The K-dot EVF is a lot more granular than the rear LCD; the eyepoint is good enough, though, that my glasses don't touch the rubber eyepiece, which is better than most inexpensive SLRs. Left of the electronic viewfinder is the display selection button, with which you choose between the LCD and EVF, and the dioptric correction dial juts out from the side of the EVF. A press on the red center button starts and stops recording. Right of that, the Command dial allows cycling through exposure options, like Program Shift, where you change the combination of shutter speed and aperture while the camera maintains the proper exposure for the scene.
When shooting in full Manual mode, pressing the right arrow key on the Four-way controller switches between aperture and shutter speed settings, which you can then adjust with the Command dial.
Menu, Playback and Delete buttons are pretty straightforward, and the Four-way controller is also easy to understand. A simple rubber pad serves as a thumbgrip, reinforced by a subtle but effective ramp at the far right.
The top view shows a very SLR-like top deck, with a better look at the flash button on the left side, and the stereo mics just above the flash.
The Mode dial is right of that, with pretty stiff detents, but the unfortunate ability to rest between click positions, as is inadvertently shown in our product shot at left. I didn't have a problem with this, but it can cause confusion now and then. Almost invisible in this shot is the small black Continuous mode button, which brings up a small list of available continuous modes, including high speed, low speed, and pre-capture.
The power button is ringed by a green light when first powered on; it also gives you charge status when the Nikon P is connected to a computer or charger via USB, glowing a bright orange while charging, green when fully charged. Small metal strap lugs are better for video, because the cloth-to-metal contact creates little noise. Nikon uses D-rings on their SLRs, which raises the likelihood of such close rattling sound entering videos made with the cameras.
Sensor and processor. Normally reserved for SLRs, this section is warranted for the Nikon P, because it has some special hardware under the hood. Its This means more light reaches each photosite. Making the deal more sweet is the new Expeed C2 dual image processor.
The new processor is said by Nikon to speed up image processing, allow for more careful noise reduction, and correct lens distortion for both stills and movies before either are saved to the card. Special video speeds and even high-speed still modes are possible thanks to this new processor.
Ranging from Still, to the experienced long zoom photographer, it'll be an amazing tool. Of course, the problem with making a camera that goes to extremes is that that's where most of its users will use the camera, at least at first.
Most everyone shoots pictures of their friends and social events at the default setting, which is usually the widest angle available. The Nikon P's widest setting is too wide for most people-pictures, introducing distortion that stretches heads and distorts bodies with unflattering results.
On the positive side, it grabs darn near everything that comes within sight of the lens, at least compared to any other long zoom digicam you've ever used. At the telephoto end you run into the opposite problem: Finding your desired subject among the rapidly shifting image presented in the viewfinder. The view at mm is so tight that you'll want to start about halfway zoomed and track it in as the zoom progresses to help keep on target; otherwise it's like trying to find a star through a telescope.
And once you've found it, the next problem is holding the camera steady enough to keep it framed, let alone get a blur-free shot. Nikon employs both sensor-shift image stabilization and electronic image stabilization, which we presume is digital image tracking by cropping the image somewhat and letting the processor track motion, contributing a little extra correction by moving the image capture area as well.
And even with all that, two of our most stable SLRgear stabilization-testing shooters had trouble keeping a subject centered at that focal length. In short, the message is that experienced long zoom users seldom shoot at the extreme ends, especially for people pictures, instead zooming enough to crop the extraneous matter from the frame, leaving only the subject.
That's the beauty of a zoom that's so long and so wide; you have that many more choices. Mostly unchanged from the previous model, the Menu is comparatively well organized, with items you'd most want to change right at the top of the list: Image Quality, Image Size, Optimize image, White balance, and ISO sensitivity at the top of the list. Auto panorama modes. The dual processors also allow for a new trick for Nikon: Easy Panorama. Rather than shoot a series of carefully captured images and have them stitched in the camera or on a computer, the Nikon P allows you to capture either degree or degree panoramic images by just pressing the shutter and sweeping the camera over the image area.
It's pretty straightforward, and seems to work pretty well. Once you press the shutter button in this mode, the camera prompts you with a cross with four arrow tips, telling you that you can sweep in any one of four directions: up, down, left or right. Once you start to move in a direction, the camera starts capturing, and a small slider appears on the bottom of the screen, indicating how much further you need to sweep. When it reaches the end, the Nikon P starts to process and save the image.
It also works with the camera oriented vertically. The degree panorama option sweeps output a 3,xpixel image, while degree sweeps yield a 6,xpixel image.
The Nikon P can capture five full-resolution images at about 8 frames per second in a single burst. That's as fast as a high-end digital SLR, though buffer depth is quite shallow. Some of the competition in this category can do up to 10 and even 40 frames per second, for reference.
Separated into separate Scene modes on the Mode dial, these multi-shot modes capture several images and combine them into one to compensate for difficult lighting situations. Backlighting Scene mode, for example, captures several images at different shutter speeds to capture both the shadows and bright highlights and merge them to create a special HDR High-dynamic-range image right inside the camera; in all instances I've tried it, the camera has asked me to raise the flash before it would take the shot.
Night Landscape mode is also more sophisticated, capturing up to five high shutter speed images into one single image and combining them into one, allowing a user to get a shot in low light that would normally require a slow, non-handholdable shutter speed. The traditional Night portrait mode, which still uses a flash the camera insists , is also enhanced by capture of separate images, one with flash, the others without, to create a well-lit image that maintains the ambient light in dark settings.
Of course, there's also the new pre-capture mode, which uses the power of CMOS sensor and processor to continuously capture images before you press the shutter button; unfortunately, the Nikon P reduces the image size to 2 megapixels in this mode.
You can also opt for frames per second at 1 megapixel or 60 frames per second at 2 megapixels. Movie High Speed vs. High Definition. Movie options are split between High Speed and High Definition, and you can rapidly choose one or the other with the Movie mode switch on the back of the camera.
Which of the many modes you choose to use within those two options must be preselected in the Movie menu. Movie modes include 1, x 1, Fine, 1, x 1,, 1, x , x , and x , all at 30fps, recorded in H. High speed options include x at fps, x at fps, 1, x at 60 fps, and 1, x 1, at 15 fps. Storage and battery. The Nikon P uses a slim 3. Easy access to the functions I want is the main feature I look for in a digital camera, and the Nikon P gives me that.
Some cameras are so capable, it's blinding to dig into the menus, and you have to if you want to change major settings.
I don't feel that way with the Nikon P And as I mentioned in the menu section above, when I do go into the menus, I find what I need right up front. I like that. Wide and Tele. Yes, the window on the bottom is the window at the top of the building in the wide shot. Compared to the P, one of the Nikon P's basic features are more readily accessible: Drive modes.
That's as it should be, especially in a camera with such a wide array of available drive modes. Nikon's Best Shot Selector mode is one of the more consistently offered and consistently ignored features that now has more reason to be publicized. The fact is that even with dual image stabilization, it can be difficult to get a tack sharp shot at full telephoto with the Nikon P Its millimeters equivalent at maximum telephoto is a loooong lens, and handholding it is tough.
But with BSS on, just hold the lens on target as well as you can, and hold the shutter button down. The Nikon P will capture ten images and choose the least blurry shot to save to the card. It's not perfect, because the image jumps around so much, making it difficult to frame at mm, but it's a good idea if you really want that shot and don't have a tripod or other object at hand against which to brace the camera.
The Nikon P is just the right shape and size for a day at the airshow or the park. It's not too cumbersome hanging around your neck, and fits well in a hand when I feel the need to protect it or keep it at the ready. I love the grip, though I do worry that it might chafe a little on more tender hands with the diamond pattern it has up front. My reviewer's hands are fine so far, after two days of using the Nikon P, so those with rougher jobs than manning a keyboard all day should be just fine.
Take it all in. Even from across the street, you can still capture the height of tall buildings. Though I like the new zoom control on the left side, I find myself still using the zoom ring around the shutter, since most of the cameras I use have their zoom control there. With my fingers under the lens barrel, my thumb finds the control instantly, but I'd have to train it to handle the subtle motion necessary to zoom like that. It's also a little more useful when using the EVF rather than when I'm holding the camera out in front of me; when using the EVF, the camera is braced against my face well enough that using the more traditional zoom toggle is just as easy.
Wrapped around the video-recording button is a switch to change from HD to HS. The latter stands for high speed and records at fps, albeit at only x and without audio. The footage looks great in bright light. Time from off to first shot is only 1. Image quality is good, but not great. Programmed auto exposure with flexible program Aperture-priority auto Exposure bracketing Manual Shutter priority auto Exposure compensation P, S mode.
Up to 5 shots at. Can be selected from 10 or 2 seconds duration. Flash Collapse Flash Built-in flash Range approx. ISO sensitivity: Auto [W]: 0. TTL auto flash with monitor preflashes. Compatible With.
Learn more about the ViewNX-i. Learn more about the ViewNX 2.
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