Nikon Coolpix 8400
Review Date: May 23rd 2005
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Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 8M Extra image mode setting, which gives an average image size of around 4 - 6Mb.
Noise
There are 4 ISO settings available on the Nikon Coolpix 8400 which you can select at any time. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:
ISO 50 (100% crop) |
ISO 100 (100% crop) |
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ISO 200 (100% crop) |
ISO 400 (100% crop) |
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The noise levels look excellent at ISO 50 and good at ISO 100, but there is a lot of noise present at ISO 200, so much so that I had to double-check that it wasn't the ISO 400 image. I would only use ISO 400 as a last resort as it is extremely noisy. A below average performance by the Nikon Coolpix 8400's 8 megapixel CCD sensor that will limit the camera to use in good light only.
Sharpening
You can set the sharpening in-camera to one of four different settings (Hard, Normal, Low, Off) or leave it on Auto and allow the camera to decide. Here are two 100% crops which were taken with sharpening set to Normal and which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images at the setting of Normal are quite soft, with post-processing showing quite a lot of extra detail.
Original 100% Crop |
Sharpened 100% Crop |
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File Quality
The Nikon Coolpix 8400 has 6 different quality settings and 6 image size options. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various quality settings for the 8M image size, with the file size shown in brackets.
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RAW (3264 x 2448px) (12,375Kb) |
Hi (3264 x 2448px) (23,520Kb) |
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Extra (3264 x 2448px) (6,123Kb) |
Fine (3264 x 2448px) (2,368Kb) |
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Norm (3264 x 2448px) (1,365Kb) |
Basic (3264 x 2448px) (821Kb) |
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Chromatic Aberrations
The Nikon Coolpix 8400 dealt extremely well with chromatic aberrations during the review, so well in fact that I could only find one example! The very high-contrast situation shown below was the only situation where some limited purple fringing occurred around the edges of the over-exposed parts of the image. A great performance from the Nikon Coolpix 8400, especially when you consider that it is using a combination of an 8 megapixel sensor and an ultra-wide-angle 24mm lens.
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Example 1 |
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Macro
The Nikon Coolpix 8400 has a Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is 4cms away from the camera. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.
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Macro Shot (click to view full-sized image) |
100% Crop |
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Flash
The flash options on the Nikon Coolpix 8400 are Auto, Auto with Red-eye Reduction (Advanced Red-eye Reduction), Anytime Flash, Flash Cancel and Slow sync. These shots of a white wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.
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Flash Off - Wide Angle (35mm) |
Auto Flash - Wide Angle (35mm) |
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Flash Off - Telephoto (105mm) |
Auto Flash - Telephoto (105mm) |
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And here are some shots of yours truly. The flash underexposed the scene slightly. Both the Flash On and Red-eye Reduction (with Nikon's new Advanced Red-eye Reduction) flash modes produced no discernible redeye.
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Flash On |
Flash On (100% Crop) |
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Flash - Red-Eye Reduction |
Flash - Red-Eye Reduction (100% Crop) |
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Night Shot
The Nikon Coolpix 8400's maximum shutter speed is only 4 seconds which isn't that great if you're seriously interested in night photography. The following example was taken using a shutter speed of 8 seconds with an aperture of f/7.2 at ISO 50 with Noise Reduction on. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.
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Night Shot (click to view full-sized image) |
100% Crop |
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D-Lighting
D-Lighting is similar to HP's Adaptive Lighting technology, in that it lightens under-exposed parts of the image whilst ensuring that correctly exposed parts remain the same (and are not also lightened). This basically balances the shadows and highlights in a high-contrast image, for example a scene that includes deep black shadows and a bright white sky. D-Lighting is selected by pressing the shutter button button when an image is played back, so it is applied after the image has been recorded. The Nikon Coolpix 7600 processes a copy of the image (which takes around 10 seconds) so that some areas of the photograph are lightened and some are left as they are. Here are some examples which show the effects of using the D-Lighting feature, showing that it works well, although there is extra noise in the images that have had D-Lighting applied to them:
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D-Lighting - Off |
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| D-Lighting - On |
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D-Lighting - Off |
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| D-Lighting - On |
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Overall Image Quality
The Nikon Coolpix 8400 produced a good set of test images. The 8 megapixel photos are quite soft out of the camera at the default setting of Normal and benefit from further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop. Alternatively you can select the Hard sharpening setting on the camera. The Nikon Coolpix 8400 dealt brilliantly with chromatic aberrations, which only appeared in one test image and even then was barely noticeable. Macro performance was good, allowing you get as close as 4 cms away from your subject. The Nikon Coolpix 8400's flash had a tendency to underexpose slightly indoors but there was little evidence of redeye in the test shots. There is lots of potential for great night-shots due to the Bulb setting which allows exposures of up to 10 minutes long. The D-Lighting feature works very well with the right images, balancing out the shadow and highlight areas nicely, although at the expense of introducing extra noise. Noise was the one area of image quality where the Nikon Coolpix 8400 was found wanting. It was well controlled at ISO 50-100, but noise was very apparent at ISO 200 and ISO 400 really a last resort. As ISO 200 isn't a particularly fast speed, this limits the Nikon Coolpix 8400 to use in good light or mounted on a tripod.
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PhotographyBLOG is a member of the DIWA organisation. Our test results for the Nikon Coolpix 8400 have been submitted to DIWA for comparison with test results for different samples of the same camera model supplied by other DIWA member sites.