Nikon Coolpix P510 Digital Camera Review

Color

The Nikon P510 can produce very realistic colors. We measured a minimum color error of 2.59, captured in the standard color profile with all of the default settings. Under 3.5 is decent, under 3.0 is very good, and 2.59 is excellent. Saturation was near-perfect, at 97.44 percent. More on how we test color.

The score could have been even better if yellow was more accurate—it was way off the mark, much paler than the ideal shade of yellow. Blues and reds are very slightly exaggerated (as they almost always are in point-and-shoot cameras), but just about every other hue was right on the mark.

NOTE: Because of the way computer monitors reproduce colors, the images above do not exactly match the originals found on the chart or in the captured images. The chart should be used to judge the relative color shift, not the absolute captured colors.

The Sony HX100V (which we suspect uses the same sensor as the P510) earned an even better score, but the P510 came in with more accurate results than any of its other main competitors. Notably, it's a big improvement over its predecessor.

Color Modes

Other color modes include neutral and vivid presets, as well as a monochrome setting. Users can adjust sharpening, contrast, and saturation for any of these color profiles, and save their favorite profile as a custom setting.

White Balance

White balance performance is decent. There's room for improvement, but it isn't problematic to the point of ruining any photos.

The default auto mode does a reasonably good job of compensating for the most common types of lighting (daylight, fluorescent, and incandescent). We didn't test the auto warm lighting setting, but we imagine it would compensate better for incandescent lighting. With a custom white balance, the results are even better, but not as strong as we'd hope they'd be.

White Balance Options

A total of 7 white balance presets are available, including two auto modes (one normal, one for warm lighting), daylight, incandescent, fluorescent, cloudy, and flash. All of the modes aside from the auto settings are adjustable. And of course, there is a manual white balance option.