P700o Focussing

[Grassgrower]

HI, I've had my P7000 since the end of July, not knowing a P7100 was on the way. Compared to my old Canon G10 this is just rubbish. The P7000 takes an age to focus properly and when I went to see Iron Maiden in Manchester couldn't get a single shot using it in manual mode even with the lens wide open. There are other problems with this camera as well. My view is that a camera that can't focus properly isn't fit for purpose, especially as this is one of the selling points for the P7100 - improved focussing, and hope just this defect will give me a reason to return it under the sale of goods act (although I would accept an exchange for the P7100.

Does anyone out there have any views on this please

Thanks in advance....Steve

 

[srichards]

What's it like focussing under bright conditions? What focus mode are you using if it has options eg centre weighted, spot etc?

Not many compact/bridge cameras will focus in concert conditions. Unless you specifically mentioned that when you bought it and the sales person said it was good for low light then I don't think you could return it just for low light focussing issues. If it doesn't focus well in normal light either then you'd have a better chance.

 

[lostinfrance]

I had the same probelems with my P7000,I returned it to Nikon UK and when I got it back it was like the camera should have been.When I spoke to Nikon they said they could not find a fault with it but cleaned the lens (on a 4 week old camera).Was out with it this morning on a very gray day and focused every time.
Yes it has had its issues but i think its a very capaable bit of kit that gives very good results and the macro mode is very good

 

[Sootchucker]

I aslo have a P7000, and whilst there are certainly some occasions where the focussing is quite poor (low light and contrast scenes), on a recent holiday to Mexico I took this as my only camera as I knew we would be doing a lot of walking seeing the Mayan sights.

I shot over 1200 photos outdoors in good light, poor light, dreadful light and indoors with / without flash. Out of those 1200 shots I can honest say only about 20 were OOF, and of those at least 10 were due to a hand held shutter spped of less than ½ seconds (well you have to try don't you).

I've since printed at least 15 of these to 16"x12", and honestly, I can't tell very much difference between the quality of these, and images taken on my D300 or D3 (obviously I'm only referring to base ISO). I personally think it's a great camera, hopefully now made even better by the announcment of the P7100.

I really do think the whole focussing issue has been blown out of all proportion. Here's some examples

 

[Grassgrower]

Great pictures by the way

I've tried it in all circumstances in everything from daylight to the MEN Arena and pretty much all modes and everytime I press the shutter button expecting it to focus it seems to take two attempts everytime to get it right, whereas I never had any of the same problems with my old G10 (traded for the P7000) in fact I only went for the Nikon as I have D7000 & a D300s as well otherwise I think I would have gone for the G12

Thanks for the comments though, but I think I'll probably try to return it & go for the P7100 which is supposed to have cured the problem !!