 Nikon CoolPix 950 Digital Camera Nikon ups the ante with 2.1 million pixels, better color, faster shooting, a raft of new features, and a great user interface! (Initial review date: 15 February, 1999, full review 10 March,
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1,600 x 1,200 pixel resolution |
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3X optical zoom, + 2.5X digital | |
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Optical and LCD viewfinder | |
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Matrix, Spot or Average light metering | |
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Program, shutter-, aperture-priority auto exposure modes. | |
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Large RAM buffer for rapid shot-to-shot
cycling. |
Manufacturer Overview
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Long a powerhouse in the world of film-based photography, Nikon has lately been
making waves in the digital world. Their previous CoolPix 900 was one of the
more popular digital camera models in recent memory, providing excellent image
quality in a well-designed, ergonomic package. Now, Nikon has developed the
significantly upgraded CoolPix 950, incorporating such a broad sweep of enhancements
that it represents more of a revolution than an evolution of the product line.
"Bigger, better, faster, smarter..." There are so many enhancements
bundled into the CoolPix 950 that it's literally hard to know where to begin
describing them! For starters, it sports a 2.1 megapixel, 1/2-inch CCD sensor,
producing images up to 1600x1200 pixels in size. (Our resolution tests showed
a very real increase in usable resolution, resulting from the increased sensor
pixel count.) A total of three image sizes is supported, with three different
compression levels available for each, and an additional, uncompressed storage
mode at the highest resolution.
The CoolPix 950 will be immediately recognizable to readers familiar with the
earlier '900 model, based on the same split-body, swivel-lens design. The CoolPix
950 incorporates both optical and LCD viewfinders, the latter via a 2 inch (51mm),
130,000-pixel display on the rear of the main body section. The lens is an optical
zoom ranging from equivalent 35mm focal lengths of 38-115mm. (Moderate wide-angle
to moderate telephoto.) As with the '900, front-element threads are provided
for mounting filters or accessory lenses. The camera includes both an internal
flash, and a sync connector for connection to many of Nikon's extensive line
of external speedlights, providing full exposure feedback (albeit not TTL capability).
Both macro and low-light capabilities of the new CoolPix are truly exceptional,
relative to the current (February, 1999) field of "prosumer" digital
cameras.
High Points
- 2.1 million-pixel, 1/2 inch CCD sensor element
- Image sizes of 1600x1200, 1024x768, and 640x480
- Three JPEG compression levels, plus uncompressed TIFF
- 3x Optical Zoom lens, with macro focusing to 4 inches
- Multi-ratio digital zoom, magnifications of 1.25, 1.6, 2.0, and 2.5x
- 4746-step(?!) autofocus system, with continuous or single-shot focus modes
- Manual focus option, with 10 focus steps from 4 inches (10cm) to infinity
- Three-aperture lens system: f2.6/4.0, f4.4/6.8, and f7.4/11.4
- Multiple autoexposure modes: full program, aperture- and shutter-priority
- Aperture priority allows selection of any of three lens openings (see above)
- Shutter priority allows selection of shutter time in 1-stop increments from 8 seconds to 1/500 of a second (1/750 in final production units?)
- 256-segment Matrix, spot, and center-weighted exposure-metering options
- "Live" feedback of current aperture, shutter speed values
- Huge RAM buffer for full-res continuous shooting at 1.5 frames per second (2 fps in VGA mode)
- Rapid cycle time of ~2-3 seconds in normal shooting mode
- Both LCD and dioptric-correcting optical viewfinders
- Exceptional low-light capability
- Exceptional macro ability (to 2 cm!)
- External flash sync, with TTL capability for Nikon dedicated strobe units
- Gamma-based image brightness/contrast adjustment (vs more-common linear adjustments)
- Seven-mode white balance adjustment, including manual white-point selection
- "Best Shot Select" function automatically picks sharpest version of an image from a multi-shot sequence.
- Special exposure program modes for auxiliary Wide, Tele, and Fisheye lenses (Standard program mode is sensitive to tele/wide angle, shifting toward faster shutter speeds at longer focal lengths)
- Exposure/white balance lock for panorama shooting
- Sequential frame counter option to avoid accidental file overwrites on host computer
- Selectable auto-off times of 30 seconds, 1, 5, and 30 minutes
- Support for "folders" to organize images in-camera
- Excellent user interface!
Executive Overview
The Coolpix 950 is the first digicam in Nikon's line of popular digital cameras to break the 2-megapixel barrier, boasting a 1/2-inch , 2.11-megapixel CCD capable of producing prints as large as 8 x 10 inches. Measuring just 5.6 x 3 x 1.4 inches, and featuring the signature split-body, swivel-lens design, the 950 is smaller than its predecessors and compact enough to carry almost anywhere. Its black magnesium body houses a 3X Zoom-Nikkor 7-21mm, aspheric glass lens (equivalent to 38-115mm in 35mm format), real-image optical zoom viewfinder, and a low-temperature, polysilicon, 130,000-pixel resolution LCD display for sharp, high-quality previews of digitally captured images.
Images are recorded in 24-bit RGB color as uncompressed TIFF files, or one of three Exif 2.1 JPEG modes: Fine (1:4 compression ratio), Normal (1:8), and Basic (1:16). File sizes range from 640 x 480 pixels (VGA), to 1,024 x 768 (XGA) and 1,600 x 1,200 pixels (UXGA). The camera is shipped with a Nikon 8MB Removable CompactFlash card, which holds up to 32 Basic JPEG images. However, the 950 will accept memory cards with capacities as large as 64MB, or anything in between. (We strongly suggest that you invest in higher capacity memory cards, as low-resolution files are only satisfactory for Web purposes, and an 8MB card can only accommodate one high-resolution image.)
The Coolpix 950 is divided into two segments by a swivel bearing joint in the middle. The right side of the camera has a hand grip and Command Dial on the front panel; a shutter release surrounded by the Power/Mode dial, small LED data display, Flash/ISO control, and Normal/Macro/Self-timer button on top; an LCD monitor on the back; and a battery compartment and CompactFlash slot accessible through the bottom of the camera, next to the built-in tripod mount. Arranged around the LCD are the Monitor on/off button, Menu on/off button, Up and Down Arrow buttons, and three buttons under the LCD that serve as the heart of the control system, performing various functions, based on the Mode and Command Dial settings.
The left side of the camera houses the lens, built-in flash, off-camera flash synch connector, optical viewfinder, and flash/autofocus LED indicator lights next to the viewfinder. This portion of the camera can be turned to four different 90-degree locked positions, which allow you to turn the lens facing front, back, up, or down. The camera's lens is similar to the Coolpix 900, with an electromagnetic drive, three-step, rounded diaphragm opening that provides apertures of f/2.6, f/4.4, and f/7.4 at the wide-angle end and f/4.0, f/6.8, and f/11.4 at the telephoto end.
The 950 is the first Coolpix camera to incorporate Nikon's exclusive 256-element matrix exposure metering and high-precision, contrast-detect, through-the-lens autofocus. Focus modes include: Continuous AF, Single AF, and 10-step Manual Focus from 4 inches to infinity. Focal range in normal mode is 12 inches to infinity, and in Macro mode, an impressive 0.8 inches (2 cm) to infinity. The 950 also features a four-step digital zoom, with a choice of 1.25X, 1.6X, 2X, and 2.5X telephoto settings. (We recommend that you stick with optical zoom and avoid digital zoom options, because they only magnify the existing pixels, and as a result, reduce the quality of the final print.)
The 2.1-million-pixel CCD offers a range of light-sensitivity ratings, from ISO 80 (default) to 100, 160, and 320. A selection of exposure modes increase the versatility and capabilities of the 950. They include: Programmed Auto Exposure (AE), Aperture-priority Auto, and Shutter-priority Auto, with manual Exposure Compensation from +2 to -2 EV (exposure equivalents), in one-third-step equivalents. Shutter priority allows selection of shutter times in one-stop increments from 1/500 to 8 seconds. Through-the-lens metering operates in three modes: 256-element Matrix, Spot, and Center-weighted metering. In our tests, the 950 delivered exceptional exposure results, especially in low-light scenes.
White Balance can be used in Auto TTL mode or set manually for Sunny, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent, and Flash lighting conditions. A White Preset option allows you to use a white card or sheet of paper to determine optimum white balance under specific lighting conditions. The 950 also provides five user-selectable Image Tone Curves to adjust image appearance for printing or monitor display. Settings include: Standard, Contrast +, Contrast -, Brightness +, and Brightness -.
The Coolpix Command Dial, patterned after the company's professional single-lens reflex film cameras, enables users to make setting adjustments with more speed and ease; and a Global Positioning System (GPS) input connector allows photographers to tag shot positions with precise accuracy, so they can return to the same location at a later time. The 950 also permits custom titling and renaming of stored shots, and features downloadable firmware that can be updated using CompactFlash cards.
Another new feature introduced with the Coolpix 950 is the Best Shot Selector. This function automatically records 10 frames of each exposure and then selects the sharpest image of the 10 to store on the camera's removable memory card. This sophisticated image analysis technology, which Nikon calls anti-jitter logic, is made possible by the camera's faster processing capabilities and increased RAM buffer. High-speed continuous shooting of up to 1.5 frames per second (or 60 continuous captures) is another benefit of Nikon's fastest Coolpix to date.
The Coolpix 950 is powered by four AA Alkaline, 1.2V NiCd, 1.5 NiMH, or 1.5V FR-6 Lithium batteries. An optional AC adapter is also available. The camera comes equipped with an NTSC video output for display on a standard TV, and serial interface connectors compatible with Windows and Macintosh computers, and ships with a soft case, carry strap, video cable, serial cable for Windows, Mac adapter, and NikonView Version 2.5 CD-ROM with NikonView Version 2 interface software, PictureWorks Hotshots, and Interactive Pictures IPIX.
Design
The swivel-lens design of the CoolPix 950 is very similar to that
of the earlier 900, but the all-metal body feels more solid than we remember
the 900 being. Nikon advertises the case as being made of magnesium, and it
appears that this is indeed the case (no pun intended), the metal body conveying
a very solid "feel" to the unit. Also, Nikon appears to have beefed-up
the swivel bearing joining the two halves of the camera, a slight bulge on the
camera's front allowing for a larger-diameter bearing. The picture below shows
the '950 with the lens rotated into the usual 90-degree position. You can clearly
see the bulge for the bearing on the left-hand side of the body. Again, we didn't
have a sample of the '900 at hand while testing the '950, but the overall assembly
felt much sturdier than we remember from when we tested the '900 almost a year
ago. Other features visible in this view are the cover plug for the external
flash-sync connector, protruding from the bottom of the right half of the body,
underneath the lens and flash window, and the "selector wheel" control
at upper left that we'll talk more about later.
Another noticeable design difference relative to the earlier '950 is the shape
of the right-hand side of the case. As you'll see later in the top view of the
camera, the case is contoured both front and back, to fit the shooter's right
hand more naturally: The front of the camera has a pronounced bulge, with a
red rubber grip-pad centered vertically. This provides a natural shape for your
fingers to grip, and echoes the red/black design standard of some of Nikon's
newer pro SLR film units (the F100 in particular comes to mind). The back has
a much more subtle bulge in it, but provides just enough of a ledge for your
thumb to comfortably grip. Overall, the new design makes a single-handed (the
right one) grip of the camera much more comfortable and secure.
The shot below shows the rear of the camera, which will look quite familiar
to '900 owners. The "Monitor" button at the top turns the LCD screen
on for use as a viewfinder or for camera control via the extensive menu system
(activated by pressing the "Menu" button just to the right of it).
Significantly though, most camera functions can be controlled without resorting
to use of the (typically) power-hungry LCD panel. - This bodes very well for
battery life! The two buttons at top right control the 3x optical zoom lens,
while the three buttons across the bottom provide access to the most commonly-used
exposure and image-quality adjustments (more on this in a bit).
Viewfinder
As noted earlier, the CoolPix 950 provides both a zooming "real
image" optical viewfinder, and a rear-panel LCD-based one. The LCD viewfinder
is quite accurate, showing 95% of the final image area. (Somewhat surprisingly,
it's quite common for digicams' LCD viewfinders to show less than 100% of the
final image.) The optical viewfinder is more average, showing 85% of the CCD's
field of view. Both viewfinders were slightly offset relative to the final image,
in opposite directions. Once we became accustomed to the camera though, we had
little difficulty achieving accurate framing.
The LCD display screen is quite sharp, both due to its 130,000 pixels
of resolution, and the use of low-temperature polysilicon in its construction.
(Low-temp "poly" seems to have a significant impact on LCD resolution,
as all the cameras we've tested that tout this feature indeed have viewscreens
that are sharper than average.) We did still find the LCD to be quite hard to
see adequately in bright sunlight, though: In sunny settings, you'll almost
certainly want to rely on the optical viewfinder instead.
One
of the features we particularly liked about the '950 was the amount of information
it gave us about the camera status and current picture-taking settings, via
the LCD display. Most digicams currently (February 1999) leave you guessing
as to the shutter speed and aperture value the camera has selected for the current
picture. The CoolPix 950 though, provides a readout of both the shutter speed
and lens aperture in the LCD viewfinder when the appropriate option is selected,
as shown in the screen shot at right. If you don't want your viewfinder cluttered
with data readouts though, you can easily turn them off. At the same time, a
great deal of information about camera status is available on the top-panel
LCD data readout, meaning that you'll very likely be able to operate the camera
without having to turn on the color LCD display. This bodes well for battery
life, as color LCD viewscreens are notorious power-hogs.
Optics
The CoolPix 950's lens appears very similar to that on the CoolPix
900, although we understand that some changes were made to accommodate the larger
1/2-inch CCD sensor element. The lens is glass (as opposed to plastic), composed
of 9 elements in 7 groups, including one or more aspheric elements. In addition
to the 3X optical zoom (covering a range of 35mm-equivalent focal lengths from
38 to 115mm), a range of digital zoom ratios are available, running from 1.25x
all the way to 2.5x. Macro performance has been significantly improved beyond
the already-excellent level of the '900, and a manual-focus option provides
10 focus steps from about 4 inches (10cm) to infinity. (Note that these are
the manually-selectable steps: Autofocus operation has been improved beyond
the exceptional 945-step accuracy of the original CoolPix 900, the new unit
apparently offering over 4,000 steps of autofocus adjustment. We suspect that
this increase doesn't actually reflect an increase in focus resolution, but
rather is a result of the greatly extended macro range on the '950.) The '950
has the same-diameter filter threads that the '900 did, permitting the attachment
of a variety of auxiliary lenses and filters. (Nikon offers optional wide-angle,
fisheye, telephoto, and macro adapters, although it isn't likely the latter
will be needed, given the exceptional macro performance of the basic lens system
itself.) Like the CoolPix 900, the autofocus mechanism by default operates continuously,
whenever the camera is in "record" mode. This behavior can be changed
via a menu selection though, to cause it to only autofocus when the shutter
button is half-pressed. As with most things in life, this is a tradeoff: The
continuous autofocus mode uses up battery power a lot more rapidly, but greatly
reduces the shutter lag (see below), especially when shooting close-up objects
in macro mode. NOTE that the autofocus is continuously active when the camera
is set to "Auto" record mode, and the LCD is turned on, regardless
of the setting of the menu option.
The lens in the CoolPix 950 uses a three-position electromechanical aperture
assembly, providing apertures of f/2.6, f/4.4, and f/7.4 at the wide-angle end
of the zoom's range, and f/4.0, f/6.8, and f/11.4 at the telephoto end. In a
welcome addition, the lens aperture is decoupled from the shutter mechanism,
allowing apertures to be selected independently from shutter speeds. The three
steps provided are about 1.5 f-stops apart, meaning fine exposure adjustments
must be made via the shutter speed.
Some readers have pointed out the barrel distortion of the 950's lens
when set to its widest-angle position, as seen in the resolution target and
viewfinder-accuracy images on the Pictures page. We characterized this distortion
as "slight," as we felt it was toward the lower end of the range we've
seen on cameras we'd tested, and clearly less than was present in the 900's
lens. Barrel distortion seems to have become a cause celebre on the 'web recently,
but is actually a rather common lens artifact on most point & shoot cameras
with zoom lenses, whether film-based or digital. Because most strongly affects
only straight lines near the edge of the field of view, its effects aren't apparent
in most shooting situations. If you're doing architectural photography, it could
be more of an issue. Beginning with this review, we'll be specifying barrel
and pincushion distortion (the opposite effect of barrel distortion) in absolute
terms, expressed as a percentage of deviation of a straight line from its optimal
path, as measured at the edge of the image. The formula we'll be using is (total
deviation from straight)/(total linear dimension of the frame). "Total
deviation from straight" is measured as the maximum excursion of the straight
line, measured by connecting the endpoints of the reference line in the image
with a truly straight one, and then measuring the peak deviation of the distorted
line relative to this. Using this measurement standard, the geometric distortion
of the 950s lens is 0.9% barrel at wide-angle, and 0.7% pincushion at telephoto.
(Thanks to reader Phil Baker for this measurement technique: This approach is
more common in the world of video equipment than photography, but has the benefit
of being easy to make and easy to understand. The photographic world uses a
technique based on diagonal measurements, that we felt was a little more difficult
and prone to error, so we opted for the method described above. We hope to post
an article dealing with lens distortions in greater depth soon.) The lens also
exhibits a small but visible amount of chromatic aberration, corresponding to
about 2 pixels at the edges of the frame.
On the Macro front, we initially were fooled by the minimum manual focus
distance of the lens into thinking that the '950 could only focus to a minimum
distance of about 4 inches. Even at this distance, the macro performance was
very impressive. Later, when we learned that the actual minimum-focus distance
was only 2cm (!!), we were frankly amazed. A little experimentation in the studio
revealed that (at least on our prototype unit) this minimum working distance
could only be reached with the lens racked in a bit from its maximum wide-angle
or telephoto settings. The best macro performance is therefore achieved with
the lens a little bit in from the maximum telephoto setting. (Production models
now tell you when you've hit the macro "sweet spot", buy turning the
little flower "macro" icon green when the lens is zoomed to the right
setting.) Macro-mode focusing covers a range from 2cm to infinity, while normal-mode
focus extends from 12 inches to infinity. (So why have a separate "normal"
mode, if the "macro" mode extends all the way to infinity? The answer
seems to be autofocus time: Macro focus can take much longer than "normal"
focusing, especially if the subject is distant.)
Two
centimeters working distance (!) is close enough that lighting can become a
little problematic, with light having to be supplied at a very shallow angle
relative to the subject, to avoid shadows from the lens itself or the camera
body. The photo at right shows a quick jury-rigged "light tent" we
made for our own macro shooting, from a small piece of diffusion gel. By casting
strong lights on either side of this mini-tent, we obtained the reasonably balanced
light you'll see in the macro shot on the pictures page. At this close approach,
the macro capability of the '950 is little short of incredible. Combined with
the moderate telephoto lens and the 2.1 megapixel resolution of the CCD, the
detail level is literally microscopic! (It strikes us that the 950 would be
very handy for quickly duping 35mm slides to digital at the moderate resolution
level offered by the 2.1 megapixel sensor: Obviously nowhere near the resolution
possible with a dedicated slide scanner, but good enough for a wide range of
uses!)
Exposure
On almost every front, the CoolPix 950 provides significantly greater
creative control than did its predecessor, the '900. Exposure controls include
three different autoexposure modes (program, aperture-priority, and shutter-priority),
and a seven-mode white balance adjustment. Metering modes include spot, center-weighted
averaging, and 256-segment (!) matrix. (This last may be a step up from the
'900, which we believe used a 64-segment matrix metering system.) Exposure compensation
can be in 1/3-unit steps, across a range of +/- 2EV, the fine gradations of
which will be set by varying the shutter speed. Shutter speeds range from an
exceptional 8 seconds(!) to 1/750, although you need to switch to either aperture-
or shutter-priority exposure mode to go slower than 1 second.
The CoolPix 950's ISO (light sensitivity) rating is adjustable, either
automatically or manually, from the default value of 80 all the way up to 320.
(While the default ISO rating is 80, some of Nikons specifications, such as
flash range, are based on a rating of 100, leading us to believe that ISO represents
a very usable value.) Technically, Nikon rates the unit's ISO at 80, but states
that a "gain increase" is available, up to a maximum of 2EV gain step-up.
This rather cryptic specification calls for a little explanation: With any electrical
signal (in this case, the signal produced by light falling on the CCD), you
can always increase the electrical "gain" or amplification to make
the signal larger. The only problem is that, as you do so, any electrical noise
present will also be amplified. Evidently wanting to establish a conservative
benchmark for CCD noise in their images, Nikon chose to rate the sensor at an
ISO of 80, and point out that they're just increasing the amplifier gain for
the higher ISO ratings. We applaud both this conservative rating approach, as
well as the very fact that Nikon has provided an option letting the user decide
how they want to make the tradeoff of sensitivity vs. noise.
Even in the prototype we had for initial testing, low-light performance
was exceptional, among the best we've seen from any camera to date, with the
camera capturing usable (well, usable to someone anyway) pictures in
light levels as low as EV4! (That's about 256 times dimmer than the bright residential
interior used for our "indoor portrait" shots!) In the darkest conditions,
with an 8-second exposure time, we did notice a number of "stuck"
pixels, which showed up as glints of red, green, blue, or a combination. This
is quite normal, based on other cameras we've tested in the past, but some of
the test images we've seen taken with later-stage prototypes and posted on Japanese
news pages don't show these artifacts. (As we'd hoped, our production test unit
cleaned this up quite a bit, although at the very longest exposures, there wer
still a few "twinkles.") A more usable lower limit on exposure is
around EV 6-7, corresponding to typical outdoor night scenes lit by streetlights.
The 950's contrast-detect autofocus also runs out of usable signal somewhere
around EV 7, so for really low-light pictures, you'll want to use the manual
focus capability. (Note though, that the camera's fixed manual focus steps mean
that you'll need to pay careful attention to camera-subject distances with the
wide-open aperture needed for low-light work.) Finally, in common with other
digicams we've tested at very low light levels, color saturation drops significantly.
Interestingly though, this probably worked to our advantage in the outdoor test
shooting we did, where it reduced the strong color casts from the artificial
lighting.)
As noted above, the CoolPix 950 brings a significant increase in exposure
control. The 256-segment matrix metering takes advantage of the matrix-metering
technology Nikon pioneered in their high-end 35mm SLRs, extending it even further
thanks to the CCD technology the '950 is based upon. Metering modes also include
center-weighted averaging and spot metering. Exposure may be determined either
by full-program autoexposure (which intelligently adjusts to the current focal-length
setting of the zoom lens, favoring shorter shutter speeds at longer focal lengths),
or via shutter- or aperture-priority modes. Given the way the lens aperture
functions, the shutter-priority mode deserves a minor additional comment: Since
the lens aperture can only be adjusted in roughly 1.5 f-stop increments, exact
exposure must be set via the shutter speed setting. Thus, in shutter-priority
mode, it's unlikely that you'll end up with exactly the shutter speed
you selected. As the exposure metering system demands, the camera will choose
the lens aperture closest to the one called for by the shutter speed selected,
and then make any fine corrections in the shutter speed itself. The camera will
also override your selection, if you've picked a shutter speed that simply won't
work, but it at least warns you it's about to do so by flashing the shutter
speed value in the LCD viewfinder display. (Perhaps a minor point, but some
in the internet community have expressed displeasure at cameras claiming to
offer shutter-priority, but that in fact override the user's settings. Nikon's
approach of warning of imminent overrides seems reasonable, but it would be
nice if you could also tell the camera "I don't care if it's 'wrong,' just
go ahead and do what I said.")
Flash Exposure
In addition to a 5-mode internal flash (auto, on, off, red-eye reduction, slow-sync)
the 950 also carries forward the highly-integrated external-flash capability
pioneered in the CoolPix 900 "S" model, taking advantage of the full
range of features available from Nikon's high-end dedicated flash units. When
using an external flash, the internal flash can optionally be turned off. The
built-in flash is fairly powerful relative to other units on the market, with
a range of 30 feet (9.2 m) at the wide-angle end of the lens' range, and the
camera set to an ISO sensitivity of 100. Two notes: The slow-sync mode for the
internal flash leaves the shutter open for a longer period of time, allowing
more ambient light into the lens. It also appears to implement a "rear-curtain"
sync function, firing the flash just before the shutter closes, rather than
just as it opens. This produces motion trails of moving objects that appear
to follow the flash-exposed image of the object, rather than precede it, a much
more realistic effect for low-light motion photography. With regard to exposure-feedback
for an attached Nikon external speedlight: Several sources (including ourselves)
had initially reported that flash exposure was determined through the lens (TTL).
This in fact isn't true, a small sensor next to the lens on the face of the
camera actually providing the exposure feedback. This has both positives and
negatives. On the plus side, you can fake out the flash exposure system if desired,
either via a neutral-density filter on the lens (reducing exposure), or via
a sliver of ND gel material covering the flash sensor (increasing exposure).
This can be a useful trick for difficult exposure situations. The downside of
the non-TTL flash exposure is that it's prone to being fooled by small subjects
against a distant background, producing overexposed images in such cases. (To
put things in perspective though, with TTL flash exposure, we're talking about
a feature generally only available on high-end 35mm SLRs, and not at all on
under-$1,000 digicams, to the best of our knowledge!)
White Balance
The
CoolPix 950 has a range of white-balance settings, including auto, sunny, incandescent,
fluorescent, cloudy, and flash. It also has a "white point" mode,
in which the white balance is set by taking a picture of a white card under
the same lighting conditions as will be used for your subject. (As with several
other functions, this last white-balance mode wasn't functional on our prototype
unit. Again, stay tuned) Overall, we found the white balance system to be reasonably
competent: When used in the automatic mode, it left a bit of a ruddy cast in
the difficult non-flash indoor portrait, a fairly typical outcome. The "incandescent"
mode seems calibrated to professional tungsten lighting, with a color temperature
of 3200K, vs. the household incandescent used in our indoor portrait shot, which
typically has a color temperature of 2700-2800K. (This is good news for pros,
less so for amateurs. - Also very common among digicams we've tested.) The other
white-balance settings operated as we expected them to. (The "sunny"
setting is balanced for somewhat warmer lighting than the "cloudy"
one.)
Special Exposure Mode: AE Lock
As with most digicams, the CoolPix 950 "locks" the exposure and focus
settings whenever the shutter button is half-pressed. This can be convenient
for dealing with off-center subjects, and is particularly useful in conjunction
with the available spot-metering mode. There's also a multi-shot exposure/white
balance lock function available, which would be very useful for capturing panoramas.
This latter control is accessed when in "manual record" mode via the
rear-panel LCD menu system. The first exposure after the "lock" mode
is set will control the exposure and white balance for all subsequent exposures,
until the "lock" is removed or reset. (The menu controls include options
to turn the lock on, off, or to reset it. This implies you may be able to leave
the settings intact while you turn the lock off momentarily, but our prototype
unit didn't work that way. - Stay tuned for our test of a final production model
for more details)
Special Exposure Mode: "Continuous Shooting"
The
CoolPix 950 offers several "motor drive" rapid-exposure modes, for
capturing sequences of images very rapidly. There are three such modes, including
"Continuous", "16 Shot", and "VGA Sequence." The
Continuous shooting mode captures frames rapidly, at whatever resolution and
image quality the user has selected, at a rate of 1.5 frames per second at full
resolution, or 2 frames per second in VGA mode. Final production models will
be able to capture up to 10 full-resolution images in this manner, before having
to write the results to the CF memory card. (Our prototype would only capture
a maximum of 5.) The 16-shot mode subdivides the sensor array into 16 sections,
and captures a "mini-movie" of small images (400x300 resolution),
which fill-in a 4x4 array within a single high-resolution image as the shooting
progresses, at a rate of about 2.2 frames per second on our prototype unit.
Finally, VGA Sequence captures a sequence of VGA-resolution frames (well, duhh),
stored as separate files on the CF card, also at the roughly 2.2 frame per second
rate. Because the final production units will have a faster processor than our
prototype, readers should take the frame rates reported above as only approximations
of the camera's ultimate performance.
Special Exposure Mode: "Image Adjust"
(Another
mode that needs to wait for the final production models to test properly.) It
sounds intriguing though: Most digital cameras provide only an overall exposure
adjustment (the familiar +/- EV adjustment we discussed earlier). This boosts
or cuts the overall brightness of an image, moving the shadow and highlight
brightness together. In practice, when you want to "brighten" an image
on the computer, what you usually want to do is to smoothly boost the midtones,
leaving the blacks black, and the highlights white. This is a much more sophisticated
adjustment, and until now hasn't been possible within digital cameras themselves.
The CoolPix 950 promises to provide not only this, but a contrast adjustment
as well: Interesting features that we're eager to see.
Special Exposure Mode: "Best Shot Select"
Now, THIS is an interesting one! We all know we should use a tripod when working
in low light, but sometimes there just isn't one available, or the time to use
it. What to do? The '950 provides a "best shot select" mode, which
captures 5 frames at about 1.5 frames per second, and then analyzes them in-camera,
to see which is the least blurred! That image (and only that one) is saved to
the CF card! We didn't try to measure the BSS-mode performance quantitatively,
but the results of casual experimentation were VERY impressive, routinely producing
sharp images in situations we never would have expected. (Such as 1/2 second,
hand-held exposures!)
Special Exposure Mode: "Black & White"
Pretty self-explanatory: The CoolPix 950 can also capture images in black &
white, saving memory space.
Special Exposure Mode: "Lens - Telephoto, Wide angle, Fisheye"
We mentioned earlier that the 950's autoexposure program adjusts its shutter
and aperture preferences depending on where within the zoom range the lens was
set. This capability is extended to include the Nikon accessory lenses, via
three settings in the menu system. Presumably, the AE system would choose even
faster shutter times for the telephoto adapter, shorter ones for the wide angle
or fisheye adapters. These modes also zoom the lens to the wide or tele end
of its range, as appropriate for the lens being used. A small thing, but a nice
touch nonetheless.
Shutter Lag and Cycle Times
When you press the shutter release on a camera, there's usually a lag time before
the shutter actually fires. This time is to allow the autofocus and autoexposure
mechanisms time to do their work, and can amount to a fairly long delay in some
situations. Since this number is almost never reported on, and can significantly
affect the picture-taking experience, we now routinely measure it, using a little
Windows utility developed by Digital
Eyes.
We measured the 950's shutter lag at 0.8 seconds with full autofocus,
about 0.1 seconds (!) when the camera was prefocused by half-pressing the shutter
release, and about 0.3 seconds in manual-focus mode. In macro mode, focusing
took quite a while longer, as the lens has to "rack in" a LONG ways
to get to the macro position. Macro focus takes a variable amount of time, depending
on how close the subject is to the camera: At closest approach, macro focus
can require as long as 3-4 seconds. (A good argument for using the continuous-focus
mode when shooting macro subjects!)
In operation, a huge RAM buffer memory provides rapid cycling and long-sequence
"motor drive" shooting as noted earlier. Startup time is also very
rapid, at about 3.5 seconds, and shot-to-shot cycle times are quite fast as
well, at 3-4 seconds with full autofocus. Another area in which the CoolPix
950 is notably speedy is in switching between record and playback (about 2 seconds),
and the speed with which you can scroll through successive images in playback
mode: The camera initially displays a very rough representation of the image,
which is refined over the course of 2-3 seconds. The rough version is enough
to tell which image you're looking at though, and you can move on to the next
without waiting for it to fully update. The result is that you can move through
a large number of images very quickly, a nice feature as memory cards continue
to grow. (Oops! - In a major oversight, we neglected to measure the shot-to-shot
cycle times on our full-production test unit! Thus, we don't have exact times
for you, but do see in our notes that the camera cycled between shots at about
3 seconds, even in the highest resolution mode, until the buffer RAM filled
up.)
Operation and User Interface
To our minds, one of Nikon's most impressive achievements with the
new '950 is how easy the user interface makes it to quickly control all of the
camera's powerful features: The vast majority of adjustments you'd want to make
during normal shooting can be made directly from the camera's external controls,
without having to resort to the LCD menu system. This represents a huge improvement
in usability over many competing units. Exposure compensation, autoexposure
mode (program, shutter, or aperture priority), and all image quality settings
are rapidly accessible via a set of three buttons on the back of the camera,
and a slick little selector wheel set into the front of the camera, just below
the shutter button. All commonly-used camera functions can be selected via these
controls, and the small LCD readout on the camera's top shows the current status
and function selections independent of the large, power-hungry rear-panel LCD
screen. For those times when you do elect to use the LCD screen while shooting,
we liked the way the '950 keeps you posted on all the relevant exposure and
operating information, displaying shutter speed, lens aperture, autoexposure
mode, and the currently-selected image size and compression setting through
an optional overlay display on the LCD viewfinder screen.
Given
its importance in the use of the camera, we'll devote a bit of our time &
space here to the '950's user interface functions. We mentioned the "selector
wheel" user-interface feature earlier: The photo located above-right shows
this in close-up, positioned just below the shutter-release button, conveniently
located for your forefinger to access, while holding the camera normally. Most
functions on the camera are selected through a combination of pressing a button
and rotating this selector wheel. We found this to be a particularly effective
user interface design, as it made for very rapid access to a host of commonly-used
features. (Maybe the Nikon engineers have been reading our reviews: We've routinely
asked for ways to control camera functions (particularly exposure compensation)
without having to burrow into an LCD menu system! ;-)
In
normal operation, the heart of the camera's control system is the group of three
buttons, located just under the rear-panel LCD screen, shown above. These control,
respectively: Exposure compensation (the +/- symbol), the metering mode and
priority setting, and image quality. Each of these buttons are used in conjunction
with the selector wheel: To change a setting, you press the appropriate button,
and then rotate the selector wheel until the desired result is obtained. The
exposure-compensation control provides a range of +/- 2EV units, in 1/3 unit
(1/3 f-stop) steps. The Mode control selects from among Program, Shutter-Priority,
and Aperture-Priority metering modes when it is held in and the selector wheel
rotated. Once a metering priority mode is chosen, you use the same button to
enable selection of the appropriate exposure value, whether shutter speed or
lens aperture: Press the button once briefly and release it, then rotate the
selector wheel to choose the desired shutter or aperture value. Finally, the
"Qual" button connects the selector wheel to the image-quality function:
With this button held down, the camera will cycle through all combinations of
image size and compression level as the selector wheel is rotated. Even though
there are a total of 10 such combinations (including the uncompressed file format,
when in "manual" mode), we found we could very quickly arrive at the
setting we wanted. (We were somewhat surprised to find that the need to scroll
through all settings to reach the one we were looking for didn't seem at all
awkward.)
These same three buttons also control the most frequently-accessed functions
in playback mode: The leftmost will delete the currently-displayed image, the
center one switches back and forth between single-image and a 9-up "thumbnail"
mode, and the third enables a 3x "zoom" playback mode that lets you
closely examine the contents of each frame. (When "zoomed" in, the
LCD displays a small window into the full frame, which moves between 9 fixed
positions under control of the front-panel selector wheel.)
The photo above shows the top panel of the camera, with the small LCD data
readout, two control buttons, the shutter trigger, and the rotary camera-mode
control. The main camera operating modes are set by the rotary control around
the shutter button, selecting between "Off", "Auto", "Manual",
and "Play". Despite its name, "Auto" mode still lets you
make exposure-compensation adjustments, but you'll have to enter "Manual"
mode to access the shutter- and aperture-priority metering options, or the uncompressed
file format.
The two buttons at right cleverly incorporate multiple functions, depending
on whether they're used alone, or in conjunction with the selector wheel. Used
alone, the top button cycles through the five flash modes (auto, off, on, auto
red-eye, and slow-sync). If you press and hold it while rotating the selector
wheel though, you can change the camera's ISO rating. (This function wasn't
fully operational on our prototype unit, but we're told that you'll be able
to manually set the ISO from values of 80 to 320, or let the camera automatically
choose an ISO rating, based on shooting conditions.) The lower of the two buttons
normally cycles between infinity focus, macro focusing, and the self-timer function,
but when pressed and held, puts the camera into manual-focus mode, in which
the focus distance is set by rotating the selector wheel. (As mentioned above,
manual focus is restricted to 10 different distances, ranging from 10cm to infinity.)
We mentioned the top-panel LCD readout earlier, but it deserves mentioning
again: On most cameras we've worked with, these data-only LCD readouts are of
relatively limited usefulness, restricted to displaying only a few camera status
indicators. On the CoolPix 950 though, you can use the readout to control all
the most frequently-accessed camera functions, in conjunction with the buttons
and selector wheel control we've just covered. This strikes us as a huge benefit,
since the larger color LCD screens used for the menu system consume so much
battery power: We expect the '950 will have longer-than-usual battery life in
normal usage, given that photographers will be able to use it effectively without
having to switch on the LCD screen for routine operation.
Operating Modes, Menus, Etc.
Time for our usual exhaustive (exhausting?) run-down of the CoolPix
950's operating modes, controls, menus, etc. We've covered the basics above,
but will now burrow into the camera's operating controls more deeply.
"Auto" Record mode
In "Auto" record mode, the advanced exposure modes of the camera
(aperture- and shutter-priority) are locked out, as is manual focus, and any
control over ISO rating. All other functions operate normally though, including
macro and infinity-focusing, and even the manual exposure-compensation function.
You also still get a shutter-speed and lens-aperture readout in the LCD display
if it's enabled. As mentioned earlier, shutter speed in "Auto" mode
is restricted to speeds of 1 second or faster: You must use either aperture-
or shutter-priority modes to cover the range from 1-8 seconds.
"Manual" Record mode
This mode enables all the creative-control trickery the '950 is capable
of, including aperture- and shutter-priority metering, variable-ISO control,
and manual focusing.
Play mode
Self-explanatory - enables playback of images stored in camera memory.
Top-Panel Controls
We covered these briefly above, but will enumerate their functions again
here, for the sake of completeness.
- Rotary Control - Power on/off, selects Auto Record, Manual Record, and Play modes
- Top button - Press to select flash mode (auto, off, fill flash, red-eye reduction, slow sync). Press and hold while turning the selector wheel to change ISO setting. No play-mode function.
- Lower Button - Press to select infinity, macro, or normal autofocus,
and the self-timer function. (Strangely, Nikon doesn't allow you to enable
the self-timer for use in Macro mode, a much-requested feature.) Press and
hold while turning the selector wheel to activate manual focus and choose
the focusing distance. No play-mode function.
Rear-Panel Controls
- Up/Down arrow buttons - control lens zoom when taking pictures, or select menu items when the LCD menu system is enabled. In play mode, step forward or back through available images.
- Menu button - Enables rear-panel LCD display. Cycles through three
states in both record and play modes: LCD Off, LCD on with information overlay
(lens aperture, shutter speed, frame number, image quality setting, etc.),
and LCD on with image display only.
-
- Lower-left button (+/-) - Press and hold while turning selector wheel in record mode to change exposure compensation. Press in play mode to delete current picture. (Camera asks for confirmation before deleting.) In manual record mode, press immediately after image capture to erase the image before committing to permanent storage.
- Lower-middle button (mode) - Press and hold while turning selector wheel in record mode to change exposure metering mode for manual recording. (Select Program, Aperture-, or Shutter-priority) Press in play mode to switch between normal and thumbnail image review. Unknown momentary function in manual record mode, immediately after image capture.
- Lower-right button (Qual) - Press and hold while turning selector
wheel in record mode to change image size and compression setting. Press
in play mode to toggle 3x "zoom" playback.
Record-Mode Menus
The record-mode menu function layout is different for Auto and Manual modes,
although the Auto-mode functions are just a subset of those for Manual mode,
for the most part duplicating those of the Manual mode's third menu screen.
For clarity though, we'll list all functions of both modes here separately,
despite the redundancy involved in doing so.
Auto
Record Mode Menu
- Folders - The CoolPix 950 supports the creation, deletion, and renaming of "folders" to store images in separate groups. There doesn't appear to be any limit to the number of folders you can create: We made 5, which expanded the folder sub-menu onto a second screen, where there were at least two more slots for new folders. When a folder is selected, its name appears on the information overlay in both record and play modes, any pictures shot are stored in that folder, and upon playback, only the images in the current folder are shown. A playback-mode option does allow you to see images in all folders at once, though.
- LCDBright - The CoolPix 950's LCD backlight has three brightness settings, so you can select a brighter or dimmer setting depending on ambient light and your need to conserve battery life. As noted earlier though, even the brightest setting made little difference in direct sunlight.
- Sound - Turns on or off the soft annunciator beeps that signal image capture and other camera operations.
- Auto Off - This will be a welcome addition for former CoolPix 900 owners: An "official" way to change the camera's auto power-down timer! Options include 30 seconds, 1, 5, or 30 minutes.
- CardFormat - Reformats the memory card. (Erases any folders you may have created in the process - use the "delete" button to delete individual images and leave your folder structure untouched. - A "delete all" function would be nice, to clear-out a given folder, without affecting the others.)
- Date - Set date/time, and select date display format. (YMD, DMY,
MDY)
Manual Record Mode Menus
(First Screen)
White
Bal - White balance setting. This sub-menu provides no less than seven
different settings: Auto, manual white point, sunny, incandescent, fluorescent,
cloudy, and flash. We couldn't test the manual white point option with our
prototype model, but understand its intended function: You'd select this
option, then aim the camera at a white surface lit by the same illumination
as your eventual subject. The camera will read the RGB values from the known
white surface, and set the white balance as appropriate. (If you think about
it, this can give you tremendous creative control, if you had a range of
very subtly colored off-white targets: You could force the camera's white
balance to a color opposite that of the "white" target - warm-toned
off-white targets would produce a cooler color balance, and cool-toned ones
a warmer balance!)
- Metering - Sub-menu selects matrix, spot, or center-weighted average metering patterns.
- Continuous - Continuous shooting modes. Sub-menu selects between single-shot, continuous full-resolution (with resolution determined by the current image quality setting), VGA sequence, or 16-shot sequence (in which each frame is sub-divided into 16 smaller images).
- Img Adjust - This is an interesting adjustment that we touched on briefly earlier. It provides for changing the brightness and contrast of the image, but is much more intelligent than the overall exposure compensation. Nikon tells us it uses a brightness histogram internally, to adjust midtone values without losing highlights or shadows. Options include brightness plus or minus, and contrast plus or minus.
- BestShot - Options are on or off. Phenomenally useful feature, selecting the least-blurry picture from five captured in rapid succession. (See earlier discussion)
- Dig Tele - Digital Telephoto. Sub-menu options are auto (digital tele selected via operation of the lens zoom controls), 2.5x, 2.0x, 1.6x, 1.25x, and off.
- B/W - Black/White mode select. Options are on/off.
(Second Screen)
Folders
- See earlier description under Auto Record Mode menus.
- Lens - Special camera setups for normal, wide adapter, telephoto adapter, or fisheye adapter. (For instance, "wide" forces the lens to the widest-angle setting, for use in conjunction with the wide-angle adapter.) Shutter-speed program also shifts to favor shorter or longer shutter speeds as appropriate for the adapter type selected.
- AE Lock - For use when taking multiple shots for use in a panorama series. Exposure and white balance will be set when the first shot is taken after enabling this option, then remain the same until reset.
- User Set - The CoolPix 950 can remember up to three different "setups", retaining settings for virtually all aspects of camera operation. This lets you make radical changes in the camera setup very quickly, for instance, moving from a setup suited for flash photography to one set up for available-light, with a tungsten white balance.
- Card Format - (Described earlier)
- Reset All - Resets all settings to factory defaults.
- Set Up - Takes you to third screen, described immediately below.
(Set Up Screen)
LCD
Bright - (Described earlier)
- Sound - (Described earlier)
- LCD On/Off - Controls both LCD operation and autofocus behavior. LCD Monitor may be on or off at startup, and may or may not provide a momentary image review after each picture is captured. Autofocus may be set to operate constantly when in record mode, or only when the shutter button is half-pressed.
- Controls - In "Manual" mode, this option leads to a sub-menu
with a host of options:
- Menu Direction (see earlier note)
- Distance Ft - Selects between meters or feet for manual focus readout.
- Flash Mode Save - preserve current flash mode settings when camera is turned off.
- Infinity/Macro Mode Save - preserve current status of infinity/macro setting when camera is turned off.
- Modesave - Save exposure mode when camera is turned off.
- +/- Save - Save exposure compensation setting between shots, and when camera is powered off.
- Int Flash - Option to disable internal flash entirely, when using external flash unit.
- Auto Off - (Described earlier)
- Seq Xfer - By default, the frame counter used to construct file names resets whenever the memory card is erased. This option keeps it incrementing continuously, to help avoid confusing or overwriting images on the host computer's hard disk.
- Date - (Described earlier)
- Language - The CoolPix 950 carries multiple languages in its firmware,
selectable via this sub-menu. Options are German, English, French, and Japanese.
Playback Mode Menus
(First
Screen)
- Delete - Takes you to a sub-menu, allowing deletion of all or selected images.
- Folders - See earlier description under Auto Record Mode menus.
- Slideshow - Self-explanatory, exact functions not finalized on prototype
- Protect - Takes you to a sub-menu showing thumbnails 6-up. Allows marking single or multiple images to prevent their accidental erasure.
- Hide Image - Takes you to a sub-menu showing thumbnails 6-up. Lets you hide one or more images so they won't show in normal playback mode. (Useful for hiding selected images when setting up a slideshow display.)
- Print Set - Takes you to a sub-menu showing thumbnails 6-up. Lets you mark one or more images for printing, set print quantity, optionally choose to attach date and exposure information to each. (Full details will need to await production model.)
- Set Up - Takes you to third screen, described immediately below.
(Set
Up Screen)
(These functions largely mirror those of the auto-record mode menus.)
- LCD Bright - See earlier description under Auto Record Mode menus
- Sound - (Described earlier)
- Controls - In "Playback" mode, this option leads to a
sub-menu with a single option:
- Menu Direction (see earlier note)
- Auto Off - See earlier description under Auto Record Mode menus
- CardFormat - See earlier description under Auto Record Mode menus
- Date - See earlier description under Auto Record Mode menus
- Language - The CoolPix 950 carries multiple languages in its firmware,
selectable via this sub-menu. Options are German, English, French, and Japanese.
Memory and Interface
Like
the '900, the '950 uses CompactFlash memory cards, shipping with an 8-megabyte
card as standard equipment. We suspect that most owners will almost immediately
want to purchase a larger card though: Not only are memory prices falling rapidly,
with 64-megabyte cards now selling for under $180, but the high-quality storage
modes of the CoolPix 950 have a voracious memory appetite! (Topped off by an
uncompressed file format that gobbles a whopping 5.7 megabytes per image.) Actually,
the memory design was about the only element we could find fault with in the
'950: Not the memory itself, but the location of the card! As shown in the image
at left, the memory card's "hatch" is located on the bottom of the
camera's body, right next to the tripod socket. While this might not be an issue
for most users, we frequently use digital cameras on tripods, and the need to
dismount the camera to get at its memory card is a nuisance in the studio...
Also, along with everybody else, we need to complain a bit about the flimsy
plastic CF card cover - there have been reports of it breaking after heavy use,
and we can't imagine why Nikon "cheaped out" on such a minor but important
detail, when the rest of the camera is so superbly designed!
Wrapping things up, the '950 includes several more subtle niceties that
make going digital easier, including a "folder" arrangement for organizing
images in the camera, a sequential frame counter option to avoid problems with
overwriting files when copying them to your host computer, some powerful in-camera
tonal-adjustment controls, and a unique "best shot selector" option
that automatically chooses the least-blurry image, when shooting under difficult
conditions.
Video Out
The US version of the CoolPix 950 includes a video out jack, offering NTSC-formatted
video output. Other nationalities will doubtless support PAL timing. Connecting
the video output provides a signal to an external device, without disabling
the internal LCD display screen. All images that would normally appear on the
LCD are also routed to the external video display. (Including all camera operating
control displays.)
Power
The CoolPix 950 can be powered either by 4 AA batteries, housed inside the hand
grip, or by an external AC adapter producing 2.5 amps (!) at 6.5 volts. (This
is an unusually high current rating for a digicam AC adapter.) Running primarily
from AA NiMH batteries during our tests, we did find the prototype unit to be
rather power-hungry. As with several of our other observations though, we're
confident that at least some of this was due to the prototype construction itself:
From past experience, we've often found early prototypes of cameras to consume
much more power than the production models due, thanks to lower levels of electronic
integration, and less-efficient microchips. On a positive note, the ability
to switch the lens to a single-shot autofocus mode (vs. the continuously-active
autofocus of the CoolPix 900), and the ability to rely almost entirely on the
small top-panel LCD readout for normal camera operation, rather than the power-hungry
color LCD screen, bodes well for battery life in the field. Because the LCD
backlight and autofocus motor typically account for a large percentage of total
battery drain in a digicam design, the ability to drastically reduce their use
should significantly increase battery life relative to cameras lacking that
ability.
Update: Once we got the production model, we actually measured power drain
in several modes. The power in "sleep" mode with the LCD turned off
is remarkably low: You should be able to leave the power on with the LCD screen
off virtually all day without running down your batteries! Note that in the
following, the measurements were made at the 6.5 volt external supply voltage:
The power drain with the lower-voltage internal battery supply would be higher,
by an amount we can only estimate: For instance, the power drain during lens
zooming is 900mA for an externally-applied 6.5 volt supply, but increase to
1,200 mA when the external supply voltage drops to 4.67 volts. The reason we
don't know what the actual internal battery current is is that (a) we haven't
come up with a way to reliably insert a "dummy battery" in the digicams,
and (b) there are likely diodes and/or other electronic components that make
for differences in the "effective" voltage between internal and external
sources. Nonetheless, the following numbers should be informative:
| Operating Mode | Power Drain |
| Capture Mode, w/LCD | 620 mA |
| Capture Mode, w/o LCD | 10 mA (!) |
| Half-pressed shutter, no LCD | 400 mA |
| Zoom Lens actuation | 900 mA |
| Flash Recharge (Transient) | 1000 mA |
| Image Playback | 420 mA |
| "Sleep" Mode (Auto power-down) | 10 mA (!) |
Included Software
|
Our prototype unit came minus any software, and frankly, we didn't experiment
much with the software provided with the production unit. There's a basic image-transfer
application, called Nikon View, for both the Mac and Windows. Other packages
bundled with the camera include PictureWorks "Hotshots", a general-purpose
manipulation and cataloging application, and an introductory package from IPIX
that lets you create 3-D "immersive" images.
Test Results
In keeping with our standard policy, our comments here are rather
condensed, summarizing our key findings: For a full
commentary on each of the test images, see the CoolPix
950 Pictures Page.
As with all Imaging Resource camera tests, we encourage you to let your
own eyes be the judge of how well the devices performed: Explore the images
on the pictures page, to see how well the CoolPix 950 performed, and how its
images compare to other cameras you may be considering buying.
Overall, we were extremely impressed with the image quality from the
CoolPix 950: Exposure was consistently accurate, with bright, clean colors,
and exceptional detail, as befits a 2.1 megapixel digicam. When we saw the first
images from the 950, it was immediately obvious that the Nikon engineering team
hadn't been resting on their laurels after creating the CoolPix 900! The 900
consistently produced good, accurate color, but was rather conservative in its
use of the available tonal scale, generally leaving a bit of extra range in
both the highlights and shadows, thereby insuring that both shadow and highlight
detail would be preserved. This approach produces images with maximum detail,
but often at the cost of somewhat muted colors. Personally, we prefer this methodology,
as we like to tweak our pictures manually post-exposure, to maximize the image
quality before printing. Others prefer to let the camera trade away some of
the highlight and shadow detail in favor of images with more "snap"
right out of the camera. With the 950, Nikon appears to have arrived at an excellent
balance between "snap" and detail, consistently producing images with
clear, bright colors, yet which also show good handling of difficult highlight
and shadow values. In this respect, we suspect that the 950 will win many new
converts to the Nikon camp, while losing none of their earlier followers. Overall,
color accuracy and saturation were very good, with only a minor tendency toward
purplish blues and slightly weak yellows preventing a "perfect" score.
Detail and resolution are exceptional, with visual resolution approaching
800 line pairs/picture height horizontally and 650-700 vertically, the best
we've seen to date. (2/14/99) Performance in the outdoor far-field shot was
exceptional as well. (Update: We've now seen other cameras that do about as
well also, but the CoolPix 950 remains at the top of the field, first among
equals, at least as of July, 1999.)
The LCD viewfinder is quite accurate, showing 95% of the final image
area. The optical viewfinder is more average, showing 85% of the CCD's field
of view. Both viewfinders were slightly offset relative to the final image,
in opposite directions. Once we became accustomed to the camera though, we had
little difficulty achieving accurate framing.
We added a new low-light test with the CoolPix 950, and it's performance in
this area was very good: We obtained semi-usable images all the way down to
a light level of EV 4, and very usable ones down to EV6-7! - This is about what
you'll find in typical outdoor night shots lit by street lights. (See our test
images shot in a local mall parking lot.) See the Pictures
Page for full details on low-light performance!
The CoolPix 950 really shone in the Macro test, capturing a miniscule
area of only 0.58 x 0.78 inches (14.8 x 19.8 mm) at a minimum working distance
of only 0.8 inches (2 cm). (Interestingly, closest focusing occurs with the
lens racked in a little bit from its maximum telephoto setting, a phenomena
we've observed in one or two other cameras as well.) This exceptional close-focusing
ability, combined with the high image resolution results in macro shots with
literally microscopic detail: If you want a camera for really tight macro
work, this is the one! - The built-in flash just can't remotely begin to cover
the subject area evenly at 2cm(!), but the ability to use external Nikon strobes
in an interactive metering mode could open some very interesting possibilities
for ultra-macro photography, using "light tents" to evenly distribute
the strobe's light - This is how we shot our own maximum-macro image, as the
2 cm focusing distance made it tricky to get light into the subject area without
being shadowed by the lens and camera body. (Note though that the flash metering
isn't through the lens, but occurs via a front-panel sensor.)
See for Yourself!
Take a look at the test images from the Coolpix 950
(with extensive comments), or jump to the Comparometer(tm)
page to compare its reference images with those from other digital cameras.
Conclusion
We expected to see an increase in resolution with the Coolpix 950, and thanks
to the 2.1-megapixel sensor, we certainly weren't disappointed. The camera's
overall image and optical quality appeared to be a solid notch above the already
excellent levels of the earlier 900, and creative control was greatly enhanced
with aperture- and shutter-priority exposure modes. Nikon also made major strides
in the camera's user interface, with all of the most commonly-used options readily
accessible from the external controls, without having to venture into the camera's
LCD menu system. All in all, the Coolpix 950 represents a significant advance
in the state-of-the-art for "prosumer" digital photography, and as such is sure
to find an even wider following than the hugely successful 900 that preceded
it.
| Buying a CoolPix 950? It's a GREAT camera, with a LOT of features: A good way to really learn how to use all its outstanding features is to pick up a copy of "A Short Course in Nikon CoolPix 950 Photography! At only $19.95, this is a fantastic introduction to digital photography in general, and the Coolpix 950 in particular. Follow this link to order a copy! (For more info on the book, click here.) The book covers a tremendous range of shooting techniques and general photographic background, but links it specifically to the features and controls of the '950. Highly recommended! |
Reader Sample Images!
Do you have a CoolPix 950 camera? If you'll post an album of your
samples (it's easy to do, and free) and email us at [email protected],
we'll list the album here for others to see!
- Sample pictures from PCPhotoREVIEW readers
- Nicholas Noe's Sample CoolPix 950 Fireworks Images (Where are yours??)
- P. Lessing's CoolPix 950 Album
- Rex Steyskal's Sample Images - Lots of really great pictures! If you like the zoo, this is the place to look! He also has pictures for the CoolPix 990 digicam. Not what you were interested in, if you're visiting this page, but definitely worth taking a look!
- Alex Chong's Sample Pictures Album - If you're into whitewater rafting, this is the site for you!
For More Info:
View the Imaging Resource Data Sheet
for the CoolPix 950
See the CoolPix 950
Pictures Page
Visit the Nikon
home page for the CoolPix 950
Visit
the Nikon
Dealer Locator page to find a dealer near you!
Back to the Imaging Resource
Digital Cameras Page
Or, Return to the Imaging Resource
home page.
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