Nikon Coolpix P7800 review

It wasn’t so long ago that all premium compact cameras looked like the P7800. With lots of buttons and dials, a viewfinder and hotshoe, it’s well suited to SLR owners who want a smaller backup camera. Nikon SLR owners will find the controls and menus immediately familiar, and they can plug their flashguns, external GPS modules and external microphones straight in. For those who own all that kit, your decision to stick with Nikon is already half-made.

HANDLING AND FEATURES

The magnesium alloy body also has the same tank-like build quality that upmarket SLR owners are used to. This camera could never be described as svelte, though. Weighting in at 406g, standing 80mm tall and measuring 56mm from the back of its viewfinder to its lens cap, this is a camera that’s more comfortable hanging from its neck strap rather than stuffed into a pocket. We can imagine taking it for a long hike, but not so much for a night out on the tiles.

Optical viewfinders are common on this type of camera, but Nikon has plumped for an electronic viewfinder (EVF) on the P7800. Both types have their merits, but we much prefer this one’s crisp 921,000-dot (640×480-pixel) image to the small, blurry optical viewfinder on the Canon G16. Being electronic, it’s also able to show menus and information such as a histogram and the selected autofocus area. It’s not the biggest EVF around, and is dwarfed by the 2.4-million dot EVF on the Sony NEX-6, but it’s a big improvement on the 200,000-dot EVFs found on some bridge cameras.

The 3in LCD screen has the same 921,000-dot resolution, and is articulated at the side to allow it to point in virtually any direction, including forwards for self-portraits. It’s a shame there’s no eye-level sensor to switch between the two screens automatically, though. There’s a button to switch manually but it takes over a second to respond.

Adjusting settings is a highly tactile experience, with five dials and 14 buttons. It’s verging on overkill, with dual command dials and an exposure compensation dial – only two of the three are active at a time, depending on the exposure mode. Holding down the Fn1 button beside the lens reassigns the command dials and rear wheel to alternate, customisable roles. It felt a little awkward at first but we quickly got used to it, and it worked particularly well when using the EVF. We set it to provide quick access to the ISO speed on the dials (it’s only one setting for both dials) and drive mode on the rear wheel. With the camera set to JPEG mode, holding down the Fn1 button and pressing the shutter button takes a RAW-format photo.

Certain other functions aren’t so accessible. There’s a quick-access menu that groups together various functions including white balance, bracketing options and metering, but it’s somewhat unresponsive to user input and slow to navigate as a result. Bizarrely, the main menu is more responsive. Calibrating the manual white balance is much slower than it need be, and the camera feels lethargic when browsing photos.

PERFORMANCE

It’s not particularly quick at taking photos, either. 1.1 seconds to switch on a shoot is a solid result, but 1.9 seconds between shots is far slower than we expect at this price. The autofocus appears to be largely to blame, taking around 0.5 seconds in favourable conditions and sometimes more than two seconds in low light. Continuous capture was at a healthy 6fps but only lasted for six frames. At least it was ready to go again after five seconds. There are 4fps and 1fps modes too, but none includes a live preview, so there’s little hope of tracking moving subjects.

RAW performance was much worse, managing a shot every 5.6 seconds in normal use. Continuous RAW mode delivered six frames at 3fps but took 24 seconds to save them, despite using a fast SDHC card.

IMAGE QUALITY – CLICK SAMPLES TO ENLARGE

Photo quality is this camera’s saving grace. Details in brightly lit shots were impeccably sharp and smooth, with no hint of noise. Focus was sharp right into the corners of frames, too. Comparing JPEG and RAW versions of the same shot, it’s clear that Nikon is using digital processing to eliminate chromatic aberrations, and it’s doing an extremely good job of it too.

These crisp, noise-free JPEGs would be impressive from an SLR or CSC – it’s a superb result for a compact camera

Focus is extremely sharp right into the corners of the frame

The P7800 has the edge over its main rival, the Canon G16 for the fidelity of fine details

Comparing its JPEG and (unprocessed) RAW output, it’s clear that Nikon is using some sophisticated processing to make its JPEGs look so sharp. The results don’t look excessively processed, though

Noise levels were good rather than excellent for a given ISO speed. We’d use ISO 1600 at a push, but faster speeds are only really suitable for sharing at small sizes. However, the wide-aperture lens helps to keep the ISO speed down. Its f/2 maximum aperture for wide-angle shots and f/4 for telephoto aren’t as bright as various competing cameras that use the same 1/1.7in sensor size. However, the others offer small zooms that the P7800’s 28-200mm (7.1x) range, so it’s swings and roundabouts.

This wide-angle shot, taken at dusk at ISO 640, stands up to scrutiny. The shadows look a bit scruffy but it’s not too intrusive

This shot was taken in shutter-priority mode at 1/500s to freeze motion. This has pushed the ISO speed up to 1600, and details look messy as a result

There’s not much to separate the P7800 and G16 for noise in low light

VIDEO QUALITY

Video quality can’t quite live up to the standard of the P7800’s photos. Clips looked decent enough in isolation, but comparisons with the G16 made details in the P7800’s videos look slightly coarse, and diagonal lines had a pixelated appearance. It struggled in low light, too, with a constant fizz of noise in shadier parts of the frame. It’s a shame, as the camera is well specified for video with a choice of automatic, aperture-priority or manual exposure modes, clips up to 29 minutes and an external microphone input. The articulated screen is a great asset for video, too.

CONCLUSION

The P7800’s performance is a problem, but a bigger one for Nikon is the strength of the competition. There are some outstanding compact system cameras (CSCs) available for around the same price, such as the Sony NEX-5T and Panasonic GF6. Meanwhile, the Panasonic LX7 is closer to the P7800 in terms of specifications, but it’s much faster and it costs just £300.

None of these cameras match the P7800 for the sheer number of controls, though, and they lack an electronic viewfinder and fully articulated screen (the 5R and GF6’s screens only tilt up and down and their viewfinders are expensive optional extras). That makes it a solid choice for landscape photographers who value manual control and a generous zoom range but who aren’t in any rush to take photos.