Nikon CoolPix 995Nikon updates the hugely successful Coolpix 990, adding a pop-up flash and Type II CF support!<<Design :(Previous) | (Next): Optics>> Page 4:ViewfinderReview First Posted: 4/25/2001 |
ViewfinderThe Coolpix 995 offers both an optical viewfinder and a color LCD display screen for composing images. The real-image optical viewfinder zooms along with the lens, but doesn't reflect any digital enlargement from the digital zoom option (which requires the LCD monitor). The viewfinder display features a center focus target for lining up shots, and a set of cropping outlines that show the alignment change required for close up focusing. Two LEDs beside the viewfinder indicate the status of the flash and autofocus systems, each labeled accordingly. The flash LED lights red when the flash is fully charged, and flashes when the flash is still charging. The AF LED glows green when focus is set, and flashes when the camera is having trouble setting focus. A dioptric adjustment dial (-2 to +1 diopter adjustment) is tucked away on the underside of the lens barrel, and adjusts the viewfinder for eyeglass wearers. The Coolpix 995's optical viewfinder has a fairly high eyepoint as well, which should accommodate most lens thicknesses.
The 1.8 inch, 110,000 dot, low temperature, polysilicon TFT, color LCD monitor on the back panel operates both as a viewfinder and information display while in any capture mode. As we noticed on the Coolpix 990, the LCD on the 995 has a very high refresh rate, so images of moving objects usually appear sharp and clear. A series of autofocus targets can be continually displayed on the LCD, to tell you where the camera is judging focus from. The Monitor button controls the LCD monitor's display, cycling through no display, image and information, and image only. The information display reports a nice selection of camera settings, including aperture and shutter speed (when in Manual capture mode).
A unique feature of the 995 (borrowed from Nikon's high-end film cameras, and a carryover from the 990) is it's powerful zone-based autofocus system. The camera can automatically choose between five different autofocus zones, or you can lock it in on any one of them manually. Either way, the viewfinder displays all five zones, and highlights the currently active one in red. Very slick!
A particularly nice feature that's new on the Coolpix 995 is the "quick review" function, which lets you quickly check the last exposure while still in record mode, simply by pressing the Quick Review button. This isn't an uncommon feature on digicams, but what's absolutely unique on the 995 is its "picture in picture" review mode (shown here), which opens a playback window in the upper left-hand corner of the display screen, keeping the viewfinder image live on the remaining LCD area. Note too, that this image isn't restricted to the most recently captured photo: You can scroll through all the images on the memory card by pressing the rocker button arrows. The first press of the Quick button activates the picture in picture review mode, a second press enables full-screen playback, and a third press returns you to full capture mode. At any point, pressing the shutter button returns you to capture mode and snaps a picture. Very slick!We found the LCD screen to be bright, enough to be seen fairly well in sunny shooting conditions, but it wasn't the most visible we've encountered. (Sunlight and LCDs are always a problematic combination.) Through the Setup menu, the 995 offers a series of LCD adjustments, including hue and brightness adjustments in all camera modes. Brightness adjustments are pretty common on digicams, but the ability to tweak the color on the 995's LCD is a decided plus. In Manual capture mode, the 995 also offers a Display Mode setting, with options of Display on, Review Only, Preview Only, and Monitor Off.
In Playback mode, the LCD offers a wealth of information via several display pages. In total, no fewer than five information screens are available, accessed by turning the Command wheel. The first display is the standard Playback information readout, which reports the date and time of the shot, file name, quality setting, and the image number on the card. The next two screens report a long listing of camera and exposure settings, including the firmware version, focal length, shutter speed, ISO, etc. A fourth information page shows a histogram view of the image, illustrating the distribution of brightness values in the image, with the left edge corresponding to pure black, and the right edge to pure white. Once you learn how to read it, a histogram is phenomenally useful in determining whether you've managed to capture a good exposure or not. Ideally, a well-exposed image would produce a histogram curve that just filled the graph from left to right, indicating that it contained a full range of tonal values. The final information screen shows lens, shutter, and focus settings, and indicates (by the green brackets) what the autofocus system had locked onto when the picture was taken. Histogram displays won't always show you if only a small portion of your image is blown-out: To address this need, the 995 blinks those parts of the image that are overexposed, letting you see exactly where you're losing highlight detail. Very slick!
Also in Playback mode, the LCD offers a thumbnail index display, showing either four or nine images to a page depending on the setting. You can cycle between single-image, four, or nine image views by pressing the Flash/Index button beneath the LCD display. A playback zoom feature enlarges captured images up to 3x, letting you get a reasonably good idea of how well-focused the image is, check the framing, and examine details to see if you got the shot you wanted.
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