Nikon Coolpix P100

Manual Controls

The P100 includes both aperture and shutter priority modes, as well as a full manual mode that allows you to set the aperture and shutter speed settings directly. These are controlled using the control wheel on the back of the camera; the exposure compensation button switches between changing aperture and shutter speed. It's not an ideal system, but it is reasonably fast to use.

The mode dial of the P100

Focus

Only four basic focus modes are on offer: auto focus, macro, infinity and a manual focus mode. In the latter, you use the control wheel on the back of the camera to focus. The only other control that you get over focus is to set if the auto focus is working continually or just when you push the shutter button halfway down. Face recognition is also offered; if this is enabled, the camera will focus in on the detected faces.

ISO

The ISO range of this camera goes from 160 up to 3200, all at the full resolution of the camera. That's pretty unusual; most cameras only offer 3200 ISO at reduced resolution. There is also an automatic setting that picks the setting in the range 160 to 800, and a High ISO Auto mode that automatically sets the range from 800 to 1600.

White Balance

The usual range of white balance presets are on offer, with options for cloudy, daylight and fluorescent. An auto white balance option is also available.

Metering

Options are offered for evaluative, center weighted and spot metering.

Shutter Speed

The shutter speed range of this camera is from 8 seconds down to 1/2000 of a second, which is adequate for most purposes. 

Aperture

The aperture range of this camera is pretty standard: at the widest zoom setting, it goes from f/3.5 to f/11. At the longest zoom setting, this falls to f/5.5 to f/11. But given the length of the zoom lens, that's not a bad range.

Image Stabilization

The P100 offers a number of approaches to image stabilization, which Nikon refers to as the 5-way vibration reduction system. First up is an optical image stabilizer, which moves an element of the lens to adapt for camera shake. In addition, the image sensor itself can also be moved in a similar way to try and remove shake, and the two systems work together. The camera also offers an electronic mode, where it increases the shutter speed when it detects shake to minimize the impact. The high ISO level of 3200 can also be used to reduce shake by again decreasing the shutter speed. Finally, the new back illuminated CMOS sensor allows it to add a new mode, where the camera takes 10 images in quick succession, analyzes all of them and only keeps the image that is sharpest.

Picture Quality & Size Options

The P100 offers a range of image sizes, from the maximum of 3648 by 2736, down to a lowly 640 by 480 pixel resolution.

The image size menu of the P100

Picture Effects

Only a few picture effects are offered, including a vivid color mode and a black and white mode. We doubt that most users will miss things like sepia toning or fish-eye lens distortion.