Photography News 75 WEB

Big test

A small rolling control on the lens side deals with focusing in manual focus mode. In manual a distance scale is shown in the finder and the strength of highlight peaking can be adjusted too although at the strongest setting the image is strangely unreal. The viewfinder itself provides a bright, detailed and crisp image thanks to the 2.359 million dot OLED and is very useable and the information on show is very clear with large type. The same comment about usability applies equally to the monitor – which is not touch sensitive – and this is a vari-angle design which can folded out to one side to face forward for easy selfie shooting. The AF system is responsive and accurate especially at the most used focal lengths. Zoom out to beyond the equivalent of 600mm and the system is less sure-footed in poor contrast and that uncertainty increases the longer the lens. Much depends on the lighting and subject but in decent light, I found AF performance to be good throughout the range even at the longest settings. The magnifying power of the P950’s 4.3-357mm f/2.8- DISTANCE AWAY. I'M NOT TALKING AB0UT THE NEAREST GALAXY, BUT BIRDS” “YOU CAN FILL THE FRAME WITH SUBJECTS THAT ARE A GREAT

6.5 lens at the long end is amazing and has to be seen to appreciated. It is the 35mm format equivalent of a 2000mm f/6.5 at full extension and it is worth noting that no such lens has been available for the 35mm format. You can fill the frame with subjects that are a great distance away. I’m not talking about the nearest galaxy, but birds or distant sporting action. But there are technique challenges with using such a long lens. It is very difficult, for example, to have the lens set at 2000mm and locate a tiny distant subject, so you need to start with a wider view and zoom in. Or use the zoom's snap back feature. Handholding isn’t easy either and while sharp shots can be had at 1/250sec, camera shake is a real risk and even a gentle breeze can make precise framing and steady shooting tricky. The built-in Dual Detect Optical vibration reduction system helps with shake and this has four options – five if you include off – two normal options and two active. The VR is essential with the long lens but it does re-frame the composition slightly when it kicks in which is a minor irritant if you’re shooting tightly composed images. It is worth noting that the lens’s smallest aperture is f/8, which means at 2000mm, there are just three values, f/6.5, f/7.1 and f/8. At 1000mm, you gain an extra value of f/5.6. Of course, most of time you’re not going to be using such extreme telephoto settings and more likely to be in the more comfortable 24mm to

300mm area for general shooting. Here the Coolpix P950 is a solid proposition and having that extra pulling power should you need it is awesome. I shot with the camera in aperture- priority AE mode most of the time and it consistently delivered good quality results. The roller side control – the same one used for manual focusing – brings in exposure compensation and a very large scale and a live histogram in the EVF/monitor. This side dial can be set to five other functions in addition to compensation. Image quality is very good, but the Coolpix P950’s sensor is the size you’d find in a compact camera and smaller than a Micro Four Thirds model, so while images are clean, crisp and can be used a decent size at ISO 200, start climbing the ISO scale and ultimate image quality falls away. You need to manage expectations if you like low-light shooting at high ISO speeds or if want to use the lens to its full potential where you’ll very likely need high ISOs for sharp shots. Lens quality is good too. I wouldn’t have been surprised if sharpness was less impressive at the longer focal lengths and while it is true that shorter settings gave the best results, I was pleasantly surprised by the contrast and detail in images shot at longer settings, even 2000mm. Of course, with long focal lengths atmospheric conditions will impact on picture quality and there’s the issue of camera shake and high ISOs too, but overall I thought the P950 delivered fine results. WC

AT 24MM

AT 2000MM

ABOVE RIGHT The Coolpix P950’s zoom lens covers a remarkable range; as you can see here from these two shots taken from the same spot on Iceland’s Vik black sand beach. The 2000mm (35mm format equivalent) shot was exposed at 1/250sec at f/6.5 and ISO 400 and sharpness is impressive given the strong on-shore breeze and the amount of sea spray in the air, so it shows the camera’s vibration systemworks well

Final word

100

400

While the Nikon Coolpix D950 is still a significant camera to carry around, it has a great deal of potential; so if you are a camera systemowner and thinking of lessening your burden without sacrificing your opportunities, the P950 deserves a serious look. For the feature set on offer and the decent image quality it delivers, it is good value for money too – that incredible lens is amazing, and used with care you can get pictures that simply wouldn’t be possible with other cameras. PROS Well featured, vari-angle monitor, good battery life, lens range CONS Challenging to use at the longer focal lengths, image quality beyond ISO 400 or a casual shooter looking to expand your creative horizons,

800

1600

The Coolpix D950 was tripod-mounted for this low-light shot to assess its ISO skills. In-camera noise reduction was set to its lowest setting and the converted Raws were processed in Lightroom with no NR applied. The camera’s smaller sensor means noise starts to be a factor at much lower ISOs than we’d expect to see on Micro Four Thirds and APS-C sensors. Images are more or less free of noise at ISO 100 and 200 and at ISO 400 grain can be seen although at this speed it is no issue. The grain is more coarse and obvious at ISO 800 and 1600 but images still look acceptable and detail is crisp. Detail, the depth of blacks and colour saturation all suffer at the two top ISOs of 3200 and 6400.

3200

6400

84 Photography News | Issue 75

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