Nikon P100

The Nikon Coolpix P100 is the camera you buy when you just don't want to spring for a digital SLR and its extended family of detachable lenses. There's little reason to carry a bag full of lenses when the P100 packs a whopping (and we mean whopping) 26x optical zoom lens. At 10-megapixels, it's not the highest resolution ultra-zoom camera on the block but it's jam packed with enough features to satisfy an enthusiast camera buyer.

Nikon P100 at a Glance

• 10-megapixel CMOS sensor
• 26x optical zoom lens
• 3-inch tilting LCD
• Full HD movie recording
• Price: $399

Huge Lens: The P100 is anchored around a 26x optical zoom lens. Aside from the eye-popping magnification, it's wide-angle to boot at 26mm (35mm equivalent), allowing you to capture more of a scene in the frame when space is at a premium. For a lens of this size, image stabilization is a must and the P100 usefully incorporations a sensor-shift stabilizer to reduce camera shake. Nevertheless, you'll still need a firm grip as you get out to the end of this lens to avoid blur.

New Image Sensor: The Nikon P100 owes several of its marquee features to a new, back-illuminated CMOS image sensor. Thanks to the sensor, it can fire off stills at a burst rate of 10 full resolution frames per second - a blazing speed for a camera in this class.

Incidentally, while many cameras with mammoth lenses tend to be sluggish performers, the P100 is surprisingly speedy when it comes to start-up and shot-to-shot times, with both clocking in under two seconds.

Decent Photo Quality: My test shots with the P100 produced mostly good results, but you'll need to do some tweaking (particularly with flash exposure) to be fully pleased. The pop-up flash won't pop automatically and if you set to auto, you'll frequently over-expose your subjects (fortunately, you can make adjustments).  Indoor shots were warm and the colors reproduced well. Above ISO 400 and you'll find yourself swamped with noise, but below that (or outdoors) the results were pleasing. With any long zoom camera you'll notice some pin cushioning and distortion as you zoom all the way out, but nothing that should constitute a deal breaker.

Easy Menu, Could Be Easier: The menu system on the P100 is straightforward enough. You'll have varying degrees of control of the menu functions based on the mode you're in (automatic mode limits your choices, while program and manual settings give you numerous options). A mode dial atop the P100 provides access to a range of settings including sports mode, smart portrait, subject tracking autofocus and a user-assignable function.

The onboard menu system itself is easy enough to navigate but it could have used some written guides to prompt less experienced users along and explain the what the various features do. There's plenty of room for it on the P100's high-resolution 3-inch LCD. Speaking of the display, it's not only huge and bright, it's hinged so you can pull it out from the camera and tilt it up and down to frame those harder-to-reach photos (but unfortunately it won't swing out in front of the camera for self portraits). There's also an electronic viewfinder.

Well Designed But Large: It's well nigh impossible to squeeze a lens of this size into a compact camera body, and the P100 is not among the slim and trim. It weighs in at 17 ounces with battery and memory card, so be sure to bring a camera bag or neck strap when toting it around. That said, the P100 is well designed with a sturdy curved grip and a substantial feel. All the buttons are large enough and well placed for quick access. 

1080p Video: One of the hallmarks of the P100 is its ability to record 1920 x 1080 high definition video at 60 frames per second in the H.264 format. Nikon also added a few more video goodies: a stereo microphone and the ability to use the zoom lens during filming. There's also an HDMI output for viewing your high-def movies on the big screen.

The P100 offers variable bit rate recording between 12Mbps and 14Mbps. That won't top the 24Mbps recording you'll find on the higher-end HD camcorders on offer from Sony and Canon, and they'll be some pixelated noise if you're filming indoors or in lower light. But the video quality is definitely head and shoulders beyond what you find on most compact cameras.

You can also drop the video resolution down to 1280 x 720, VGA and QVGA resolution. Alternatively, you can shoot slow motion movies at 240fps at 320 x 240 resolution or at 120fps at VGA resolution. That's an option I've typically seen on $500-plus camcorders.

The P100 has a dedicated button for movie recording, which you can toggle between a high-speed option and the full HD choice. To enter into movie mode, you hit the movie button but to begin recording, you use the shutter button. However, to stop recording, you have to hit the movie button - not the shutter. It's a bit confusing, at least initially.

Feature Packed: Nikon laid on the features with the P100, providing 17 scene modes, manual controls, an auto scene selector (which analyzes the shooting environment and picks a scene mode for you) as well as a seven color effects. One of my favorites is the Backlit Scene HDR( for "high dynamic range"). When activated, the camera will capture several photos of the same scene and automatically merge them into a single photo for a more balanced exposure. It takes a bit of processing in the camera, so it's better suited for portraits, not candids. With full manual, aperture and shutter priority modes, there's plenty of options for photographic creativity.

Bottom Line: Nikon's Coolpix P100 is a robust ultra-zoom with plenty of features to keep a photo enthusiast busy. It's speedier than many models in its class and with high definition and slow motion recording, offers video functions that most entry level d-SLRs can't match.