Nikon Coolpix P100

Handling (7.00)

The P100 is a lightweight, comfortable camera, with a midsize right hand grip that’s fine for both the big-fisted and the petite-pawed. We also like the rubberized coating, an effective non-slip surface also found on the well positioned thumb rest on the camera back. The off-center design means there’s virtually no body surface to grip with your left hand, but cradling the lens from below or holding it pincer-style top and bottom proved secure and practical.

The articulated LCD adds to your shooting flexibility. The bottom hinge pulls away from the camera body, enabling you to pivot the screen horizontally, facing either up or down.

Buttons & Dials (9.50)

The one significant update from the P90 control design is the addition of a one-click movie recording button on the back of the camera, behind the mode dial. It’s a welcome convenience, and positioned well to avoid accidental clicking. Overall, we like the P100 button and dial layout and construction. The multi selector is a bit small, but responsive enough to make accessing the dedicated shooting controls mapped to the four directions (flash mode exposure compensation, focus mode and self-timer) a fumble-resistant process.

Menus (6.00)

The P100 uses the standard Nikon menu system, with legible white type on a gray background. There are icons, but there are always text labels along with them to minimize confusion. Our only major complaint is the fact that the individual tabbed sections can run several pages vertically, meaning all your option aren’t visible until you’ve scrolled down to reveal them.

Manual & Learning (7.50)

Nikon consistently provides well-written, intelligently designed user manuals, and the P100 is no exception. There’s an effective 24-page Quick Start guide and a 200-plus page User’s Manual, both nicely illustrated and easy to follow. Topics that are potentially confusing and too often glossed over by other manufacturers, like how the different scene mode options actually work, are clearly explained here. There’s even a decent index. It’s not perfect (we’d love to see manufacturers start listing all the terms users are likely to search (why not include both Video and Movie, for example, and both Sound and Audio), but Nikon’s effort is certainly a big step up from the miserable industry standard. To see for yourself, download a copy in PDF format here.