Nikon Coolpix P2

Reviewed November 2005

Test Photos

STILL LIFE PHOTO

This subject is photographed in a room that has a mix of fluorescent and incandescent light, but which is not brightly lit. The camera's flash is used to add fill light. The backdrop is 1.95 m (6.5 ft) from the camera.

Left to its default settings, the P2 turns out a darkish image with this subject. However, increasing the flash output by 1 EV allows the camera to capture a bright and well lit image.

For both this image and the zoom shot below, the P2 was set to Auto ISO. However, with the increased output of the flash, the camera had no need to increase sensitivity and stayed at 64 ISO.

ZOOM PHOTO

Now we zoom in on a specific area. The intent is to test the sharpness of the image at the zoom's maximum setting. The camera remains at the same distance as with the preceding photo.

As with the wide angle shot, with the flash intensity set at +1 EV the camera yields a bright and well lit image at 64 ISO.

The P2's zoom provides a maximum magnification of 3.5X, making it possible to capture a relatively high level of detail, as can be seen below in this section cropped from the full 5-megapixel image.

The macro mode of the Coolpix P2 makes it possible to focus on a subject 4cm (1.6 inch) away when the zoom is at the wide end. The proper macro setting is indicated on the monitor by the macro icon being displayed in green, while if the zoom is used the icon turns white, indicating that the camera should be moved back to get it to focus. At the minimum distance of 4 cm (1.6 inch) the P2 captures the same field of view, approximately 4 cm and a bit of barrel distortion can be observed.

BUILDING PHOTO

This image is our outdoor test. The architecture of the building, in particular the angled girders, immediately show the presence of jaggies. The shadowed entrance can also often reveal the quality of the exposure.

With standard subjects such as this one, the P2's wide angle images show little barrel distortion, and no chromatic aberration.

Image sharpness is average when the camera is at its default settings, but can be increased a touch without causing artefacts. Noise, however, is minimal, even in shadow areas.

ZOOM PHOTO

Zooming in on the entrance of the building, the shadowed entrance takes on a greater importance for the metering and can cause an overexposure of sections that are directly lit.

Zoomed in, the white balance is affected by the low light and the darkened entrance of the building. The result is that the paved area in the foreground is a touch redder that it appeared in the wide angle shot. Nevertheless, the exposure the matrix metering pattern produces is very well-balanced between bright and dark areas of the image, and the exposure captures a lot of detail behind the glass doors without overexposing the foreground.

NIGHT PHOTO

Since this camera offers a long exposure, a photo taken at night is included here.

The Coolpix P2 has a maximum exposure time of 8 seconds, and noise reduction when used with either the Program Shift mode, or the Aperture Priority mode. Regrettably, there is no direct means for the user to set the shutter speed on the camera, making it a bit more difficult to capture a photo at night.

This image, the result of some trial and error, was captured with the focus set to infinity, the white balance set to incandescent — which yields a more colour realistic image — the aperture to the maximum and the sensitivity to 64 ISO.

The Coolpix P2's noise reduction system doubles the time necessary for the image to be recorded, capturing a dark frame with the same exposure time after the photo has been taken, and then using the noise captured with the dark frame to process it out of the first exposure.

While this process can lessen the overall sharpness of an image, it is not the case here and with the zoom set to the equivalent of 57mm, the photo is sharp.