Roundup: Compact Digital Cameras : Nikon Coolpix P6000
18. Nikon Coolpix P6000
At last: GPS!
I'm a great fan of geotagging photos: it's easier to load by thinking of which places you associate with your snaps than it is abstract data like the date, and the possibility for making creative mashups using photos and maps is also great.
Building a GPS module into the camera itself means that adding the location data is automatic, and transparent to the end user.
Unfortunately, it's not quite as simple as that. Turning it on is easy enough, but using it in reality is frustrating. First of all, you have to wait several minutes before you get a signal--not much good if you're moving around
Worse, because the size of the camera means that the GPS receiver is tiny, you can't always keep a fix on the signal, especially in wooded areas or narrow streets.
Finally, you'll need to remember to switch off the GPS manually if you plan to leave the camera for any length of time: it remains active even when the camera is off in an attempt to keep a fix on the GPS satellites so it can geotag your photos more quickly. Obviously, though, this has a negative impact on your battery life ...
With its P6000, Nikon has added yet another high-end digital compact camera to compete in what is an increasingly crowded marketplace. Boasting a sleek, sober design and some innovative new features, including an Ethernet port and a GPS module, can the Coolpix P6000 match up to the formidable opposition of the Canon G10 and Panasonic LX3?
Handling
- Coolpix P6000 Black...
The P6000 has a professional feel, but is small and light enough to slide into a jacket pocket or a small bag. It's definitely more compact than its big rival, the Canon G10. It's a well-made camera too, with quality materials complemented by responsive controls. The dial which sits proudly on top is one example of this--robust, it turns under just the right amount of pressure.
The 2.7-inch LCD screen has a resolution of 230,000 pixels, which is a little low compared to some compared to some of the competition. On the G10, for instance, the 3-inch is a little more comfortable, but the inclusion of 470,000 pixels makes catching details in your photos a lot easier. You can use the screen under very bright light, but it's a little less impressive when light levels drop. An optical viewfinder is included, but is not really worth it: it's small, dark and not very accurate, though it might just do the job when the screen really is beyond use.
Getting a grip on the P6000 is easy enough, and all of the controls are well thought-out. The onscreen interface is clear and concise--a lot more so than on its brothers in Nikon's SLR range, anyway. What holds you back, though, is the lack of responsiveness. Switching it on is fast enough, but afterwards, you have to wait three seconds in between each JPEG photo, and you have to wait even longer for RAW photos.
Burst mode just about struggles to 0.6 frames per second and, although the autofocus isn't terrible, it's a lot slower than on the competition. You might think the inclusion of innovative connectivity options like Ethernet and GPS would help compensate for these poor speeds, but here too we were disappointed. A fast Ethernet connection is useful when it comes to moving large RAW files around, but unfortunately, it only allows you to connect directly to Nikon's photo sharing site--you can't use it to copy files onto your computer.
Image Quality
Perhaps it'll be down to the 13.5 Megapixel sensor to save the day for the P6000?
In broad daylight, it takes very good photos, with plenty of detail, and nice, vibrant colors. The lowest speeds of 64 and 100 ISO are nice and sharp, but electronic noise is visible even at 200 ISO. From 400 ISO and above, blurriness is visible, and beyond that, the P6000 doesn't really manage photos worthy of a 'high-end' digital compact.
The lens works well, with sharp images. For JPEGs, distortion caused in the wide angle mode can be corrected on the camera itself.
Chromatic aberrations are under control, and never bad enough to be off-putting. You can put your trust in the camera's exposure monitor, but the automatic white balancing struggles to correct for the naturally warm tone of artificial light. The optical stabilization is incredibly efficient, allowing you to take a shot in less than a quarter of a second without a tripod. Finally, although the flash provided is excellent, you can connect an extra flash if you wish for even better performance.
| Nikon Coolpix P6000 | |
|---|---|
| Pluses | Minuses |
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| Despite promising a lot, the P6000 ended up being a disappointment, with its headline features like GPS and a LAN connection not quite working as expected. It's a good camera all the same, but it's too slow, even with JPEGs (worse in RAW mode) and it doesn't really manage electronic noise very well. |  |
should have classified the cameras to at least price and/or final rating. i got discouraged to read.
should have classified the cameras to at least price and/or final rating. i got discouraged to read.
When you say classified, what do you mean? Do you mean the pages should go in order of price, or in order of rating? Such as the cheap ones at the beginning and the expensive ones at the end OR the best cameras at the top and the worst cameras at the bottom?
i meant group them by chosen price ranges/brackets or any feature you think is relevant since comparison between cameras is just difficult with the present format wherein it is only possible to compare models of a certain brand.
It would have been nice if all the cameras were given scores (yes I know this is very subjective, but so are all the comments and pro/con sections). Idealy they would be given su scores as well (i.e. a still picture score, a video score, a asthetics score, a usablity score, maybe some others) and then the cameras could be sorted by those scores with links, maybey a short blurb at each camera in the sorted list. Another thing that would be very usefull to myself and I assume other readers is a features table that allows us to compare all the cameras.