I've had mine for about 2 weeks now - it's brilliant in almost every respect (sadly, the S-AF is a little slow, but I can work around that).
I was going to buy myself a wonderful Leica MP but can't really see a future for 35mm film, hence my decision to jump at the 8800.
Good Stuff:
1. I wanted a camera that I'm willing to carry around easily, I got it. 8MP, 35-350 zoom lens, Nikon build.
2. Good zoom length with a reasonable quality lens - nice and bright.
3. Superb exposure - I almost always use the Matrix metering (spot comes second).
4. 8MP - at last good sized prints are a viable option - the common purple fringing doesn't seem to be in evidence on the 8800.
5. VR - vibration reduction - WOW. With a steady hand I can now handhold the camera, with the lens set to 350mm, at speeds of down to 1/60th!!! My reasons for buying a Leica are almost gone ... the 8800 really does let you take candid photos!
6. Scene modes ... I'd normally not bother with these, but the Panaorama Assist Mode (with the bundled Arcsoft Panaorama software) is truly amazing. CloseUp mode is as good as any I've seen on any camera.
7. Good quality body and very well built.
8. Ergonomically sound - the most commonly used functions have 'hard' buttons on the camera body as well as being hidden in the menus.
9. Possible one of the best features is a new jpeg compression mode. You still have BASIC, NORMAL and FINE jpeg modes,in addition to HI (tiff) and RAW. Nikon have added 'EXTRA' (jpeg), to fit snugly between Fine and Hi. EXTRA is twice the size of FINE, compressed by 1/2 as opposed to 1/4. In use, a 1 Gb CF card gives you 250ish images in 8MP/FINE and 128 images when the camera is set to 8MP/EXTRA.
What could be improved?
1. AF is, as I said above, not up to SLR standards - and I know that's stating the obvious, but it's a fact.
2. 'ISO' range is 50 - 400. I'd have liked an 800 option too.
3. Even with a 1.0Gb Sandisk Ultra II (66x) it can sometimes be a little slow to write to the card.
4. Only 35mm at it's widest. Yes, you can buy additional WA lenses but the 28 equivalent is about $150 and the Fisheye is double that price.
OVERALL
I'm very happy with my buy - The results are outstanding and I can now realistically take shots at 350mm without a tripod and get a high percentage of good results.
I got it from
www.internetcamerasdirect.co.uk for £620 inc postage. Rock on!