Nikon Coolpix P5100

Auto Mode (7.5)
The Auto mode is the easiest mode to find and use on the Nikon P5100. It is the only green icon on the mode dial, where the rest of the modes are displayed in white. In the Auto mode, the recording menu only accesses image size and quality options. The only other options available are those displayed on the multi-selector: self-timer, flash, exposure compensation, and macro focus.

Movie Mode (6.75)
People will not buy this camera because of its video capabilities. If searching for a hybrid camera, look elsewhere. The Nikon P5100 has a very basic Movie mode that only performs well in limited situations.

The P5100’s videos look evenly exposed and keep noise fairly low in bright light. Videos in low light are awful. Videos of moving subjects will introduce interesting problems in exposure and autofocus. There is a more detailed analysis in the Testing/Performance section.

The Movie mode offers the following resolutions: 640 x 480, 320 x 240, and 160 x 120-pixels. Only the top resolution has a smooth 30 fps frame rate – the rest of the options only record a very choppy 15 fps. Of note are the two color Movie modes – black & white and sepia – but they record only at lackluster resolution of 320 x 240 pixels at 15 fps. Videos can be recorded up to 4GB at a time.

There is also a time lapse Movie mode that snaps still pictures every 30 seconds or 1, 2, 5, 10, 30, or 60 minutes, and then strings them together into a movie and plays them back at 30 fps.

The only other option in the menu is the autofocus mode, which can be changed from single to full-time. The single mode doesn’t work well when subjects or photographers are moving, so the full-time autofocus is the logical choice in the Movie mode. It works well and is quiet too, a luxury not found on all compact digital cameras’ movie modes.

When users push the shutter release button to start a movie, there is some lag time between when the button is pushed and when the video starts. We thought this was something limited to still images, but unfortunately it is not. And when the button is pushed again to stop recording, there is a strange phenomenon with the audio: it cuts off about a half-second before the video stops. This is disappointing. The P5000 had the same issue. It’s a shame Nikon hasn’t fixed it.

There is 2x digital zoom available in the Movie mode, and the optical zoom lens is locked when recording begins.

Videos can be viewed in the Playback mode. They can be fast forwarded, rewound, stopped, and played, but not edited like on many other digital cameras. The audio is played back as well, but it doesn’t sound very good.

All in all, the Nikon P5100’s Movie mode should be used sparingly. It performs decently in bright light with slowly moving subjects but doesn’t come close to what most Canon digital cameras offer.

Drive / Burst Mode (6.0)
The drive mode is in the recording menu with the following options: Single, Continuous, BSS, Continuous flash, Multi-shot 16, and Interval Timer Shooting. The single drive is the default and the slowest as it takes almost 3 seconds between pictures. The Continuous mode isn’t much of an improvement: the camera took three pictures 1.4 seconds apart and then stuttered along and snapped a picture every once in awhile. It sounded like it was working really hard. Poor camera. The BSS option is the “best shot selector” and saves only one picture from a string of images. It automatically selects the picture, which isn’t always the one the photographer would choose. The Continuous Flash mode works well – as well as can be expected with this slow Burst mode. The multi-shot 16 mode doesn’t speed up at all, but takes a string of 16 images and stitches them together into a single 5-megapixel image. The interval timer allows users to set the camera to snap a picture every 30 seconds or 1, 5, 10, 30, or 60 minutes.

The left side of the multi-selector turns on the self-timer, which can delay for 3 or 10 seconds before the picture is taken.

Playback Mode (7.5)
The Playback mode has its own button to the left of the LCD screen. Users can scroll through images one by one with the multi-selector or quickly with the jog dial. The response time is good; pictures appear when they should. However, when a picture first appears it looks soft. It takes about a half-second for the full resolution to process and the picture to look sharp.

When the jog dial is used, part of a virtual dial appears on the right side of the LCD screen. It shows five tiny thumbnails of the images along its edge, and it displays a larger preview of the selected image. There are other cool viewing options too. The function button allows users to view images on a calendar or as a list organized by the date.

Images can be magnified and scrolled around. They can also be manipulated with a few editing options in the Playback menu.