Nikon Coolpix P100

Noise (11.07)

The P100 scored well in our image noise testing under bright lights, though the noise reduction processing (which can be set to Auto or On, but not turned off) did result in a notable loss of detail when shooting at high ISO settings. The initial noise levels at low ISO aren’t especially impressive, but they rise more slowly than we expect to find as we raised the ISO settings. More on how we test noise.

The noise reduction settings are confusing. With most SLRs and some high-end compacts, we expect to be able to turn off noise reduction altogether, to maximize image detail. That’s not an option with the P100. Instead, your choices are Auto, the default, where ‘noise reduction is performed at slow shutter speeds’ and On, where ‘noise reduction is applied to pictures shot at shutter speeds of 1/4 second or slower.’ Per our standard testing procedures for point-and-shoot cameras, we used the default Auto setting for our testing. As shown below, image noise started out a bit over 1% at low ISO settings but did not rise quickly as the ISO increased. There is a fairly consistent noise increase between the brightly illuminated (3000 lux) and dimly lit (60 lux) setups.

Noise Comparisons
	ISO 160	ISO 400	ISO 800	ISO 3200
60 Lux
3000 Lux

There is no way to turn off the Nikon noise reduction processing entirely; there is a weak setting (used here) and an auto setting, which uses a higher level of processing. The results: as noise levels for other cameras with noise reduction turned off rises significantly as the ISO settings go up, the P100’s levels stay nearly flat.

ISO (5.50)

ISO sensitivity can be set manually to 160, 200, 400, 800, 1600 or 3200. There are also three different variations on automatic ISO adjustment. The Auto ISO setting lets the camera select a value from ISO 160-800 depending on lighting conditions. High ISO sensitivity auto sets the range from ISO 160-1600. Finally, fixed range auto lets you restrict available ISOs to keep image noise under control, selecting either the ISO 160-200 setting or ISO 160-400.

When shooting in shutter-priority mode, Nikon steps in to keep you from combining high ISOs and long exposures. At ISO 800, the slowest available shutter speed setting is 4 sec, at 1600, 2 sec, and at 3200, one second.

When using auto ISO settings, it’s possible to indicate a minimum acceptable shutter speed.

The chart below includes same-size crops from images of our standard still life, taken at each available ISO with each of the comparison cameras. These were taken in program mode, with automatic white balance, and are used strictly for illustration rather than testing purposes.

ISO Comparisons
Nikon Coolpix P100	Nikon Coolpix P90	Canon PowerShot SX1 IS	Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX1
ISO Low
ISO 160	ISO 64	ISO 80	ISO 125
Nikon Coolpix P100	Nikon Coolpix P90	Canon PowerShot SX1 IS	Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX1
ISO 200
Nikon Coolpix P100	Nikon Coolpix P90	Canon PowerShot SX1 IS	Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX1
ISO 400
Nikon Coolpix P100	Nikon Coolpix P90	Canon PowerShot SX1 IS	Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX1
ISO 800
Nikon Coolpix P100	Nikon Coolpix P90	Canon PowerShot SX1 IS	Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX1
ISO 1600
Nikon Coolpix P100	Nikon Coolpix P90	Canon PowerShot SX1 IS	Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX1
ISO 3200
Nikon Coolpix P100	Nikon Coolpix P90	Canon PowerShot SX1 IS	Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX1
ISO 6400
Nikon Coolpix P100	Nikon Coolpix P90	Canon PowerShot SX1 IS	Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX1

NOTE: The images above are not used in our testing or scoring, but are included here to show real-world examples of the differences between cameras at the various ISO settings.