Nikon Coolpix 5700...When it needs to be right!

Author's Rating:

Pros: responsive, really nice resolution, feature laden

Cons: no AF Illuminator, undersized CF card

The Bottom Line: 
Nikon hit a home run with the Cooplix 5700. It sets the bar a little higher.

Author's Review
Nikon has answered the cal for a 5-megapixel camera in its arsenal of Coolpix cameras in its newest flagship, the Coolpix 5700. Considering the 5 Megapixel prosumer/class cameras have been slow in getting to the anxious enthusiast, offerings coming from Sony, Minolta, Olympus are starting to trickle in. None, though, have the absolute class of the Nikon 5700.

I recently had the opportunity to play with this camera for a weekend, in exchange for loaning out some video gear with another gear head friend of mine. I certainly was looking forward to taking it out to a close friends’ bands performance at a local Blues club.
Looking at the 5700 for the first time I was taken back a little by its rather tiny footprint. Reading about all the features this camera brings to the table, it puzzles one to think it can all be done in such a small camera. But the Nikon Coolpix 5700 is truly a Giant Killer. Opening the attractive package Nikon you will find:

· 179 page manual
· Lexar 16 MB Starter CF Memory card (US models) otherwise a 32MB Sandisk card is included
· EN-EL1 Lithium Ion battery
· MH-53Charger
· Neck strap
· USB cable
· Audio/Video cable
· Lens cap w/strap
· Nikonview software including :Arcsoft, Photo Studio, Video Impression, Panorama Maker and Photo Base.

For starters, to truly enjoy this camera out of the box you need to make your first purchase of (1) a larger CFII card or Microdrive (2) an extra EN EL1 battery and /or 2CR5 non-rechargeable battery. Batteries, loaded underside the camera, discharge a little faster on the 5700 attributable to added consumption by the 2 LCD’s, EVF as well. You can expect approximately 1 hour and a half to 2 hours using both and less for a Microdrive.

LCD SCREEN

Invariably, your first impression of the Coolpix 5700 will come as a result of the 1.5” fully articulating 270º LCD screen. For some it may be too small. As an early skeptic of the diminutive LCD, I have come around to appreciate it. Not only is it bright, it also is composed with contrasting text to screen menus that facilitate navigating your way around the 5700. Getting your desired shot in a crowd is no problem for the 5700 with the swiveling LCD screen. Furthermore, you can be assured the results you need with 97% coverage on the LCD screen. As a convenience, you can fold the LCD flat against the camera back with either the LCD showing or protected. The SEL control on the camera back gives the user the capability to select between the EVF and the LCD screen as an added battery saver.


BODY & ERGONOMICS

Holding this camera, constructed with a magnesium alloy body, you cannot help but be impressed with the ample grip and balance the 5700 displays. It feels natural your hands, although, like many of today’s digitals I would advise any serious buyers to actually test drive one before mail or internet ordering, as it’s size may not be suitable to all users. It bears the appearance of a 35-mm. camera, with a Napoleon complex, proving itself a capable newcomer to the 5 Megapixel class. Feature-wise, it bears many of the functions one would expect to find in a 4-5 Megapixel camera with a few extras.

ILLUMINATED DATA LCD

Nikon has included, atop the grip, alongside the command dial an illuminated data LCD that offers quick reference to your present camera settings. For those that are somewhat put off by the small LCD, this is your saving grace on the 5700. Along with the POWER switch and the FUNCTION button, also conveniently placed at the front of the LCD button, you can navigate the various recording modes, functions and exposure compensation the Coolpix 5700 offers from this LCD window.

CF FLASH

The Compact Flash (CF I, II capable) bay is located on the right side of the handle grip. Nikon includes a 32MB starter card, which falls short of providing the necessary capacity to fully enjoy the camera although that seems to be the trend to keep the camera competitively priced. Be certain to get ample storage in a 512MB or 1 Gig Microdrive or a high capacity card to really enjoy the many features of the Coolpix 5700. Keep in mind that Microdrives will consume your battery run time, and slow some camera processes considerably.

EVF

One of the more notable features on the 5700 is the Electronic through the lens Viewfinder (EVF) that hints Nikon intends to raise the standard yet once more. Gone are the Pixel-laden jagged moving images in cameras past, in this first Coolpix model featuring an electronic viewfinder. With 180,000-pixel imaging, movements are crisp and clear, even during panning. Best of all, your shots are 97% represented on both the EVF as well as the LCD screen! Pressing the shutter halfway focuses and freezes your image, free from parallax distortion. The 5700 includes a correctable diopter adjustment as well as a rubber eyecup, facilitating yet another option in the battle against glare. Although I have heard some mention of problematic sun glare, I have yet to experience it.

LENS

The F2.8-F4.2, 8x optical 4 digital zoom, low dispersion lens is quite responsive and a featured attribute of this camera. The 8X optical zoom lens is the equivalent of a 35-280mm lens in the 35mm realm, and places it in a handful of digitals that possess an extended focal length, making it such a valuable asset in the 5700. A manual focus ring would have been a nice addition, perhaps in the next generation. The upper echelon 900 series & upscale Nikon Coolpix digitals have carved an excellent reputation for great Macro capability and the 5700 is a capable carrier of that torch. Taking pictures of insects is a wonderful way of introducing children to photography as well as digital photography. You may find yourself going around the house, and garden, taking macro pictures of the most nondescript subjects, only to find them a fascinating study, children in tow. You have been warned.

The ISO control buttons are located on the left side of the lens barrel, which navigate through: auto, fill, slow sync, off, and ISO speeds when used in concert with the Command Dial. Next you will see a Resolution control, which will guide you though RAW, Hi, Fine Normal and Basic resolution Modes. On the bottom left is located the AE/AF lock, which you can set via your menus. Finally the Focus control selects auto focus, macro, infinity and timer again with the help of the Command Dial. The placement of these buttons is somewhat awkward when holding the 5700. Practice, conditioning and a few accidents will, in time, train you not to inadvertently engage these controls.

I/O A/V PORTS

I/O A/V are located on the top left of the 5700 under a Rubber cover. Inside the cameras’ video, audio and USB 1.1 connections (all included) as well as external power adapter (accessory).

FLASH

Directly above the lens, Nikon has suitably placed the popup flash and hot-shoe. Red eye reduction is excellent on the 5700. Flash capability is 1.7 㪥.1 ft ( Wide) 1.7’- 9.2’ (Telephoto), and it has intelligent capability to activate when needed or can be cancelled when utilizing external flash units. The Coolpix 5700 is compatible with up to 5 of the following Nikon flash units simultaneously, incorporating the Nikon AS15:

SB80DX, SB50DX, SB-30, SB-29, SB-22, SB-23,SB-24, SB-25,SB-26, SB-27,SB-28

ISO settings are: 100, 200, 400, 800

Operation

The 5700s’ unusually fast startup is a welcome change. Powering up the 5700 to taking your first exposure can be done in less than 10 seconds. You can fire off about 7-9 exposures until the buffer indicates a processing backup, but it too clears surprisingly fast. Tiff and RAW exposures can take up to 30 seconds to file. Focusing times are good, except in darker conditions as the Coolpix 5700 does not include an AF illuminator, which is peculiar given the sophistication of this camera. Incorporating a 5-area focus field, the Nikon 5700 can automatically find a focus field the user has the option to select one manually or spot focus. Active LED indicators in the display indicate focus and speed light status.

The Coolpix 5700 can operate in the following shooting modes:
· Program AE
· Manual
· Shutter Priority Auto
· Aperture Priority Auto
· Auto Bracketing

Shutter speeds are up to 1/4000 sec in all modes.
The MENU button on the back calls up the various menus, The QUICK REVIEW button displays the last image captured in the top left corner when engaged once. Twice engaged the thumbnail image is full screen. Hitting the DELETE button, aptly indicated by an icon of a trashcan, facilitates deleting images on the fly. DISPLAY simply engages all exposure data onto the LCD screen or EVF. That data is delivered by the various menu systems on the 5700. Knowing what they are and how to effectively negotiate through them, will significantly impact your ability to enjoy the many features and functions the Nikon Coolpix 5700 has to offer. You will use the Multi-selector 4 way button on the camera back to move around in your dynamic menus, which are intuitive to the Setup, Shooting, or Playback modes.

SETUP MENU

· Folders
· Monitor Options>EVF or LCD display>shutter release
· Controls
· Zoom Options>on>off >Fixed aperture on> Fixed aperture off>Zoom Speed
· Auto Off>1,5,30 minutes
· Seq. Numbers
· CF Card Format
· Speed light Options>Popup auto/manual>Variable Power>
· Shutter Sound>on>off
· Date
· Info text
· Video Mode>NTS,PAL
· Language
· USB>USB>PTP




SHOOTING MENU: Page 1
· User setting > 3 presets
· White balance>Auto>preset>fine>Incandescent>fluorescent>Cloudy>Speedlight
· Metering>Matrix>Spot>Center-Weighted>Averaging>Spot AF
· Drive mode>Single Frame>Continuous High >Continuous Low>Multi Shot>Ultra High Speed>Movie
· BSS
· Image Adjustment>Auto>Normal>More Contrast>Less Contrast>Lighten>Darken
· Saturation Control>Maximum>Normal>Moderate>Minimum>B&W

SHOOTING MENU: Page 2
· Lens >Wide-angle>telephoto
· Exposure Options>AE Lock>Bulb duration 1-5 mins.
· Focus Options>Area Mode> AF Mode Continuous Single>Focus Confirmation
· Image Sharpening>Auto>High>Low>Normal>Off
· Auto Bracketing
· Noise Reduction
· Reset All

PLAYBACK MENU

· Delete
· Folders
· Slide Show
· Protect
· Hide Image
· Print Set
· Auto Transfer

RESOLUTION

The robust 5 megapixel Coolpix 5700 is capable of producing startling resolution all the way up to 2560 x 1920 or down to 640 x 480 limited only by your storage capacity or needs. The 5700 is capable of maximum resolution of 2560x1920 with print capability upwards of 16” x 20”. You can record in RAW mode, Hi, Fine, Normal or Basic Quality modes in 3:2 (2560 x 1710), UXGA (1600 x 1200), SXGA (1280 x 960), XGA (1024 x 768) or VGA (640 x 480) and 60 second Movie clips 15fps with mono sound. We took the 5700 to Red Hot & Blue and took pictures of my friends band to later make posters to give out to them for promotional use. Using a HP Design Jet 5000PS Plotter, we were amazed at the results we got from our RAW exposures processed in ADOBE PHOTOSHOP 6.0. The 24” x 30” results were literally indistinguishable from film, with vivid color and sharp crisp edges! Needless to say, they went over really well. File sizes can become rather large and you have to be aware of your Storage limitations. For instance 2560 x 1920 RAW exposures can take up over 7 MB’s and Hi TIFF’s over 14 MB! NEF (Nikon Electronic File) allows you to take a RAW picture now and change all the settings opening the possibilities to post processing manipulation.

DOWNLOAD

The Nikon Coolpix 5700 is a plug and play capable and shows up as a mass storage device on your PC. (I will speak to Windows 2000 and cannot convey any Mac experience in this review.) Nikonview Software prompts the download of your exposures upon connecting the USB interface. Download and save is simple. A welcome feature of the Nikonview software is the display of all your camera settings for any given exposure, providing valuable evaluative data, when reviewing your results. This data can be saved and archived along with your exposures for future reference and documentation. I have yet to use the ARC Soft, Video Impressions and Photo Base software, as I cannot seem to get away from Adobe.

Some of the features I find myself using most are Best Shot Selector (BSS) function as it is useful for capturing “must have” taking a series of shots and keeps the one clearest exposure.

Playback on a television is an entertaining way to share a days’ shoot with your subjects. Utilizing the slideshow feature you can simply lay back and watch your shoot, exposure by exposure.

The Panoramic capability of this camera is effortless even handheld, conditions permitting. When recently shooting an autumn display of changing foliage, I was amazed at the results I ended up with on a 5 exposure stitch, handheld! Upon taking your first shot, the camera images a semi-transparent left or right side of your exposure allowing you to place the overlapping images of your exposure to subject to prepare for the next shot. I did all the stitching on Adobe Photo Impressions instead of the Nikon software because of the many options available with Adobe. Panorama can produce some rather large files so I prefer stitching 2-3 shots at the most to make them manageable, with excellent results!

In summary, I have to say that, while not perfect, Nikon has come up with an ideally suited 5 Megapixel camera to meet the most demanding prosumers’ needs and a suitable compromise to the quite pricey but sweet SLR digitals. While at $1199.00 msrp, the 5700 is not a bargain, they can be had for considerably less if you look.

Accessories

· WC e-80 Wide angle converter
· TC 15ED Telephoto converter
· UR-E8 Step Down adapter
· HN E-57 Lens Hood
· MB 5700 Battery Pack
· EH 21 AC Adapter
· MC EU1 wired remote control

Further reference data may be found on Nikons’ website www.nikonusa.com which is an informative resource including LIVE MANUAL capability and full product catalog