Looking for Answers about Nikon Inc. COOLPIX P7100?

I have used my SB800 as a flash and as a commander on the P7100.
The P7100 does NOT support a very few features of the Nikon CLS, most notably AutoFP (high speed sync above standard shutter speeds).
I have very easily used my SB400, SB600, and SB800 with great effect.
Last note, except for times when you need the extra "kick" of the SB600 or SB800, I would recommend the SB400 because it balances nicely on the camera.

Yes It works fine with CLS and with SU-800 just put all remote Speedlights SB-800, SB-600, SB-700 and SB-900 in group A this worked very fine with me even in close ups

Are you directly familiar with the camera, or are you speculating based on earlier models?

The P7100 page lists compatibilty with the SU-800 Commander, and the SU-800 page list compatibility with the P7100. This infers that the P7100 does have CLS capability.

Differences... the P7000 had mediocre operational speed and sometimes seemed to have confusing on-screen menus. It was a camera that I looked at seriously, but on which I passed. On the other hand, the P7100 has both highly improved operational speed compared to the P7000, the very useful command dial on the front of the camera, and what sold me was the flip-out LCD screen on the rear. There are other small improvements as well, but this serious/pro level compact has not only lived up to expectations, but as an owner can say that it has surpassed them as well. The bokeh is far better than expected.

The only shortfall at this point is the apparent shortage of the EN-EL14 Rechargeable Li-ion batteries, and one can only hope that this is just a temporary situation.

The P7000 is not a speed demon of a camera and whilst neither is the P7100 (I wish Nikon had used the Expeed 3 processor) it is slightly faster than the P7000. Other differeences are the front dial which works really well and the articulated screen at the back. It also has HDR in camera capability and also you can create panaramas. The P7100 gets rid of most the problems that the P7000 had and is now as good as the Canon G12 (which the P7000, should have been). It isn't a bad camera and has many good points over cameras like the V1 (ergonomically and the ability to mount a normal flash) but the speed of the 1 series cameras put the P7100 to shame.

Sorry, small mistake the front IR is just below "NIKON "

One on the front just below the shutter release button and the other in the rear next to the menu button

For the P7100, the top Continuous shooting is 1.2 frames per second.

Longtime street shooter: I use my hand to approximately cover the lens and viewing system; not perfect nor stylish but it works. Alternatively: an 18% Grey Card.

http://www.nikonusa.com/Nikon-Products/Product/Remote-Cords/4730/ML-L3-Wireless-Remote-Control-(Infrared).html#tab-ProductDetail.ProductTabs.CompatibleWith

The PDF of the docs show up very well on the kindle fire. Even the illustrations can be enlarged.

I shoot only in NRW and have not noticed any delay in writing images from buffer to the memory card. I am also using a memory card that is rated for 45 MB/s and can hold down the shutter release for a minute or more without pause.

Try a card that is rated for at least 30 MB/s and you will notice a huge speed increase.

As with any other new format it takes time for software developers to get a patch out that will support the new file format.

Just be glad that Photoshop 5 is still the latest version out there. When I upgraded last year to the d7000, they phased out support for the new RAW format for the older Adobe software and I had to upgrade to Photoshop CS5 and Lightroom 3 - that was an addtional $400 I wasn't planning to spend.

As long as you have the current version of the software, the developer should send out a patch in the next 60-90 days.

The P7100, has an 28-200mm zoom lens (x7.1). It is very much the top of the line compact/bridge camera that Nikon make. The advantage of it is that it is ergonomically great, with lots of dials and controls on the camera. It is aimed at more experienced users, who already have a DSLR.

For manual focus and what you are doing, I recommend a cannon camcorder or a DSLR; most cannon camcorders have manual focus. If you want a mic input, then get the cannon T2I, 60D, 7D or the Nikon D5100/ D7000. If you really want this camera, a trick I use to get a rack focus effect on a point and shoot is to hold my hand about an inch in front of the lens, let the auto focus focus on my hand, then I remove my hand. The camera automatically focuses on the main object, sometimes slowly.
Bottom Line: If you want to do more serious photography, I would get a DSLR. Don't waste your time with advanced digitalis.

Yes. And it will also work with most of the current Nikon CLS flashes (with slightly reduced functionality).

Yes, these work.

The P7100 is not able to take multiple exposures on the same frame.
For this you will likely need to look at one of the D-SLR products.
The manuals for these are available by going to:
http://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/13948#Anchor-9

It may take a bit of searching, but these manuals will let you know exactly the features supported by each camera.

No, the only remote supported for shutter release is the ML-L3.
There is no bulb shutter setting, but in M (manual) mode you can set it for up to 60 seconds.

You can use most of the functionality of the CLS with the P7100.
The functions not supported (that I can remember right now) are AutoFP, more than one wireless group (can only use group A with a commander), and no autofocus assist.
The non-printable manual available for download goes into quite a bit of detail about this. I highly recommend downloading and reading through to see if the functionality of this camera will work for you.

There is not a fisheye lens, but there is a wide angle adapter with a 0.75 diopter. You would also need to get the adapter mount for it.

Yes. It is on the left side of the body.

After rereading the relevant sections of the user's manual and then experimenting with the P7100 some more, I realized on my own THE SOURCE OF MY PROBLEM: I was trying to make the picture control changes take effect through the Shooting Menu, which is the wrong place for that in the P7100 -- though that is where one does it in a Nikon DSLR such as the D300. Instead, I should have used the Quick Menu, which is unique to the P7100 (and the P7000). Unfortunately, the manual does not make this sufficiently clear. It fails to point out, in unmistakable terms, the key distinction between what you can and cannot do with the Shooting Menu, and what you can do only in the Quick Menu.

The presence of the Custom Picture Control option at the top of the Shooting Menu initially led me to think that I could BOTH make changes in the settings and make them take effect there. It turns out, the ONLY THING you can do there is to customize the settings for Custom 1 and Custom 2, nothing more. So, why is it there at all?

The settings for white balance, ISO, image quality, image size and automatic bracketing can be changed and activated ONLY through the Quick Menu; they are not available in the Shooting Menu. But, strangely, this is not the case with the custom picture control settings. Those settings can be activated ONLY through the Quick Menu but they can be changed in BOTH the Quick Menu and the Shooting Menu. This doesn't make sense; something that's already in one menu shouldn't also be in another, especially if it's in the second menu only in a very limited form. In the P7100, Nikon should do for the picture control settings what it has done for the white balance, ISO, image quality, image size and automatic bracketing settings -- make them the EXCLUSIVE domain of the Quick Menu for the sake of simplicity and to avert confusion among users.

Anyway, it was a huge relief when I found the answer to my problem. So far, the P7100 appears to be a really good camera -- it's probably the best Coolpix ever and a worthwhile replacement for my P7000, which I have sold. It seems to have retained all the good features and capabilities that made the P7000 such fun to use and to have successfully addressed practically all the shortcomings of the previous model.

I am posting this update to my question in case other P7100 users encounter the same initial quandary I had about the camera's implementation of the picture control feature.

The SB-80 DX is a much older flash, released in 2002. You might well be able to use the flash manually but I am not sure that it would work with TTL as it wasn't able to work with any DSLR apart from the D1x and D100. I would suggest the SB400 or 600 as being the best Nikon flashes for the camera, due to their size, though I have used an SB800 on mine and if you know how to hold it, the size isn't a big problem.