Nikon CoolPix 885More Pixels, More Features, (a little) More Money - Nikon extends their sub-compact Digicam line!<<Design :(Previous) | (Next): Optics>> Page 4:ViewfinderReview First Posted: 9/19/2001 |
ViewfinderThe 885 offers both an optical viewfinder and LCD monitor to assist in image composition. The optical viewfinder zooms along with the lens, but does not provide any center target brackets or framing guidelines. The LCD monitor turns on automatically when you power up the camera (in all Record modes except CSM), but it can be turned off by pressing the top arrow button twice, or letting it sit idle for more than 30 seconds to 30 minutes, depending on the Auto Off setting (adjustable in the camera's Setup menu). This same button also controls the information display on the monitor. When the LCD is turned on, it shows a full information display in the form of icons distributed around the edges of the screen. Pressing the top arrow button once turns off the information display, but leaves the image display turned on.
When the 885 is in Scene mode, the LCD information display includes the appropriate Scene mode indicator in the top left corner. Flash mode is displayed in the upper right corner, and the image quality and number of remaining images in the lower right corner. Other camera settings are displayed on screen as they are engaged, for example the Current Folder name (unless it's "Nikon," the default), Digital Zoom, Self-Timer, Best Shot Selection, Exposure Lock, Bracketing, Metering, ISO, Shutter Speed, Aperture, Continuous Shooting, Exposure Compensation, White Balance, and Image Sharpening are all indicated on the monitor when they are in use. (Manual settings are only displayed in CSM mode.) The battery power level is only displayed when the power level is low.
In Playback mode, the LCD monitor displays captured images as single, full-screen shots or in multiple thumbnails (Index mode). Single images can be viewed with or without the normal information display, which includes the date and time the image was captured, (top left of the screen), the image size and quality (bottom left), file number and type (top right), and current frame number / total picture count (bottom right). Transfer, Print Order, and Protect icons are displayed when engaged.
By pressing the Information button below the LCD monitor, you can bring up four more pages of picture information. Page 2 includes the camera model and firmware version, metering mode, exposure mode, shutter speed, aperture, EV, focal length, and focus mode. Page 3 displays flash status, image adjustment ISO, white balance, sharpening, digital zoom, lens converter status, and file size in kilobytes (KB). Page 4 includes a thumbnail preview of the image with a histogram to show distribution of tones, along with a short list of exposure settings. Page 5 is the Focus Confirmation screen, which shows a full-size image with the active focus area highlighted in red brackets (when AF Area is used), and "focused" areas in the image are sharply outlined.
In any Record mode, pressing the Quick Review button enables you to view thumbnails of previously captured images in the upper left corner of the monitor, while still observing the live action taking place on-screen. You can scroll through stored images just as you would in Playback mode, without having to switch the Mode dial to the Playback icon. If you press the button twice, the review image expands to full screen size.
Nikon reports the viewfinder coverage at 80 and 97 percent accuracy (respectively) for the optical and LCD viewfinders, but we found the optical viewfinder to be quite a bit less accurate, showing only 75 - 76 percent of the final image area. True to Nikon's specs though, the LCD viewfinder was quite accurate, as we measured its coverage at between 97 and 99 percent. We like the accuracy of the LCD, but really feel that the optical viewfinder needs some improvement.
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