22/03/2013
Nikon Coolpix P100: Handling and features
The Coolpix P100 is very lightweight for a machine of its capability, but despite this it feels well put together with no play in the controls or creaky panels or switches. While its grip is not as large as you would find on a DSLR, it is bigger than you’ll find on the average compact camera, making this a good choice for those of us with bigger hands. The top of the camera is home to a large, chunky mode dial where users can choose between the usual P, A, S, M modes as well as a Scene modes, Smile mode (which trips the shutter when it detects that your subject is happy enough), Focus Tracking mode and a dedicated High Speed Sports mode which captures at up to 240 frames per second for slow-motion analysis.
A large chunky command dial is great for people with larger hands.
The Nikon Coolpix P100 has a simple control layout on the back.
The built-in flash sits over the lens and electronic viewfinder.
The articulating screen is useful for low-angle and high viewpoint shooting.
Also present here is a zoom control and a power switch. Nearby, on the back of the camera are controls for starting and stopping video capture (surrounded by a collar for selecting HD mode), and a thumbwheel for controlling apertures and shutter speeds. A familiar four-way control is used for navigating the camera’s menu and reviewing images, while doubling up as shortcuts to flash mode, macro, exposure compensation and self timer settings. It’s a familiar set up that works well, and Nikon have avoided some all too common mistakes by making sure these controls are large enough to operate in the cold with big fingers, as well as labeling them white on black for ease of readability.
The rear of the camera is also home to a 3in viewscreen used for reviewing images and displaying menus. This contains 460,000pixels and performs well in most conditions. This is a variable angle LCD screen which can be angled up and down, but sadly not swung horizontally or turned around and faced inwards for protection.
Nikon Coolpix P100: Performance
Compact and bridge cameras are always going to be slower in operation than their DSLR cousins, and the Coolpix P100 is about average here - no better and no worse than other bridge cameras we’ve seen. While the CMOS sensors allows for some neat high-speed photographic trickery, the camera still backs out for over a second between shots, takes a second and a half to power up, and exhibits a noticeable (but not crippling) shutter lag. AF performance is on the sluggish side too, although the focus tracking option seemed to work well, following a subject around the frame with relatively good accuracy. While the camera’s powerful zoom and high-speed modes do make it suited to sports photography, it won’t cope with action in the same way a DSLR would.
Despite getting the exposure right, the Coolpix P100 struggled to hold highlights in sunny, contrasty conditions.
The P100 handles more delicate scenes better, recording subtle colour gradients like this without introducing JPEG artifacts.Exposure
The P100's exposure metering was disappointing, with over exposure being a common occurrence. By the end of my time with the camera, I found myself nearly always applying some form of negative exposure compensation, although this was never the same from shot to shot. The camera also really struggled with dynamic range, blowing highlights very easily indeed. With no Raw capture mode, it’s impossible to rescue these in post production.
Colour
As a consequence of these problems colours sometimes looked washed out too, and images from the Coolpix P100 exhibited a very plasticky, over-processed look – almost like frame-grabs from a video camera. Noise is well controlled at ISO160, the lowest sensitivity, although this looks like the result of aggressive noise reduction processing (that would certainly explain the overtly digital look of the camera’s images). Over ISO400 though, it’s a different story with images being noisy and only really suitable for small use of the web.
Battery
The P100 runs from a single, small rechargeable battery, and we’d recommend keeping a spare on you at all times: the unit in our test sample hadn’t got the longest life in the world and, strangely, the camera’s battery indicator only comes on when battery is about to need replacing. A bit more warning, in the form of a regular battery gauge split into increments of: full, three-quarters, half, one-quarter, and nearly dead would be much appreciated.
Video
Image quality in the video department is not hugely impressive either. The same blown highlights are present, although motion is recorded smoothly and without any jerkiness. The large stereo microphone on top of the camera pics up sound well, although this sadly includes any zoom or focusing activity too.
Lens
It's frankly amazing that the Coolpix P100’s lens can do what is does in such a small package, and obviously there have been design compromises to get to this point. All megazoom compacts show less-than-stellar lens optical performance and the P100 is no exception. We saw a fair amount of flare in sunny conditions (there's no lens hood), and chromatic aberration, in the form of purple fringing, is significant at longer zoom settings. You’d expect to see distortion in a lens like this, and sure enough there is plenty of pin-cushion at the telephoto end and barrel at wider settings.
A shot using the P100 at the widest zoom setting.
Zooming in using the gargantuan zoom keeps rowers close by.
Nikon Coolpix P100: Verdict
There are many megazoom compacts on the market and the image-quality problems we’ve described here are common to many of them – not just the Coolpix P100. There are always compromises associated with cramming a feature set like this into a tiny body, and that’s the choice you make when you buy such a camera. The P100 offers an amazing amount of features and is a very enjoyable camera to use. You can do a lot with it and it should appeal to the gadget fan who is more into specification than pixel-peeping.
That said, while the 26x zoom lens is impressive as a concept, I think it might be a case of ‘feature-greed’. When zoomed to the equivalent of 678mm any camera is almost impossible to hand hold. Even if the vibration reduction features do their job, it’s still very difficult to frame a scene with any accuracy. Reducing the zoom magnification ratio may also help improve image quality, which is sadly lacking on this camera.
Nikon Coolpix P100: Pros
Lightweight and small.
Decent build quality
Amazing zoom ratio
HD video capture
High speed settings
