Camera Review: Nikon Coolpix P5100

Posted on January 17, 2008 - Filed Under Cameras, Photo, Reviews | Leave a Comment | 106 views

If Charles Dickens were alive today and writing for PopPhoto.com, he might preface his review of the Nikon Coolpix P5100 ($310, street) thusly: “It was the best of cameras, it was the worst of cameras.” To its credit, Nikon has added to this flagship of the Coolpix line, a 12.1-megapixel, 3.5x zoom compact camera, some of the slick features developed for its more sophisticated DSLRs. Unfortunately, there are other areas within the P5100′s operations that can best be described as a “work in progress.”

The P5100 features a 1/1.72″ RGB CCD that incorporates Nikon’s EXPEED processing system and improved hardware-based facial detection that Nikon claims can identify up to 12 faces in one frame. The EXPEED processing doesn’t refer to specific technologies within the P5100, but a digital image processing “concept” that is designed to improve image quality by reducing noise and improving signal-to-noise ratios, even at higher ISO settings.

Another facet of the Nikon image processing is “D-Lighting,” which takes backlit and underexposed images and makes them more usable. By selecting the D-lighting option while viewing an image, the camera reprocesses the image and saves a copy of the processed file while leaving the original untouched. This manipulation does have its limitations however, and the quality will never be as good as a well-exposed image, but it can make the difference between trashing the image or hanging it on a wall. The quality of the images made by the P5100 was very favorable when viewed on our computer screen. It’s class-competitive, and can hold its own against similar models from other manufacturers.

Tags: , ,

Comments

Leave a Reply