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December 03, 2008
[REVIEW—NIKON COOLPIX P6000]
Price: $750
Superior compact
The low-down: This is a 13.5 megapixel camera with a 28–112mm (film equivalent) zoom lens, which is image stabilised. There is a 75mm LCD screen and optical viewfinder. Construction is rugged and appearance is austere. Accessible functions are similar to an SLR -- this is not intended as a point and shoot. The external flash shoe takes Nikon Speedlights – we tried the Nikon SB600 and it works well. GPS location recording is built in. There is a LAN socket for network connection allowing transfer direct from camera to internet. Images can be recorded in RAW and RAW to JPG conversion can be done in-camera. Why?
Like: Image quality up to ISO200 is very good, with excellent exposure, resolution and white balance, Colour fidelity is exceptional. However the best results do depend on shooting in RAW and converting the images with an application such as Adobe RAW converter. Controls and menus are like those on Nikon’s SLRs, which means they are clear and intuitive. Auto focus is fast and accurate, even in macro mode.
Dislike: There is some noise visible at ISO400, and in JPG mode it tends to clog into ugly black patches in open shadow. We consider ISO speeds above 400 just about unusable and the vaunted 6400 is a laugh.
Verdict: We like the design and construction of the camera, and we found that up to ISO200 and shooting RAW we got excellent results. At ISO400 the pictures are acceptable for standard size prints. We couldn’t get the GPS to work but we couldn’t imagine when we would need it. We suspect that the LAN socket is Nikon’s admission that they couldn’t get the wireless connectivity of their compacts to work properly. But all in all, a superior compact and good value.
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Posted by terry at December 3, 2008 09:32 PM
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