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| Casual snap, hand held, made on a morning walk |
I bought a P7800 to discover whether it would serve as a substitute for my Micro Four Thirds kit at those times when I did not care to have a MILC and three or four lenses with me.
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| P7800 Rear |
What is it ? The P7800 is the descendant of a line of cameras starting with the P5000 of 2007, followed by the P7000, P7100, P7700 and now P7800. Various items, such as a viewfinder, have been deleted then returned. Over time the line has grown in size, acquired a faster lens, EVF, articulated monitor and more control modules (buttons, dials, switches etc.).
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| P7800 Front |
Feature set On paper the P7800 has a more appealing feature set than most of it's competitors in the compact-in-name-but-not-in-size category. In particular it has most of the features which together make up what I call the Proper Camera. These are
For Holding: A substantial, anatomical handle of good ergonomic design and a well designed thumb support. The P7800 has a handle but it is small and not optimally shaped.
For Viewing: A built in EVF and a fully articulated monitor. The P7800 has an EVF but unfortunately it is not a top quality unit. The monitor is very nice.
For Operating: A full set of controls to enable primary and secondary exposure and focussing parameters to be adjusted with the eye to the viewfinder and without having to change grip with either hand. The P7800 does allow the user to achieve most of this.
Picture Quality
The lens is one of the P7800's best features. I tested it against my 12-35mm f2.8 and 35-100mm f2.8 micro four thirds lenses in a GH3 body. The pro grade M43 lenses out resolved the P7800 by a very small margin which was only evident on a test chart. The P7800 lens delivered excellent clarity and sharpness across almost the whole range of focal lengths and apertures. Vibration Reduction appears to work very well, allowing sharp photos down to 1/30 second at the long end of the lens, hand held. A standard, screw in 40.5 mm protective filter can be fitted to the front of the lens. The lens is not self capping, a separate lens cap is provided.
The only weak spots I found were:
* Softness in the corners at the wide end with the aperture wide open. Stopping down from f2 to f4 cleans up the problem, should it be necessary to represent fine detail in the corners.
* A tendency to local flare in bright highlights which can lead to loss of detail in bright picture elements. I found this evident with direct sun falling on white fiberglass boats at a marina.
Noise There is a bit of noise in shadows even at base ISO setting and of course noise becomes more evident at high ISO settings. But overall it is well controlled giving the appearance of fine grain film in the ISO 400-800 range. Due to the wide aperture of the lens it is not often necessary to use higher ISO settings in general indoor or outdoor photography.
Color and tonal gradation Both RAW and JPG files deliver pleasing color and tonal gradation even at ISO 1600. I did notice there is no option for Adobe RGB, only sRGB. Despite this the pictures looked good to me.
RAW vs JPG JPG's look good straight out of the camera however the .NRW RAW files provide opportunity to recover more highlight and shadow detail. The .NRW files are surprisingly large, averaging around 25.75 Mb. This may be a factor in the camera's slow shot to shot performance.
Overall picture quality is pleasing. There is a mild tendency for highlights to blow out, possibly related to the lens flare problem referred to above and possibly to the small (9.3mm diagonal) sensor used by this camera. But for the most part I found very little about which to complain.
Performance
This is the P7800's most obvious shortcoming. Previous models in the series were criticised by reviewers for their slow operation. Unfortunately this has not improved much in the current model. The main problem is shot to shot times. Using RAW capture, SanDisk 95 Mb/sec card, AF and AE on each shot, single AF single shot, I was able to make one exposure every 3.4 seconds. With RAW+JPG capture the rate was one shot every 3.5 seconds.
Autofocus acquisition is decently prompt although not in the same league as the latest Micro Four Thirds cameras. AF accuracy is good with very few incorrectly focussed frames. If the camera cannot focus, which is fairly frequently the case in low light, it will put up the flashing red focus brackets, prompting the user to find a brighter or more contrasty subject element on which to focus.
Position of the active AF area can be moved quickly and easily although I did not find any means to recenter the AF area in one action. AF area size is not adjustable.
Ergonomics
Holding The good news is that the P7800 has a handle, a thumb support, front and rear dials. The not so good news is that the relationship between my right hand and fingers, the shutter button, the front dial and the handle never feels quite right no matter which way I hold the camera. The photos illustrate this.
This is the most comfortable holding/operating position for me. But the front control dial is covered by my middle finger and inaccessible.
In this position the front control dial is now accessible for operation by the index finger. But I find that gap between the index and third fingers an uncomfortable stretch. Younger and more flexible people might not be troubled by this but even so, the position is not an anatomically natural one. In use, I find myself forever switching back and forth from one grip position to the other if I want to use the front dial.
Viewing The good news is that the P7800 has both a built in EVF and a fully articulated monitor. Thank you Nikon. The monitor is of very good quality and is large. Actually it might be a bit too large for the rest of the camera, pushing the thumb support and user interface modules into a small space on the right side.
The not so good news is that the EVF is adequate as a framing device but does not provide a particularly enjoyable viewing experience. It presents a slightly washed out, desaturated appearance, with a tendency to lose highlight detail.
Unfortunately the EVF is not adjustable in any way. (The eyepiece diopter is adjustable). The monitor is adjustable for brightness but I found it just fine at default level.
The monitor and EVF have the same presentation style, with camera data superimposed over the image preview. Shutter speed and aperture are displayed in a black rectangle near the bottom of the frame. The good thing about this is you can see the status of those essential parameters with any kind of subject being previewed. The bad news is you can't see the section of the subject overlaid by the data display. Icons for other data types are distributed around the frame. All these except the shutter speed, aperture, AF rectangle and composition grid disappear with a half press of the shutter button, thank you Nikon.
This is probably the best implementation of a monitor style (superimposed) type of display which I have seen. However I still prefer the viewfinder style display, with camera data allocated to a strip beneath the image preview on both monitor and EVF. With some cameras you get to choose. Not this one.
Some reviewers have complained about the absence of a proximity sensor for automatic monitor/EVF switching. In use I did not find this to be a problem at all. If the monitor is turned in, view will automatically switch to the EVF. If the monitor is turned out it automatically switches on. This is in harmony with the way I use a camera with fully articulated monitor and EVF so I found this arrangement quite satisfactory.
Operating
Setup Phase Menus are well designed and displayed, easy to navigate and comprehend. There are enough choices to keep enthusiasts happy without overwhelming novices. A My Menu page with user selectable content and menu resume is available via the Q Menu button. This is well implemented.
Prepare Phase The camera is well configured to select main shooting mode, drive mode, focus mode and autofocus mode. The Q Menu gives ready access to several shooting parameters. The Fn1 button can be three way, user selectable, multi tasked by pressing the button then rotating one or other dial, or pressing the shutter button. This is a clever way to finesse multiple functions from one button. On screen/EVF prompts remind the user which action will occur. With practice all the actions usually required in this phase are readily accomplished.
Capture Phase Aperture and shutter speed are easily adjusted with the eye to the viewfinder. ISO requires a trip to the Q Menu. With some practice this can be achieved while looking through the viewfinder but I suspect most users will lower the camera so they can see the button. Implementation of ISO adjust is good with easy switching from auto ISO to a specific setting. A minimum shutter speed can be set for auto ISO but the camera will over ride this if light levels are too low. Unfortunately the actual ISO setting chosen by the camera is not displayed in auto ISO.
Exposure compensation is directly accessed on a top dial. Warning of any compensation is displayed in the EVF or monitor which also gain up or down to provide a live preview of the effect.
You can initiate back button AF with the AE-L/AF-L button, similar to a DSLR or high end MILC.
Position of the active AF area is easily changed using the OK button and 4 way keys.
AF/MF switch is readily made and MF is useful, with an analogue distance display. There is also an option to combine AF + MF. This is a bit fiddly involving several button presses but one is not usually in a hurry when using MF.
Review Phase All the usual review functions operate efficiently, with no problems. One minor quibble: I could not find any way to jump from one image zoomed in to the next one at the same zoom level.
Overall The practiced user is able to operate the camera efficiently in all phases of use.
Summary The Nikon P7800 is a well specified, well featured small camera with a good lens, versatile zoom range and good picture quality, let down by slow performance, a disappointing EVF and some unnecessary ergonomic limitations.
The camera is suitable for a leisurely style of photography such as scenes and groups of people in reasonably static settings. It would be suitable for portrait work with a cooperative subject.
But for children at play or other situations requiring rapid response to subjects moving I think the P7800 might prove frustrating.
It may or may not find a long term place in my camera drawer, I will keep and use it for a time then decide.
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