Tired of red-eye? This is your camera!

I purchased my Nikon Lite Touch Zoom 140 in June of 2002. The sleek, compact, classy design and elegant touches of gold on the camera were instant eye-catchers. More importantly, I had heard nothing but positive things about this camera’s performance, and I was looking for a lightweight, reliable camera with a good zoom. The model I purchased has the dating feature, but that’s something I may never use. I don’t want those glaring digits emblazoned on the front of my pictures…I’m hoping the 35mm point and shoot cameras of the future will imprint dates on the BACK of pictures!

After shooting some test rolls of film on a couple of weekend trips in 2002, I put my Nikon to its first BIG test on a 7-day cruise in February 2003. I used only ISO 400 film, and the majority of my photos – both indoors and out – were clear, true to color, and beautifully exposed. One of this camera’s most amazing strengths is the way it eliminates red-eye WITHOUT using the red-eye reduction feature! I was in a hurry most of the time – scrambling to capture those fleeting “kodak moments” – and I forgot to even think about setting my camera to the red-eye reduction mode. You can imagine how pleased I was to see that my smart little camera did the thinking for me!

Another wonderful feature of this camera is its fill-in flash. In one series of photos, the subjects were brilliantly backlit, and the flash performed to perfection, yielding correct exposure, lighting, and color in every backlit photograph.

The only disappointment I have experienced with this camera was when I used the full zoom range of 170mm indoors with a fair (not bright) amount of lighting. The pictures came out hazy and underexposed, but I found out from a fellow reviewer that it may perform better with 800 speed film (I have used ISO 400 exclusively since I’ve had this camera). I have heard conflicting opinions about the use of higher-speed film; one of my friends said her photos (taken with an Olympus zoom P&S camera) turned out dark and grainy when she experimented with ISO 800 film. Anyway, I plan to try it in my Nikon the next chance I get when I will be taking pictures indoors at a concert or other similar event.

HOWEVER, let me emphasize that the camera performed beautifully during a concert on the cruise ship where I was very close to the stage and I zoomed in partially. I had only stage lighting to work with, and the pictures turned out sharp and clear as long as I did not fully extend the zoom to 170mm (I was close enough that I didn’t need to). I am going to try out the 800 film next time I go to a concert and zoom out to 170mm…it will be interesting to see how the pictures turn out! I have learned that long zoom ranges are a common weakness in cameras of the point-and-shoot variety, especially in low light. I will try it with ISO 800 film, and hope my pictures turn out better than my friend's did with her Olympus.