Front (7.0)
The Nikon Coolpix 7900 has a sleek-looking front with its black body and polished silver highlights. The left side is slightly raised to aid as a handgrip; on the inside of the grip is a polished metal sliver that gives the fingers a little extra substance to grip. The right side of the camera has a Zoom Nikkor ED lens that is labeled as such. Around the rim of the lens are some of its key specifications: “7.8-23.4mm, 1:2.8-4.9.” The lens barrel protrudes from the camera about a third of an inch when off and extends to about an inch and a half when powered on. The 3x optical zoom lens extends in two segments, each with a polished metal rim and a brushed silver-color barrel. In the center of the lens itself is a plastic door that snaps open and closed as the camera is turned on and off.
Above the right side of the lens is the built-in microphone that looks like a series of seven tiny holes. Above the microphone in the top right corner of the Coolpix 7900 is the built-in flash. Its plastic face is textured with ringlets of circles etched into it. The flash is not directly above the lens, which will often translate into subjects not getting evenly lit and visible shadows cast next to the subject. To the left of the flash is the viewfinder, which has a circular window but a tiny rectangular frame inside. Just left of this feature is an LED that doubles as a self-timer indicator and an auto focus assist illuminator. Below this is the Nikon Coolpix 7900 logo in silver lettering.
Back (7.5)
The back of this Coolpix does not look as simple as its front. The style scheme is the same with a black plastic body and silver highlights, but the buttons, icons, and words are not as neatly organized. The right side of the back is a small mess of icons, although there aren’t that many buttons to get confused over. The multi-selector is in the bottom right corner nestled in the midst of a ridiculous amount of symbols. The selector mechanism is a circle with arrows pointing in each direction and divots between the arrows to differentiate directions. The OK button is in the center of the mechanism. Surrounding the circle are several icons in confusing places. Above the selector is a flash icon and below is a flower icon indicating the macro mode. Those two are the most intuitive. The icon on the right is so far right that it is almost on the side of the camera; this is the exposure compensation icon. The icon to the left of the selector is so far left that it is actually on the raised rim around the LCD and looks quite lost; this is the self-timer icon. Between the flash and exposure compensation icons is a squiggly line that represents the transfer icon. Next to the squiggly line are the letters OK with a circle around them. Apparently, the OK button acts as a one-touch transfer button in playback mode when the camera is connected to a computer with a USB cable. Between the exposure compensation and macro icons, there is another icon with the circled OK; this is the D-Lighting icon and only works in the playback mode.
Above the multi-selector are two circular silver buttons. The one on the left is clearly labeled “Menu” and indicates exactly what it brings up. The button on the right has a purple playback icon and is used to review photographs. Between the two buttons is a tiny bump whose purpose is only to provide a tactile landmark for blindly searching fingers. Above the buttons is a built-in speaker that is a series of holes. In the top right corner of the Nikon Coolpix 7900 are two buttons that act as the zoom mechanism. The button on the left has a ‘W’ engraved in it for the wide setting of the lens and the button on the right has a ‘T’ engraved into it for the telephoto. Between the buttons is another one of those tiny differentiating bumps. Below this set of buttons are more icons; an index view icon is below the ‘W’ and question mark and magnifying glass icons appear below the ‘T’. To the left of the zoom buttons and still at the top of the back is an oval-shaped button with a trash can on it. To its left on a raised plateau is the rectangular optical viewfinder with two LEDs to its right. The top LED flashes red and has a flash icon next to it. The bottom LED has the letters ‘AF’ next to it and flashes green when recording images to the memory and shows solid green along with the other LED’s solid red when the lens is focused. Below the viewfinder and delete button is the 2-inch LCD screen. The screen is slightly raised from the rest of the camera and has a Nikon logo at the bottom and the lost self-timer icon at its right crest.
Left Side (7.5)
The left side echoes the design of the right side; they both have a silver panel surrounded by two black panels. At the bottom right of this side is a rubber door that takes up part of the silver and black panels; it is labeled with a USB icon and ‘A/V Out.’ Beneath the rubber cover is an outlet that serves both cables.
Right Side (7.0)
The right side is the thickest part of the camera as it acts as a sort of handgrip, though it’s still not as thick as the curvature of most adults’ hands; it can more accurately be called a finger grip. The right side has a brushed silver-colored band sandwiched by two black panels. A plastic door slides to the back of the camera and then outward to reveal the SD card slot. The door is composed partially of the black panel and partially of the silver band and is labeled ‘Card.’ Above this door on the silver panel is an immovable eyelet for attaching the included wrist strap. At the bottom of the silver panel is a small rubber panel, but it is not functional and merely decorative.
Top (7.5)
From the top, the Nikon 7900 has a silver panel in the middle and a black panel on each side of the silver band. The black panels are beveled on the front and back so there aren’t any really sharp edges. A Coolpix logo is embossed on the left side of the silver panel. Slightly off-center to the right is the plastic mode dial, which feels a little cheap but rotates nicely all the same. On its left side is a small white tag mark to show which mode is currently in use. There are several icons on the mode dial: a person’s head with a hat representing the portrait mode, a mountain in a frame representing the landscape mode, a stick person running representing the sports mode, a person in a dark frame with a star by the head representing the night portrait mode, a movie camera representing the movie mode, and a green camera icon representing the automatic mode. There are two other modes that are found with text: Set Up and Scene. The mode dial is bigger than a dime but smaller than a nickel and is ribbed, but not as finely as a dime. It almost looks like a gear in a machine. To the right of the mode dial and toward the front of the 7900 is the polished shutter release button. To its right and depressed in a divot is the clearly labeled ‘On/Off’ button with a tiny green LED next to it.
Bottom (7.5)
The left side of the bottom is labeled as a battery door and opens to the skinny slot for the rechargeable lithium-ion battery. The door has a textured portion for easier sliding and flings up in catapult-like style with the hinge toward the front of the camera. The right side of the bottom has a standard tripod mount surrounded by the serial number and the Made in China tag.
