Nikon Coolpix P100

Auto Mode

Turning the mode dial to the camera icon turns this camera into a completely automatic one; the user can only change a handful of settings, such as image size. The P (for Program) mode of the camera also automates most of the settings, but also allows the user to jump in and take more control of how the decisions are made.

The mode dial of the P100

Movie Mode

The movie mode is one of the main selling points: because of the CMOS sensor that is at the heart of the P100, it can capture Full HD 1080p video with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels, at the full 60 frames a second. We were not able to test the quality of this captured video, but we have often found that more resolution does not mean more quality. If you don't need high definition video, several options are also offered for capturing standard definition video.Stereo sound is recorded as well from the two microphones on the top of the camcorder body. The P100 can also capture high speed video at a speed of up to 240 frames per second, albeit at a greatly reduced resolution of 320 by 240 pixels. It is also pleasantly easy toswitch from capturing HD video to the high speed mode: just turn the dial around the movie record button from HD to HS.

The video is stored as .MOV files which can be played back in Apple's QuickTime software and edited in a number of video editing applications.

Drive/Burst Mode

Thanks to the speedy CMOS sensor chip, this camera can capture a burst of images at a speed of 10 frames per second. That's pretty speedy, but you can also jack this up to 120 frames per second at a 2-megapixel resolution.

Playback Mode

The playback features of the P100 are rather minimal, but adequate. Images can be zoomed in up to 10x, zoomed out to show up to 16 thumbnails and sorted by date. Simple slideshows can also be created in the camera, and there are a number of simple editing tools, such as a crop, rotate, and resizing. It is also possible to add a black border and to use Nikons own D-lighting feature, which brings out shadow detail. 

Scene Modes

A large number of scene modes are on offer. On the mode dial itself are options for sports, an automatic scene mode selector, face recognition and a tracking mode that actively tracks an object in the frame and keeps it in focus.Twisting the mode dial to the SCN option also allows you to choose from the full list of 17 scene modes, which includes options for portrait, night, low light and pet photography.