[Ham-Computers] FS: Nikon Coolpix 4300 Digital Camera

[WA5CAB at cs.com]

Duane,

I unpacked the Nikon 4300 and looked it over with you as the user in mind.  
You should have no trouble with the battery or compact flash card installation 
or removal.  Both will go into the camera only one way.  I had no trouble 
identifying the proper orientation by feel.  The covers which must be opened to 
install or remove battery or card operate smoothly and with a positive feel to 
them when opening or closing.  The only trick to closing the battery cover on 
the battery is that the ejector spring holds the battery partway out of the 
compartment.  So you need to push the battery down against the spring before 
swinging the cover down and sliding it into lock position.  The compact flash 
compartment has an ejector button that pops up when a card is inserted fully.  So 
no tricks there.

The ON-OFF switch is easy to use, being a two-position rotary.  And the 
shutter button, which has a half-down position that operates the autofocus, has a 
nice positive feel to it.

The camera has an AUTO mode where almost all settings are made by the camera. 
 Exceptions are that with one of four buttons on the back of the camera, you 
can override the automatic flash control.  And with what seems to be 
generically known as a "Multi-Selector" (similar in concept a joy-stick except that you 
use your thumb to mash left, right, top or bottom) you can cycle through some 
display related options which would not matter to you as they have no effect 
on actual camera operation.  And maybe one or two other things.  There are 
four buttons in a row across the lower left back of the camera.  There are two 
more buttons on the back, high and low toward the right.  Plus the 
multi=selector more or less in the middle.  I don't think you would have any trouble 
knowing which one you were pressing.  And it does not seem likely that you would be 
prone to accidently press any of them while shooting.  There are no buttons on 
the front of the camera to avoid accidentally pressing (the 5700 has buttons 
on the left side of the lens that I have accidentaly pressed in the past, so I 
don't think I would recommed it for you even if you wanted to spend that kind 
of money).  The only thing on the front of the camera besides the lens that 
you will have to learn not to block with a finger is the flash window.  

The USB cable connector that plugs into the camera has a flat on it which 
will help with identification and orientation.  The other end is a standard flat 
USB connector.  The battery charger should be no problem for you.  The Nikon 
battery that the 4300 (and the 5700) use is not very expensive.  The camera 
comes with one.  And with one 8 megabyte memory card.  The video cable has a 
standard small phone plug on the camera end.

The rotary switch that I will call the main mode contol switch is on top of 
the camera toward the right and behind the shutter button.  This selects Auto, 
Playback, and some preprogrammed shooting modes supposedly optimised for 
things like scenery, portrait, etc.  Some of the functions can be changed using the 
menus visible on the rear LCD screen.  However, you would have to get someone 
to do the programming for you.  If you even need any of these features.  On 
the down side, the mode control switch, which does have good detents, can be 
rotated continuously in either direction.  And there is no tactile indication of 
what it is set on.  However, I think you could have someone drill a small 
hole and glue a small plastic bead into it, which would solve this problem.  But 
the four programming pushbuttons on the lower left cycle through their 
sequence one step each time you press the button.  And if one got pushed and changed 
the default setting, that could be a problem.  But, I just got out the camera 
again and confirmed that turning the camera off and back on again resets 
everything.  So that shouldn't be a problem.

Unlike the more expensive 5700 and D70 SLR, the 4300 has no built-in sound 
transducer.  Autofocus lock is indicated by a green lamp (but without the BEEP 
that the others make).  And flash ready by a red one.  It's possible that the 
flash discharge may make enough noise that you can tell whether it flashed or 
didn't.  But I can't promise that.  However, although the focus motor is quiter 
than in the larger cameras, you can hear it operating.  If you leave 
autofocus set to Continuous (the default), as you point the camera at objects at 
different distances you will hear the motor adjusting the focus.  When you press 
the shutter release button halfway down, the camera focuses and locks, the motor 
shuts up, and the green lock light comes on.  If it fails to lock, the green 
light blinks.  If the flash unit is going to be used, the red flash ready lamp 
comes on.  Neither of which will be of any help to you.  I just unpacked the 
camera again and confirmed that unlike the two larger cameras, the autofocus 
does not continue trying to lock.  So the motor noise won't be an indicator.  I 
suppose you could rig up two photocells and some sort of small audio 
oscillator to tell you when the lamps were on.  However, I think the thing to do, 
since the autofocus is really pretty good, is to just assume it locked.  You won't 
be wrong very often.

You can transfer photos from the camera to the computer in either of two 
ways.  What we do here is plug the flash card itself into one of the readily 
available flash card to USB adaptors and then plug the adaptor into a USB extension 
cable (all of our USB ports are on the back of the computer and relatively 
inaccessible).  If you install the Nikon View software that comes with the 
camera (and I'll burn the latest update to a CD and include it to save you having 
to download it), Nikon Transfer will automatically recognize the card and come 
up with a dialog box.  Someone would probably need to help you set this up but 
you can specify the destination folder and starting file name, or you can 
just use the file name assigned in the camera except that if you have two or more 
of the compact flash cards, you might end up with duplicate file names.  
Better probably to pick a short file name with a five or six digit sequence number 
starting at 00001 and just let it run.

Or you can connect the camera directly to the computer, which I did a few 
times until I bought the USB card reader.  This does require that the Nikon 
software be installed.

The software will run under Windows 98SE.  That was the last thing I 
remembered to check.  :-)

Or I think you can use the USB to flash card adaptor without the Nikon 
software, and let Windows sort it out (use Windows Explorer).  But I never actually 
tried this without the Nikon software installed.  I have connected the USB 
adaptor to the computer, shut down Nikon Transfer after it came up, and looked at 
the contents of the flash card with Windows Explorer.

If you have any questions, let me know.

In a message dated 4/9/2005 3:11:01 PM Central Daylight Time, 
dfischer at usol.com writes: 
> Robert,     
>     
> I realize this is a difficult question for you to respond to accurately, so 
> just
> give it your best guess.    
>     
> you know that I am totally blind. I have a keen sense of touch and no 
> dexterity
> issues. In your estimation Robert, would i be able to locate and distinguish 
> one
> button from another well enough to use the basic functions of this camera?
> Realizing that most of these digital cameras do everything but press the 
> shutter
> button for you to begin with.    
>     
> I have A Sony Maverick that uses the 3.5 inch diskette instead of a memory 
> card
> and does not need to be connected to a computer. I am able to use it without 
> any
> difficulties at all. However, a situation has arisen that a camera with a 
> direct
> interface to the computer would be better.    
>     
> Thank you for your candor.    
>     
> Please reply me off list at:    
> 

73
Robert Downs - Houston
<http://www.wa5cab.com> (Web Store)
MVPA 9480
<wa5cab at cs.com> (Primary email)
<wa5cab at houston.rr.com> (Backup email)