Nikon Coolpix P7000 Review: Lens and Shutter

Nikon's newest little triumph is the Nikon Coolpix P7000. A compact camera with the heart of a DSLR. For me this was an extremely cool little camera. Firstly, I love the layout. Many quick options to hand and a few function buttons which are customizable to enable a few nifty features and have them ready at a moments notice such as the built in ND filter and the RAW/Jpeg function.

The Specs are here and I am sure you techy types will have fun purring over it.
Whom is this camera for? why is there so many buttons and dials? what does it all mean??

This camera does have all of the wonderful little auto modes and scene modes that most of the compacts have in the market. So why do I need all the dials and buttons? These are for people who want to have a little quicker access to certain features and not be bothered by going into the menu each time to locate them, which is primarily the same ergonomic feature that most DSLR's present.
Whom is this camera for? It's for everybody. People who want a solid built compact camera who desperately need the optical viewfinder and also for a photographer who needs lots of control even just for his everyday shooting without dragging along his heavy DSLR (Me, Myself and I)!!
So my first little snippet is the Raw feature. What is Raw? Raw is the "digital negative" the camera initially records when capturing the shot, a file that is not processed by the computer on board, thus leaving the choice to the photographer at a later date. Why would one want this? Well... quite often cameras can get it wrong, especially the white balance, where the camera has multiple light sources ranging from different colour temperatures (colour temperatures) blah blah blah...anyways, this camera like all DSLR's has an ability to take care of colour after the fact, although its not a nikon NEF file (the same as there DSLR's), rather an NRW file which isn't as impressive but more than useable!

As I have said before, I am not editing these images on a computer, I am merely downsizing for the Blog. This image I was able to edit in the camera.... yes! I said in the camera!
Because of the wide capability of the nikon NRW file I was able to manipulate the contrast, colour, saturation and exposure in-camera to give you these to different images on the same file!

Now they are similar but the subtle changes in-camera make the 2nd of the two images more impact-full.

 This tree shot was edited from Raw down to a contrasty Black & White shot.... There is also the ability to produce nice Sepia toned images in-camera too!!!!

Now all of these images could have been edited in Nikon's Free program View NX2 under a more controlled environment with a computer screen but that would take some of the fun out of creating the image right at the time!!
Another treat that they have added to this camera and many other models is a program called D-Lighting, and little add-on that takes a little look at contrast and low light areas and tries to enhance the image to give the optimal image detail.
Here are a couple samples, again ones I had shot in Raw and then converted in camera with D-Lighting added to the file!

 D-Lighting shot is on the right handside.

 and now D-Lighting is on the left hand side for the snail shots. You can clearly see the improvement in the low light areas. These two were two different shots both shot in jpeg, and one with D-lighting activated.
Anyways, here is a random selection of different shots, some at high ISO and some that I thought the camera did a great job!

 Not that I enjoy or promote cigarette smoking, or defacing walls but this joker put a smile on my face!

 

The above shot with 1600 ISO and the below shot with 400 ISO

 Here is a sample of the 7x optical Zoom (28-200mm equivelant)

 The FULL Zoom shot (200mm) followed by the WIDE Zoom shot ( 28mm)

Once again amazing Macro on this model which you can also do with Manual focus.... Manual Focus, wonderful!

Here is a sample of the detail from the Macro... I actually spotted this little piece of fluff or whatever its was by accident as I was shooting the texture of the counter top.... It was right next to my index finger showing you the potential detail capabilities!

 Again a "with" flash and "without" flash scenario!!!

For me one of the most interesting feature is the cameras built-in Neutral Density filter. I had this filter to active from one of the function buttons, which happened to be the AV/TV button on the top right of the camera. What why you want neutral density? Most commonly photographers use Neutral Density filters to darken down an image where they have too much light. For example when they are around really bright scenes such and waterfalls or beaches.... I happened to use the neutral density for a couple other creative features.

 On my cycle home I stopped on the bridge over a by-pass and did two shots. The camera was resting on the bridge rail so as not to get camera shake as it was a lower light shot. the first shot was somewhere around a 6th of a second  and the second shot was about a 2 seconds if my memory serves me correctly. As you can see the effect clearly, the cars are more trailed on the second shot, creating a splendid movement effect!

So basically the ND filter is a good tool for helping the photographer add some useful movement within an image

So here is an image that I got lucky on and caught a busy bee in my shot, I just cropped into the file to shot you some of the detail I had!! The bee is in the left hand image on the top left hand side of the flower.

One other key feature this camera has from a photographers point of view is the ability to add a flash to this camera, yes it has a built in flash but often us photographers want more!!!!
As suggested in my previous post "Mystery Camera" this Nikon has the ability to delve into the world of Nikon wireless flash which is a fun fun time if your a sad photo-geek like me!

 Here is a shot of Akeem, my wonderful model, in the store using a remote triggered flash in a new Umbrella ( Velbon UC-6) product we have which is "raining" the light onto him. The Nikon Wireless CLS can be utilised using a  Nikon SB900 or Nikon SB700 on camera as the Commanader and that can then trigger a Nikon SB900. SB 700 or SB 600 Off Camera as Slaves, You dont have the full CLS channels available as you would a DSLR....
So all in all one of my new favourite camera's, here's hoping that it will be under my Christmas Tree!!!