A for nearly
Coolpix is booming up with the ranks and the development of the brand new king from the range - the Coolpix A - sure demonstrates Nikon's resolve for the company.
However this Coolpix is not even close to your average compact. It might be small , light, however it comes packed with a Digital slr-sized APS-C - or "DX" as Nikon calls it - sensor, combined with a 28mm f/2.8 equivalent lens. No zoom, and never much vary from ?1,000 either. Does its performance and picture quality match up with the cost?
Small , Practical
On first glance you would not believe that the Coolpix A were built with a Digital slr-like sensor within it. Since it is a little factor tiny. Think for the consumer spectrum - something similar to the Panasonic Lumix TZ40 - and also the Coolpix A very is not much bigger whatsoever. We used it using its incorporated strap and from time to time thought we'd dropped it, simply to understand - for the reason that "trying to find secrets within the fridge" moment of stress that the ?1,000 camera might have passed by the wayside - it's still hanging from your shoulder. At 299g it's heavier than more compact-sensor compacts, however with that Digital slr attitude in your mind we'd suspected the A's all-metal body would weigh in far heavier.
The Coolpix A sure comes with size on its side - and individuals considering the Fujifilm X100S will definitely think about the Nikon within the size stakes - yet handles to stay functional being used too. It is also a significant striking little compact that has us rather loved-up before a lot as firing the shutter.
A mode dial is combined with a high-rear thumbwheel control and d-pad which works like a secondary spinning thumbwheel. There is a function button around the camera's front, together with a mixture of quick-access and primary menu controls. The "i" button around the rear raises the conventional Nikon Digital slr reference/menu screen that is helpful for modifying nearly all important configurations. However, with no built-in viewfinder - only an optional but-to-be-listed optical version is going to be offered at further cost ($450 - ?295 - in america) - this can not be utilized in the always-on way that it may having a Digital slr camera.
Aside from the camera is yet another crucial control: focus type. You can choose between normal, macro and manual focus options - crucial when close-up focus is needed. Just remember which mode the camera's set to or you will find lots of mis-focusing can happen.
The Coolpix A's quality is unquestionably first rate. The all-metal body includes a small , elevated strip-like grip that is ideal to tuck fingers around for any sturdy hold. Everything falls well towards the hands after more extended use the rather small-scale and shut-to-body manual focus ring becomes familiar. This ring slides through rotations inside a silken fashion - we'd just want it to have a bit more width. It's this is not on account of insufficient space either, as likely to additional and detachable protrusion before this focus ring you can use to connect the not compulsory adapter ring for filters or perhaps a lens hood. Not sure on whether there will be optical plugs for super-wide or extended telephoto adaptations from the 28mm equivalent lens.
Around the rear from the camera there is a 3-inch, 921k-us dot LCD which does not capture the type of brightness amounts of, say, the Nikon D7100's WRGB screen, nor exist touch screen abilities or perhaps a vari-position bracket. It works and will it good enough, however in better sunlight insights could be present.
Paltry Performance
But here's the pinch: the Coolpix A, despite its promise, is not as much as scratch within the performance stakes. Autofocus is slow. There, we stated it. This may come as a little of the hammer towards the heart, as the kind of Fujifilm's X100S will run circles around Nikon's high-finish offering.
READ: Fujifilm X100S pictures and hands-on
Now we do not always demand the complete quickest focus system on the planet, however the A is going to be proven the doorway by compact system cameras along with other should-be lesser compacts too. It's not only due to focus speed either - we found the precision to become questionable. By having an f/2.8 lens available almost always there is likely to be a good line to utilize when available, but we have shot after which re-shot moments as well as at f/4. we have found the only AF point position - which will come in normal, wide, monitoring and face recognition options - can differ in the decision.
Nikon Coolpix An example image at ISO 100, f/2.8 - click for 100 percent crop
Critical focus could be modified with a manual focus override option that is necessary once focus is acquired and also the shutter button remains half depressed. Issue is there is no zoom to the preview available at this time and, while you will find left-aligned buttons to zoom interior and exterior the preview, these bankruptcies are not active once focus continues to be acquired. Huh?
The Coolpix A's manual focus measure can show in ft or metres but does not supply a lot more than approximately focus point measure - not the kind of approximate hyperfocal distance system of, say, the Fujifilm X20. Manual focus might have also tips in the focus peaking - an embossed edge which turns up around the preview to verify focus - feature as present in an growing quantity of other cameras, including Sony's RX1.
READ: The new sony Cyber-shot RX1 review
A larger number of focus options might have gone far, as would a far more intricate manual focus option. Add the truth that there is no method to assess manual focus through the optical viewfinder and that we suspect there will be some disappointed using the A's prospects.
Nikon Coolpix An example image at ISO 400, f/7.1 - click for 100 percent raw file crop
Single autofocus (AF-S) is matched up having a full-time (AF-F) option which is not of great use - the only mode is slow because it is, and also the full-time does not improve this because of its ongoing continuous focus.
Burst speed works somewhat better, however. Having a four fps (4fps) maximum, we could snap up nine raw & JPEG Fine files in almost any one sitting having a Class 10 Sdcard loaded in to the camera. Movie mode can also be hidden away into this drive mode section inside the menu - apparently hidden from the forefront, despite its 1080p capture capacity at 24, 25 or 30fps.
Nikon Coolpix An example image at ISO 100, f/2.8 - click for 100 percent raw file crop
Also around the plus side may be the camera's macro mode's 10cm close-focus distance, that is certainly welcome. Competitor cameras, like the Leica X2 for instance, are afflicted by limited close-focus distance abilities therefore the Nikon trumps them in cases like this.
READ: Leica X2 review
We found the Coolpix A's battery to depend on the job too. We have been on / off shooting by using it forseveral days, accumulating in 100s of shots. The 3-bar display of battery existence is not as accurate like a percentage system could have been, also it once its lower towards the final of their three bars the red-colored colour apparently means you will find couple of shots left available as opposed to a proportional third. Still, that the fairly small gripe with that said.
Picture Quality That Wows
But negativity is turned on its mind to past the opposite as, when on point, the Coolpix A's pictures are a complete delight.
Nikon Coolpix An example image at ISO 100, f2.8 - click for 100 percent raw file crop
Your camera may have a similar 16.1-megapixel sensor because the D7000 Digital slr, which despite now as being a generation old because of the discharge of the Nikon D7100, went a few steps further to push picture quality up a gear - there is no low pass filter within the Coolpix A and, therefore, no anti-aliasing needed, which will help to create sharper images. But it is the A's 28mm equivalent lens that increases the razor sharpness. We doubt that a D7000 or D7100 having a premier lens could match up with this type of sharpness - it is really prominent within the close-up macro shots.
READ: Nikon D7100 review
Initially i was skeptical concerning the Coolpix A's generation-old sensor and Expeed 2 processing engine, however the pictures have un-tied any negativity that we have had. And when that's from the generation old setup only then do we are only able to imagine exactly what the follow up could bring later on - but that is getting in front of ourselves.
Having a sensitivity vary from ISO 100-6400 as standard, the Coolpix A's lower ISO configurations are fantastically sharp and obvious. There's merely a subtle hint of chromatic aberration - proven as crimson fringing - and elevated gentleness for the edges from the frame through the sensitivity range, each of which - and fortunately - are subtle blemishes.
Nikon Coolpix An example image at ISO 2200, f/4. - click for 100 percent raw file crop
Despite the fact that sharpness does decrease because the sensitivity increases, shots into four-figure ISO breathing difficulties still deliver lots of punch. Raw files aren't as drastically not the same as their JPEG alternatives as we have seen from another cameras either - and it is this subtle processing which brings about the standard whichever format is the preference. Raw files hold on the subtle particulars in shadow areas better, even when it as being the fee for more prominent colour noise.
The f/2.8 lens is of great use too, even when the 28mm equivalent is rather wide-position and will not suit all tastes. But that is only the character of the camera - it offered us well for a combination of landscapes and shut-ups.
Nikon Coolpix An example image at ISO 6400, f/3.5 - click for 100 percent raw file crop
The default colour pattern from the Coolpix A might not be probably the most saturated or striking, but you will find other in-camera options that are the subtle - for example Standard, Vivid, Portrait, Mono and much more - right through to more specific scene mode options, while sepia and cyanotype effects are available through the primary menu alongside a number of "retouch" options for example fisheye, miniature effect and much more. We are not totally taken through the last group of options though - we'd favour seen more advanced, camera-specific black and whitened filter types to give an example.
Verdict: The Nikon Coolpix A is nearly there. It's taken us on the full-circle rollercoaster ride: from love in the beginning sight, to loathing the slow and thus-so autofocus system, then to love again when searching at individuals super-sharp, detailed images. Seriously, they are better-than-Digital slr-quality in lots of situations because of that sharp 28mm f/2.8 equivalent lens.
But despite such high praise, it isn't enough. Well, less than enough for that ?999 selling price in whatever way. We have shot and reshot moments while using Coolpix A - as it is within the interests in our photo taking habits - but have discovered off-focus shots an annoyance, or entirely mis-focused shots to happen every so often. Manual focus, too, while her makings of excellent things because of the manual focus ring round the lens, needs a computerized focus-area zoom choice for pinpoint precision. You can make use of the focusOrout buttons aside from the camera, although not when focus continues to be acquired - that is in the point we'd require to use the manual focus override feature.
See it isn't the images that begin to see the Coolpix A just a little lower lower than our bar of high expectation - they are fantastic when they are around the money - it is the slow pace your camera works at. As a result we are being firm about this small form-factor compact within our verdict, despite it delivering the inspiration of brilliance. The Coolpix A's cost might be high, yet a D7000 with 28mm f/2.8 lens would cost very similar and, we suspect, wouldn't produce images as sharp.
It's certainly one of individuals mind versus heart items: around we still without any reason love the Coolpix A because of its super-sharp images, it's really a painful process to reach that time.
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Nikon Coolpix A Nikon Cameras
Nikon Coolpix A initially made an appearance on http://world wide web.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 26 Marly 2013 11:15:00 +0000
