VIEW MASTER NIKON COOLPIX P7800

Transcription

1 ON TRIAL NIKON COOLPIX P78 REPORT BY PAUL BURROWS VIEW MASTER Putting an electronic viewfinder into the P78 elevates Nikon s top-of-the-line P Series Coolpix to a different level than many of its competitors. I t seems contradictory that quite a number of the enthusiast-level compact cameras including Nikon s own Coolpix A don t have built-in viewfinders. You d think it was self evident that cameras designed for a more discerning audience should have the feature that most distinguishes them from the pointand-shooters (and the smart phones). The facility for fitting an accessory EVF at least provides the option albeit with the compromise of an additional outlay, but it s hard to fathom the thinking behind a supposedly high-end camera with nothing, nil, zip, nada. It would appear this message has been received at Nikon because after the P77 appeared sans viewfinder following the P76 which had an optical one it s been superseded fairly smartly by the P78 which has the finder re-instated, but now in electronic 7

2 ON TRIAL NIKON COOLPIX P78 form. In its defence, at least the P77 s monitor screen was adjustable for viewing angle which is one way of improving things in some lighting conditions, but the P78 has both this and an EVF which is really what s needed to take on the category leaders like Fujifilm s X. In fact, boiled down, the P78 is essentially a P77 with an EVF which is perhaps the clearest evidence there is that Nikon has taken heed of user feedback and made amends. Consequently, the P78 shoots to the top of the class because its predecessor s feature set was pretty impressive and the addition of the EVF makes it seriously tasty. We still aren t talking about anything particularly innovative in the finder department such as the X s optical finder with its Digital Trans Panel read-outs but being electronic, the P78 s.5 cm LCD panel provides percent scene coverage and the ability to preview settings. It s quite small especially by D-SLR standards and when all the available components are activated such as the real-time histogram and artificial horizon level display, it s pretty cluttered, but the resolution is good as is the colour and contrast. Unlike on some cameras, the EVF and monitor displays can t be configured independently of each other. There s an eyepiece strength adjustment, but switching between the EVF and the monitor screen needs to be performed manually if you want to have both immediately accessible. However, the P78 will switch automatically to the EVF if the monitor screen is folded away in the closed position. In practical terms, this means the monitor has to be manually switched on in order to change most settings it s just too awkward to try doing it through the viewfinder and, inevitably, there will be occasions when you put the P78 up to your eye and wonder why you can t see anything. Over time, of course, you do get used to having to punch the monitor button to switch displays assuming you want to keep the external display open. GETTING TO GRIPS In the hand, the P78 feels impressively weighty thanks to its magnesium alloy bodyshell which Viewfinder eyepiece has strength adjustment built-in, but no proximity sensors. Auto switching only happens when the external monitor screen is folded closed. is exceptionally well screwed together. There s a reasonablysized handgrip and a control layout which centres around a main mode dial and a pair of input wheels which, as on its D-SLRs, Nikon calls Command Dials. A second dial on the top deck is for setting the exposure compensation and Nikon has given it fairly aggressive detents so it s more difficult to accidentally move. The rear panel is mostly taken up with the 7.6 cm monitor screen which has both tilt and swing adjustments so it can be stowed with the faceplate inwards for protection. The rear control layout borrows another item from Nikon s D-SLRs, namely the Multi- Controller navigator/selector which has both rotation and pressing actions. Additionally, there s a small selection of function buttons all the usual suspects in terms of menus and replay but the P78 departs from the Nikon D-SLR design formula by having a Quick Menu. This has its own button for activation and provides access to five of the key capture-related settings image quality/size, ISO, white balance, auto bracketing mode and the Picture Control presets. There s also the option of configuring a My Menu page with regularly used functions so the main menu can essentially be by-passed when shooting and everything that needs to be done on-the-fly is done via the Quick Menu or the Multi-Controller (for things such as the AF and flash modes). Two buttons one on the top panel and one on the front can be assigned duties from two separate sets of functions, but which include among them white balance, ISO, metering modes, the Picture Control presets and some display elements such as the Virtual Horizon and the framing grids. Operationally, then, the P78 works very much like one of Nikon s D-SLRs rather than a Bodyshell is magnesium alloy and feels very substantial. IN THE HAND, THE COOLPIX P78 FEELS IMPRESSIVELY WEIGHTY THANKS TO ITS MAGNESIUM ALLOY BODYSHELL WHICH IS EXCEPTIONALLY WELL SCREWED TOGETHER. The built-in viewfinder is an LCD panel with a resolution of 9,6 pixels. The P78 s Picture Control presets work in much the same way as those provided on Nikon s D-SLRs, albeit with a slightly reduced choice. 7

3 NIKON COOLPIX P78 ON TRIAL Built-in flash is fully concealed when retracted. 7 Zoom lens is equivalent to 8-mm and incorporates an optical image stabiliser. The built-in flash is supplemented by a hotshoe. compact camera, although not as closely as the Coolpix A. ZOOMING UP Of course, the built-in zoom lens is pure compact camera, and is operated via a rocker ring around the shutter release. The focal range of mm is equivalent to 8-mm, and the maximum aperture range is a pretty impressive f.-4.. As with any arrangement where the aperture diaphragm also serves as the leaf shutter, the minimum aperture is only f8. so there s a built-in neutral density (ND) filter which reduces the exposure by three stops. The optical construction comprises 3 elements, including two made from extra-low dispersion glass and, despite the fairly compact dimensions, Nikon manages to get an optical image stabiliser in there as well. This comes in particularly usefully at the longer focal lengths, enabling hand-held shooting at slower shutter speeds. The VR system automatically detects when the camera is being panned and switches off correction in that direction. Also handy is a Zoom A set of ten special effects is accessed via the main mode dial. Memory function which can be set to automatically drive the lens to the 35mm-equivalent focal lengths of 8mm, 35mm, 5mm, 85mm, 5mm, 35mm and mm. Unlike with quite a number of the rival models, Nikon doesn t make you buy a separate adapter for attaching filters 4.5 mm diameter types screw straight on to the front of the lens (it s a filter size shared with some Nikkor lenses). Nikon s own MAKING MOVIES The Fn button can be set to activate a number of display items or the ND filter. Video clips are recorded in the QuickTime or MOV format using MPEG-4 AVC/H.64 compression and with the choice of Full HD (8p) and HD (7p) resolutions at 5 fps (in the PAL standard). There s the choice of High and Normal quality settings for Full HD. The P78 has built-in stereo microphones and, unlike the Coolpix A, also has a stereo audio input (tucked away in its own little compartment). The audio recording sensitivity for the external mic is manually adjustable with High, Medium and Low settings, and there s a wind cut filter. The video functionality includes continuous autofocusing, the availability of aperture-priority The exposure compensation dial has a range of +/-3. EV. accessories include a metal lens hood which fits in the same way and then accepts 58 mm diameter screwthread filters. The AF system is based on contrast detection measurements with the choice of manual or automatic point selection (99 and nine respectively) plus centre (normal or wide), face priority, tracking and target finding modes. This last mode works in the same way as face detection autofocusing except it detects any sort of subject, assuming there s sufficient differentiation from the background. The right quadrant of the multi-selector accesses the area modes while the lower one switches from normal AF operation to the macro modes, an infinity lock and manual operation. Manual focusing is performed by either using the up/down quadrants of the multiselector for coarse control or by turning the control ring for finer adjustment. Assistance is provided by a distance scale and a magnified centre portion of the image plus there s the option of first using autofocusing and then fine-tuning manually. The manual focusing range is 3 cm to infinity (at 8mm), but in the macro AF mode, the minimum subject distance is just two centimetres. If you re only shooting close-ups, there s the choice of a close range only AF mode which avoids wasting time by locking the system into a reduced distance range. Despite not being a fancy hybrid system of some sort, the P78 s autofocusing is still pretty snappy and switching between the various modes as well as focusing manually is among the most convenient you ll find in the compact camera world. WORKING THE LIGHT Exposure control is based on a multi-zone metering system employing 4 segments and with the option of centre-weighted average or spot measurements (the latter linked to the active AF point). The standard choice of PASM exposure control modes auto and manual exposure modes, the four Picture Control presets, a selection of the Special Effects (reduced to seven) and the built-in ND filter. Image stabilisation is available. There s also a choice of slow/fast movie settings 64x48 pixels at fps (i.e. ¼ speed), 8x7 pixels at 5 fps (/ speed), and 9x8 pixels at 5 fps (.x speed). Movie clip lengths are governed by the limitations of a 4. GB file size or 9 minutes of elapsed time, whichever comes first. There isn t a dedicated button for video start/ stop, but overall the P78 boasts a useful set of video recording capabilities, especially given the zoom s long focal range.

4 On trial nikon coolpix P78 is supported by program shift, an AE lock, up to +/-3. EV of compensation (as noted earlier, applied by convention dial) and auto bracketing which can be applied over three or five frames with an adjustment of up to +/-. per frame. Additionally, the method of bracketing adjustment can be set to adjust the aperture, shutter speed or the ISO. There s a choice of 8 scene modes (including one for making in-camera panoramas) with the option of automatic selection for, primarily, portraits, landscapes, night scenes, night portraits, close-ups and backlit situations. The shutter speed range is -/4 second, but the slow speed range extends to a full 6 seconds when the camera is in manual mode and the ISO is set between 8 and 4. The shutter itself is a combination of sensorbased and physical leaf type via the seven-bladed diaphragm which is confusingly described as being mechanical, but of course is actually electronically controlled. The P78 has both a built-in flash and a hotshoe. The former is fairly small, but has i-ttl auto output control via monitoring preflashes with the choice of manual control down to /8 of full power. Alternatively, flash exposure compensation is available over a range of +/-. EV. Nikon also provides a Commander mode for the remote triggering OperatiOnally the p78 works very much like One Of nikon s D-slrs rather than a compact camera, although not as closely as the coolpix a. with wireless TTL exposure control of a compatible off-camera accessory flash unit. The white balance control choices are also extensive starting with the option of two auto correction modes normal and warm. The latter maintains the warm tones when shooting under incandescent lighting, eliminating the need to actually switch to this specific preset. However, for manual control, there are seven presets (three for different types of fluoro lighting), provision for making and storing three custom measurements, auto bracketing, fine-tuning and colour temperature selection over a range of 5 to, degrees Kelvin. As with the AEB, the white balance bracketing can be over either three or five frames. Pixels & Processing At the heart of the P78 is a 9.5 cm CMOS sensor the imaging area is actually 5.7x7.6 mm with a total pixel count of.76 million. The sensitivity range is equivalent to ISO 8 to 3 with a one-stop push to ISO 64. The effective pixel count of. million gives a maximum image size of 3x4 pixels and JPEGs in this aspect ratio can be recorded at three smaller sizes with either Fine or Normal compression. There s also a single image size each in the 3:, 6:9 and : aspect ratios. Boosting its big camera credentials, the P78 captures RAW files at 4-bits per RGB channel in the proprietary NRW format. RAW+JPEG capture is also possible with the choice of a large JPEG with either compression level. As on the Coolpix A and Nikon s D-SLRs, there is also an in-camera RAW-to-JPEG conversion function which is located in the Playback Menu (more about the rest of the editing functions shortly). There is a total of seven processing parameters which cover most of those available for JPEG capture, including Picture Control presets, Active D-Lighting correction for contrast and lens distortion correction plus white balance and exposure compensation. The Picture Control presets work in the same way as they do on Nikon s D-SLRs in terms of providing manually adjustable parameters with a Quick Adjust override. However, there s a smaller choice namely Standard, Neutral, Vivid and Monochrome and the adjustment for colour hue and brightness have been dropped, leaving the choice of contrast, sharpness and saturation. Additionally, only two customised Picture Control presets can be captured and stored. The Monochrome preset has the usual choice of B&W contrast filters plus adjustable toning in either sepia or blue (cyanotype) with a choice of seven levels of density. Anyone who regularly uses a Nikon D-SLR is going to find it a little disconcerting not to access the Picture Control presets via the main shooting menu especially as the other key JPEG processing functions are still all here Active D-Lighting (ADL), noise reduction and Distortion Control. The ADL processing is the same as on Nikon s D-SLRs and uses a combination of exposure adjustment and tone curve tweaking to help expand the dynamic range. On the P78 there s a choice of Low, Normal and High settings. The camera s noise reduction processing is distilled down to a filter setting, also with Low, Normal and High positions while the distortion correction can be set to On or Off. An multishot HDR capture function is accessed via the Backlighting scene mode and offers three levels of exposure adjustment. Both a non-hdr and an HDR composite image are subsequently saved. Taking effect The P78 also has a set of ten Special Effects which are accessed via the main mode dial and so work as stand alone modes in terms of exposure control and white balance. It s a fairly eclectic collection which includes, among other things, Painting, Defocus During Exposure, Cross Process, Nostalgic Sepia and Selective Colour. A number of the effects are adjustable such as Creative Monochrome which allows for variations in both contrast and The live view screen can be configured with a number of optional components, including a Virtual Horizon level indicator, real-time histogram and 3x3 grid pattern. The same display set-up, but now with the shutter speed (or aperture) scale which appears when these settings are being manually adjusted. The Quick Menu screen provides direct access to the key capturerelated functions, including ISO, white balance, image quality and the Picture Control presets. The Playback Menu is essentially the same as the Retouch Menu on Nikon s D-SLRs and includes a long list of editing functions. Quick Retouch tweaks the contrast and saturation in one hit. grain. The Special Effects are applied at capture, unlike the various filter effects that are available as editing functions in the Playback Menu and which include the more common options of Selective Colour, Cross Screen, Fish-Eye and Miniature. A couple of effects are available in both menus so you have the choice about how to apply them, but obviously the latter allows for an original file to be retained. The dynamic range expansion processing can also be 73

5 % Doc:.8mb NIKON COOLPIX P78 ON TRIAL Info The P78 delivers a strong imaging performance in terms of colour fidelity, detailing and dynamic range. Noise levels are low up to ISO 8, but both saturation and sharpness suffer at the higher settings. The Picture Control presets allows for the finetuning of sharpness, contrast and saturation.

6 ON TRIAL NIKON COOLPIX P78 applied post-capture as plain old D Lighting and there s a Quick Retouch option which tweaks the contrast and saturation in one hit. Beyond the Retouch Menu which is pretty extensive the replay options include zooming, four choices of thumbnail pages, a thumbnail calendar display and a slide show function that s adjustable for the display time only (a bit unusual as Nikon cameras usually offer quite a lot of choice here). The image review/ playback options comprise an image with or without basic capture info and thumbnail accompanied by a brightness histogram, a highlight alert and a more extensive set of basic capture data. The histogram is accompanied by a Tone Level Information indicator which allows a cursor to be moved to one of positions along the brightness scale and the corresponding tones in the image are then indicated by these areas flashing. You can t actually make any adjustments based on this information, but it s interesting nonetheless. As noted earlier, the live screen can be configured with a variety of components, including a real-time histogram, a Virtual Horizon singleaxis level display and a 3x3 framing grid. If desired, the level display can be switched to a simple bar-type indicator which isn t nearly as impressive looking as the fancy circular one, but less intrusive. SPEED AND PERFORMANCE The specifications quote a maximum continuous shooting speed of 8. fps which is pretty impressive, but you need to read the fine print because this is only achievable with the JPEG compression set to normal and, even then, the burst length is limited to six frames (so it s actually all over in under a second). The specs don t indicate whether the P78 supports UHS-I speed SDHC and SDXC memory cards, but for our speed trails we loaded up our reference Lexar Professional 6x 64 GB SDXC UHS-I device anyway. With the image quality set to JPEG/large/ fine, the P78 fired off a sequence of six frames in.56 seconds, representing a shooting speed of just under 4. fps. Switching to JPEG/ large/normal capture, a burst of six shots was recorded in.765 seconds, giving a shooting speed of 7.8 fps. The buffer empties pretty quickly with the UHS-I speed card even with RAW The Fn button can be assigned various functions in combination with other controls. The Quick Adjust option allows for a number of the Picture Control parameters to be adjusted simultaneously. The histogram is accompanied by a Tone Level Information indicator which allows a cursor to be moved along the brightness scale with corresponding tones indicated by these areas flashing. capture so the faster devices are worth the investment. Once you venture into the world of digital cameras with very small sensors, the litmus test is always the image quality and the P78 does a pretty good job in terms of detailing, definition, contrast and colour reproduction at the lower ISO settings. Not surprisingly, noise becomes an issue beyond ISO 8, although it s still pretty well controlled at ISO 6 and not excessive at ISO 3, although both saturation and definition are 75

7 NIKON COOlpIx p78 ON TRIAL diminished. Consequently, the ISO 64 setting is really only useable with small-sized images, but then the zoom s f.-4. speed and the optical image stabiliser mean it may never be necessary to push the sensitivity this far. The optics are fairly well corrected in terms of both distortion and chromatic aberrations, but barrel-type bending is quite The LCD monitor screen is adjustable for tilt and swing and it can be stowed with faceplate inwards for protection. FujIFILm S excellent x SeTS The benchmark In ThIS CATegory, but nikon gets pretty CLoSe given The p78 S Longer And FASTer zoom And The FuLL SCene CoVerAge provided by The evf. noticeable at the wide-angle if there are any straight lines in the image. Nikon is obviously aware of this because the in-camera distortion correction does a pretty good job of eliminating it. Some colour fringing is evident at the edges of the frame in high contrast areas, but it s not excessive and only really apparent at high enlargement sizes. Lens sharpness is good, including centre-to-corner uniformity even at the wider apertures. As noted earlier, the AF is fast and reliable, while the multi-zone metering handles most situations with ease. The VerdICT By any measure Nikon has done a good job with the P78. While it s not substantially changed over the P77, the inclusion of the electronic viewfinder makes a big difference in terms of the P78 s appeal to enthusiast-level shooters as does the improved external monitor screen. Fujifilm s excellent X sets the benchmark in this category, but Nikon gets pretty close given the P78 s longer and faster zoom and the full scene coverage provided by the EVF. And, as far as EVFs go, this isn t a bad one. The ergonomics are excellent, making for comfortable and efficient operation while the extensive feature set gives the P78 impressive capabilities across the board. All this is backed up by a better-than-expected imaging performance, especially between ISO 8 and 4, so the P78 is easily in contention as an alternative to a CSC in the role of a D-SLR back-up. In fact, the P78 is a lot more traditional in its control layout than Nikon s own V and certainly any of the J Series models. In what is now a pretty hotly-contested category, the Coolpix P78 stands out as an accomplished all-rounder with a hard-to-beat combination of features, flexibility and performance. VITAL STATISTICS NIKON COOlpIx p78 $549 estimated street price Type: Enthusiast-level, fixed lens digital compact camera. Lens: Nikkor mm f.-4. (equivalent to 8-mm). Built-in ND filter (-3. EV). Focusing Type & Range: Contrast detection with single-shot or continuous operation using up to 99 focusing points. 5 cm to infinity; macro focusing down to. cm. Face detection, auto or manual point selection, centre area (normal or wide), subject tracking and target finding modes. Low light assist via built-in illuminator. Manual focusing assist via a distance scale and magnified image for assistance. Shutter Type & Speeds: Electronicallycontrolled leaf combined with sensor-based exposure start, 6-/ second. The aperture range is f. to f8.. Metering: Multi-zone (4 segments), centreweighted average and spot. AF can be coupled to the metering. Exposure Control: Program (with shift), shutter-priority auto, aperture-priority auto and manual plus 8 scene/subject modes (with auto selection). Up to +/-3. EV compensation in /3 EV increments, AE lock and auto exposure bracketing. Sensitivity: ISO 8,,, 4, 8, 6 and 3 (extendable to ISO 64). Sensor: 9.5 mm CMOS (5.7x7.6 mm),.76 million pixels (. MP effective). Image Size: 4:3 aspect ratio 4x3, 364x448, 7x74 and 6x pixels. 3: aspect ratio = 3984x656 pixels, 6:9 aspect ratio = 3968x3 pixels, : aspect ratio = 3x3 pixels. JPEG capture at one of two compression levels. RAW capture at 4-bits per RGB data. RAW+JPEG with Fine or Normal compression. Video Recording: MOV (QuickTime) format (MPEG-4 AVC/H.64 compression) at 9x8 pixels, 5 fps progressive (PAL) and 6:9 aspect ratio. High and Normal quality settings. At 8x7 pixels, 5 fps progressive and 6:9 aspect ratio. Stereo microphones built-in with wind noise filter. Maximum clip length with Full HD shooting is 9 minutes. Plus 8x7 pixels at x speed (for slow motion) or 9x8 pixels at.5x speed (for fast motion). Continuous Shooting: Up to 8. fps for a burst of six JPEG/large/normal frames or six RAW files. Medium speed shooting at 4. fps and low speed shooting at. fps. Multi-Shot 6 mode captures 6 frames at 3 fps (displayed as a single image). Formats: JPEG, NRW (RAW), MOV. PictBridge and DPOF compatible. Flash: Built-in with TTL auto (using preflashes), red-eye reduction, fill-in, slow speed sync, rear curtain sync and commander (for wireless TTL set-ups) modes. Manual control down to /8. Flash range = 5 cm to. metres (at ISO Auto). Up to +/-. EV flash compensation. External flash units sync via a hotshoe. White Balance: TTL measurement via image sensor. Auto Normal, Auto Warm, seven presets, three custom preset and manual colour temperature setting (5 to, degrees Kelvin). Fine-tuning (amber-to-blue and magenta-to-green). Viewfinder: Electronic eyelevel type,.5 cm LCD display with 9,6 pixels resolution. Coverage = % vertical/horizontal. Magnification =.7x (5mm lens at infinity). Eyepiece strength adjustment provided. 7.6 cm TFT LCD monitor screen (9,6 RGBW pixels) adjustable for tilt and swing, and adjustable for brightness. Manual switching between EVF and monitor. Storage: SD/SDHC/SDXC cards plus 86 MB internal flash memory. Interface: USB., mini HDMI (Type C), 3.5 mm stereo audio input, accessory terminal. Additional Features: Vibration Reduction optical image stabilisation, four Picture Control modes (Standard, Neutral, Vivid and Monochrome), adjustable picture parameters (contrast, sharpness and colour saturation with Quick Adjust option), two customised Picture Controls, B&W contrast filters and toning effects (sepia or cyanotype, seven levels each), noise reduction filter (Low, Normal, High), Active D-Lighting processing (Off, Low, Normal, High), distortion control (On, Off), HDR capture (Levels -3), zoom memory, ten Special Effects (Creative Monochrome, Painting, Zoom Exposure, Defocus During Exposure, Cross Process, Soft, Nostalgic Sepia, Low Key, High Key, Selective Colour), real-time histogram, Virtual Horizon level display, 3x3 grid pattern, manual exposure preview, replay brightness histogram with Tone Level display (nine levels), highlight alert, adjustable image display time, auto image rotation, in-camera editing functions (Quick Retouch, D-Lighting, Skin Softening, Filter Effects Soft, Selective Colour, Cross Screen, Fish-Eye, Miniature, Painting, Vignette; Black Border, Straighten, RAW-to-JPEG conversion), 4/9/6/7 thumbnail displays, thumbnail calendar display, zoom playback (up to x), slide show with variable image display time, multi-mode selftimer, audible signals, two assignable function buttons, wired and wireless remote control (optional controllers). May be fitted with the optional WU-a Wireless Mobile Adapter and GP- GPS receiver. Power: Rechargeable 3 mah/7.4 volts lithium-ion battery pack (EN-EL4 type). Dimensions (WxHxD): 8.5x77.5x5.4 mm. Weight: 399 grams (including battery and memory card). Price: $549 (estimated street price). Two year warranty on purchases made in Australia. Distributor: Nikon Australia Pty Ltd, telephone or visit 76