Nikon Coolpix P600 Review

April 4, 2014 | Mark Goldstein | Rating star Rating star Rating star Rating star

Introduction

The Nikon Coolpix P600 is a new super-zoom compact camera with a mechanically-stabilized 60x optical zoom that offers a massive focal range of 24-1440mm. It also offers an innovative side zoom control, a 1/2.3" Back Side Illuminated CMOS sensor with 16.1 megapixels, sensitivity range of ISO 100 to 6400, and full HD 60i video recording with stereo sound and slow-motion video at up to 120fps. The Nikon P600 appeals further to the keen photographer with a full range of manual shooting modes, burst shooting at 7fps, 99-point autofocus system, focus peaking, built-in Wi-Fi connectivity, electronic viewfinder and a 3-inch 921K-dot vari-angle RGBW LCD screen. The Nikon Coolpix P600 is available in black or red for £429.99 / $4949.95 / €519.00.

Ease of Use

Measuring 125.2 x 84.1 x 101.6mm and weighing 565g, the Nikon Coolpix P600 is slightly larger than the previous P510 model, but its design is only minimally different. Like most high-end superzooms, the Nikon P600 sports a typical bridge camera look, with a chunky hand-grip, large lens barrel, pop-up flash and an eye-level electronic viewfinder. The deep grip is moulded to fit comfortably into your right hand, and is rubberised in a textured material for added comfort.

The dominant part of the P600 is the new 60x zoom lens, which goes from an ultra-wide 24mm to a frankly incredible 1440mm in 35mm terms. Considering that with an SLR camera, you would need at least 3-4 lenses to cover the same focal range, the single, fixed-mount lens of the Nikon P600 can be described as remarkably compact, even if it does extend quite a bit when zoomed to full telephoto. Super-zooms have always had a reputation for offering a high "fun factor", and the P600 is no different. The ability to quickly go from wide angle to ultra-telephoto is something that has to be experienced in order to be fully appreciated.

For its size, the P600's lens is also respectably fast, with maximum apertures of f/3.3 at 24mm and f/6.5 at 1440mm. Note that the lens cap has to be removed before turning on the camera - failing to do so will result in an error message being displayed, and you'll have to turn off the camera before you can turn it on again, which is a bit annoying. Although if you only want to review what's already on the card, you can also power on the P600 by holding down the Playback button, in which case the lens won't extend.

Nikon have included their VR (Vibration Reduction) image stabilisation system to help prevent camera-shake, allowing the use of shutter speeds up to four stops slower, while the Active mode ensures clear shots even from moving vehicles. Annoyingly there isn't a dedicated button to turn it on and off (it's somewhat buried in the Setup menu). In practice we found that the VR system makes a noticeable difference to the sharpness of the images, as shown in the examples on the Image Quality page.

Nikon Coolpix P600 Nikon Coolpix P600
Front Rear

You don't notice that the P600 is actually doing anything different when anti-shake is turned on, just that you can use slower shutter speeds than normal and still take sharp photos. It didn't seem to adversely affect the battery life either, which is now a respectable 330 shots (a big improvement on the older P520's 220-shot life), so we'd advise you to turn it on and then forget about it. It's a good idea to turn VR off (via the menu) when the camera is mounted on a tripod, lest the system itself cause blurring by trying to counter camera shake that isn't there.

Zooming is done by way of a conventional zoom lever that encircles the shutter release button sitting atop the right-hand grip. It is of the dual-speed variety: rotating it all the way in either direction will adjust the focal length quickly, while rotating it partially will cause the lens elements to move more slowly, enabling you to set the desired focal length more precisely. You can alternatively zoom using the innovative side zoom control on the lens barrel, which is a vertical rocker switch activated with your left hand. It has a slower action than the main zoom lever, and is therefore ideally suited to shooting video when you require a more sedate zoom with less mechanical noise.

There are two different ways of composing images with the Nikon Coolpix P600: you can use either the eye-level electronic viewfinder (EVF) or the rear screen. Unfortunately, there are still no eye proximity sensors that would allow the camera to toggle between the two automatically, although at least there is now a button to toggle between the two. As the EVF is a bog standard affair with 201,000 dots and average magnification, nothing to write home about, especially in 2014, you probably won't use it very much anyway. The new 3-inch RGBW LCD screen is much nicer to look at, thanks to its high resolution of 921,000 dots, , an anti-reflective coating and adjustable brightness. Even more importantly, it's a vari-angle model that can be flipped-out to the side and tilted through 270 degrees, giving you a lot of flexibility in composing your shots.

The layout and number of external controls haven't changed very much at all from the P520. You still get a traditional, top-mounted mode dial with P, A, S and M shooting modes - perfect for the photographer who wants to take full control - as well as full auto, Scene Auto Selector, Night Landscape, and Landscape modes. The Effects mode allows you to apply one of nine different special effects as you shoot with the Nikon Coolpix P600, with a live preview on the LCD screen showing exactly what the final image will look like. There is also a User (U) setting you can use to quickly retrieve a combination of your most frequently used settings. The shutter release, zoom lever and power button are in the same locations as on the P520, as is the same customisable Function button.

Nikon Coolpix P600 Nikon Coolpix P600
Side Tilting LCD Screen

In the Backlighting mode, the P600 captures three consecutive shots at varying exposures and combines them into a single photo with a broader range of tones. Three different levels are available for selection. When the Night Landscape scene mode is selected, the P600 takes several shots at a fast shutter speed and then combines them to create a single optimized photo, allowing you to shoot after dark without having to use a tripod. The Easy Panorama scene mode allows you to take vertical or horizontal panorama photos simply by moving the camera in the direction of the on-screen guides. Multiple shots are then combined into a single panorama photo. The angle of view can be selected from 180° (normal) and 360° (wide).

The rear controls are also laid out very similarly to those of the preceding model. There is a well-positioned control wheel in the top-right corner (when viewed from the back), which makes it easy to change the aperture and shutter speed in A and S modes respectively, but there's still no second dial on the hand-grip which would have made operating Manual mode much easier. The familiar multi-selector with its centred OK button is similar to the P520, with the same individual functions that are mapped onto the Up, Down, Left and Right buttons. These include the flash and focus modes, the self-timer and exposure compensation, respectively. The multi-selector is a rotating wheel with an audible click and a textured surface to aid operation. There is still no obvious shortcut key to the ISO speed, which is only accessible from the menu (as is white balance) or by assigning it to the Function button.

The P600's focus modes include AF, Macro, Infinity and Manual. AF can be centre-spot, user selectable from 99 focus points or camera selectable from 9 points. In Face Priority AF mode, the camera can detect up to 12 human faces and will focus on the one closest to the camera. We found that regardless of AF area mode, auto-focus speed was satisfactory for still subjects, but a little too slow for fast-moving ones. Manual focusing is also possible, though a bit awkward: you get a rudimentary distance scale on the right-hand side of the screen, and can adjust focus via the navigation wheel. The centre of the picture is enlarged to aid you with checking focus, but unfortunately this is achieved by way of interpolation rather than real magnification. Nikon have thankfully added focus peaking, which greatly improves the whole manual focus experience.

The flash of the Nikon P600 has to be popped up manually, using the button on the side of the mock pentaprism housing. You can set the flash mode to auto, auto with red-eye reduction, fill, slow sync and rear-curtain sync via the Up button on the multi-controller, but only when the flash is raised. As there is no hot-shoe or sync terminal on the Nikon Coolpix P600, and it does not offer wireless TTL flash control either, the only way to sync up an external flashgun with the camera is to optically slave it to the built-in unit.

Nikon Coolpix P600 Nikon Coolpix P600
Front Top

The new wi-fi feature allows you to wirelessly transfer photos to a compatible smartphone, tablet or Wi-Fi-enabled device and also remotely control the camera from another device using the Nikon app. This is a big improvement on the P520, which required the optional WU-1a Wireless Mobile Adapter to be fitted. It does, however, come at the cost of a built-in Global Positioning System (GPS), which the new P600 no longer supports. Instead the GPS data from your smart device can be embedded in the photos you transfer to it.

The P600 has the ability to shoot full-resolution stills at up to 7 frames per second (fps), the same rate as its predecessor. There is also a slower burst mode, called Continuous L, in which the frame rate drops to 1fps, but you can capture up to 30 full-resolution photos at the Large quality setting. Note that you cannot use the flash in any of the continuous shooting modes. Disappointingly the P600 still doesn't support the RAW file format, something that all of its main competitors offer, and a prosumer feature that frankly we'd expect on this class of camera.

The P600 can shoot Full HD (1920×1080 pixel) movies at 60i/50i/30p/25p frames per second, with stereo sound and full use of the optical zoom. It also offers a 720p/25p mode, an iFrame 960x540 pixel mode at 30/25p and VGA 640x480 pixel mode at 30/25p. Nikon's smart designers put the stereo microphone on the top of the camera right behind the flash. A Wind Noise Reduction function is available in the Movie menu. Serving to minimise the noise of wind blowing on the microphone, it is recommended to be turned on in strong wind only, as it may also make other sounds difficult to hear. Sensor-shift VR is not available during movie recording, but you may opt to turn on electronic image stabilisation.

The P600 is also capable of high-speed (HS) movie recording. VGA videos can be recorded at 4x speed faster than normal speed and played back at 1/4-speed slow motion. 720p movies are recorded at 2x speed faster than normal speed and played back at 1/2-speed slow motion. 1080p movies are recorded at 0.5x speed of normal speed and played back at 2x speed fast motion. Sound is not recorded and no form of VR is available. Given the high frame rates, these videos require fast shutter speeds, which effectively means that you need very bright conditions.

Nikon Coolpix P600 Nikon Coolpix P600
Memory Card Slot Battery Compartment

Recording movie clips is very easy on the Nikon P600 via the one-touch Movie Record button on the rear of the camera. By pressing this button, you can start recording a clip no matter what shooting mode you are in. You can use the optical zoom while filming, and full-time AF is also available. In use, we found that zooming in or out sometimes caused the image to go temporarily out of focus, but the AF system usually adjusted itself very quickly in these cases. The maximum clip length is limited to 29 minutes for both normal and high-speed movies. The Creative Slider and Special Effects can also be used when shooting movies, and they can be played back on a HDTV via the built-in HDMI connector, although as usual there's no suitable cable supplied in the box. The P600 supports the CEC feature for HDMI which enables playback control using your TV's remote control.

The Nikon Coolpix P600's familiar Menu button accesses the usual Nikon menu system, which is clear and easy to navigate. Press this when in any of the shooting modes and there are three menus, Shooting, Movie, GPS and Setup, with two menus, Playback and Settings, available when you're reviewing an image. A big oversight is the almost constant need to use the menu system for setting the ISO speed, white balance, metering, and AF mode, with at least 4 button presses required to change these often-used features. The P600 is sorely missing some kind of quick menu system, accessible via an external control, to help speed up its general operation.

In playback mode, pressing the same Menu button affords access to image editing, including Nikon's exposure adjusting D-Lighting function, Skin Softening and Filter Effects, image slide shows, and the automatic Quick Retouch. A button to the right features the familiar trashcan icon for deleting images on the fly and completes the rear of the P600.

On the right flank of the camera - still viewing it from the rear - there's a metal eyelet for attaching the supplied shoulder strap and a plastic cover protecting the HDMI port and A/V out / USB port. On the left hand flank is another eyelet. There's a centrally positioned, metal tripod mount on the bottom of the camera. The P600 is powered by a 1850 mAh lithium ion battery, good for around 330 shots, that slots into the base alongside the SD / SDHC / SDXC card slot. There is a small internal memory too, but it will only hold a few photos at full resolution, so you'll definitely need a memory card. Note that recharging the P600 is a somewhat convoluted affair, with the battery remaining in camera and requiring the battery cover to be closed.

That concludes our look at the Nikon Coolpix P600's ease-of-use, now let's move on to its image quality...

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this review were taken using the 16 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 6Mb.

The Nikon Coolpix P600's image quality is very good for a compact camera with a small image sensor. The Nikon Coolpix P600's dealt well with noise, which becomes obvious at ISO 800 along with some colour loss. The noise, colour desaturation and loss of detail gets progressively worse as you go from ISO 800 to ISO 3200 and finally the unusable 6400 setting. The Nikon Coolpix P600 handled chromatic aberrations excellently with limited purple fringing effects appearing only in high contrast situations. The 16 megapixel images were a little soft straight out of the camera at the default sharpen setting and either require some further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, or you should increase the in-camera sharpening level.

The Nikon Coolpix P600's maximum shutter speed is 15 seconds, which is good news for night photography enthusiasts. Macro performance is excellent, allowing you to focus as close as 1cm away from the subject. Vibration reduction is a compulsory feature on a camera like this and one that that works very well when hand-holding the P600 in low-light conditions or using the telephoto end of the amazing zoom range. The built-in flash worked well indoors, with no red-eye and good overall exposure. The backlighting feature increases detail in both the shadows and highlights, although at the expense of some additional noise and loss of fine detail, while the Picture Controls, Special Effects during shooting and Filter Effects during playback offer a lot of creative control over your images.

Noise

The Nikon Coolpix P600 has 7 sensitivity settings ranging from ISO 100 to ISO 6400 at full resolution.

ISO 100 (100% Crop)

ISO 200 (100% Crop)

iso100.jpg iso200.jpg
   

ISO 400 (100% Crop)

ISO 800 (100% Crop)

iso400.jpg iso800.jpg
   

ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

iso1600.jpg iso3200.jpg
   

ISO 6400 (100% Crop)

 
iso6400.jpg  

Focal Range

The Nikon Coolpix P600's 60x zoom lens provides an astonishing focal range of 24-1440mm in 35mm terms, as demonstrated below.

24mm

1440mm

focal_range1.jpg focal_range2.jpg

Sharpening

Here are two 100% crops - the right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images from the Nikon Coolpix P600 are slightly soft at the default sharpening setting and benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. You can alternatively change the in-camera sharpening level to suit your tastes.

Original (100% Crop)

Sharpened (100% Crop)

sharpen1.jpg sharpen1a.jpg
   
sharpen2.jpg sharpen2a.jpg

File Quality

At full resolution, there are two JPEG quality settings available on the Nikon Coolpix P600 - Fine and Normal.

Fine (5.90Mb) (100% Crop)

Normal (3.38Mb) (100% Crop)

quality_fine.jpg quality_normal.jpg

Chromatic Aberrations

Given the range of the zoom lens, the Nikon Coolpix P600 shows remarkably little purple fringing, with limited effects in areas of high contrast as shown in the examples below.

Chromatic Aberrations 1 (100% Crop)

Chromatic Aberrations 2 (100% Crop)

chromatic1.jpg chromatic2.jpg

Macro

The Nikon Coolpix P600 allows you to get as close as 1cm to your subject, in this case a Compact Flash card.

Macro

Macro (100% Crop)

macro1.jpg macro1a.jpg

Flash

The flash settings on the Nikon Coolpix P600 are Auto, Auto with Red-eye reduction, Fill Flash, Manual (Full, 1/2, 1/4 1/8, 1/16, 1/32 and 1/64), Slow Sync, Rear-curtain Sync and Flash Off. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m. Some vignetting and barrel distortion is apparent at the 24mm wide-angle setting, irrespective of whether you use the flash or not.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (24mm)

Flash On - Wide Angle (24mm)

ISO 64 ISO 64
   

Flash Off - Telephoto (1440mm)

Flash On - Telephoto (1440mm)

ISO 64 ISO 64

And here are a couple of portrait shots. As you can see, neither the Fill Flash or the Auto with Red-eye reduction options caused any amount of red-eye.

Flash On

Flash On (100% Crop)
flash_on.jpg flash_on1.jpg
   

Red Eye Reduction

Red Eye Reduction (100% Crop)

flash_redeye.jpg flash_redeye1.jpg

Night

The Nikon Coolpix P600's maximum shutter speed is 15 seconds in the Manual mode, which is good news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 15 seconds at ISO 100.

Night

Night (100% Crop)

night1.jpg night1a.jpg

Vibration Reduction

The Nikon Coolpix P600 has a vibration reduction mechanism, which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, we took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the lens set to the same focal length and ISO speed. The first shot was taken with vibration reduction turned off, the second with it turned on.

Shutter Speed / Focal Length

Anti Shake Off (100% Crop)

Anti Shake On (100% Crop)
1/8th sec / 24mm antishake1.jpg antishake1a.jpg
     
1/4th sec / 1440mm antishake2.jpg antishake2a.jpg

Active D-Lighting

D-lighting is Nikon's dynamic range optimisation tool that attempts to squeeze the full dynamic range of the sensor into JPEGs. The available settings are Off, Low, Medium, and High. The following examples demonstrate the differences between the various settings.

Off

Low
dlighting_01.jpg dlighting_02.jpg
   

Normal

High

dlighting_03.jpg dlighting_04.jpg

Backlighting

The Nikon Coolpix P600's Backlighting mode captures three consecutive shots at varying exposures and combines them into a single photo with a broader range of tones. Three different level settings are available for selection.

Off

Level 1
backlighting_01.jpg backlighting_02.jpg
   

Level 2

Level 3

backlighting_03.jpg backlighting_04.jpg

Picture Controls

The Nikon Coolpix P600 has four different Picture Controls, which can be individually tweaked (sharpening, contrast and saturation) to suit your taste.

Standard

Neutral
picture_controls_01.jpg picture_controls_02.jpg
   

Vivid

Monochrome

picture_controls_03.jpg picture_controls_04.jpg

Special Effects

You can apply 9 different special effects as you shoot with the Nikon Coolpix P600, with a live preview on the LCD screen showing exactly what the final image will look like.

Soft

Nostalgic Sepia
special_effects_01.jpg special_effects_02.jpg
   

High-contrast Monochrome

High Key

special_effects_03.jpg special_effects_04.jpg
   

Low Key

Selective Color

special_effects_05.jpg special_effects_06.jpg
   

High ISO Monochrome

Painting

special_effects_07.jpg special_effects_08.jpg
   

Cross Process

 

special_effects_09.jpg  

Filter Effects

You can apply 9 different filter effects in-camera to photos that you have already taken with the Nikon Coolpix P600.

Soft

Selective Color
filter_effects_01.jpg filter_effects_02.jpg
   

Cross Screen

Fisheye

filter_effects_03.jpg filter_effects_04.jpg
   

Miniature Effect

Painting
filter_effects_05.jpg filter_effects_06.jpg
   

Vignette

Photo Illustration

filter_effects_07.jpg filter_effects_08.jpg
   

Portrait (color + B&W)

 
filter_effects_09.jpg  

Easy Panorama

The Nikon Coolpix P600's Easy Panorama mode allows you to take vertical or horizontal panorama photos simply by moving the camera in the direction of the on-screen guides. Multiple shots are then combined into a single panorama photo. The angle of view can be selected from 180° (normal) and 360° (wide).

Easy Panorama - 180°
panorama1.jpg
 
Easy Panorama - 360°
panorama2.jpg

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Nikon Coolpix P600 camera, which were all taken using the 16 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample Movie & Video

This is a sample movie at the highest quality setting of 1920x1280 pixels at 25 frames per second. Please note that this 27 second movie is 56.2Mb in size.

Product Images

Nikon Coolpix P600

Front of the Nikon Coolpix P600

 
Nikon Coolpix P600

Front of the Nikon Coolpix P600 / Turned On

 
Nikon Coolpix P600

Front of the Nikon Coolpix P600 / Pop-up Flash

 
Nikon Coolpix P600

Side of the Nikon Coolpix P600

 
Nikon Coolpix P600

Side of the Nikon Coolpix P600

 
Nikon Coolpix P600

Side of the Nikon Coolpix P600

 
Nikon Coolpix P600

Side of the Nikon Coolpix P600

 
Nikon Coolpix P600

Side of the Nikon Coolpix P600

 
Nikon Coolpix P600

Side of the Nikon Coolpix P600

 

Nikon Coolpix P600

Rear of the Nikon Coolpix P600

 
Nikon Coolpix P600

Rear of the Nikon Coolpix P600 / Image Displayed

 
Nikon Coolpix P600

Rear of the Nikon Coolpix P600 / Turned On

 
Nikon Coolpix P600

Rear of the Nikon Coolpix P600 / Shooting Menu

 
Nikon Coolpix P600

Rear of the Nikon Coolpix P600 / Tilting LCD Screen

 
Nikon Coolpix P600

Front of the Nikon Coolpix P600 / Tilting LCD Screen

 
Nikon Coolpix P600

Top of the Nikon Coolpix P600

 
Nikon Coolpix P600

Bottom of the Nikon Coolpix P600

 
Nikon Coolpix P600

Side of the Nikon Coolpix P600

 
Nikon Coolpix P600

Side of the Nikon Coolpix P600

 
Nikon Coolpix P600

Front of the Nikon Coolpix P600

 
Nikon Coolpix P600

Front of the Nikon Coolpix P600

 
Nikon Coolpix P600

Memory Card Slot

 
Nikon Coolpix P600

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

The new Nikon Coolpix P600 is a rather modest upgrade of last year's P520 model, principally adding an even bigger zoom lens, built-in wi-fi connectivity, and longer shutter speeds for night photography. It still struggles to keep up with fast-moving subjects, lacks support for the RAW file format, has no second control wheel, features the same poor EVF as its predecessor, has the inability to attach an external flashgun, and suffers from slow access to the key settings.

The Nikon Coolpix P600 now offers a frankly incredible telephoto zoom setting of 1440mm. This means it's virtually impossible to hand-hold the camera at maximum telephoto and achieve sharp pictures, even in good light, despite the best efforts of the excellent vibration reduction system, so you really need to use a tripod or other support for consistent results or limit the focal length that you use. This is especially important given the continued poor quality of the EVF, which does everything that it can to dissuade you from using it - a good EVF would be a great help in stabilising the camera further. The built-in wi-fi functionality is much better than last year's implementation, however, which required the use of an optional accessory, but we did miss the P520's integrated GPS system.

While the longer zoom and built-in wi-fi help the P600 keep up with the competition, we'd have liked to have seen at least some of our concerns about last year's model fixed in 2014's iteration, especially as the launch price has slightly increased when compared to the P520. The Nikon Coolpix P600 continues to offer a very well rounded super-zoom package, but as in 2013, there are better cameras competing for your attention and money.

4 stars

Ratings (out of 5)
Design 4
Features 4.5
Ease-of-use 4
Image quality 4
Value for money 3.5

Main Rivals

Listed below are some of the rivals of the Nikon Coolpix P600.

Canon PowerShot SX50 HS

The Canon PowerShot SX50 HS super-zoom camera has an astonishing 50x lens with a massive focal range of 24-1200mm. The Canon SX50 HS also offers a 12 megapixel back-illuminated CMOS sensor, 2.8 inch vari-angle LCD screen, electronic viewfinder, full manual controls, RAW format support, 10fps burst shooting and full 1080p HD movies. Read our detailed Canon PowerShot SX50 HS review complete with full-size JPEG, RAW and video samples to discover if it's the only camera you'll ever need...

Fujifilm FinePix HS50EXR

The Fujifilm FinePix HS50EXR is a bridge compact camera with a massive 42x, 24-1000mm zoom lens. The HS50 also offers an autofocus lag of just 0.05 seconds, full 1080p movies at 60fps with stereo sound, a 3 inch vari-angle LCD screen, 11ps burst shooting and a 16 megapixel back-illuminated EXR sensor with RAW support. Is this the only camera you'll ever need? Read our Fujifilm FinePix HS50EXR review to find out...

Kodak PixPro AZ521

The new Kodak PixPro AZ521 super-zoom camera features a massive 52x zoom lens with a focal range of 24-1248mm. Other highlights of the affordable Kodak AZ521 include a 3 inch LCD screen, full 1080p HD movies, and a 16 megapixel CMOS sensor. Read our in-depth Kodak PixPro AZ521 review now...

Olympus SP-820UZ

The Olympus SP-820UZ is a bridge compact camera that boasts a 40x zoom lens with an incredible focal range of 22.4-896mm. The 14 megapixel Olympus SP-820UZ also offers a 3 inch LCD screen, 1080p movie recording and a Backlight HDR mode. Read our in-depth Olympus SP-820UZ review to find out if this super-zoom is worth the £280 / $330 asking price...

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200

The Lumix DMC-FZ200 is Panasonic's premium super-zoom compact camera. Stand-out features of the FZ200 include a 24x zoom lens with a constant aperture of f/2.8 throughout the 25-600mm range, 1080p HD movies, a high-resolution LCD and EVF, fast auto-focusing, 12fps burst shooting and a 12 megapixel MOS image sensor. Read our expert Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200 review now...

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX300

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX300 is a new premium super-zoom compact camera. A 50x, 24-1200mm lens, a 20.4 megapixel CMOS sensor, 1920x1080 50p Full HD video with stereo sound, high-resolution tilting 3-inch screen, manual shooting mode, 10fps continuous shooting, and a full range of creative shooting modes are all offered by the HX300. Read our detailed Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX300 review to find out if it's the right bridge camera for you.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 is a new premium super-zoom camera. Featuring a 28-200mm lens with a constant aperture of f/2.8, a 20.2 megapixel 1.0-type CMOS sensor, Full HD 60p/50p/25p/24p video recording, wi-fi and NFC connectivity and support for the Raw format and full manual controls, the Sony RX10 certainly seems to have every box ticked. Is this the best ever superzoom camera? Read our expert Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 review to find out...

Specifications

Effective pixels 16.1 million
Image sensor 1/2.3-in. CMOS
total pixels: approx. 16.76 million
Lens 60x optical zoom
NIKKOR lens
Maximum aperture f/3.3 - f/6.5
Lens construction 16 elements in 11 groups
(4 ED lens elements and 1 super ED lens element)
Focal length range 4.3-258 mm
(angle of view equivalent to that of 24-1440 mm lens in 35mm [135] format)
Digital zoom magnification Up to 4x (angle of view equivalent to that of approx. 5760 mm lens in 35mm [135] format)
Image size (pixels)
  • 16 M [4608 x 3456]
  • 8 M [3264 x 2448]
  • 4 M [2272 x 1704]
  • 2 M [1600 x 1200]
  • VGA [640 x 480]
  • 16:9 12M [4608 x 2592]
  • 16:9 2M [1920 x 1080]
  • 3:2 [4608 x 3072]
  • 1:1 [3456 x 3456]
File Format Still Images JPEG
Storage Media SD, SDHC, SDXC
Internal memory (approx. 56 MB)
Shutter type Mechanical and CMOS electronic shutter
Shutter Speed
  • 1/4000* - 1 s
  • 1/4000* - 15 s (when ISO sensitivity is 100 in M mode)

* When the aperture value is set to f/7.6 (wide-angle end)

Metering Method Matrix, center-weighted, or spot
Exposure Modes Programmed auto exposure with flexible program, shutter-priority auto, aperture-priority auto, manual
ISO sensitivity (Standard output sensitivity) ISO 100 - 1600, ISO 3200, 6400 (available when using P, S, A or M mode),
Hi 1 (equivalent to ISO 12800) (available when using High ISO monochrome in special effects mode)
Monitor 7.5 cm (3-in.), approx. 921k-dot (RGBW), wide viewing angle TFT LCD with anti-reflection coating and 6-level brightness adjustment, vari-angle TFT LCD
Vibration Reduction (VR) Lens-shift VR
Motion blur reduction Motion detection (still pictures)
Focus Range [W]: Approx. 50 cm (1 ft 8 in.) to infinity
[T]: Approx. 200 cm (6 ft 7 in.) to infinity
Macro close-up mode: Approx. 1 cm (0.4 in.) (at a wide-angle zoom position) to infinity
(All distances measured from center of front surface of lens)
Range (approx.) (ISO sensitivity: Auto)
  • [W]: 0.5 - 7.5 m (1 ft 8 in. - 24 ft)
  • [T]: 1.5 - 4.0 m (5 - 13 ft)
Control TTL auto flash with monitor preflashes
USB Hi-Speed USB
HDMI output HDMI micro connector (Type D)
Wi-Fi
  • Standards:
    IEEE 802.11b/g (standard wireless LAN protocol)
    ARIB STD-T66 (standard for low power data communication systems)
  • Communications protocols:
    IEEE 802.11b: DBPSK/DQPSK/CCK
    IEEE 802.11g: OFDM
  • Range (line of sight): Approx. 10 m (11 yd)
  • Operating frequency: 2412-2462 MHz (1-11 channels)
  • Security: OPEN/WPA2
  • Access protocols: CSMA/CA
Supported languages Arabic, Bengali, Bulgarian, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Marathi, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese (European and Brazilian), Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
Power source
  • One EN-EL23 rechargeable Li-ion Battery (included)
  • EH-67A AC Adapter (available separately)
Battery life of still shooting *1 Approx. 330 shots when using EN-EL23
Dimensions (WxHxD) Approx. 125.0 mm (5.0 in.) x 85.0 mm (3.4 in.) x 106.5 mm (4.2 in.)
(excluding projections)
Weight Approx. 565 g (1 lb 4 oz) with battery and SD memory card
Supplied Accessories *2
Supplied Accessories Camera strap, LC-CP29 LC-CP29 lens cap (with cord), EN-EL23 rechargeable Li-ion battery, EH-71P charging AC adapter, UC-E21 USB cable

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