Digital Camera Review: Nikon Coolpix P100

The Nikon Coolpix P100 is a prosumer grade camera that has some solid features to make it a noteworthy choice for advanced amateurs.

WHEN I first read the press release for the Nikon Coolpix P100, I was immediately attracted to it. Like a nail to a magnet, I was drawn to the idea of having its DSLR-like manual modes to play around with, the lengthy 26x optical zoom and full HD video recording.

Thankfully I managed to get hold of the P100 before my recent trip to Hainan Island and I was truly impressed at the capabilities of the camera.

First of all, it fit snugly and comfortably in my hands. With the right amount of grip and at the right places, you will not mind holding the camera.

It is not particularly heavy and although it is heavier than the Nikon Coolpix L110, it gives the camera a solid feeling.

I had a chance to hold the new Nikon Coolpix L110 as well but somehow the dimensions of the P100 felt more at home in my small hands.

There were a slew of other cameras on this trip — a simple point-and-shoot Canon Ixus camera, a Nikon D90, an Olympus E-620 and a Canon 30D. The P100 fared pretty well with its competition.

Friendly features

It takes the P100 about three seconds to warm up and get that shot which is speedy enough to catch that smile or that moment.

The 26x optical zoom served its purpose with aplomb as I was able to get the most close-up picture even though I was lazy. For example, when I visited the Nanshan Cultural Tourism Zone in Sanya, there was a 108m statue of Guan Yin and I was able to get a really close up shot of her face with the P100’s optical zoom fully extended. It was amazing. I was so proud of the P100 that it could get the shot and not only that, the photo was evenly exposed and clear.

The 26x optical zoom coupled with 10.3-megapixels really gives a good chance for your pictures to be usable.

Picture quality may suffer quite a bit and seem a lot softer than DSLRs but really you cannot complain with the P100’s ease-of-use, price and capabilities.

Other bright spots

The swivel LCD screen is also very appealing and helpful when there are the hard to reach shots. I was stuck in a sea of people in a family village and due to my height, I had to hold up the camera above my head and tilt the LCD screen to take the shot of the homecoming parade. It was very handy indeed.

HANDY: The swivel LCD screen is also very appealing
and helpful when there are hard to reach shots.

On top of that, the LCD works well in sunlight.

The electronic viewfinder is a good addition and is conveniently accessed via the EVF button but the only gripe I have is the resolution. It makes the viewfinder quite unpleasant to use.

There is a dedicated button for the full HD video recording function, which allows you to start recording almost immediately.

There are two modes — the HD for high definition and the HS mode is for slow / fast motion playback.

It also records in stereo. The quality of the video is generally smooth and it takes the camera approximately three seconds to start filming.

Conclusion

The one thing that would have made the P100 the perfect travel camera would be if it had a better way to protect the lens.

The lens cap is annoying and bulky. Had it been automated it would have really been a good a plus point.

The battery life of the camera is also good. I could use it constantly over two days with a single charge.

Overall, I really enjoyed using the Nikon Coolpix P100 and I was really happy to have this snappy camera as a travelling companion. Even in low light, it was able to capture photos admirably.

Pros: Long optical zoom; HD recording; swivel LCD screen; good image quality.

Cons: Electronic Viewfinder could be better; cumbersome lens cap.

Nikon Coolpix P100
Prosumer compact camera
SENSOR: 10.3-megapixels
VIEWFINDER: 3in vari-angle TFT LCD
LENS: 4.6-120mm, f/2.8- f/5.0 (35mm equivalent); 26x zoom
ISO RANGE:160 - 3200
EXPOSURE MODES: Program, Auto, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Manual, Scene modes
VIDEO MODES: 1080p HD at 30fps
STORAGE: SD Card (SDHC-compatible); 43MB internal
INTERFACE: High-speed USB
OTHER FEATURES: Vibration reduction
BATTERY: Rechargeable EN-EL5
DIMENSIONS (W x D x H): 114.4 × 82.7 × 98.6mm (excluding projections)
WEIGHT: 481g (without batteries of memory card)

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Digital Camera: Nikon D3S Review

The D3S has only a few updates over its predecessor, but the changes are where they matter most.

IT SEEMS to be the time for updates on Nikon cameras this year  with the release of the D300s and now the D3S, Nikon has been steadily updating their cameras with HD video and a bunch of tweaks.

With the D3S, Nikon has not only added HD video recording to the D3, but has also improved the noise reduction on it and thanks to that, the camera now has an even more unbelievable top ISO setting of 102,400 (up from the D3’s ISO 25,600).

So what you get is a new DSLR with even better High ISO performance and video recording as well. I’m certainly not complaining.

The real question is whether the new noise reduction techniques result in better quality at the more common ISO ranges? That’s what I’ll find out in this review.

As usual, since this is essentially a professional camera, I’ll assume that you know the basics and skip right down to the important stuff like handling and performance.

Body

The D3S retains the same body and control scheme as the D3 — no surprises there especially if you’re used to the control scheme of Nikon’s professional DSLRs, which is similar but always slightly different from the semi-pro and consumer models.

The one addition is the dedicated Live View button which now joins the plethora of buttons on the back.

SIMILAR, BUT DIFFERENT: The back the
D3S has a dedicated Live View button.

One interesting change is that the D3S now only accepts CompactFlash Type I cards — not surprising, since the days of MicroDrives are now officially over and all CompactFlash cards existing today are the thinner, flash memory-based ones.

Although the image sensor remains at 12.1-megapixels like the D3, the D3S’ image sensor has actually been extensively redesigned and with it comes even better light sensitivity — the calibrated ISO settings top out at ISO 12,800, which means its a whole stop better than the ISO 6,400 maximum in the D3.

In ISO boost mode, the D3S can go all the way to a whopping ISO 102,400 where the D3 only topped out at ISO 25,600!

Of course, in ISO boost mode, there is definitely going to be noise and loss of detail, but when you consider that during the days of film, when ISO settings only reached a maximum of ISO 6400 and produced images that were far noisier than the D3S’ ISO 102,400, you’ll start to appreciate how far I’ve come in technology in just a few short years.

The other new feature added on to the D3S is of course, 720p video recording, which is the current “must-have” feature in almost every new DSLR on the market.

More interestingly, Nikon has added a nifty in-camera RAW image processing feature which allows you to tweak such things as white balance, High ISO noise reduction and even exposure compensation after you take the shot.

Of course, since this is the RAW data, making these changes will not actually affect the RAW file but merely tags the data on and will only be permanently locked in when you convert the file to JPEG or TIFF on the PC.

MIC IN: Aside from the standard video, 
HDMI and power ports, the D3S now 
features a stereo microphone input.

However, this feature is really useful, since it allows you to make these changes on the camera itself when you’re in the field, which saves you some work having to go through and tweak each photo on the PC before conversion after every assignment.

That’s about it for the major changes, really — there are far fewer changes here than say, in the D300S, but the changes are quite significant.

Handling and build quality are practically the same as on the D3, which means that the D3S should be able to take quite a beating and a light shower, thanks to the magnesium alloy body and weather sealing.

Oh yes, like the D300S, the D3S also gains the new Q (for “quiet”) mode which is supposed to be a little quieter by slowing down the mirror and separating that from the shutter sound.

Q mode actually does lessen the decibel level somewhat when taking pictures, but it still can be heard.

Picture quality

When I tested the D3 a while back I was blown away by its High ISO performance — I stated then that I would without hesitation shoot at ISO settings up to 3,200 and be confident that I’d still get very sharp, low-noise images.

Well, I have to say that the D3S has blown that record out of the water. I wouldn’t hesitate to use the D3S all the way to ISO 6,400, where even at this setting, noise was only very slightly higher in the shadows than the practically noise-free settings from ISO 200-3200.

Even at ISO 12,400 the D3S produced perfectly usable results, although there was some noise visible and a slight but noticeable loss of detail due to the noise reduction being applied.

Of course, the D3S doesn’t stop there — this camera has three more ISO settings in boost mode, ending in a whopping ISO 102,400.

Just to give you an idea just how sensitive this is, I actually managed to take a photo at 1/30sec in a darkened room of an object lit only by the light of my netbook’s LCD screen!

In fact, light levels were so low that neither I nor the camera’s autofocus had enough light to be able to focus the lens — I actually had to turn on Live View mode and manually focus based on that.

Of course, at this point, noise levels were pretty high and there was a definite colour shift in the image, but the fact that the camera could even capture such a shot handheld was amazing.

At lower, saner ISO settings like ISO 200 or 400, the D3S really shines — images were top-notch and I couldn’t fault it in any way.

As far as video goes, the D3S produced very good quality 720p videos, and autofocus in Live View mode seems to have improved as well, although it’s still pretty slow.

An interesting point to note is that Nikon has added a flicker reduction setting which allows you to switch the camera’s refresh rate to either 50Hz or 60Hz.

This is to reduce banding that usually occurs when shooting video under fluorescent lighting, a phenomenon that happens because the camera’s video refresh rate is in sync with the fluorescent tube’s flickering.

As usual, if you are interested to view the photos for our ISO noise tests, you can download them at bit.ly/7Va8cA. Remember to download them full size and not just view them on the site.

Conclusion

Overall, the D3S isn’t that much different from its predecessor except in two major areas — High ISO performance and video recording.

However, these two changes are actually pretty significant and makes an already highly-regarded professional DSLR even more useful.

So the usual question arises about whether it’s worth upgrading from a D3 to a D3S — the answer is actually whether your business revolves around shooting photos in low-light situations such as weddings or sporting events.

If you do, then the D3S’ one-stop advantage over the D3 could make all the difference when trying to get the shot.

So what I’m saying is that if this is important to you, then you will be really happy with the D3S if you can afford it.

While Nikon has yet to feature 1080p video recording like its main competitor, the 720p video on the D3S is already good enough for most people, especially since this DSLR’s primary function is as a still camera and not a videocam.

Pros: Incredible high ISO performance; improves upon an already excellent DSLR; loads of features.

Cons: No 1080p video recording.

Professional DSLR 
Manufacturer: Nikon Corp

Sensor: 12.1-megapixels (4,256 x 2,832-pixels) 

Shutter: 30sec – 1/8,000sec, plus B 

ISO range: 200 – 12800 (ISO Boost up to ISO 102,400) 

Exposure modes: P, S, A, M 

Viewfinder: Optical

Battery: EN-EL4a (2,500mAh) 

Storage: Dual CompactFlash Type-I

Interface: USB 2.0, composite video out, HDMI, microphone 

Other features:720p video recording, Live View 

Dimensions (W x H x D): 16.0 x 15.7 x 8.8cm 

Weight: 1,240g






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Lens: Nikon AF-S DX Micro Nikkor 85mm f3.5G ED VR Review

Take close-up images of small things with the versatile Nikon Micro Nikkor 85mm macro lens.

The AF-S DX Micro Nikkor 85mm f/3.5G ED VR lens from Nikon is a compact macro lens that is perfect for those itching to try their hands at macro photography.

I was really impressed at just how compact and lightweight the lens was when I first got a hold of it. The lens doesn’t add much bulk or weight to the camera when attached.

Weighing just 355g, the Nikkor 85mm felt really light compared to our Nikkor 105mm macro lens which now feels as heavy as a tank.

Also, the length of the lens is relatively short as it’s no longer than a Nikkor 60mm lens. Because of this the lens easily fits nicely in any camera bag without adding significant weight.

Being lightweight does come at a cost though as it’s mostly constructed using plastic. It definitely doesn’t feel cheap but still lacks the solid feel of other macro lenses.

When mounted on a Nikon D90, the Nikkor 85mm felt comfortable to use. The extra large focus rings turns very smoothly and gives the feeling that you are in complete control of your focusing.

This in turn helps give you the extra precision needed to focus while in manual mode.

On the left side of the lens there is a handy switch for toggling autofocus and manual override.

As it’s an internal focus lens, the lens itself doesn’t extend or rotate while focusing. Also, Nikon’s Silent Wave motor technology makes focusing smooth and noiseless.

The lens has a Vibration Reduction feature to reduce camera shake, which photographers will find useful when shooting without a tripod.

Admittedly, VR means little on a macro lens considering that you’ll be using a tripod for most macro shots but it is still a nice addition to have.

To be clear, the Nikkor 85mm is a DX specific lens that works well with DX format cameras such as the Nikon D90 and D5000.

The downside to this is that when the lens is used with a FX format full-frame cameras, like the recently reviewed Nikon DX3, images will get cropped.

Still, the good news is that the lens is versatile and autofocus works on even entry-level DSLR cameras such as the D40, D3000 and D5000.

SHORTER: The Nikkor 85mm lens is slightly shorter
than the Nikkor 105mm and is much lighter.

Also, the length of the lens is relatively short as it’s no longer than a Nikkor 60mm lens. Because of this the lens easily fits nicely in any camera bag without adding significant weight.

Being lightweight does come at a cost though as it’s mostly constructed using plastic. It definitely doesn’t feel cheap but still lacks the solid feel of other macro lenses.

When mounted on a Nikon D90, the Nikkor 85mm felt comfortable to use. The extra large focus rings turns very smoothly and gives the feeling that you are in complete control of your focusing.

This in turn helps give you the extra precision needed to focus while in manual mode.

On the left side of the lens there is a handy switch for toggling autofocus and manual override.

As it’s an internal focus lens, the lens itself doesn’t extend or rotate while focusing. Also, Nikon’s Silent Wave motor technology makes focusing smooth and noiseless.

The lens has a Vibration Reduction feature to reduce camera shake, which photographers will find useful when shooting without a tripod.

Admittedly, VR means little on a macro lens considering that you’ll be using a tripod for most macro shots but it is still a nice addition to have.

To be clear, the Nikkor 85mm is a DX specific lens that works well with DX format cameras such as the Nikon D90 and D5000.

The downside to this is that when the lens is used with a FX format full-frame cameras, like the recently reviewed Nikon DX3, images will get cropped.

Still, the good news is that the lens is versatile and autofocus works on even entry-level DSLR cameras such as the D40, D3000 and D5000.

Performance

Like all macro lenses, it focuses up to 1:1 life size for extreme close ups of objects and manages to capture lots of fine details and textures you would normally miss. When it comes to performance, the lens’ autofocus speed is generally fast and snappy.

It doesn’t quite match the autofocus speed of a Nikkor 105mm, but I am still happy with its relative quick focus speed.

Though the lens has a long focus-ring travel distance, it still manages to fix focus very quickly though it takes a little longer when switching from a nearby subject to another that’s farther away.

Of course, when it comes to sharpness, there are very few lenses that can match a macro lens let alone a prime lens.

If you are looking for ultra sharp images, you won’t be disappointed with the Nikkor 85mm.

I found both image quality and sharpness of the Nikkor 85mm to be exceptionally good — pictures were razor sharp with lots of detail.

Our only complaint is that it only has a maximum aperture of f3.5. So it doesn’t do as good a job as other macro lenses when it comes to isolating subjects. Both the Nikkor 60mm and 105mm have a maximum aperture of f2.8.

On the plus side though even with the smaller f3.5 aperture I still could get decent close up shots and the bokeh (blurred out background) effect is still quite nice.

I observed a good deal of vignetting when capturing at f3.5, though if you find this distracting just dial up to f8.

Conclusion

All in all, Nikon’s Micro Nikkor 85mm is a good buy if you are looking to get into macro photography. With it you’re getting a long range macro lens with VR capabilities, which is great.

And even though it is compact and lightweight, it produces great looking pictures.

Admittedly it may not produce the shallow depth of field needed to isolate subjects as well as a f2.8 lens but given its limitations, it still performs admirably.

Overall, if you wish to dabble in macro photography, the Micro Nikkor 85mm is the lens to get.

Pros: Compact and lightweigh; captures sharp and detailed images; includes VR function

Cons: Maximum aperture of only f3.5

Telephoto zoom lens

Manufacturer: Nikon Corp

Lens construction: 14 elements in 10 groups (1 ED elements)Compatible with: DX Nikon DSLRs

Filter thread: 52mm

Maximum f/stop: f/3.5

Minimum f/stop: f/32

Dimensions: 73 x 98.5mm

Weight: 355kg


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Digital Camera: Nikon D300S Review

EXTERNALLY SIMILAR: The D300S looks practically identical
to the D300, except for the model number printed on the front.

Nikon updates its semi-pro D300S DSLR with video and some welcome tweaks.

With HD video recording suddenly becoming the feature to have in DSLRs, Nikon has been busy updating their DSLR line with new models featuring 720p video recording.

While the first Nikon DSLRs to gain HD video recording were the consumer models like the D90 and the D5000, the company has just started updating its semi-pro and professional models with video recording, starting with the D300S and now the D3S.

Similar but different

Since the D300S has many similar features carried over from the D300, I won’t repeat them in this review. If you want an extensive rundown of the features, check out our D300 review.

Externally, the D300S really does look practically identical to the D300 — even the image sensor has the same 12.21-megapixel count as its predecessor and the 51-point autofocus system is also carried over.

There are differences in the sensor, of course, but I’ll deal with that a little later.

The only thing I’ll say here is that 12-megapixels is definitely more than enough for all but advertising photographers or people who need to make larger than A3 enlargements.

SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT: On the back, the D300S has a few 
slight differences, most notably a direction pad with a 
separate middle button like on the D3.

However, physical and the basic feature set are where the similarities end between the D300 and the D300S.

In addition to all this, Nikon has tweaked a number of features and added some new features into the D300S to make an already good camera even better.

The most obvious new feature, of course, is the addition of 720p video recording.

Even here, Nikon has tweaked the way video recording works in the D300S compared with the D90 — most notably, you can now autofocus during video recording, although, like all cameras that do so the sound of the autofocus motor can be heard when focusing.

This brings me to the next new feature — the D300S has a port that accepts a standard external stereo microphone which means you not only get stereo audio recording, but since the microphone is external, it won’t record the autofocus motor sounds when recording video.

As far as video recording goes, the D300S does a pretty good job recording 720p videos, offering a much better level of detail than, say, the Olympus E-P1’s 720p video.

Of course, I’d like to see Nikon start introducing 1080p video recording into their cameras, if only because the company’s nearest competitor is already starting to integrate that into most of their cameras.

As it is, 720p video recording is fine — while I would use video on a DSLR occasionally, if I really wanted to shoot more professional videos, a camcorder is preferable.

Capturing stills

The addition of video isn’t where the major tweaks have been made to the D300S, however — still image capture is where the camera features most of its major enhancements.

I’ll start with the minor, easier to explain tweaks first, the D300S now comes with 7fps (frames per second) continuous shooting speed, slightly up from the 6fps of the D300. No big change here.

One less obvious but welcome change is that this switch to the faster shutter mechanism also results in a much smoother, less clunky shutter. The shutter trips without much vibration at all and viewfinder blackout is also extremely short now.

Unfortunately, in my tests, I discovered that switching to 14-bit NEF RAW recording still slows down the continuous shooting speed though, to about 1.5fps.

This is fine for shooters who don’t use continuous shooting, but might be a problem for sports and action photographers.

One welcome addition is the excellent Virtual Horizon display that was in the D3 has now made into the D300S and you can overlay the Virtual Horizon over an image by pressing the Info button a few times in Live View mode.

Autofocus is practically unchanged — you still get Tripod mode which allows you to autofocus while in Live View mode using contrast detect, while Handheld mode autofocus will have the camera flip the mirror up and use the dedicated phase-detect sensors in the mirror box to focus, blacking out the Live View image for a second or two.

The only major change in autofocus is the ability to do so during video recording.

QUIET MODE: Nestled amongst the usual drive modes is the Q
setting,which is meant to lower the decibel level of the shutter
and mirror mechanism for use in quiet environments.

Oh yes, if you turn the drive mode dial, you’ll find a Q shooting mode nestled amongst the usual single shot and continuous shooting modes.

This is a relatively new addition to Nikon digital cameras, but anyone who’s owned a Nikon F4S for example, will probably be familiar with this mode, which stands for Quiet mode.

As the name suggests, the Quiet shooting mode attempts to lower the decibel level of the D300S’ shutter and mirror mechanism so that you can use the camera less obtrusively in quiet environments.

In our tests, Quiet shooting mode does indeed reduce the sharpness of the sound of the mirror returning to its down position, although the sound is still pretty noticeable to people sitting next to you.

However, you can delay the mirror return by holding down the shutter release button — while the shutter will trip and take a photo, the mirror won’t flip down till you let the shutter release button go, which I suppose makes sense in a concert where you can delay the louder sound of the mirror and wait for a period when the concert is louder to release the mirror.

Battery life is pretty good on the D300S and it lasted me several days of casual shooting and at least two days of heavy shooting with some video recording before the battery ran down. No complaints there.

Image quality

As far as metering and shooting goes, the D300S seems to perform similarly to the D300 and I’d say there’s no real difference there — if you’re familiar with Nikon’s metering choices, the D300S is not going to surprise you.

In terms of picture quality, Nikon seems to have tweaked the sensor design or noise reduction a bit on the D300S, and it seems to offer slightly better noise performance than the D300.

From our tests, the D300S is practically noiseless at ISO 200 and only some noise is visible at ISO 400.

However, NR kicks in a bit harder at normal settings above ISO 400 and noise actually goes down a bit at ISO 800 and ISO 1600, although at the expense of a bit of detail.

Overall, though I was pretty satisfied with the noise performance of the D300S and would not hesitate to use it all the way up to ISO 1600.

Sharpness was excellent at lower ISO settings and still looked good even at ISO 1600 with the NR taking away most of the chroma noise (colour noise) without smoothing out the detail too much.

Noise was still well-controlled at ISO 3200 but sharpness falls quite significantly at this point and I’d use this setting only when there are no other option.

The D300S has a Hi-1 setting which is equivalent to ISO 6400 but it’s distinctly soft and there’s already a significant colour shift.

If you want to gauge high ISO noise for yourself, you can download our 100% crop comparison shots at bit.ly/12uSUp.

Conclusion

True to Nikon’s naming conventions, the D300S isn’t a major change from the D300 but the company hasn’t simply slapped on video recording on the D300 and called it a D300S either.

Although Nikon didn’t change what wasn’t broken, the number of small enhancements and additions to the feature set make it a much better and more robust camera overall.

Certainly, if you already own a D300, the changes (apart from perhaps the video recording) won’t make you run out and upgrade, but D200 owners for example, will find the D300S a major step forward as it improves on the D200 in every way.

If you’ve been holding on to a D200, hoping for a major new model with video recording, faster shooting, larger LCD, Live View, Virtual Horizonand such, then the D300S is what you’ve been waiting for.

Of course, if you’re holding out for a more affordable 35mm full-frame camera with video recording, then you’ll probably have to wait till Nikon updates the D700.

Pros: Faster shooting; Virtual Horizon feature; 720p video recording; stereo microphone port built-in; very short viewfinder blackout time; autofocus possible during video recording.

Cons: No 1080p video recording.

DSLR camera
Manufacturer: Nikon Corp Sensor: 12.21-megapixels (4,288 x 2,848pixels)
Shutter: 30sec — 1/8,000sec, plus B
ISO range: 200 — 3200 (100 - 6400 in ISO boost mode)
Exposure modes: P,S,A,M
Viewfinder: Optical, 2.7in external LCD
Battery: 1,500mAh EN-EL3e lithium-ion 1,500mAh EN-EL3e lithium-ion
Storage: SDHC, CompactFlash
Interface: USB 2.0, mini HDMI, composite video out, stereo microphone in
Other features: Live View, 720p 24fps video recording
Dimensions (w x h x d): 14.7 × 11.4 × 7.4cm 
Weight: 840g


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