Image Quality

All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 12 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 5Mb.

The Nikon Coolpix P90's image quality is above average. The Nikon Coolpix P90's main drawback in terms of image quality is noise, with the relatively slow speed of ISO 200 showing some noise, particularly in shadow areas. The noise gets progressively worse as you go from ISO 200 to ISO 400 and finally the virtually unusable ISO 800 and 1600 settings.

The Nikon Coolpix P90 dealt with chromatic aberrations a little better, with purple fringing effects appearing only in high contrast situations. The 10 megapixel images were soft straight out of the camera, but you can change the in-camera sharpening level if you wish. The night photograph was fine, with the maximum shutter speed of 8 seconds allowing you to capture just enough light for most situations.

The built-in flash worked well indoors, with a little red-eye and good overall exposure. Macro performance is excellent, allowing you to focus as close as just 1cm away from the subject at the wide-angle lens setting. Anti-shake is an essential feature on a camera like this and one that works well when hand-holding the camera in low-light conditions or using the telephoto end of the zoom range.

Noise

There are 8 ISO settings available on the Nikon Coolpix P90. Note that the image resolution is reduced to 3 megapixels for ISO 3200 and 6400. There is no discernible noise at the slowest settings of ISO 64 and 100, as you would expect, but at ISO 200 noise is already appearing along with some colour desaturation. By ISO 400 it is very obvious, together with coloured artifacts and blurring of detail. ISO 800 is for emergency use only, whilst ISO is only really suitable for small prints or web use. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:

ISO 64 (100% Crop)	ISO 100 (100% Crop)
ISO 200 (100% Crop)	ISO 400 (100% Crop)
ISO 800 (100% Crop)	ISO 1600 (100% Crop)
ISO 3200 (100% Crop)	ISO 6400 (100% Crop)

Focal Range

The Nikon Coolpix P90's 24x zoom lens provides a focal length of 26-624mm in 35mm terms, as demonstrated below.

26mm	624mm

File Quality

The Nikon Coolpix P90 has 3 different image quality settings available, with Fine being the highest quality option. There is no RAW mode. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.

12M Fine (5.55Mb) (100% Crop)	12M Normal (2.73Mb) (100% Crop)
12M Basic (1.34Mb) (100% Crop)

Sharpening

Here are two 100% crops 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 are a little bit soft at the default sharpening setting, and benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. You can also change the in-camera sharpening levels using the Optimize Image setting if you don't like the default results.

Original (100% Crop)	Sharpened (100% Crop)

Chromatic Aberrations

The Nikon Coolpix P90 handled chromatic aberrations fairly well during the review. Some purple fringing was present around the edges of objects in high-contrast situations, as shown in the examples below.

Example 1 (100% Crop)	Example 2 (100% Crop)

Macro

The Nikon Coolpix P90 offers a Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is just 1cm away from the camera. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject in Macro mode (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.

Macro Shot	100% Crop

Flash

The flash settings on the Nikon Coolpix P90 are Auto, Auto + Red-Eye reduction, Off, Fill Flash, Slow sync and Rear-curtain sync. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (26mm)	Flash On - Wide Angle (26mm)
Flash Off - Telephoto (624mm)	Flash On - Telephoto (624mm)

And here are some portrait shots. The Auto setting caused a tiny amount of red-eye, which the Red-eye reduction mode failed to remove.

Flash On	Flash On (100% Crop)
Red Eye Reduction	Red Eye Reduction (100% Crop)

Night

The Nikon Coolpix P90's maximum shutter speed is 8 seconds, which is fairly good news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 8 seconds, aperture of f/2.8 at ISO 64. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.

Night Shot	Night Shot (100% Crop)

Vibration Reduction

The Nikon Coolpix P90 has a Vibration Reduction mechanism, which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the same settings. The first shot was taken with Vibration Reduction turned off, the second with it turned on. Here is a 100% crop of the image to show the results. As you can see, with Vibration Reduction turned on, the images are much sharper than when it's turned off. This feature really does seem to make a difference and could mean capturing a successful, sharp shot or missing the opportunity altogether.

Shutter Speed / Focal Length	Vibration Reduction Off (100% Crop)	Vibration Reduction On (100% Crop)
1/10th / 26mm
1/5th / 162mm

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Nikon Coolpix P90 camera, which were all taken using the 12 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample Movie & Video

Product Images

Front of the Camera

Front of the Camera / Turned On

Front of the Camera / Pop-up Flash

Isometric View

Isometric View

Rear of the Camera

Rear of the Camera / Turned On

Rear of the Camera / Image Displayed

Rear of the Camera / Image Info

Rear of the Camera / Main Menu

Rear of the Camera / Tilting Screen

Rear of the Camera / Tilting Screen

Rear of the Camera / Tilting Screen

Rear of the Camera / Tilting Screen

Top of the Camera

Bottom of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Battery Compartment

Memory Card Slot

Conclusion

The Nikon Coolpix P90 is an almost kind of camera, offering an attractive overall package but ultimately falling short in certain key areas when compared to its main rivals. The 24x zoom lens is the main highlight, stretching all the way from 26mm wide-angle to 624mm telephoto, but it doesn't quite match up to the 26x zoom of the Olympus SP-590UZ. The new tilting screen allows you to hold the camera above your head or by your waist and still get well-composed shots, but it's not as versatile as the Canon PowerShot S1 IS's vari-angle LCD.

The ability to create time-lapse movies is a unique feature in this market segment, but the HD movie mode offered by several other super-zooms is more compelling. Finally, while the Nikon P90's image quality is perfectly acceptable when used in good light, noise and colour artifacts are obvious at the relatively slow ISO speed of 200, with anything above ISO 400 almost a complete write-off - almost every rival super-zoom offers better looking photos than the P90. When you also consider that this camera has a much higher introductory price-tag than its predecessor in the UK and Europe, then it becomes difficult to really get excited about it.

The Nikon Coolpix P90 is still worthy of a Recommended award, mainly thanks to its intuitive design and welcoming ease-of-use, especially for beginners, but be aware that there are quite a few better alternatives available for your money.

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

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Nikon Coolpix P90 from around the web.

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