Summary
The Nikon COOLPIX P600 is a DSLR-styled superzoom with a heavy 60x optical wander, equivalent to 24-1440mm. It too sports a sheep pen-out 3in screen, electronic viewfinder and Wifi which allows connection to a smartphone for transferring images and remote controle. The bridge superzoom grocery is a crowded place with plenty of choice from each the major manufacturers and purely on the grounds of zoom set out, the COOLPIX P600 is a front runner.
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Nikon COOLPIX P600 review -
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Intro
The Nikon COOLPIX P600 is a DSLR-styled ace-soar camera with an impressive 60x optical zoom ranging from an equivalent 24mm to a walloping 1440mm telephoto. Introduced in February 2014, IT has a side-hinged bend-out 3 inch LCD block out and an electronic viewfinder with a resolution of 201k dots. Alongside the P600 Nikon also launched the P530, an update of the before P520 with the same 42x optical surg. Both these models share a new 16.1 Megapixel back-illuminated CMOS sensor.
The P600 has in-built Wifi which allows connection to a smartphone for transferring images and remote dominant the camera, though there's atomic number 102 NFC for a excitable tap connection to an Humanoid smartphone and neither does it have a GPS receiver.
The bridge fantastic-zoom market is a crowded position with plenty of choice from altogether the major manufacturers and strictly on the grounds of soar up range, the COOLPIX P600 is a front base runner. Size up is important, but its not the only thing that matters. I've tested the COOLPIX P600 alongside Sony's new Cyber-snapshot HX400V which has a slenderly shorter 50x optical zoom but a host of other compelling features. Interpret my full review to strike which of these two models provides the best mix of features in a super-whizz along bridge deck modelling.
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Nikon COOLPIX P600 design and controls
Presumption that information technology packs a mammoth 60x optical zoom lens, you might expect the COOLPIX P600 to be a trifle bigger and heavier than before COOLPIX super-zooms, merely that isn't the case; Nikon has managed to twitc the 60x whizz along into a torso that, in altogether but one dimension is the same size as the 42x P520, but with a longer lens gun barrel. The COOLPIX P600 measures 125x85x107mm and weighs 565 grams with battery and card – that's very clay-like compared with nigh other long reach super-zooms and importantly smaller than the chunky Sony HX400V which measures 130x93x103 and weighs 660g.
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The overall styling of the COOLPIX P600 ISN't radically different to the to begin with P520, the contours take a slightly different trace present and there, so they'ray not identical twins, but you need to look closely to William Tell them apart. The controls too take in much in common – by which I bastardly they're virtually monovular. On the big top panel everything is on the rightmost side of the pop-up winkle. The mode telephone dial has the Saame PASM positions, three dedicated Scene mode position and SCN for the rest plus Auto. To the right of it happening the traction extension you'll find the on/off button, Function clitoris and shutter release with soar collar.
On the back the control dial is flanked by playback, menu and delete buttons with a movie record push button conveniently positioned just above the rif pillow. Here, fair above the screen you'll also find a button for toggling display overlays and – pretty much the only departure from the the earlier P520 control layout a release for toggling between the concealment and the finder.
The screen is a 3 inch LCD panel with resolution of 921k dots. That's exactly the selfsame resolution as the Sony HX400V's screen and they both provide a bright elaborate image that's viewable from a wide angle. The difference is the mounting. While the HX400V has an articulated hinge at the bottom allowing you to flip it up and down, the COOLPIX P600's screen has a hinge at the lateral with the screen mounted on a rotating flag. This allows you to turn it in any direction – facing onwards for selfies, adjusted for portraiture format shot, and folded in on itself for protection.
The COOLPIX P600 has an electronic viewfinder with a 201k dot resolution. Like other manufacturers Nikon has stuck with what is past today's standards a low resolution viewfinder for single generations of its super-zoom ramble. Canon likewise has an old 201k dot EVF in the SX50 HS and Sony has opted for the one low cost option with a 0.2in 201k dot EVF in the HX400V. If you want a more high-to-date stamp better select viewfinder in a bridge super-rapid climb consider the Fujifilm FinePix S1 which has a 0.2in 920k dot EVF. Though Panasonic decorated the bar for extremely-zoom viewfinder quality with a 1.3 million Transportation EVF in its flagship FZ200, that model has a little 24x modality zoom range. For the 60x FZ70 / FZ72 we'Re back to the 201k Zen view finder, so it seems that long zooms and elated resolution viewfinders aren't a combination manufacturers are eventually ready for.
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Unlike the Sony HX400V, the COOLPIX P600 has no eye sensor to mechanically switch from screen to physics view finder, but as I already mentioned, there is a push for manually switching. Thither's too an automatic mechanism that switches to the viewfinder when the screen is folded inwards.
On the honourable side of the COOLPIX P600's body mini HDMI and a combined USB / AV extinct porthole are settled as a soft plastic flap. Nikon provides a USB cable in the box which can be used to charge the camera from a information processing system too as for transferring photos and video.
The COOLPIX P600's combined battery and card compartment is located in the grip and accessed via a door in the base of the camera. It takes a new Nut-EL23 battery with a power rating of 1850mAh. That delivers enough magnate to take 330 shots, generally like with the Sony HX400V's 300 shots, the PowerShot SX50 HS's 315 shots or the Panasonic Lumix FZ70 / FZ72's more generous 400 shot mental ability. The P600's stamp battery is charged in the camera via the USB porthole using the supplied cable and either the supplied charger, or, as I've mentioned, past plugging it into a USB port along your computer.
The COOLPIX P600 has a built-in flash which is raised automatically by pressing a button on the left side of the body just infra the flash head. Once in the raised attitude you can select the news bulletin mode away press the top position on the multi selector four-path control wheel. The options are Car, Motorcar with red-eye reduction, Fill loud, Slow sync and Rear-curtain sync. When you've finished victimization the flash you retributory push it back down into the closed position.
The flash has a level bes outstrip at the wide angle lens system setting, with the aperture set to f3.3, of 7.5 metres, not at all bad though as IT's quoted with the ISO set to auto it's not easy to make comparisons. If you make the (to the highest degree likely correct) presumption that the distance is calculated victimization the default maximal auto ISO sensitivity of 1600 ISO, that substance IT delivers a little to a lesser extent power than the Sony HX400V. Only you can fit an external flash to the HX400V's blistering shoe / accessory port, an option the P600 lacks. The HX400V's accessory and USB ports likewise backup early accessories that aren't available for the P600, including an external microphonre which slots on the hotshoe and a cabled release.
Nikon COOLPIX P600 lens and stabilisation
The COOLPIX P600 has a 60x optical zoom with an equivalent range of 24-1440mm. There are very a couple of super-zooms on the market that can equal that, but if zoom range is your number unity priority, the Panasonic Lumix FZ70 / FZ72 is one alternate, Samsung's WB220F is another. Both those models bear a 20-1200mm equivalent range with a much wider wide angle than the COOLPIX P600, simply a shorter 1200mm telephoto. So the COOLPIX P600 gets the prize for the longest focal length. I should besides mention Sony's H400 which tops them all with a 63x zoom; notation this is a different model to the HX400V.
The COOLPIX P600's lens has a maximum aperture of f3.3 at the wide angle setting, closing to f6.5 at the maximal telephotograph. That compares with f2.8 – 6.3 on the Sony HX400V – about half a stopover brighter at the wide angle setting, only the difference whittled away the more you zoom in.
| Nikon COOLPIX P600 coverage full | Nikon COOLPIX P600 coverage tele | |
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| 4.3-258mm at 4.3mm (24mm equiv) | 4.3-258mm at 258mm (1440mm equiv) |
If a bright aperture passim the zoom chain of mountains is important to you, you should look at Panasonic's Lumix FZ200 which boasts a perpetual f2.8 aperture throughout its 25-600mm equivalent range. Yes, IT Crataegus laevigata only zoom in half as close as the Sony HX400V, just when both are at 600mm, the Panasonic is two stops faster, so you need to count up whether aperture or achieve is more important to you.
Stabilisation is a key constituent with long zooms and the COOLPIX P600 is equipped with optical image stabilization operating room Vibration Step-dow A Nikon calls IT. At that place are two options, Normal and Turned besides as an Active mode that irons out undue wobbling, examples of the kinds of conditions it might embody useful in, according to the manual, are 'when shooting from a motorcar or low-level poor foothold conditions'.
Active mode was introduced on the earlier COOLPIX P520 and when I tested it, in normal handheld operation I found little difference 'tween the Activated and Normal settings. For more details examine my Nikon COOLPIX P520 review. To test the stabilisation connected the COOLPIX P600, limit it to Convention way and zoomed in to its supreme 1440mm combining weight focal length and took a sequence of hand-held shots in Shutter Priority mode at progressively slower shutter speeds. In Normal modality the COOLPIX P600 can shoot handheld around four stops slower that the photographer's guideline says is advisable.
In addition to Vibration reduction the COOLPIX P600 also includes the Motility detection feature vulgar on Nikon compacts which raises the shutter speed and/operating room ISO predisposition in Car and some scene modes to avoid shutter speeds that are likely to result in camera shake.
| Nikon P600 Active Intelligent SteadyShot | ||||
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| 4.3-258mm at 258mm, 100 ISO, 1/80th, Normal VR. | 100% graze , 4.3-258mm at 258mm, 100 ISO, 1/80th, Normal VR. | |||
Nikon COOLPIX P600 shooting modes
The COOLPIX P600 can be old as a degree and flash back in Auto mode. This is an antique school motorcar mode with no shot detection to detect backlit or moving subjects, for that you need Scene Auto selector mode, which uses Scene detection to automatically choose the most advantageous scene style for the subject from same of ten scene options. The available scene modes are: portrait, group portrait, landscape painting, dark portraiture, night group portrait, night landscape, dear up, backlighting (non-human), backlighting (hominid) and other.
Switch to the PASM modes and you have a range of semi auto and fully manual modes to opt from. In PASM modes some the Command dial and multi-chooser wheel are used to change the appropriate exposure control; the overlook telephone dial thumb wheel engages plan lurch in Program automobile and the shutter speed in Shutter priority and Extremity modes. The multi selector wheel is allocated to the aperture in Aperture priority and Manual modes. So far, then straightforward, but it's a little of a shame the spare dial is just that – the command telephone dial is disabled in Aperture priority fashion, likewise the Multi selector wheel in Shutter priority mode.
The COOLPIX P600 has 20 manually-selected scene modes. Three of them – Landscape, Dark landscape and Night Portrait have dedicated positions on the mode telephone dial and the take a breather are accessed from a menu when the mode dial is in the Scene position. In addition to the usual suspects from Portrait to Political party via Landscape painting, Sports, Beach, Fireworks, Backlighting and Sunset, in that location are two new additions – Moon and Birdwatching. Moon provides a selection of touch options which you can select on screen. More usefully, a small square in the centre of the frame indicates the field framed when in full zoomed in, then with the camera on a tripod you can frame the moon in the midget square then press OK to automatically zoom the lense all the right smart in. In theory, at the least, in practice, arsenic anyone who has tried to shoot the Sun Myung Moon wil right away, framing is a tricky business organisatio. That said, the new Moon scene mode may beryllium enough to encourage first timers to have a crock up at lunar photography.
Birdwatching mode offers single shot and free burning modes, the advanced shooting a 7 skeletal system burst in a second base. Like Sun Myung Moon mode, information technology provides a framework guide and zooms in automatically, this time to 800mm. The arbitrary limit happening the focal distance is a flake of an imposition though and I reckon most bird photographers leave cost happier just to employment program auto mode and set the set the drive mood to same of the consecutive options.
There are two panorama modes for shooting 180 and 360 views. Both work on the Same lines atomic number 3 Sweep Vista on Sony compacts and its numerous clones – you press the shutter once and pan the camera as swimmingly a you can. You nates pan with the tv camera in portrait or landscape orientation – the P600 kit and boodle out which, you don't need to tell off it beforehand. More than often than not that's all you need to do; the camera stops shooting when you finish the sweep and stitches the images into a single 180 operating theatre 360 reckon. Portrayal mode produces the largest images which are 1536 x 4800 pixels for 180 panoramas and the 360 ones measure 1536 x 9600.
If your panning proficiency leaves something to be desired, or there are objects close to the photographic camera, at that place's a lack of detail for it to match up, or for several other unknowable reason it on occasion doesn't make the full sweep up, in which event IT saves the partial view for you providing you got more than incomplete path rhythm.
Another feature the COOLPIX P600 shares with the Sony HX400V is its asterid dicot family HDR mode, which on the COOLPIX P600 is called the Backlighting scene mode. This provides the selection of one of three HDR modes which frivol away a fast burst of bracketed images and produces a composite plant HDR image from them.
Unlike Automobile HDR connected the HX400V, which lets you set the ISO sensitivity manually, it's set automatically in Backlight scene mode on the COOLPIX P600. In addition to the HDR composite the COOLPIX P600 too saves a not-HDR composite shot.
Finally, the effects position on the mode dial provides a range of filters which you sack apply in-camera to reproduce traditional darkroom techniques. A selection of these is shown above. As on the Sony HX400V, these filters are applied in camera and in that respect's no original or Unanalyzed lodge to fall back happening should you not like the result.
Nikon COOLPIX P600 moving picture modes
The COOLPIX P600 offers the choice of two Full HD video modes – 1080p25 and 1080i50. Thither's also 720p25, iFrame 720p25 and 480p25. All of the video modes are also available in 30fps format.
That's just the normal speed modes; the COOLPIX P600 also has respective HS options for playback at speeds other than rattling time. HS480/4x shoots 640×480 video at 4x normal speed (100 or 120fps dependant on whether you have PAL or NTSC video mode selected) which plays back at canton speed. HS720/2x records 1280×720 at double the normal frame rate for half speed playback, and finally 1080/0.5x records flooded HD video at half the normal frame charge per unit for doubly-speed playback. As with the normal speed modes, these high speed modes are also available at 30fps.
Audio International Relations and Security Network't recorded with the Hassium video modes but I was pleasantly stunned to discover that you buttocks use the personal effects filters. The entirely restriction happening this is that the Soft and Nostalgic sepia effects are lone available with the HS720/2x mode. I should also mention that you can't use the function zoom or Full-time AF with the Hs modes. Regardless of that, this is an impressive range of high rush transcription modes and surpasses what the pass completion offers. The Sony HX400V doesn't offer some high speed modes, and though the PowerShot SX50 HS provides two – at 4x and 8x – they are at VGA (640×480) and QVGA (320×240) resolutions respectively.
The COOLPIX P520 doesn't throw a flic position on the mode dial, so recording is started by pressing the devoted record button whatever mode you're in. One of the drawbacks of this plan of attack is that you sack't frame your shot very easily atomic number 3 the screen switches from 4:3 proportions to 16:9 (assuming your shooting in one of the HD or iFrame modes). But there is a least a display musical mode that superimposes the 16:9 area on the 4:3 concealment for you.
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| Download the originative file (Recorded members of Vimeo only) | |
| This magazine, like the others below was shot using the COOLPIX P600's 1080p25 setting. The timber looks good and the stabilization does a good job during the pan. For this clip I set the machine focus to regular AF, but the P600 has a bit of difficulty locking the focus at the end of the zoom. In that respect's also a weird, almost musical droning from the zoom motor. | |
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| Download the original file (Enrolled members of Vimeo sole) | |
| The COOLPIX P600 does a slap-up line of work of handling the exposure in the foxy scene with a wide range of brightness levels. This time the wreathe noise obscures the noise of the zoom motor. The probelm is the Full-time AF which is unable to bring anything into focus at the full extent of the whizz along, a problem I encountered quite often with the P600 and which can buoy only be resolved past zooming back out a little. | |
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| Download the original file (Registered members of Vimeo only when) | |
| The autofocus is set to the default AF-S (single AF) fashion for this crop. There's some visible noise as healed As colour desaturation, but the exposure is good and, once again the stabilisation does a great job. | |
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| Download the original file out (Registered members of Vimeo only) | |
| To test the constant AF performance of the COOLPIX P600 I zoomed in a little and panned from the careful-up coffee transfuse to the bar and back again several times. The Full-time AF on the P600 is hesitant, it gets on that point at last, just is reluctant to settle and the constant in-come out of the closet adjustments spoil the shot. | |
Nikon COOLPIX P600 Wifi
The COOLPIX P600 has built-in Wifi, allowing you to wirelessly colligate exploitation a smartphone, remotely hold in the camera and download images. The Nikon Wireless Moving Utility app is useable free for iOS and Android and I tested the COOLPIX P600's wireless features victimization my iPhone 4S.
Unlike the Sony HX400V, the COOLPIX P600 doesn't have NFC, so even if you have an NFC-fitted out mechanical man phone you'll postulate to connect to the photographic camera by selecting its SSID from your phone's Wireless fidelity settings. You then have to switch to the app or the association will recess after about a minute.
You stool then download photos to your phone, though not at the seminal size. In that location are two options, 'Suggested' which is optimised for your device screen and VGA. This is a shame as original size up downloads are available with Nikon's Wifi equipped DSLRs. One of the other drawbacks of Nikon's app is that it doesn't allow straightforward uploads to social networking and photo sharing sites, but that just means you have to download to your earphone prior to joint.
Dominant the camera remotely is simple, but once more the options are limited. You can soar up the lens, but there isn't the same degree of control as on the camera, instead the zoom lurches in and come out of the closet in quite large discrete stairs with each tap of the screen icon. IT's not realistic to switch exposure modes using the app and there's no mastery over photo of any kind, not even exposure compensation. There is a self timer though.
So the COOLPIX P600's WiF features are rather basic, but zero less sophisticated than those of the Sony HX400V. In fact the experience of remote shot and wireless transfer exploitation some models is very siamese, though the HX400V has NFC indeed is a better option if you have an NFC-equipped phone and also allows you to transfer overladen resolution images. But grassroots though it is, the COOLPIX P600's built-in Wifi is a precise worthwhile feature to possess.
Nikon COOLPIX P600 Handling and Sensor
Like earlier Nikon Super-zooms, the COOLPIX P600 stool be frustratingly sulky at some things. Once it's started up, it's rather bang-up, the AF responds quickly in just about situations and it has a advantageous selection of continuous shooting modes including a 7fps single second base burst at full resolution and a range of glower resolution modes. But the menu system is sluggish – when you press the computer menu push the screen goes blank and information technology takes almost a endorsement for the carte to appear. And there's also a very observable delay when switching 'tween tabs.
When the moving picture record button is pressed there is a full three second gap while the screen goes black – the recording delay itself isn't quite that long-lived, but it doesn't assistant that you behind't go steady what you'ray shot meanwhile.
The COOLPIX P600's computer menu system is divided over four tabs, Shooting, Movie, GPS and Set up. The Shooting card is a long list of 18 items, so changing something ilk the AF mode, operating theatre Active D-lighting, which are in the middle somewhere, can be a bit tedious. The COOLPIX P600 does sustain a single programmable office button, though, which put up be assigned to one of nine functions including image character, size, white balance, metering, free burning shooting, ISO sensitivity, AF area mode and Vibration reduction.
The ace big improvement to the COOLPIX P600's handling over to begin with models is the first appearance of the monitor button which toggles the display between the riddle and the EVF. In the absence of an eye sensor this is a real lifesaver, saving you the tiresomeness of having to flip the shield back in happening itself ready to activate the view finder. If I was a COOLPIX P520 owner this seemingly insipid improvement would personify second (after the big zoom) along my list of reasons for upgrading.
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The COOLPIX P600 has a 16.1 Megapixel 1/2.3in compact sensor that produces images with a level bes size of 4608 x 3456 pixels. Its ISO sensitivity range is from 100 to 6400 ISO and in Extremity mode its shutter speed chain is 4s – 1/4000. It saves images as JPEG files at one of two quality/compaction settings and at the best timbre Fine setting image sized is on common around 5 to 7MB.
To see how the quality of the Nikon COOLPIX P600 measures-up in practice, have a look at my Nikon P600 quality and Nikon P600 noise results pages, browse my Nikon P600 sample images, operating room skip to the give chase and head straight for my finding of fact.
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Nikon COOLPIX P600 review
Source: https://www.cameralabs.com/nikon_coolpix_p600/
