Nikon Coolpix S8200 review

The S8200’s announcement came as a surprise to us, as Nikon already has a superb pocket-sized ultra-zoom camera in the form of the S9100.

The new model’s 16-megapixel sensor may be seen as an upgrade to the S9100’s 12-megapixel sensor, but in fact the opposite is true – as usual, the higher resolution adds more noise than details. The S8200 also has a shorter zoom range at 14x to the S9100’s 18x. The S8200 is currently the pricier of the two, but Nikon confirmed that this is only because of its newness – the S9100 is deemed by Nikon as being the better camera.

There’s little to separate them for features, with their 3in, 921,000-dot screens, superb 1080p video capture and a range of slow-motion video modes that balance frame rate against resolution. Both cameras have a dedicated mode on their dials for continuous shooting at 10fps, albeit for just five frames. However, while the S9100 can also capture 12 frames at 1.7fps, this option is absent on the S8200.

That wasn’t the only time that the S8200 was outpaced by its sibling. The S9100 was marginally quicker to switch on and shoot, and much faster for captured images to appear on its screen. Both focused quickly in bright conditions and both managed to capture a shot every 1.5 seconds, but the S8200 was significantly slower to focus in low light.

Zooming in in overcast weather calls for fast ISO speeds to avoid blur, which reveals the S8200’s relatively noisy output – click to enlarge

Our image quality tests revealed the usual trappings of an excessively high resolution sensor. Brightly lit shots looked fine at a quick glance but close scrutiny revealed noisy shadows and noise reduction that smoothed over subtle textures such as foliage and skin. These problems weren’t severe but they got progressively worse as low light or long telephoto zoom settings demanded faster ISO speeds. By ISO 1600, noise levels were worse than those of the S9100, and a lot worse than the Canon SX230 HS. The 14x zoom lens delivered sharper focus than the S9100’s 18x zoom lens, particularly in telephoto shots, but the SX230 HS’s 14x lens was just as sharp.

Even in bright light at ISO 100, noise reduction glosses over subtle textures such as the definition on these feathers – click to enlarge

It’s woefully overpriced as we go to press, but even if the price falls to nearer £200, the S8200 still won’t be able to compete with the superior quality of the Nikon S9100 or the excellent Canon PowerShot SX230 HS.