The new Nikon Coolpix P6000 is a compact digital camera with built in GPS receiver and 13.5 Megapixel CCD.
Introduction:
Nikon Coolpix P6000 is the first digital camera to feature a GPS receiver and to support geotagging out of the box. The Nikon Coolpix P6000 has also an ethernet port, a USB port, shake reduction and generous manual controls. The camera has a 2.7” screen, built-in flash and a hot shoe, along with some built-in memory. On the top of that it has quite a nice specification list, but should it really be the Nikon compact flagship? Let’s have a closer look at the Nikon Coolpix P6000 and decide.
Nikon Coolpix P6000 pros:
Geotagging
Good image quality
Snappy performance
Professional design, good build quality
Two user-defined modes
Nikon Coolpix P6000 cons:
Limited GPS usability
Average Battery life
Raw images supported only by Nikon software
The design:
Nikon Coolpix P6000 measures 107 x 66 x 43 mm (4.2 x 2.6 x 1.7 in) and weighs 240 g (8.5 oz.) grams (without battery). It is made mainly of metal with the rubbery handgrip. All the ports are protected by covers and add to the overall positive impression of the Nikon Coolpix P6000. The camera is well balanced and with well placed buttons for most often used settings. The biggest design flow that I could find is the flash placement, so when the flash is open you may accidentally obscure, or shut it. Maybe the fact that the SD memory card slot is placed at the bottom of the camera may disturb some users as you cannot swap card when you use a tripod, but I can live with that. At the back of the camera you will find the 2.7-inch LCD display working in 230,000 pixels. The overall quality of the display is commendable, but it has only 97% coverage of the frame. In low light the display brightens automatically and in direct sunlight it is really pleasant to work with. Above the display you will see the optical viewfinder which displays about 80% of the frame. At the top of Nikon Coolpix P6000 is the hot shoe and on its right the mode dial.
Performance:
The Nikon Coolpix P6000’s battery performance is, unfortunately, quite disappointing when compared to other digital camera like Sony Cyber-Shot T500, or Olympus 570UZ. It takes about three hours to fully charge the battery when you run out of juice. Nikon has built-in an optical Vibration Reduction in their Coolpix P6000 and it works really well. Of course, it will not stop a fast moving car, but still it performs better that i had expected.you can use the Vibration Reduction (also known as the Shake Reduction system) also in the movie mode. The camera has 4x optical zoom with about fifteen steps.
It takes the camera about 1.5 second to start up, and although shot-to-shot performance depends on the settings you use it is usually quite fast. Nikon Coolpix P6000 can save images as JPEGs or RAW files. The continuous mode in Nikon Coolpix P6000 is particularly interesting. You get a few options here, and so you can opt for the Best shot selector which takes a few photos and saver only the sharpest one. Another feature lets you set how often the photos are to be taken. Also the macro mode works really well in Nikon Coolpix P6000.
Image quality:
The overal image quality in Nikon Coolpix P6000 is really good. The exposure is just as it should be, the colors are natural and well saturated. As is always the case with digital camera which take large photos the images are on the soft side due to the noise reduction which is almost always applied.
Nikon Coolpix P6000 can also record videos in 640 x 480 resolution at 30 frames per second until you run out of free space on your memory card. That is about 30 minutes with a 2 gigabyte memory card in the highest quality. You can use the shake reduction in video mode, but, unfortunately, not the optical zoom.
Menus / ease of use:
Nikon Coolpix P6000 has easy to use menu structure. The menus are divided only intro three tabs. For beginners there are the easy mode and the help guides, whereas the professional users will appreciate the thorough configuration options.
All in all, the Nikon Coolpix P6000 is a nice digital camera with the interesting touch with built-in geotagging. However, if that is not your priority I thinks that the competition from Sony, Canon, or Panasonic might have something better to offer.
Selected Nikon Coolpix P6000 features and specifications:
Sensor
• 1/1.72″ Type CCD
• 13.5 million effective pixels
Lens • 4.0x Zoom-Nikkor (28 – 112 mm equiv.)
• F2.7 – F5.9
• 9 elements in 7 groups Image dimensions
• 4224 x 3168
• 4224 x 2816 (3:2)
• 4224 x 2376 (16:9)
• 3264 x 2448
• 3168 x 3168 (1:1)
• 2592 x 1944
• 2048 x 1536
• 1600 x 1200
• 1024 x 768
Image stabilization Optical: Lens-shift VR Conversion lenses Yes Digital zoom Up to 4x Focus Contrast-detect TTL AF Focus distance • 50 cm (1 ft.) to infinity (∞)
• Macro close-up mode: 2 cm (0.8 in) to infinity (∞) ISO sensitivity • Full res: ISO 64, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 2000
• 3MP or smaller: ISO 3200, 6400
• Auto (ISO 64-800), Auto high-sensitivity up to ISO 1600 LCD monitor • 2.7-in wide viewing angle TFT LCD with anti-reflection coating
• 230,000-dot Other features
• GPS
• Ethernet port
Storage • SD / SDHC card (optional)
• Approx 48 MB internal memory Power • Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL5 (supplied)
• Approx 260 shots
• AC Adapter EH-66 (optional) Accessories (Optional) • Battery charger MH-61
• Wide-angle Converter WC-E76
• Adapter ring UR-E21
• Speedlights SB-400, SB-600, SB-800
Other recently reviewed digital cameras:
Pentax K2000, Sony Cyber-Shot T500, Olympus 570UZ, Nikon Coolpix S610, Samsung TL34HD, Canon PowerShot SX10 IS, Canon PowerShot G10, Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T77.