Nikon Coolpix P90 Digital Camera Review

After the Nikon Coolpix P80 received a chilly review from ePHOTOzine, have Nikon improved on the superzoom model?

The Nikon Coolpix P90 has been replaced with the Nikon Coolpix P100.

The Nikon Coolpix P90 has a 24x optical zoom, 12Mp and a 3in articulated screen. The Olympus SP590 UZ at £329 offers a 26x optical zoom, 12Mp and 2.7in LCD screen while the Canon Powershot SX1 IS at £399 has a 20x optical zoom, 10Mp and a 2.8in LCD screen.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Despite being a little more bulky than the last model, it's by no means large. It still fits snugly into medium sized hands and the grip shapes nicely for groping fingers finding purchase. Buttons and a thumbpad are laid out ergonomically and my only issue is that the screen feels as though it gets in the way. It doesn't and I think it's simply down to the fact that it sticks out more than normal because of its pivoting capability.

 

Battery technology has certainly improved along with power consumption as the new Li-Ion batteries get smaller with every release of a camera. Memory cards are inserted into a small gap next to the battery and interestingly, the P90 doesn't take multimedia cards. Could this spell the end of MMC as a format with SD taking complete control? It's a distinct possibility as it's already the weaker of the two and with SDXC on the horizon, MMC will simply look archaic.

 

The Nikon Coolpix sports a built-in flash and doesn't have a hotshoe for attaching external flash. However the built-in flash has a range of 0.5m-8m at wide angle and 1.7m-5m at telephoto with the ISO set to auto.

 

Pastel colours aren't coming out as much as I've seen but the mono tones are nicely balanced.

I'm also impressed with the portrait result. It's warmer than I expected after the colour test chart with good detail and soft shadows. There's a little under exposure in program compared to the portrait mode but it's just as warm and sometimes a slightly darker image can look better.

Adding flash has increased light and evened out the skin while adding catchlights to bring the eyes to life. Unfortunately, it's given a cast that is bordering on light yellow. Standing alone the image looks great but when comparing it to the cast of the images without flash, it's definitely there.

I thought this may be down to the white balance setting which was set to auto at the time. The Nikon Coolpix P90 doesn't have a white balance setting for flash which is unusual. I'm guessing that the flash could be daylight balanced but the manual mentions nothing about it. Exposure is spot on, though and I can't fault the camera for it.

I tested the shutter lag and I'm pretty amazed. I managed to record a lag of 0.04sec which is the fastest I've ever seen on a compact.



Looking at the landscape image and the exposure is balanced with good colours being reproduced. I like the detail of the grass in the foreground but not that the camera shifts slightly out of focus towards the middle distance.

I tested the zoom capabilities of the P90 and placed them here. It's certainly impressive and if you're going to need this kind of pull then it's a worthy camera to look at.

Remember that with a zoom this size, the closer you are to the subject, the more that any shake will be amplified so a tripod may be necessary.

At the widest, plenty of landscape is shown.

At full zoom, the barge can be clearly seen.

Nikon Coolpix P90: Noise test
This is the area that the P80 really fell down in. So far I'm quite pleased with the results of the P90 in terms of picture quality with the exception of the fringing in high contrast areas.

We start at ISO64 which gives a lovely smooth result with plenty of detail in the petals, much as I'd expect at this low setting. I think there has been some improvements in noise control because it doesn't start showing until ISO400 which is a step higher than the previous camera.

However when you get to ISO400, the noise is pretty aggressive with coloured blotches appearing in the grey card area and detail in the petal beginning to drop. ISO1600 is the last sensitivity setting with full resolution and the image is pretty bad. Hardly an ounce of detail and bad colour invasion all over.

In an attempt to control it, the resolution is knocked to 5Mp for ISO3200 and ISO6400. It's a worthy attempt but the noise is simply too much for the camera to control and the picture is fuzzy and bleak.

Maybe it's just me but I think maybe with the camera being bigger, they might have been able to fit a bigger sensor in to combat the problem. I'm sure they have their reasons for not doing which is a shame.

The ISO64 test.

The ISO1600 test.

The ISO6400 test.

Nikon Coolpix P90: Verdict
I've kept the review of the P80 open while I did this so I can compare not only what it did in the test but also what I said about it to see if I was repeating myself. I think the three major changes of zoom, resolution and articulated screen are good and the image stabilising options have been increased with the motion detection system.

I still think there's room for improvement in image quality especially in colour fringing and noise control. That said, I mentioned the P80 as the camera for everyone and that wasn't strictly true. It wasn't perfect for low level photographers and now the P90 has covered that base as well.

Nikon Coolpix P90: Plus points
Big zoom
Good build
Nice colour rendition
Articulated screen
Fast shutter lag

Nikon Coolpix P90: Minus points
Colour fringing can be quite bad
Noise control still isn't very good
Macro wouldn't focus below 5cm

FEATURES

HANDLING

PERFORMANCE

OVERALL


The Nikon Coolpix P90 costs around £380 and is available from Warehouse Express here:

Nikon Coolpix P90