|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We clicked with:
Cheap (street price)
Manual mode
D-lighting
28mm wide angle
Simple viewfinder
Shots in the dark:
ISO 2000 is merely a sell point, not a realistically usable sensitivity
Options limited between modes
Poor battery life (AA batteries only)
|  |
|
The Nikon Coolpix P50 is among Nikon's flagship 'Performance' compact range. At a glance, it's a stripped down version of the top-end Nikon Coolpix P5100 - but is it a feature-packed feast of excellence on the cheap, or yet another reason to hold onto your precious credit-crunchy pounds?
The Camera:
The Nikon Coolpix P50 is similar to Nikon P-Series cameras of the past - a purposeful black and silver finish with a right hand grip and a thumbwheel with quick-mode access on the top. The zoom, quick and full menu buttons are all moved to the back of the camera. It doesn't feel as purposeful as it looks though, and the plasticky exterior feels toy-like, especially when compared to some of the competitors' slick metal bodies.
Using AA batteries instead of a custom lithium-ion pack may well be a deal-maker or deal-breaker. On the one hand, using AA batteries means a lower-priced camera (a street price of £110-£150 seems realistic), and you'll have to be somewhere really remote not to have access to AA batteries. On, the other hand, the P50 goes through regular alkaline batteries like a dose of salts; Nikon quotes 130 shots per set, but we got just 78 out of the set supplied in the box. You should pick up a set of AA rechargables (whether Nikon's own or a third-party brand), but these will likely offer even less shots per charge.
The Nikon Coolpix P50 has some very useful features, most notably the 28mm wide lens. This is an excellent bonus that's fast becoming almost an industry standard. It's well matched by the 3.6x optical zoom, as this extends as far as a decent 35mm-equivalent 102mm (if you exclude the 'don't even go there' 4x digital zoom). Zooming isn't fast, but then that's not really the point - much like the Autofocus, which is sluggish off the mark (but, importantly, mostly accurate). As there's a Manual option, it's possible to manually adjust your AF-focus point amid changing aperture and shutter speeds.
Operation is easy, if occasionally incoherent when switching between certain modes. The thumbwheel on top has M, P, Auto, Portrait, Landscape and Night Portrait quickly accessible. The quick menu pad is easily useable and helps to adjust your flash, exposure comp and macro settings at speed. However, many scene modes have certain features disabled and the menu lists change between settings. So, for example, when trying to change ISO you may become 'lost' prior to realising this is only possible in Manual (M) or Programmed Auto (P) modes.
A big sell point for the Nikon Coolpix P50 is the inclusion of Vibration Reduction (VR) at such a (potentially) low price point. Sadly, it isn't particularly effective, at best giving the appearance of sharpening some images. Not only that, but it's a little temperamental between settings and seems to be outside of user-defined control. If this had true optical image stabilisation (as opposed to electronic) - like in the follow-up Nikon Coolpix P60 - then it would likely be a whole different story.
The Nikon Coolpix P50's 2.4" LCD works fine when viewed direct to the eyes, but causes a few viewing issues when tilted (not to particular excess) or in bright sunlight. Ideal then that the clever bods at Nikon decided to include a simple optical viewfinder - great to avoid the glare of sunlight and (sadly) not a particularly common feature with many compacts of late. A potentially excellent approach for making your images - but do note that the viewfinders position isn't above the lens, so it wont be a 'what you see is what you get' transition from viewfinder to capture.
The images:
Image noise is an issue that compacts in particular suffer from - and the Nikon Coolpix P50 doesn't break any new ground in reducing said noise. From ISO64 to ISO200 images will be relatively noise free. There's an essence of noise even at ISO400. ISO1600 is (unsurprisingly) very noisy, while pushing to ISO2000 is so noisy, it makes everything look like a painter's radio.
100
|
200
|
400
|
800
|
1600
|
2000
|
Colour and balance of images is good. Where some compacts splurge colours together to form misbalanced images, the Nikon Coolpix P50 produces well balanced pictures. Plus the in-camera D-lighting can assist in 'rescuing' blown out shadows and highlights - it's fast becoming a standard feature of digital image making, and it's always a good sign to see some pro-calibre technology being fed down to the entry level mass market, for the benefit of all.
Overall images are soft - though not offensively so - and at the wider end of the zoom section (28mm) there's some barrel distortion as to be expected. Not a huge problem however as there's no unwanted shadows or purple fringing to be found.
Autofocus did occasionally slip up too, particularly when manually set or confronted with flat lighting or dim conditions. No issues to be found in Auto mode however.
Conclusion:
If you are looking for a standard snapper and can find the Nikon Coolpix P50 on the cheap, then you might be onto something. But the market is always moving fast, not least from the recent arrival of the new 'big brother' Nikon Coolpix P60.
Its images are of a good standard, and would be boosted by the VR and ISO2000 - if those features actually had some serious weight behind them. But they don't, so what you're left with is a standard compact that - although benefiting from a 28mm wide lens - doesn't bring the sort of performance to be expected from Nikon.
Share this article:
Del.icio.us this
|
Megapixels
|
8.1
|
|
Screen
|
2.4" LCD (115,000 dots)
|
|
Zoom
|
3.6x Optical Zoom (28-102mm 35mm equiv.) 4x digital zoom
|
|
Picture Modes
|
Manual, Programmed Auto, Auto, Hi ISO, Portrait, Landscape, Night Portrait and 12 other modes
AVI movie
|
|
Stabilisation
|
Yes - Electronic VR
|
|
Sensitivity
|
ISO64-2000
|
|
White balance
|
Auto, 6 presets
|
|
Storage
|
SD
52MB Internal memory
|
|
Battery
|
2x AA batteries provided (optional li-ion battery available separately)
|
|
Other / Key features
|
D-lighting
|
