Nikon Coolpix P7100 – A High-Performance Compact Digital Camera

The Nikon P7100 is the brand’s new replacement for its flagship advanced compact camera – the Coolpix P7000 – and comes with a number of new and upgraded features over its predecessor, including some fresh controls, a high-resolution tilting LCD display and a revised user interface, to name a few. Equipped with a viewfinder, oversized sensor, and RAW-format capabilities. It’s an update to last year’s P7000 model, and most of the “new” features herein are really just refinements to the performance speed and user interface—the weak points that held its predecessor back from competing head-on with the mighty Canon G12. Read on to see if the P7100 has what it takes to sit atop the enthusiast compact heap.

Nikon P7100 Review
Nonetheless, the Nikon Coolpix P7100 offers an impressive range of advanced technologies that improve upon the P7000′s specifications, not least the addition of the previously-mentioned, more flexible articulated screen (albeit of the same size and resolution). There’s also a new front control dial for improved handling and AE lock when shooting movies, plus some new additions to the camera’s effects options and claimed enhancements to the Coolpix P7100 responsiveness and image quality.

If you use manual mode and like to set the shutter and aperture, then the new dial makes a lot of sense, you can use the one on the front for aperture and the one on the back for shutter speed. But if you don’t use the camera in manual mode, then it seems that the front dial is mostly just a duplicate of the back dial / or inactive in other modes. Is this of benefit? Perhaps, depending on which you find easier to use. It’s just a shame that you can’t set it to set the ISO using the dial, instead having to press the Function button and then use any of the command dials, front or back, to change the setting. It’s the kind of camera that you may need to spend a little time getting to grips with, and perhaps even a couple of hours in the manual reading how to get the best from it. Images straight from the camera look great, with bright colours, good detail and good performance at both wide and telephoto settings, with low noise. Video quality is good, although 720p is looking a little dated now, but if you only shoot the odd video then it should be adequate.