Nikon P5100

Reviewed November 2007

Interface & Software

Interface

The Coolpix P5100 has settings information arranged around the periphery of the monitor which avoids cluttering up the image. If needed, a composition grid can be displayed as well, to help align image elements according to the rule of thirds. Menus are displayed over a solid background, not over the image coming from the lens, which ensures better legibility outdoors. Moreover, instead of being shown over a series of screens, menus can be seen as icons, fitted to a single screen which lessens the time required to access any one setting.

The interface is made even more user-friendly by the addition of a context-sensitive help system that is able to provide a short text explanation for any of the menus' settings.

With this camera, Nikon has dedicated a Mode Dial position to the Setup menu, further simplifying the interface:

• Menus: decides whether menus are presented in text over one or more screens, or as icons, on a single page.
• Welcome Screen: this option decides whether a personal photo, or the Coolpix Logo, is displayed on the screen at start-up or nothing.
• Date: to set the time and date on the camera. A sub-option makes it possible to select a time zone for a travel destination.
• Brightness: serves to adjust the brightness of the monitor over 5 steps.
• Date Imprint: to select if the date, or the date and time, are superimposed on images. Options are: Off (default), Date, Date & Time, and Date Counter which imprints the number of days between the shooting date and the selected date on pictures.

• Vibration Reduction controls the image stabilizer: On or Off.
• AF Assist: controls the AF Assist lamp that lights up when the ambient light is insufficient for the AF system to operate reliably.
• Digital Zoom has 3 settings:
  • On (standard digital zoom),
  • Crop (cropping zoom that only operates when the image size is set to a size less than the maximum.
  • Off.

• Sound Settings has two options:
  • Button sound: On or Off, controls the sound produced by the camera when it is being operated.
  • Shutter sound: On or Off, decides whether or not the camera makes a sound when the shutter release is pressed.
• Auto Off serves to set the delay until the camera turns off automatically when it is unused: 30 seconds (default), 1, 5 or 30 minutes.
• Format: to format the memory card or the internal memory.
• Language: Czech, Danish, German, English, Spanish, French, Indonesian, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Finnish, Swedish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean or Thai.
• Video Mode: serves to set the video signal output by the P5100, either NTSC or PAL.
• Func Button: allows assigning a function to the FUNC button: ISO Sensitivity, Image Quality, Image Size, White Balance, AF area mode, Continuous mode, Distortion Control, Converter, Vibration Reduction, User Setting.
• Reset All: returns all options to their original default settings.
• Firmware Version: displays the version of the firmware currently running on the camera (version 1.1 with the camera reviewed here).

A well-organized and compact instruction manual is included with the Coolpix P5100. The guide is well written and easy to understand. Specific information can be located quickly thanks to an in-depth index, and drawings identifying the parts of the camera provide a fast reference to the relevant pages in the manual. In addition a Quick Start Guide is also provided, giving instructions on how to charge the battery, install the software supplied with the camera, and providing an simple introduction to the basic use of the camera.

Software

(Note that the software included with any camera can vary from country to country.)

A single CD is supplied with the Coolpix P5100. Called Nikon Software Suite for Coolpix, the disc contains the following items:

• PTP Drivers for Coolpix series cameras,
• Drivers for D1 series cameras,
• Panorama Maker 4 from ArcSoft,
• Apple's QuickTime 7,
• Nikon Transfer,
• My Picturetown Utility (wireless utility for other Nikon cameras),
• Microsoft DirectX 9,
• and Kodak EasyShare.

Nikon Transfer is a utility that transfers images from the camera to the computer on which it is installed, or from a memory card in a reader. Images the program finds are displayed as thumbnails, and are automatically pre-selected for transfer to the computer. Images can be seen organized by their shooting date, their extension, or by folder. A primary destination can be selected for the transferred images, as can a back-up destination.

But, of the programs listed above, only Kodak's EasyShare software can be used to make some corrections to an image.

EasyShare starts out by checking over the Web to see if a newer version is available (there is) and then proceeds to install it.

As with most image browsers, EasyShare presents images as thumbnails, but their size can be adjusted at will using a small slider at the top right of the program's window, and passing the mouse over any of the thumbnails causes it to increase in size.

Pictures can be selected for additional processing, or printing etc. by dragging them into the Picture Tray, on the right side of the program's window.

Once selected, a photo can be edited in a separate window. The editing is limited — rotating right or left, red-eye correction, enhancing, scene balancing, scene effects, fun effects — and is entirely automatic, the user being only given a choice of accepting or cancelling.

Beyond this, EasyShare can be used to create albums, burn CDs and DVDs, create slide shows, print on line, or to a local printer, or upload images to a pre-created Kodak Gallery Account.

Panorama Maker 4, an ArcSoft program, serves to assemble series of images captured with the Coolpix P5100's Panorama mode, taking advantage of the overlaps produced by the mode. Worth noting, the installation of this program requires that Microsoft DirectX9 — also included on the software disk — be installed on the computer.

Finally, Apple's QuickTime 7 is to review the movies captured with the P5100.