Nikon Coolpix 7600

Review Date: May 26th 2005

Features

The Nikon Coolpix 7600 has a 7.1 megapixel 1/1.8-inch type CCD. There are six image sizes/file quality settings available - High (3072*), Normal (3072), Normal (2592), Normal (2048), PC (1024) and TV (640). The Nikon Coolpix 7600 features a 3x Zoom-Nikkor optical zoom lens that is equivalent to a 38-114 mm lens on a 35mm format camera. Focusing range is 30cm to infinity and in macro mode the Nikon Coolpix 7600 can focus as close as 4cms from the subject. The camera supports the SD Memory Card format and has 13.5Mb built-in internal memory.

The Nikon Coolpix 7600 offers 16 different Scene modes (Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Night portrait, Party/Indoor, Beach/Snow, Sunset, Dusk/Dawn, Night landscape, Close up, Museum, Fireworks show, Copy, Back light, Panorama assist, Underwater) plus a fully Automatic shooting mode. It also has a feature called Scene Assist in four of the scene modes (Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Night portrait), which basically gives you more detailed options for the specific mode, and there is a Best Shot selector mode which will choose the sharpest image for you.

Exposure compensation of ± 2.0 in 1/3 EV stops is available on the Nikon Coolpix 7600. There is a single exposure metering control (256-segment matrix metering) and one type of focusing available (Single Auto Focus). The aperture range is f2.8– f4.9 and the shutter speed range is 4 sec. – 1/3000 second. The ISO speed range is 50-200 but you can't set it yourself. There are 6 different White Balance settings to choose from (Automatic, Daylight, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Cloudy and Shade) plus a Preset setting.

The Nikon Coolpix 7600 has two continuous shooting modes - Continuous (approx. 1.3fps for up to 14 frames) and Multi-shot 16 (16 consecutive frames at 1.6fps). There is also a self-timer which has a 10 second delay and there are are number of different colour options (Standard, Vivid, Black and White, Sepia, Cyanotype).

Images are recorded as JPEGs in a range of different quality/size settings. To compose your images, you can use both the LCD monitor, which has 100% scene coverage, or the traditional optical viewfinder. The Nikon Coolpix 7600 Zoom has a 1.8 inch LCD monitor which has 85,000 pixels and brightness control and is powered by 2 AA-sized batteries.

The built-in flash offers a range of different modes (Auto, Auto with Red-eye Reduction (Advanced Red-eye Reduction), Anytime Flash, Flash Cancel and Slow sync). The effective range is approx. 0.4-3.4m at the wide-angle lens setting, and approx. 0.4-2.0m at the telephoto lens setting. There is also an Auto-Focus Assist option to help the Nikon Coolpix 7600 focus in low-light situations.

The Nikon Coolpix 7600 can record movies of 640x480 pixels, 320x240 pixels and 160x120 pixels at either 30fps or 15fps with monaural sound. They are recorded in the Motion JPEG format, a type of AVI format that can be played back by QuickTime 3 or later. The Nikon Coolpix 7600 also has an Electronic VR (Vibration Reduction) feature which helps reduce the effects of camera shake in movies (but not still images).

The video-output socket allows you to connect the camera to your television (PAL or NTSC) and the high-speed USB 2.0 port connects the camera to your computer via a USB cable. The Nikon Coolpix 7600 is PictBridge compatible, which is the industry standard for printing images from a digital camera without using a PC. The Nikon Coolpix 7600 dimensions are 85 (W) x 60 (H) x 39 (D) mm, and it weighs 145g without batteries and storage card fitted.

Finally, the box kit that I reviewed contains a Strap, USB cable, Audio Video cable, battery recharger, 2 EN-MH1 Rechargeable batteries and the PictureProject CD-ROM. You will need to invest in some SD Cards to store your images on, as the camera's internal memory can only store approximately 4 images at the default 7M file quality setting, plus some rechargeable batteries and a charger.

PhotographyBLOG is a member of the DIWA organisation. Our test results for the Nikon Coolpix 7600 have been submitted to DIWA for comparison with test results for different samples of the same camera model supplied by other DIWA member sites.

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