Canon A40 for a Nikon Coolpix 990? NEED HELP

[King-Kong]

A friend is offering me his Nikon Coolpix 990 for my Canon A40 and perhaps a difference of $150 to $200.

Should I take it? I want more from my camera, and ive been thinking about getting a macro lense for it and a telephoto lense (which will cost about $150-200), but basically i want other peoples opinion.

My worries w/ the Nikon are the following: lots of noise for long exposures (my a40 has 0 noise for fairly long exposures aslong as my ISO is low, like 50)

and, that it was released in 2000 -- is its quality as great now, 2-3 years later?

Give me what YOU WOULD DO -- i want more from my camera, and im not satisfied with my A40 at its current abilities.

please help!

thanks!

-Carlos

[rick000]

Look at what you are getting. Would you rather have a new camero or a used corvette. The deal he is offering you is about what you would expect to pay for the nikon used (cost of a40 plus $200). With the nikon you are getting a lot more features and capabilities and higher megapixel but you are getting older technology that does not perform as well (purple fringing, not as good color balance, lots of noise with long exposure etc.) It is a similar dilema that I faced when deciding weather to buy a canon or a nikon but reversed. For the price of an a40 I could get a new nikon that would perform better (better focus, better macros without addon lenses etc.), but would lose all the features and manual controls as well as the ability to attach lenses. I chose to go with the canon to get the capabilities and lose some performance and I am very happy with my decision. Which is more important to you. The canon with better performance (or at least better picture quality due to age of technology) or the nikon with a lot better capabilities and features but worse picture quality and two years old. Your third option (just to help put the trade into perspective) is to get the best of both worlds, the features and performance beter than the a40 by buying a new nikon. This would cost you $800 or more though. It really is just a trade off between performance (and a new camera) and features (and a used camera). Do you want the used corvette or the new camero?

[delphinus]

Before you trade in your a40 with 990, maybe you can share with us on what new abilities that you are looking for? Personal opinion only, but I will be getting a camera primarily to take good picture. You have already mentioned that 990 produces lots of noise, and for me that would be a straight no to the trade in.

Delphin

[Eddy_NL]

Take it and sell it on eBay!!!
I used A40 for 2 months and wasn't happy with it even if it has many features.
IT PERFORMED VERY BAAAAAAAD ESPECIALLY IN LOW LIGHT CONDITION. THE PICS WERE TOOOOO RED!!! THE BODY IS MADE FROM CHEAP PLASTIC. 35% OUT OF 100% THE PICS TURNED RED AND OUT OF FOCUS. About the noise it's true, very low noise. But still FINGERS UP!
I sold it out for EUR200 (about USS185,- that's 4 months a go). Then I turned to Ixus 330/PS330.
My suggest is : TAKE IT, AND SELL IT ON EBAY AND USE THE MONEY TO BUY G2.