Nikon Coolpix P80

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Frequent travelers will know the importance of needing a camera with both wide-angle lenses and telephoto optics. While a dSLR may come to your mind now, there is a class of shooters in-between point-and-shoots and its interchangeable lens siblings: Megazoom cameras. Typically, these snappers were seen as bulky devices, but Nikon's Coolpix P80 is touted to be the world's smallest 18x zoom shooter, and it has a good set of features to satisfy enthusiasts. However, its less-than-satisfactory image quality may not go down well with fussy shutterbugs.

Editors' note:

This review is based on tests done by our sister site CNET.com. As such, please note that there may be slight differences in the testing procedure and ratings system. For more information on the actual tests conducted on the product, please inquire directly at the site where the article was originally published. References made to some other products in this review may not be available or applicable in Asia.

Design

For megazoom shooters, the Nikon Coolpix P80's 18x zoom, 27-486mm F2.8-4.5 lens likely sits at the top of the list of the P80's attractions. The range provides a good combination of wide-angle and telephoto views at relatively wide maximum aperture values. Nikon supports the lens with an agreeable and functional design. Weighing 365g, the P80 is no feather, but that is common for megazoom shooters. The P80 is relatively compact, with a comfortable rubberized grip and thumbrest.

The navigation switch is large, with a clear, tactile delineation between the inner OK button and the outer navigation controls. The body, though made of textured black plastic, doesn't feel particularly cheap or fragile.

Our one pet peeve, which we've mentioned with regard to other cameras, was having to access the setup menu from the dial. We found ourselves hitting the menu button to make it go away, ineffectively, of course. If you only had to go into the menu once during the initial setup, it wouldn't be so annoying. However, that's where the Format function resides, and you have to perform this operation regularly to maintain your memory card.

Like its competitors, you call up most of the frequently used shooting controls via a dedicated button, including exposure compensation, focus modes (macro, infinity, and manual), self-timer, and flash (including red-eye reduction, fill, slow sync, and rear curtain sync). You can also navigate via the back dial, which also controls your shutter, aperture, and exposure-compensation adjustments in various shooting modes. The display and LCD/EVF toggle buttons felt oddly small given the size of the camera, though.

Tags: Dial, Camera, compensation, Nikon Corp., adjustment

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