Introduction
The
Nikon Coolpix P510 is a new super-zoom compact camera designed to appeal to the
keen enthusiast photographer. The P510 has a mechanically-stabilized 42x
optical zoom with a massive focal range of 24-1000mm and an innovative side
zoom control. It also offers a 1/2.3” Back Side Illuminated CMOS sensor with
16.1 megapixels, sensitivity range of ISO 100 to 6400, full 1080p HD video recording
with stereo sound, slow-motion video at up to 120fps, manual shooting modes,
burst shooting at seven frames per second, 99-point autofocus system, 3D
shooting mode, built-in GPS and a 3-inch 921K-dot tiltable LCD screen. The
Nikon Coolpix P510 is available in black, blue or red for £399.99 / $429.95 /
€471.00.
Ease of Use
Weighing in at 555 grams, the Nikon Coolpix P510 is slightly heavier
than the previous P500 model, but its design is only minimally
different. Like most high-end superzooms, the Nikon P510 has the typical
bridge camera look, with a chunky hand-grip, large lens barrel, pop-up
flash and an eye-level electronic viewfinder. The deep grip is moulded
to fit comfortably into your right hand, and is rubberised in a
textured material for added comfort.
The other dominant part of the P510 is the 42x zoom lens, which goes
from an ultra-wide 24mm to a frankly incredible 1000mm in 35mm terms.
Considering that with an SLR, you would need at least 3-4 lenses to
cover the same focal range, the single, fixed-mount lens of the Nikon
P510 can be described as remarkably compact, even if it does extend
quite a bit when zoomed to full telephoto. Superzooms have always had a
reputation for having a high "fun factor", and the P510 is no
different. The ability to quickly go from wide angle to ultra-telephoto
is something that has to be experienced in order to be fully
appreciated. It certainly gives you a kind of freedom you do not feel
with any other type of camera.
For its size, the P510's lens is also respectably fast, with maximum
apertures of f/3 at 24mm and f/5.9 at 1000mm. Note that the lens cap
has to be removed before turning on the camera - failing to do so will
result in an error message being displayed, and you'll have to turn off
the camera before you can turn it on again, which is a bit annoying.
Although if you only want to review what's already on the card, you can
also power on the P510 by holding down the Playback button, in which
case the lens won't extend.
Thankfully Nikon has included Vibration Reduction (VR) to help
prevent camera-shake, an essential feature on a camera like this.
Interestingly, while VR is lens based in the Nikon SLR system, it is of
the sensor-shift variety in the P510. Vibration Reduction makes a
noticeable difference to the sharpness of the images, as shown in the
examples on the Image Quality page, offering a claimed 4 stops of
compensation.
You can hear a slight mechanical whirring noise when it is turned
on, but otherwise you don't really notice it, except that that you can
use slower shutter speeds than normal and still take sharp photos.
Sadly, there isn't a dedicated button to turn VR on and off - but at
least leaving it on did not seem to negatively affect the battery life,
with the camera managing around 240 shots using the supplied Li-ion
battery. It's still a good idea to turn VR off (via the menu) when the
camera is mounted on a tripod, lest the system itself cause blurring by
trying to counter camera shake that isn't there.
Zooming is done by way of a conventional zoom lever that encircles
the shutter release button sitting atop the right-hand grip. It is of
the dual-speed variety: rotating it all the way in either direction
will adjust the focal length quickly, while rotating it partially will
cause the lens elements to move more slowly, enabling you to set the
desired focal length more precisely. You can alternatively zoom using
the innovative side zoom control on the lens barrel, which is a vertical
rocker switch activated with your left hand. It has a slower action
than the main zoom lever, and is therefore ideally suited to shooting
video when you require a more sedate zoom with less mechanical noise.
There are two different ways of composing images with the Nikon
Coolpix P510: you can use either the eye-level electronic viewfinder
(EVF) or the rear screen. Unfortunately, there are no eye proximity
sensors that would allow the camera to toggle between the two
automatically - you need to press a button every time you want that to
happen. The EVF is a bog standard affair with 201,000 dots and average
magnification; nothing to write home about, especially in 2012. The
three-inch rear LCD screen is much nicer to look at, thanks to its high
resolution of 921,000 dots. Even more importantly, it's articulated
and able to tilt up or down, giving you some added flexibility in
composing your shots. A truly free-angle LCD, which can also be rotated
out to the side, would have been even nicer though.
The layout and number of external controls haven't changed much from
the P500. You still get a traditional, top-mounted mode dial with P,
A, S and M shooting modes - perfect for the photographer who wants to
take full control - as well as full auto, Scene Auto Selector, Night
Landscape, Landscape and Backlighting modes. The new Effects mode allows
you to apply one of nine different special effects as you shoot with
the Nikon Coolpix P510, with a live preview on the LCD screen showing
exactly what the final image will look like. There is also a User (U)
setting you can use to quickly retrieve a combination of your most
frequently used settings. The shutter release, zoom lever and power
button are essentially in the same locations as on the P510, joined by a
new customisable Function button which replaces the P500's continuous
shooting button.
In the Backlighting mode, the P510 captures three consecutive shots
at varying exposures and combines them into a single photo with a
broader range of tones. Three different HDR settings are available for
selection. When the Night Landscape scene mode is selected, the P510
takes several shots at a fast shutter speed and then combines them to
create a single optimized photo, allowing you to shoot after dark
without having to use a tripod. The Easy Panorama scene mode allows you
to take vertical or horizontal panorama photos simply by moving the
camera in the direction of the on-screen guides. Multiple shots are
then combined into a single panorama photo. The angle of view can be
selected from 180° (normal) and 360° (wide).
The rear controls are also laid out very similarly to those of the
preceding model. There is a well-positioned control wheel in the
top-right corner (when viewed from the back), which makes it easy to
change the aperture and shutter speed in A and S modes respectively, but
there's still no second dial on the hand-grip which would have made
operating Manual mode much easier. The familiar multi-selector with its
centred OK button is similar to the P500, with the same individual
functions that are mapped onto the Up, Down, Left and Right buttons.
These include the flash and focus modes, the self-timer and exposure
compensation, respectively. The multi-selector is now a much nicer
rotating wheel with an audible click and a textured surface to aid
operation. There is still no obvious shortcut key to ISO speed, which
is only accessible from the menu (as is white balance) or by assigning
it to the Function button.
The P510's focus modes include AF, Macro, Infinity and Manual. AF
can be centre-spot, user selectable from 99 focus points or camera
selectable from 9 points. In Face Priority AF mode, the camera can
detect up to 12 human faces and will focus on the one closest to the
camera. We found that regardless of AF area mode, auto-focus speed was
satisfactory for still subjects, but a little too slow for fast-moving
ones. Manual focusing is also possible, though a bit awkward: you get a
rudimentary distance scale on the right-hand side of the screen, and
can adjust focus via the Up and Down buttons. The centre of the picture
is enlarged to aid you with checking focus, but unfortunately this is
achieved by way of interpolation rather than real magnification. The
whole process is pretty slow, but can still be a godsend when the
auto-focus system starts acting up.
The flash of the Nikon P510 has to be popped up manually, using the
button on the side of the mock pentaprism housing. You can set the
flash mode to auto, auto with red-eye reduction, fill, slow sync and
rear-curtain sync via the Up button on the multi-controller, but only
when the flash is raised. As there is no hot-shoe or sync terminal on
the Nikon Coolpix P510, and it does not offer wireless TTL flash
control either, the only way to sync up an external flashgun with the
camera is to optically slave it to the built-in unit.
The P510 has a built-in Global Positioning System (GPS) that records
the exact location (latitude and longitude) where a picture was taken,
recording it in the image's EXIF data. You can also use it to record
your route even if you don't take any taking pictures. The GPS does take
a while to lock onto a sattellite in city centres and it doesn tend to
drain the battery if left on all the time. Note that strangely the
system isn't as sophisticated as on the all-weather AW100 model, which
additionally can set the camera's clock, plot points of interest and has
a built-in electronic compass. The 3D shooting mode creates a 3D image
which can be played back on any 3D-capable TVs and computers. The P510
automatically combines two images taken from different positions to
create the 3D effect, with the second shot cleverly taken automatically
when the camera detects that you are in the right position.
The P510 has the ability to shoot full-resolution stills at up to 7
frames per second (fps), slightly slower than it predecessor. Alas,
the camera cannot keep up this speed for long, as the buffer fills up
after just 5 shots. In other words, you can only shoot for a bit more
than half a second in the Continuous H mode. Thankfully, there is also a
slower burst mode, called Continuous L, in which the frame rate drops
to 1fps, but you can capture up to 100 full-resolution photos at the
Normal quality setting. Note that you cannot use the flash in any of
the continuous shooting modes. Disappointingly the P510 doesn't support
the RAW file format, something that all of its main competitors offer,
and a prosumer feature that frankly we'd expect on this class of camera.
The P510 can shoot Full HD (1920×1080-pixel) movies at 30 frames per
second, with stereo sound and full use of the optical zoom. It also
offers a 720p mode at 1280x720 pixels (30 fps) and VGA mode at 640x480
pixels (30 fps). Nikon's smart designers put the stereo microphone on
the top of the camera right behind the flash. A Wind Noise Reduction
function is available in the Movie menu. Serving to minimise the noise
of wind blowing on the microphone, it is recommended to be turned on in
strong wind only, as it may also make other sounds difficult to hear.
Sensor-shift VR is not available during movie recording, but you may
opt to turn on electronic image stabilisation.
The P510 is also capable of high-speed (HS) movie recording, albeit
not at Full HD resolution. VGA videos can be shot at 120fps, VGA movies
at 120fps or 60fps, HD (720p) clips at 60fps or 15fps, and HD (1080p)
movies at 15fps. When these videos are played back at 30fps, they
become slow-motion or super-fast movies. The maximum recording time per
clip is limited to 10 seconds in the HS video modes. Sound is not
recorded and no form of VR is available. Given the high frame rates,
these videos require fast shutter speeds, which effectively means that
you need very bright conditions, especially when shooting at 120 frames
per second. The P500's ingenious movie mode switch around the Movie
Record button has sadly been removed.
Recording movie clips is very easy on the Nikon P510 via the
one-touch Movie Record button on the rear of the camera. By pressing
this button, you can start recording a clip no matter what shooting
mode you are in. You can use the optical zoom while filming, and
full-time AF is also available. In use, we found that zooming in or out
sometimes caused the image to go temporarily out of focus, but the AF
system usually adjusted itself very quickly in these cases. The maximum
clip length is limited to 29 minutes. The Creative Slider and Special
Effects can also be used when shooting movies, and they can be played
back on a HDTV via the built-in HDMI connector, although as usual
there's no suitable cable supplied in the box. The P510 supports the
CEC feature for HDMI which enables playback control using your TV's
remote control.
The Nikon Coolpix P510's familiar Menu button accesses the usual
Nikon menu system, which is clear and easy to navigate. Press this
when in any of the shooting modes and there are three
menus, Shooting, Movie, GPS and Setup, with two menus, Playback and
Settings, available when you're reviewing an image. A big oversight is
the almost constant need to use the menu system for setting the ISO
speed, white balance, metering, and AF mode, with at least 4 button
presses required to change these often-used features. The P510 is sorely
missing some kind of quick menu system, accessible via an external
control, to help speed up its general operation.
In playback mode, pressing the same Menu button
affords access to rudimentary image editing,
including Nikon's exposure adjusting D-Lighting
function, Skin Softening and Filter Effects, image slide shows, and the
automatic Quick Retouch. A button to the right features the familiar
trashcan icon for deleting images on the fly and
completes the rear of the P510.
On the right flank of the camera - still viewing
it from the rear - there's a metal eyelet for attaching the supplied
shoulder strap and a plastic cover protecting the
HDMI port and A/V out / USB port. On the left hand flank
is another eyelet. There's a centrally positioned, metal tripod
mount on the bottom of the camera. The P510 is powered by a 1100 mAh
lithium ion battery, good for around 240 shots, that
slots into the base alongside the SD / SDHC / SDXC card slot. There is a
small internal memory too, but it will only hold a few photos at full
resolution, so you'll definitely need a memory card. Note that
recharging the P510 is a somewhat convoluted affair, with the battery
remaining in camera and requiring the battery cover to be closed.
The performance of the Nikon P510 is mostly satisfactory. It starts
up in under two seconds and zooms pretty quickly yet accurately for a
power zoom. As noted earlier, its autofocus speed is not the greatest
despite the inclusion of a subject tracking mode, but you'll only notice
that when trying to capture fast action. We found the high-speed
continuous shooting mode brilliant but sadly limited by a small buffer.
The only truly frustrating design flaw is the lack of direct access to
ISO speed and white balance. We'd really like to see dedicated buttons
for these functions, although the Function button goes some way to
rectifying this. In Playback mode, the only notable quirk is the
inability to magnify into the image from Histogram view - this is
something that ought to be easy to address via a firmware upgrade,
although that never happened for the P500.
Nikon Coolpix P510 Lens test images
Specifications
|
Effective
pixels
|
16.1
million
|
Image
sensor
|
1/2.3-in.
type CMOS; approx. 16.79 million total pixels
|
Lens
|
42x
optical zoom, NIKKOR lens
|
Focal
length
|
4.3-180mm
(angle of view equivalent to that of 24-1000 mm lens in 35mm [135] format)
|
f/-number
|
f/3-5.9
|
Construction
|
14
elements in 10 groups (4 ED lens elements)
|
Digital
zoom
|
Up to
2x (angle of view equivalent to that of approx. 2000 mm lens in 35mm [135]
format)
|
Vibration
reduction
|
advanced
lens-shift VR
|
Autofocus
(AF)
|
Contrast-detect
AF
|
Focus
range (from lens)
|
[W]:
Approx. 50 cm (1 ft 8 in.) to infinity, [T]: Approx. 1.5 m (5 ft) to infinity
Macro close-up mode: Approx. 1 cm (0.4 in.) (at a wide-angle zoom position
beyond the triangle mark) to infinity
|
Focus-area
selection
|
Face
priority, auto (9-area automatic selection), center, manual with 99 focus
areas, subject tracking, target finding AF
|
Viewfinder
|
Electronic
viewfinder, 0.5-cm (0.2-in.) approx. 201k-dot equivalent LCD with the diopter
adjustment function (-4 to +4 m-1)
|
Frame
coverage (shooting mode)
|
Approx.
100% horizontal and 100% vertical (compared to actual picture)
|
Frame
coverage (playback mode)
|
Approx.
100% horizontal and 100% vertical (compared to actual picture)
|
Monitor
|
7.5-cm
(3-in.), approx. 921k-dot, wide viewing angle TFT LCD monitor with
anti-reflection coating and 5-level brightness adjustment, tiltable approx.
82° downward, approx. 90° upward
|
Frame
coverage (shooting mode)
|
Approx.
100% horizontal and 100% vertical (compared to actual picture)
|
Frame
coverage (playback mode)
|
Approx.
100% horizontal and 100% vertical (compared to actual picture)
|
Media
|
Internal
memory (approx. 90 MB), SD/SDHC/SDXC memory card
|
File
system
|
DCF,
Exif 2.3, DPOF, and MPF compliant
|
File
formats
|
Still
pictures: JPEG 3D pictures: MPO Sound files (voice memo): WAV Movies: MOV
(Video: H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, Audio: AAC stereo)
|
Image
size (pixels)
|
16 M
4608x3456 8 M 3264x2448 4 M 2272x1704 2 M 1600x1200 VGA 640x480 16:9 12M
4608x2592 16:9 2M 1920x1080 3:2 4608x3072 1:1 3456x3456
|
Shooting
Modes
|
Auto,
Scene (Scene auto selector, Close-up, Portrait, Food, Sports, Museum, Night
portrait, Fireworks show, Party/indoor, Black and white copy, Beach,
Panorama, Snow, Pet portrait, Sunset, 3D photography, Dusk/dawn, Night
landscape, Landscape, Backlighting), Special effects, P, S, A, M, User
settings
|
Continuous
Shooting
|
Single
(default setting), Continuous H (Pictures are continuously shot at about 7
fps), Continuous L (Up to about 30 frames at about 1 fps), Pre-shooting cache
(Up to 20 frames at up to 15 fps), Continuous H: 120 fps (60 frames at about
1/125 s or faster), Continuous H: 60 fps (60 frames at about 1/60 s or
faster), BSS (Best Shot Selector), Multi-shot 16, Intvl timer shooting
|
Movie
|
HD 1080p(fine)
(default setting): 1920 x 1080/approx. 30 fps, HD 1080p: 1920 x 1080/approx.
30 fps, HD 720p: 1280 x 720/approx. 30 fps, iFrame 540: 960 x 540/approx. 30
fps, VGA: 640 x 480/approx. 30 fps, HS 120 fps: 640 x 480/approx. 120 fps, HS
60 fps: 1280 x 720/approx. 60 fps, HS 15 fps: 1920 x 1080/approx. 15 fps
|
ISO
sensitivity (Standard output sensitivity)
|
ISO
100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, Hi 1 (equivalent to 6400) Auto (auto gain
from ISO 100 to 1600) Fixed range auto (ISO 100 to 400, 100 to 800) Hi 2
(equivalent to 12800) (High ISO monochrome in special effects mode)
|
Metering
|
224-segment
matrix, center-weighted, spot
|
Exposure
control
|
Programmed
auto exposure with flexible program, shutter priority auto, aperture-priority
auto, manual, exposure bracketing, motion detection, exposure compensation
(-2.0 to +2.0 EV in steps of 1/3 EV)
|
Shutter
|
Mechanical
and CMOS electronic shutter
|
Speed
|
Auto
mode, scene mode, special effects mode 1/4000* to 1 s 1/4000* to 2 s (Tripod
in Night landscape scene mode) 4 s (Fireworks show scene mode) P, S, A, and M
modes 1/4000* to 8 s (when ISO sensitivity is set to 100 in M mode: including
when set to Auto or Fixed range auto) 1/4000* to 4 s (when ISO sensitivity is
fixed at 100, 200, or 400 in P, S, or A mode, and when ISO sensitivity is
fixed at 200 or 400 in M mode) 1/4000* to 2 s (when ISO sensitivity is fixed
at 800) 1/4000* to 1 s (when ISO sensitivity is fixed at 1600, and when set
to Auto or Fixed range auto in P, S, or A mode) 1/4000* to 1/2 s (when ISO
sensitivity is fixed at 3200 or Hi 1) 1/4000 to 1/125 s (Continuous H: 120
fps) 1/4000 to 1/60 s (Continuous H: 60 fps)
|
Aperture
|
Electronically-controlled
6-blade iris diaphragm
|
Range
|
10
steps of 1/3 EV (W) (A, M mode)
|
Self-timer
|
Can be
selected from 10 s and 2 s
|
Range
(approx.) (ISO sensitivity: Auto)
|
[W]:
0.5 to 8.0 m (1 ft 8 in. to 26 ft) [T]: 1.5 to 4.5 m (5 ft to 14 ft)
|
Flash
control
|
TTL
auto flash with monitor preflashes
|
Interface
|
Hi-Speed
USB
|
Data
Transfer Protocol
|
MTP,
PTP
|
Video
output
|
Can be
selected from NTSC and PAL
|
HDMI
output
|
Can be
selected from Auto, 480p, 720p, and 1080i
|
I/O
terminal
|
Audio/video
output; digital I/O (USB); HDMI Mini Connector (Type C) (HDMI output)
|
GPS
|
Receiver
frequency 1575.42 MHz (C/A code), geodetic system WGS 84
|
Supported
languages
|
Arabic,
Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Czech, Danish,
Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian,
Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian,
Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
|
Power
sources
|
One
Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL5 (included) AC Adapter EH-62A (available
separately)
|
Charging
time
|
Approx.
4 hours and 30 minutes (when using Charging AC Adapter EH-69P and when no
charge remains)
|
Battery
life (EN-EL5)
|
Still
pictures**: Approx. 240 shots Movies***: Approx. 1 h 10 min (HD 1080p(fine)
(1920x1080))
|
Tripod
socket
|
1/4
(ISO 1222)
|
Dimensions
(W x H x D)
|
Approx.
119.8 x 82.9 x 102.2 mm (4.8 x 3.3 x 4.1 in.) (excluding projections)
|
Weight
|
Approx.
555 g (1 lb 3.6 oz) (including battery and SD memory card)
|
Temperature
|
0°C to
40°C (32°F to 104°F)
|
Humidity
|
Less
than 85% (no condensation)
|
Supplied
accessories
|
Camera
Strap, Lens Cap LC-CP24 (with cord), Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL5 (with
terminal cover), Charging AC Adapter EH-69P, USB Cable UC-E6, Audio Video
Cable EG-CP16, ViewNX 2 Installer CD, Reference Manual CD
|
Optional
accessories
|
Battery
Charger MH-61, AC Adapter EH-62A, Hand Strap AH-CP1
|
*The aperture value is f/8.3.
**Based on CIPA Standards for measuring life of batteries.
***When recording a single movie.
