Nikon Coolpix P7000

The basics

The latest flagship addition to the super-hot Nikon Coolpix compact range, the P7000 is aimed at the enthusiastic amateur who wants the convenience of a compact married with many of the settings and options of a full DSLR.

The good

The Nikon Coolpix P7000 is much chunkier than its P6000 predecessor and feels solid and metallic. The LCD monitor has grown to a gorgeous three inches.

The other difference is the absolute wealth of manual controls available on the new model. Alongside the usual mode dial, power button and shutter-with-zoom-ring, the camera now sports an added dedicated manual control dial for fast launching the likes of white balance, ISO and picture quality, plus another dial for EV compensation.

There’s also 720p HD movie-making, complemented with an external microphone input for stereo recording. Both still and movie picture quality is exceptionally good, even in the high ISO settings using the in-built noise reduction.

The bad

The megapixel count has been reduced from 13.5 on the P6000 to 10.1, although it still makes use of the same impressive 1/1.7-inch image sensor.

While the new-improved LCD is an undoubted asset when framing, the supplied viewfinder is an optical rather than electronic system, only 80 per cent of the frame is viewable.

There’s also a new system for processing RAW images that slows the whole process down a little –each Fine RAW image takes around seven seconds to complete so you’re unlikely to do much continuous shooting in this mode.

The bottom line

You’d be hard pressed to find another compact with such an array of manual features. An ideal DSLR substitute when you’re on the go.