Tour

The front of the P100 is dominated by the large lens, which protrudes from the front of the camera body.

The front of the P100

Back

On the back of the camera body, we see the 3-inch LCD screen and the controls. The button to the left of the viewfinder switches between the LCD screen and the viewfinder. The red button to the right is the record button for capturing video.

The back of the P100

Sides

Looking at the camera from the side, you get a better idea of how big the camera is. The small bump below the lens lets the camera sit flat on a surface: without this, the camera would tip forward.

The left side

On the right side we see the speaker grille and the cover of the HDMI and multi-purpose port.

The right side

Top

There are afew things to note on the top of the camera: the stereo microphones, the mode dial, the power button and the shutter button, surrounded by a zoom control.

The top of the P100

Bottom

On the bottom of the camera you see the cover of the battery and memory card port, plus the tripod socket.

The bottom of the P100

Hardware

Viewfinder

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The P100 has an electronic viewfinder, located above the LCD screen. To the left of the viewfinder is a diopter adjustment dial and a button which switches from the LCD screen to the viewfinder. There is no automatic switching as there is with other similar cameras like the Fujifilm HS10. The viewfinder isn't an optical one; instead there is a small LCD screen located inside that shows the same view as the main LCD screen, albeit smaller and with less definition. Nikon didn't specify the resolution of the viewfinder screen, but it is definitely less than the main LCD screen.

LCD

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The LCD screen of the P100 is a 3-inch one with a resolution of 460k pixels. That's a definite step up from the 230k and 300k screens we have seen; it is sharper and gives a better preview of the image. The screen is articulated, so it can flip up and down for wait-level or over the head shooting. It can't rotate, though, so you can't use this for self portraits.

 

Flash

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The built-in flash pops up when you press the button on the side of the housing, placing it abut an inch and a half above the lens. This should be enough to avoid most red-eye, but red-eye removal is also available as an editing option. Nikon didn't supply any figures for the range of the flash, but it looks to be quite powerful from the limited testing we could do at the PMA show. We'll know more when we get a model in for review.

Lens

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The lens of the P100 is a large, long lens with a 26x zoom range. This range starts at 4.6mm (26mm equivalent) and goes out to 120mm (678mm equivalent), which is an impressively long range with a decent wide angle. This means that the P100 could handle everything from landscape and group shots out to zooming right in on the action at a football game. This long zoom range does mean that the lens is rather large, and it pokes out a long way when it is zoomed all the way out.

 

The big question here is how well this lens performs, and that is something that we will have to reserve judgment on until we get one in to test. We do often find that long zooms like this have performance problems, though: the Coolpix P90 had some problems with distortion and images getting rather soft at the longest zoom.

Jacks, Ports & Plugs

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There are just two ports on this camera: a mini HDMI port for connecting to a HDTV and a multi-purpose port that provides for both a USB connection and an aanlog video and audio output. 

Battery

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Power is provided for this camera from a Nikon EN-EL5 Lithium Ion battery that holds about 1100 mAh of charge. Nikon claims that this will last for about 230 shots, but we'll wait for our own test results before we decide if this is an accurate figure. 

Memory

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Images are stored on SDHC cards that fit into the slot just above the battery (shown in the photo above). The camera also includes about 43MB of internal memory that can be used to hold images and video in a pinch.

Design & Layout

Design & Appearance

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The P100 isn't a particularly beautiful camera: it has a somewhat industrial look. But the design is certainly not unattractive, with rounded edges and a rubber coating on the grip that makes it easier to hold onto. Our only concern from our limited time with the camera is that the articulating arm of the LCD screen feels a little flimsy: if you were to drop the camera with this extended, it is unlikely to survive the subsequent impact with the ground. 

Size & Handling

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For an ultrazoom, the P100 is a small camera. But it is still a bulky thing compared to the waif-like compacts that are available, and the P100 is not going to fit into any pocket other than a large anorak. You'll inevitably be carrying this around either on a neck strap or in a large bag.

We found that this camera did fit pretty well into the hand, though, with the large grip on the right side providing plenty to hold onto. The thumb also falls natrually onto the record button, so you can shoot still images and video quickly and easily. Using the mode dial and other controls requires two hands, though; one to hold the camera and one to work the controls.

Menu

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The P100 has a pretty standard menu that is accessed by pressing the menu button on the back of the camera. This is divided into 4 tabs: one for the mode controls, one for video, one for playback and one for setting up the camera. That's a pretty standard structure that puts the most commonly used controls (such as image size, ISO, etc) within quick reach, but it is not as convenient as the dedicated buttons that some cameras offer (such as the Fujifilm HS10) or the quick menus that others offer.

Ease of Use

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We found that the P100 was a pretty easy camera to use; shooting both stills and video is easily done with the well-placed buttons. Controlling the camera is a bit more of a complex process; things like changing the ISO level involve a lot of button pressing as there is no dedicated button for quick access. Instead, you ahve to go into the on-screen menu, scroll down, go right and select the ISO level you want.

Modes

Auto Mode

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Turning the mode dial to the camera icon turns this camera into a completely automatic one; the user can only change a handful of settings, such as image size. The P (for Program) mode of the camera also automates most of the settings, but also allows the user to jump in and take more control of how the decisions are made.

 

Movie Mode

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The movie mode is one of the main selling points: because of the CMOS sensor that is at the heart of the P100, it can capture Full HD 1080p video with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels, at the full 60 frames a second. We were not able to test the quality of this captured video, but we have often found that more resolution does not mean more quality. If you don't need high definition video, several options are also offered for capturing standard definition video.Stereo sound is recorded as well from the two microphones on the top of the camcorder body. The P100 can also capture high speed video at a speed of up to 240 frames per second, albeit at a greatly reduced resolution of 320 by 240 pixels. It is also pleasantly easy toswitch from capturing HD video to the high speed mode: just turn the dial around the movie record button from HD to HS.

The video is stored as .MOV files which can be played back in Apple's QuickTime software and edited in a number of video editing applications.

Drive/Burst Mode

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Thanks to the speedy CMOS sensor chip, this camera can capture a burst of images at a speed of 10 frames per second. That's pretty speedy, but you can also jack this up to 120 frames per second at a 2-megapixel resolution.

Playback Mode

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The playback features of the P100 are rather minimal, but adequate. Images can be zoomed in up to 10x, zoomed out to show up to 16 thumbnails and sorted by date. Simple slideshows can also be created in the camera, and there are a number of simple editing tools, such as a crop, rotate, and resizing. It is also possible to add a black border and to use Nikons own D-lighting feature, which brings out shadow detail. 

Scene Modes

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A large number of scene modes are on offer. On the mode dial itself are options for sports, an automatic scene mode selector, face recognition and a tracking mode that actively tracks an object in the frame and keeps it in focus.Twisting the mode dial to the SCN option also allows you to choose from the full list of 17 scene modes, which includes options for portrait, night, low light and pet photography.

Controls

Manual Controls

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The P100 includes both aperture and shutter priority modes, as well as a full manual mode that allows you to set the aperture and shutter speed settings directly. These are controlled using the control wheel on the back of the camera; the exposure compensation button switches between changing aperture and shutter speed. It's not an ideal system, but it is reasonably fast to use.

Focus

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Only four basic focus modes are on offer: auto focus, macro, infinity and a manual focus mode. In the latter, you use the control wheel on the back of the camera to focus. The only other control that you get over focus is to set if the auto focus is working continually or just when you push the shutter button halfway down. Face recognition is also offered; if this is enabled, the camera will focus in on the detected faces.

ISO

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The ISO range of this camera goes from 160 up to 3200, all at the full resolution of the camera. That's pretty unusual; most cameras only offer 3200 ISO at reduced resolution. There is also an automatic setting that picks the setting in the range 160 to 800, and a High ISO Auto mode that automatically sets the range from 800 to 1600.

White Balance

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The usual range of white balance presets are on offer, with options for cloudy, daylight and fluorescent. An auto white balance option is also available.

Metering

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Options are offered for evaluative, center weighted and spot metering.

Shutter Speed

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The shutter speed range of this camera is from 8 seconds down to 1/2000 of a second, which is adequate for most purposes. 

Aperture

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The aperture range of this camera is pretty standard: at the widest zoom setting, it goes from f/3.5 to f/11. At the longest zoom setting, this falls to f/5.5 to f/11. But given the length of the zoom lens, that's not a bad range.

Image Stabilization

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The P100 offers a number of approaches to image stabilization, which Nikon refers to as the 5-way vibration reduction system. First up is an optical image stabilizer, which moves an element of the lens to adapt for camera shake. In addition, the image sensor itself can also be moved in a similar way to try and remove shake, and the two systems work together. The camera also offers an electronic mode, where it increases the shutter speed when it detects shake to minimize the impact. The high ISO level of 3200 can also be used to reduce shake by again decreasing the shutter speed. Finally, the new back illuminated CMOS sensor allows it to add a new mode, where the camera takes 10 images in quick succession, analyzes all of them and only keeps the image that is sharpest.

Picture Quality & Size Options

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The P100 offers a range of image sizes, from the maximum of 3648 by 2736, down to a lowly 640 by 480 pixel resolution.

Picture Effects

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Only a few picture effects are offered, including a vivid color mode and a black and white mode. We doubt that most users will miss things like sepia toning or fish-eye lens distortion.

Conclusion