Tech Friday: The end of the two week test of the Coolpix P7000

It’s been two weeks since I got really started on the long term test of the new Coolpix P7000 and I think you know what kind of score it’s going to get; A+++. I’ve long wanted a small comapct camera that I could comfortably use in place of a DSLR for serious work. This camera meets those desires. After using it for all kinds of work let me share the pros and cons.

Pros:
A. Just the right size and feel. It’s substantial in build but easy to carry.
B. The lens is extremely sharp, and contrasty yielding spectacular results.
The zoom range of 28-200 is wonderful and covers the most used focal lengths.
A. The controls and features are more abundant than I could ever asked for or expected.
B. It can use the little Ml-L3 remote release from either front or back and it is the perfect cable
release. Look Ma, no hands…..
A. The shutter release is very soft and shutter lag is very very low.
B. The Vibration Reduction works very well. I got sharp images at 1/4 second!
C. White Balance control is very good and the Auto setting is very usable.
D. The camera shoots wonderful 5 shot brackets with one push of the release.
E. The 3” LCD is very easy to see, even in sunlight and has a lot of great features.
F. The artificial horizon is easy to use and very accurate.
G. The top mounted Exposure compensation dial (in 1/3rd stops) works very well, and you can
see the resulting exposure change in the LCD panel as you dial it in. Same with White
Balance.
A. ISO, Quality, White Balance, Bracketing, My Menus and Histogram can all be dialed in with
a very intuitive dial on the top left of the camera.
I. The small pop up flash is versatile and works great for close in, the hot shoe accepts other
Nikon flash unit readily.
A. The optical viewfinder works great and adjusts for the zooms change of focal length.

Cons:
A. In fairness I hate to list anything, I love this camera so much, but I wish it had an articulated
LCD screen.
A. I was going to complain that after about a minute it shuts down then I discovered it has a setting
for longer times before shut down, that fixed that…..

I have no other complaints!

I’ll end my lovefest with a few images from the camera. To the engineers in Japan and the folks in New York that made the suggestions for this camera, my hats off to you, way to go, you hit a home run out of the park!

Have a great weekend,

the pilgrim