Canyon Ferry Lake & Wildlife Management Area Photo Gallery by Dennis Rogers at pbase.com

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Dennis Rogers | profile | all galleries >> Canyon Ferry Lake & Wildlife Management Area

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Canyon Ferry Lake & Wildlife Management Area

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Dennis Rogers		21-Oct-2004 16:44
Hi Khalid, Thank you for your compliments. The 3700 has low light AF-assist, so focusing in low light is not a problem, although the 4200 seems to focus a bit faster in low light than the 3700. My assessment of the 3700's nighttime performance compared to the 4200 does not have anything to do with manual control over ISO, as noise was not objectionable in the 3700 night shots even with its auto-gain-up. It has purely to do with color rendition, with the 4200 being more accurate in the Night Landscape mode than the 3700 in the same mode. Color rendition in each camera is a function of the algorithms and CCDs used by Nikon, and the algorithms and CCDs are different for both cameras. I have recently discovered that the 4200 renders exceptionally good color for night shots just using the incandescent white balance setting. To see examples of this, check out any of the night images in my "Randoms" gallery. I did not experiment with the incandescent white balance setting in the 3700 for night shots. It may give excellent results with that setting, but I just don't know and I don't have that camera anymore. The 4200's auto-exposure has always been excellent in correctly exposing nighttime images, so I've never had problems with shutter time not lasting long enough. The only time I have to increase the exposure setting is when the light is too low for the maximum 4 second shutter time. I would certainly never discourage anyone from purchasing the 3700, as it takes excellent images. But in my experience, the 4200, while having softer images than the 3700, has better color rendition in nighttime images (although the 3700 auto-white balance does a better job in daytime in some limited settings). They each have their own advantages, and the 3700 images are certainly sharper straight out of the camera. One final thing, lately I've been setting the ISO to 100 for nighttime shots with the 4200. Noise is quite acceptable. Hope this helps. Best.

Khalid		21-Oct-2004 11:56
Hello, Great photos! I'm astonished. I'm currently contemplating the purchase of a Coolpix 3700, thanks to its size, apparent quality, and bonus features like 30fps movie mode and voice dictation. (The $100 rebate helps too!) The one aspect that leaves me concerned is its low light performance-- I would very much like to take nighttime and indoor shots along the lines of your Last Chance Gulch, Nighttime Brilliance, indoor coffee photos, etc. You note that your Coolpix 4200 "takes much better indoor pictures (especially in the Indoor/Party Scene Mode) and takes much better night shots". I'm trying to figure out why this is so. Both cameras have a minimum shutter speed of 4 seconds and neither offers a shutter priority or true manual mode, so these cannot be factors. The only meaningful difference I can see is that the 4200 lets you fix the ISO at 80, while the 3700 doesn't let you specify ISO and cranks it up to 200 at times. Does this account for most of the difference, or are there some other factors at play? Thanks to a Russian hacker, the 3700's ISO can now be fixed at 50 (or 100), overriding the auto-ISO that results in noisy photos at low light. The patched firmware, available at also allows the 3700 to save RAW images and improves the minimum shutter speed to 8 seconds. Do you think a 3700 modified in this manner will be able to handle shots like aforementioned ones of yours? And incidentally, in your low-light/nighttime shots, how do you get your 4200 to expose your photos long enough? It seems as much as point-and-shoot as the 3700. Many thanks! Khalid

Tim		22-Aug-2004 03:33
Your photo's are very impressive. I read the comment about looking at your "silver star" photo to see the 3700 isn't as good as the 4200. But after looking at that photo, it looks very good to me. Did you make a mistake and actually mean the picture next to it labeled "The Walkway"? To me that one isn't as good, but still not bad. I did notice one picture labeled as taken by the 3700, but the EXIF file showed it taken by the 4200. I forget which one. Was the "silver star" photo actually taken with the Nikon 3700?

Guest		02-Aug-2004 22:50
That's bad news, i hope you get it back very soon. Btw, thanks a lot for the NeatImage link. This little program is outstanding in noise removal, i think it's even better than PS noise removal. It takes quite some time using two different programs to edit an image though :-).

Dennis Rogers		02-Aug-2004 21:17
Thanks Norman. Much appreciated. The 3700 is a nice little camera. I've been borrowing it from a friend for the last couple weeks because I received a "lens error" on my 4200 that required me to send it in to Nikon for repair (under warranty thankfully). While I do like the 3700, I'm excited to get my 4200 back, as the 4200 provides more control over the picture taking process, is quicker, more ergonomic, and takes much better indoor pictures (especially in the Indoor/Party Scene Mode) and takes much better night shots. Also keep in mind that all of the 3700 pictures in this gallery have been touched up ~ color, contrast, and brightness adjusted in NikonView 6; and noise removal and sharpening in Neat Image. I do have one 3700 night shot in my Favorites gallery titled "Silver Star." It definitely shows weaknesses compared to the 4200 night shots.

Guest		02-Aug-2004 18:56
Very nice picturs indeed. It seems as this little 3700 is taking pictures as good as your second cam the 4200. Wow, wow, very romantic captures with and nice lights and colours.

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