Nikon P7100 – Purchasing The Right Camera For A Beginner Photographer
The 10.1-megapixel Nikon P7100 is an updated version of the Nikon Coolpix P7000 and resembles a DSLR that’s had its lens removed and been placed in a compacter. Like newer DSLRs the P7100 now comes with a tilting LCD and has been given extra poke in the operational speed department, via an Expeed C2 processor. As befits a camera body taking its stylistic cue from a DSLR, the Nikon Coolpix P7100 sports a busy layout bristling with buttons and dials. There’s a control here for everything from locking exposure and focus to adjusting exposure compensation on the fly (+/- 2EV). We even get a thumbwheel at the front and at the back, allowing us to rapidly scroll through settings.
Nikon P7100 Review
On the bright side, the Nikon Coolpix P7100 external control palette proved the best in all the land of fixed-lens point-and-shoots. Nikon even added a third command dial to the front of the P7100 to compliment the two rear-mounted dials. The Nikon Coolpix P7100 also carried over the two customizable Function buttons, Exposure Compensation dial, ISO/WB/Quality/etc. dial, AE/AF Lock button and a handful of other shortcut buttons. The Nikon P7100 is one of the few point-and-shoot camera to offer a Mic jack for video recording, which allowed me to hook up my Rode VideoMic and say goodbye to craptastic built-in digital camera audio. Toss in the hot accessory shoe, popup flash, optical viewfinder and f/2.8 7x optical zoom wide-angle NIKKOR lens, and the Nikon Coolpix P7100 makes most of the advanced point-and-shoot crowd look like disposable cameras.
The combination of these features and the subtle but important improvements make the P7100 the best Nikon Coolpix yet for keen photographers, and a real contender to the Canon G-series. It still commands the same hefty price-tag as its predecessor, though, with the RRP of £489.99 / €580.00 / $499.95 putting it into direct competition with the Canon PowerShot G12, Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5, several entry-level DSLRs and the new wave of Compact System Cameras from Panasonic, Sony, Olympus, Samsung and now Nikon itself. Many photographers won’t want the added bulk and complexity of an interchangeable lens system, though, which is right where the Nikon Coolpix P7100 steps in – Highly Recommended!
January 21, 2012
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Posted by Jam Man
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