dkozin's Full Review: Nikon COOLPIX P1 Digital Camera
Selling for less than $299, the Nikon Coolpix P1 features 8-Megapixel resolution, WiFi connectivity, a large 2.5-inch LCD screen and a lot of other useful features. I got my camera for $295.
What is Nikon Coolpix P1?
The Nikon Coolpix P1 is a 8-Megapixel digital camera with a 3.5x optical zoom (36-126 mm equivalent), a large 2.5-inch LCD screen, WiFi wireless connectivity, powered by a proprietary rechargeable battery pack. The lens has an aperture range of f/2.7-7.6 at wide angle, f/5.2-7.3 at telephoto.
In addition to the WiFi, the camera has a USB port, can record video at up to 640x480 (VGA) resolution at up to 30 fps. The shutter speed range is 8-1/2,000 sec. The camera has an ISO range of 50-400. It stores images on its built-in 32 MB of memory or on SD memory cards. The battery and the charger are included.
Getting Started
The P1 arrived with almost fully-charged battery pack. The battery compartment has a sturdy lid and the little lever that holds the battery in place when the lid is open, which is useful since the same lid also covers the SD card slot. This way, the battery will not fall out when you remove the SD card. The battery is as small as a cell phone battery and can be charged using a supplied charger.
The charger is a kind that uses a detachable power cord, which I like less than a kind that uses foldable prongs built into the charger itself. I inserted the battery and my own 512-MB SD memory card and was ready to shoot.
The P1 has an on/off button on the top deck, which powers it on or off when depressed and held. Overall, the camera seems to be very well-built and well-designed. I was immediately impressed by its speed of operation and the fluidity of its LCD screen (which is a good thing since the camera lacks an optical viewfinder).
Usage
The camera is not heavy, yet not too light. It feels solidly-built and is convenient in your hand. The camera has a plastic tripod mount, which is located off-center.
The camera is very easy to use. The mode dial on the top deck has positions for setting up specific parameters, in addition to the usual shooting modes. For example, you can rotate it to ISO to set ISO. The LCD is so large that pushing the Menu button makes the large number of icons to appear. You can see all the parameters you can adjust, including things like saturation, contrast, sharpness, ISO, white balance, resolution, etc.
The icons and manus are descriptive. The menus are easy to use and are highly legible.
The camera has buttons and controls that are well-placed and have a good tactile feel. The camera lets you adjust the aperture (depending on the currently-selected mode) by using the left-right buttons. While you are doing this, you can see the live histogram. The aperture and shutter speed are well-visible in the lower portion of the LCD at the same time.
Flash
The camera has a built-in flash with a modest power/range but uniform coverage. You might need to use positive exposure compensation when shooting using the built-in flash, since its power is pretty low. It could have been expected, given the small size of the battery.
LCD
The P1 has no viewfinder and features a large 2.5-inch LCD screen that is very fluid, even in dark environments. I have not seen a screen that is more fluid - it is almost like looking at the picture through a piece of glass. The visibility is good, even in the dimly-lit areas. The resolution is pretty good too.
Performance
The camera powers on or off quickly (about 3 seconds). It zooms extremely fast (under two seconds from full wide angle to telephoto or back), yet the zoom is responsive. The focusing is fast in good light (under a second). In dim light, the focus-assist light helps the camera focus in about a second.
The LCD is very fluid and really demonstrates the advantages of the VGA-resolution 30 fps video over the slower-frame rate video modes.
The shutter lag, when pre-focused, is almost non-existent. The camera can take pictures at about 3-second intervals without flash or about 6-7 seconds with flash. There is also a burst mode, in which you can take 5 photos is a row in about 2 seconds (no flash).
White Balance
The camera has a very good automatic white balance system. I have not noticed any color casts. The colors are true to life (although a bit oversaturated).
Red-Eye Reduction
The camera has a special mode, where it uses its internal software to find and remove the red-eye post-capture. It works well, effectively removing red-eye, but it takes 5-7 seconds. This means that after you take a picture in this mode, the camera "thinks" for up to 7 seconds before storing the picture.
Image Quality
I usually take photos that contain all primary colors at different focal lengths, apertures and compression ratios. Some photos are taken outdoors, some indoors with and without flash.
Oftentimes, I take a bunch of photos from my balcone. Those photos features all colors: blue sky, green foliage, red curbs, yellow fire hydrant and cars of different colors.
Taking photos at different focal lenghts and apertures reveals the camera's optical quality: corner sharpness, chromatic aberrations, overal sharpness.
Taking photos at different ISO settings shows how well a given camera can keep noise levels low in dim light. I mostly evaluate the image quality using my computer monitor, but I also print some photos at different sizes using either my printer or online services like Shutterfly, Snapfish and Sam's Club's online photo center.
The P1 produces excellent, sharp and colorful pictures. The images are sharp from corner to corner with nice colors and sharpness. I could not see much chromatic aberration/purple fringing in the areas of high contrast.
There are three JPEG quality settings and I could not notice much improvement in the highest setting over the medium setting. The sensitivity/ISO has the effect of softening the image.
There is no visible noise at ISO up to 50, a little noise at ISO 100 and more noise with loss of detail at ISO 200 and 400. The ISO 400 is suitable for 5x7 or 6x4 prints. The lower-ISO images are good up to 13x19, sharp up to 11x14.
The camera handles harsh light (e.g. sunlight during the day) pretty well with only little loss of highlight or shadow detail.
The camera's 8-Megapixel resolution gives it a slight edge over the lower-resolution cameras (5-6 MP) as far as the sharpness of the large prints goes. But the difference is pretty small as the 13x19 prints are still little soft. Where extra resolution might pay off more is if you do some heavy cropping before printing. In any case, the optics of the camera matter more than the resolution and this is where teh P1 does really well.
Battery
The battery lasts about 150-200 shots (Nikon claims 180), which is not great, but not bad either, especially considering the size of the battery. But if you use WiFi excessively, expect even shorter battery life.
And the camera does not have an optical viewfinder, which would let you conserve the battery power when needed by switching the LCD off.
WiFi and Computer Connectivity
The WiFi capability lets you transfer your photos to your computer without having to connect it to it with a cable. The wireless transfer makes it much more convenient to transfer photos.
Since I have no proper hardware, I have not tried the WiFi capability. But the camera supports USB transfer as well or you can remove the SD card and use a memory card reader (which I do).
The camera also has an A/V out. I have also tried the USB port connection. The USB port, even though it is USB 2.0, is relatively slow at 450-500 KB/s.
I recommend that you get an at least 512-Megabyte SD card, preferrably 1 Gb. They are quite inexpensive currently and will let you store hundred of photos.
Pros
The camera has a very fluid LCD, fast zooming, 3.5x optical zoom, high resolution, fast focusing, ease of use, corner sharpness, use of SD cards, relatively low noise, the fact that the battery and charger are included, the build quality and nice movie mode.
Cons
Relatively short battery life, weak flash, no optical viewfinder.
Competition
If you do not need WiFi, check out the Canon PowerShot SD550. It looks nice and also has a 2.5-inch screen. It also has an optical viewfinder, but costs much more and does not give you any control over the exposure and shutter speed. Its resolution is slightly lower and the optics of the P2 seem better overall.
Also, you might want to check out the Fuji F10 (no WiFi). It has very low noise levels at high ISO.
Bottom Line
The Nikon Coolpix P1 works well, has nice features, fluid LCD, good optics and WiFi. If you do not need a powerful flash, I highly recommend it. Just make sure you get an extra battery if you plan to take more than 150 photos.
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