Nikon Coolpix P300 Review | Nikon Coolpix P300 Price, Features and Complete Review

The great: The Nikon Coolpix P300 has a nice lens, shooting modes for each kind of user, a solid design, and it's simple to use.

The bad: The P300's photos look overprocessed when seen at full size, and performance feels a bit sluggish.

The bottom line: Snapshooters wanting a little more creative control than the average point-and-shoot offers should read the Nikon Coolpix P300.
Review:

The Nikon Coolpix P300 isn't an enthusiast compact. It might look like one. Also it does have a bright f1. 8 ultrawide-angle lens and also the manual and semimanual shooting modes that you'd find with an enthusiast compact. But that's about where the similarities finish. It doesn't have a large sensor and you will not find raw image capture or direct controls for ISO as well as white balance or an optical viewfinder. If you want those activities, the P300 is not the camera you're looking for and you ought to prepare to spend about $100 more, at least.... Increase full review

The Nikon Coolpix P300 is not a good enthusiast compact. It might look like one. And it will have a bright f1. 8 ultrawide-angle lens and the manual and semimanual shooting modes that you'd find with an enthusiast compact. But that's about where the similarities finish. It doesn't have a large sensor and you will not find raw image capture or direct controls for ISO as well as white balance or an optical viewfinder. If you want those activities, the P300 is not the camera you're looking for and you ought to prepare to spend about $100 more, at least.

Exactly what the P300 is, though, is an easy-to-use compact camera having a very nice lens and more control over results compared to average point-and-shoot, and there's really nothing wrong with which.

The P300 turns out very good photos for a point-and-shoot which will stand up nicely to 10x13 prints or smaller as well as Web use. However, even at its lowest ISOs, subjects look just a little overprocessed when viewed at full size. In fact, if you are searching for photos good enough to heavily crop and then use in particular sizes, this camera isn't for you. Though its awareness settings run from ISO 160 to ISO 3200, the P300 produces the very best results below ISO 400 and even then you're still coping with the same photo quality you'd get from a high-end, small-sensor small camera.

The two highest ISOs--1600 and 3200--should be utilized sparingly, mainly because there's noticeable color shifting and the actual noise reduction makes subjects appear smeary. This is really no not the same as results with most compact cameras, though. There are Fixed Range Auto options which will limit you to ISO 160-400 or ISO 160-800, which is convenient for individuals who want to be in auto but not worry concerning the overly soft and smeary results above ISO 800.

This is also where the advantage of having a bright f1. 8 aperture available at the wide end is necessary. That big aperture allows you to use a faster shutter speed and lower ISOs if you have less light. That, in turn, will get you much better low-light photos than cameras with smaller maximum apertures.

Colors made by the P300 are good up to ISO 800: satisfying and vibrant. Exposure is consistently good, too, and if you want some help, Nikon's D-Lighting feature can be used within Playback mode, helping bring out shadow detail. White stability is overall good, though you should use the guide option when available. Also, as with most compact digital cameras, highlights can blow out easily. Nikon's Backlight HDR (high dynamic range) mode might help even things out.

The camera's 1080p movie capture is really a main selling point, but video quality is merely on par having a good HD pocket video camera: good enough for Internet use and nondiscriminating TV viewing. If you typically do a lot of panning laterally or shooting fast-moving subjects, you'll likely see judder as well as ghosting. On the upside, the P300 starts shooting in the press of a button; it takes a second to begin, but at least you don't have to enter the movie mode first. Plus, you get several resolutions and frame rates available for regular and slow-motion clips. The zoom does function while recording, though you'll want to keep the autofocus set to full-time. Unfortunately, you will hear the lens moving as this focuses in quieter scenes, but the noise is pretty minor.

Along with the lens, a big reason to think about the P300 is control over shutter speed and aperture along with full manual, aperture-priority, and shutter-speed-priority shooting modes. Apertures proceed from f1. 8 to f8. 0 at the broad end and f4. 9 to f7. 8 at the actual telephoto end. Shutter speeds go from 1/2, 000 2nd to 8 seconds, though at f1. 8 it halts at 1/1, 600 second. That's about the end from the manual controls. For example, there's no manual focus. And it would've been nice to have a minumum of one spot for a set of custom settings. But for individuals who just want to learn how to use shutter speed and aperture or simply like having more say in the final results, it is enough.

If that's more control than you need, Program mode enables you to change ISO, white balance, and exposure compensation as nicely as light metering, and autofocus area and mode, however handles shutter speed and aperture. There is a Versatile Program option, should you want to select different combos of aperture and shutter speed without changing exposure. Nikon additionally adds some extra control over hue (color tone) as well as vividness (saturation), with adjustable sliders. They're not revolutionary, but if you want to experiment, they'll be welcome. That said, it will be nice to have sliders for sharpness and noise decrease, too. (By the way, the slider settings get stored within the camera's memory, so they stay even if you energy the camera off. ).

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