I get really excited when I hear about new cameras coming out.  I’m a very gadget-oriented and have way too many toys that do so many things that I don’t need or won’t use.  That doesn’t stop me from wanting the next big thing though.

Unfortunately, the next big thing sometimes turns out to be an over-hyped flop. Here’s 5 cameras that have failed to live up to their hype.

1. Nikon Coolpix P6000.  The P6000 was supposed to be great because it enabled photographers to capture RAW images and, therefore, should directly compete with the Canon G10.  Unfortunately, the P6000 didn’t quite live up to the hype. Image quality was nowhere near that found on the Canon G10, which succeeded the very popular G9 (another RAW shooter).

Feature for feature, the Nikon P6000 is a pretty good match-up to the Canon G10. Unfortunately, it fails to deliver where it really matters – image quality.  Perhaps Nikon got a little pixel-happy by stuffing 13.5 megapixels onto a tiny sensor that probably just needed about 6 or 8 megapixels.  Maybe some day camera manufacturers will go back to making compact cameras with image quality as the end-result in mind, instead of letting marketing continue to push the megapixel hype. [Read more…]