There's been quite a lot of questions about compact cameras lately.
I treated myself to a new camera a few weeks ago; a Nikon P300. I wanted something that I could keep with me at all times, use when the DSLR is a bit OTT but still give me some creative control if I want it and something that I can take with me all the time on my bike.
I thought I'd stick up a quick review of it, in case anyone else is considering it. I haven't bothered taking any pics of the camera; there are enough gadget website reviews that have lots of pics of the camera.
I chose the P300, as I wanted something that had a decent amount of manual control. I looked at the P7100 for a while (Canon G12 competitor) but decided that although it would be a better camera, it is a lot more expensive & a lot more bulky.
One thing I often do with my SLR is change the focus point to force it to focus where I want. I read that the Canon S95 can't do this, so that knocked it off my list. I saw lots of reviews that said the P300's image quality is just as good, plus the Nikon has a wider angle lens (24 v's 28mm) and has a slightly wider aperture when at the wide angle of the lens.
The camera is small and well-built. It feels solid. There is a rubber strip down the front that does really help to secure the camera in the hand.
The screen is the seemingly standard 3" and is a very good resolution. I have used it outside a couple of time and not noticed any real issues with sunlight on the screen making it un-viewable.
The menu system is pretty quick to navigate about. One concern I did have was that there is no quick menu, or quick access buttons to get to ISO settings and white balance. But, the menu system displays both of these settings on the first page, so I haven't found it to be a real issue.
There were comments on various reviews that if you used a jog dial past the end of a selection range, then you had to click back by the same amount, before the selection will start to change.....I haven't been able to replicate this.
One thing that I liked about this camera before I bought it (as I mentioned above) was that you could select the focus area. While you can do this, it is not as versatile as I would have liked. You select the option to choose focus point, then select the point, but then I can't find a way to quickly move it to another position. You have to go back into the menu and select the manual position option again, before changing the position. It's better than not having the choice, but means it does feel a bit clunky.
The camera seems to balance the flash quite well with the rest of the exposure. It is also quite pokey for such a small flash, although the refresh/initial charge time isn't that great. Again, I think this is just because I am used to the speed of the SLR flash, with it's big battery.
There are some good 'auto' settings, like 'backlighting', which I have been using not just for backlit situations. There are two options with it, a flash option or an HDR option that takes a series of shots & blends them. It works quite well, but does smudge detail a bit. It also takes a while to process the images, so you are stuck watching an egg timer for perhaps 5 seconds after the picture has been taken. But, it is pretty effective.
The camera will shoot proper HD video, as well as 720p HD, VGA and also a high speed 60 or 120 frames/second mode. This plays back at normal 30fps rate, so effectively either does 2 or 4x slow motion. Finally, there's a 15fps mode, that also plays back at 30fps, so results in 2x playback speed.
There's various high speed image shooting modes, including 60 or 120fps. This really cuts down the resolution and will only take 60 frames, giving you 1 second of high speed shooting in 60fps mode or 0.5 seconds in 120fps mode. Not sure I will ever get much use of this....
Battery life seems OK. It's a bit lame that there isn't a separate charger. It plugs into the camera, so could be an issue. I think you can buy a separate charger and this is something I might well look into.
Pic quality seems pretty good and it generally does a good job of metering & working out what I was pointing it at. I have made a concious effort to keep it in P or Auto as much as possible, just to get an idea of what it can do.
I have just bought a case for the camera that I think will suit it while on the bike. It's a Lowe Pro Apex 20AW and comes with a nice soft liner, a divider so you can stash a battery or something, and a pack-away rain cover. The camera is a tight fit in the case though compared to the Apex 30. But, I wanted the smallest case I could realistically use, so for me it's fine. If you want a sturdy case and aren't too bothered that it's a bit bigger all round that strictly necessary, the Apex 30 is probably a better bet.
Anyway some pics...
Pic below shot in 'auto'
Same pic shot in Backlighting HDR mode
Macro
Macro at f 1.8
Macro at f 8
