat.

[@DinoBytes]

ventilated pockets

[@northpond6733]

My Coolpix 100 take only grayscale photo.

[@DinoBytes]

Was there a filter effect built in the menus?