Many Nikon fans have noted that in the past few years Nikon hasn’t introduced much in the high-end compact digital camera market segment. Last month I spent a week with the new Nikon P7000 and in summary, Nikon is back!
The Nikon COOLPIX P7000 specs include a 10 megapixel sensor and a 28-200mm (35mm equivalent) f/2.8-5.6 lens with vibration reduction. It records video at 720p. It offers ISO settings as high as 6400 at full resolution and 12,800 in 3-megapixel night mode. (Full specifications are here). Nikon has brought back dial controls for ISO and exposure compensation, which improves overall handling for those of us who like more control over our images.
Overall, I found the P7000 a pleasure to use, but wished it had an articulating LCD screen. One of the great things about small light cameras is the ability to hold them at waist level or place them close to the ground, but that’s difficult without an articulating screen. Despite this one snivel, the P7000 handled well, produced good quality images, and exhibited reasonable low light performance.
By far the P7000 is the worst camera I have ever owned. I have been shooting over 49 years and am a Nikon user. I normally shoot with a D700, D200 and D100 using 2.8 glass throughout. The P7000, is slow, has a mind of its own and without fail freezes constantly. It takes forever to cycle and if you try to shoot RAW, forget about doing any quick shooting at a whooping 3.6 second cycle time. The Auto focus is horrible as is the constant focus. I would imagine it would be great to shoot a non moving object. I bought this so I would not have to carry around all my heavy bodies and glass while on vacation. So loyally I stuck with Nikon. Big mistake. Stick with Nikon or Cannon for the serious shots and look into Fuji XPro1 or better yet a Leica for a light weight yet high quality piece of photography equipment. Needless to say, I can no longer shoot with this and am on vacation now…………….off to B&H to buy a real camera. The P7000 is nothing but a junky point and shoot for a very high price (I paid around $500 when new).