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November 21, 2007
[ REVIEW — NIKON Coolpix P5100 ]
Price: $650
A good compact camera, with one reservation
The low-down: This 12 megapixel camera has a 35–123mm film equivalent image stabilised lens in a compact body. There is an optical viewfinder and a full set of camera controls, almost equal to those found on any DSLR. There is an external flash shoe, and an external flash is essential because the on-board light produces scary red-eye even using the anti-red eye setting. Construction is rugged and ergonomics are good. The camera accepts optional wide angle and telephoto converters. There is a comprehensive printed user manual.
Like: The image quality from this little camera is excellent – provided the ISO is not set above 200. Auto white balance is amongst the best that we have seen. Exposure is generally spot on, and where it is not the exposure compensation falls easily under the fingers. Pictures are sharp and vibrant. The video quality, something we don’t normally bother with, is exceptionally good. Given a big enough memory card (SD cards) this is a competent digicam.
Dislike: The viewfinder is very small. Low light response time is poor, by the time focus is locked and exposure calculated and the flash readied the subject has disappeared. This is odd because in normal light responses are lightning fast.
Verdict: This camera, like all the compacts that boast absurdly high pixel counts, is prone to image noise above ISO200. Below that point the images are clean enough, particularly if the end display medium is a 10 by 15 cm print. With Noise Reduction turned on in the menu there is some loss of fine detail at ISO400 and above. However, if your expectations are not too high, the output at a stratospheric ISO3200 is acceptable, with a bit of post-camera clean-up in noise removal software. The sad fact is that if this camera had a 7 megapixel sensor it would be a world-beater. We really enjoyed using it, and as the only competition, the Canon G9, is also over-pixelled these are as good as it gets in compact cameras.
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Posted by terry at November 21, 2007 10:56 PM
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Comments
Terry,
Have you tested the G9? Is the G9 superior, or significantly superior, to the P5100?
How would you rate the G9 relative to the Ricoh GX100 which you rated "Highly Recommended"?
Malcolm
Posted by: Malcolm at November 22, 2007 06:26 AM
Malcolm: I haven't yet tested the Canon G9. I expect to do so early in the new year. Based on my experience with the G7 I would expect it to be a little more, shall we say "serious", in intent. And I believe that Canon has restored RAW to the G9. But I was not impressed with the image noise in the G7.
The pixel madness in compacts is a mystery. Canon has just released the 40D, a DSLR with a sensor several times larger than that in the G9 but with fewer pixels. The full frame 5D, a giant of a sensor compared with the minuscule thing in the G9 but with the same number of pixels.
Sadly we must face the fact that compact cameras are now designed in the marketing department where numbers are everything.
The G6/G7 cameras were superb. If you can find a good second hand example it will be better than a G9.
TL
Posted by: Terry at November 22, 2007 10:38 PM
Thanks Terry. Whilst I understand your megapixel view, expressed as a matter of principle, the reality in practice is that a number of us want a high-end compact with manual settings, viewfinder etc as a pocketable supplement to a DSLR, and we have no option other than to select from the noisy megapixel monsters range currently dictated by the marketing madness. If it is not the Canon G7 or the Nikon P5100 or the Ricoh GX100, what is it? What is the most satisfactory of the bunch? Or do we just forget it?
That is something worthy of a considered article by you some time.
Also, I look forward to your review of the G9 (and perhaps a comparison with the GX100).
Malcolm
Posted by: Malcolm at November 23, 2007 10:32 AM