Nikon joins in the touchscreen gameLong-time imaging giant Nikon may be known more for its professional grade dSLRs, but its Coolpix shooters aren't that shabby as well with their stylish design and comprehensive shooting options. Most of the cameras in its new lineup are updates to the S-series and additionally, the Japanese company is unveiling its first touchscreen snapper, too.
A successor to the Coolpix P5100, the P6000 features a slight resolution bump from 12.1 to 13.5 megapixels. It retains the same extensive shooting modes like Manual, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and Program seen in its predecessor, but the new model adds RAW image capture to its portfolio. This pits the P6000 against the much talked-about Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 and Canon's PowerShot G9. Although the RAW format can only be processed in-camera for now, Nikon told us there are software patches planned for Nikon's View NX and Capture NX 2 so they can convert the RAW files, and the updates will be made available before end September. Nikon claims its S710 is the world's smallest 14.5-megapixel point-and-shoot. We see it as competing head on with Panasonic's Lumix DMC-FX180 and Samsung's NV100HD, which both have almost similar resolutions and Manual exposure modes. It also features a maximum ISO sensitivity of 12,800, putting this shooter on-par with Fujifilm's FinePix F100fd. The S600 has the world's fastest startup time at 0.7 seconds (for a point-and-shoot of the same class), and now it has to share the title with its successor, the S610. There is no resolution upgrade, but the LCD size has been bumped up from 2.7 inches to 3 inches. For the tech-savvy, the wireless version, S610c, has onboard Wi-Fi to upload images directly to Nikon's online gallery. All the new models feature Vibration Reduction, which is Nikon's version of an optical image stabilizer (IS). This is good news, and it shows that the company is serious in the point-and-shoot competition against Panasonic and Canon, both of which have cameras that tout the same IS system. As of press time, the firm cannot confirm the new units' pricing and availability, but we will provide an update once we get the information. |
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