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Nikon Coolpix P300 Summary
12 Megapixels
Stabilization: Compensates for tiny involuntary movements of the camera.
Continuous Drive
Full 1080p HD Video: 1920 x 1080 resolution or more but less than 4K.
Manual Controls: Both fully-manual (M) and semi-automatic modes (T and V).
Custom White-Balance: Specifies exactly what should be white to the camera.
Action Photography: Shutter speeds of 1/1500 or more.
Night Photography: Reaches shutter-speeds longer than 4 seconds.
Accepts Secure Digital Extended Capacity (SDXC), SDHC and SD memory.
Neocamera detailed review
Discontinued: No longer produced by the manufacturer. May still be in stock or found used.Nikon Coolpix P300 Assessment
The Nikon Coopix P300 is a small compact digital camera with dual control-dials to efficiently access its full manual controls. It is equipped with a unique ultra-bright F/1.8 ultra-wide angle 4.2X optical zoom lens. This lens lets it capture the same scene using a lower ISO than most digital cameras. This advantage lets it keep up with top compact cameras in terms of image quality even with a small BSI-CMOS sensor. Outside of some corner softness at wider apertures, the P300 does well in all aspects of image quality: metering, color, white-balance, vignetting and distortion.
While image quality is there and controls are very responsive, certain important aspects of the P300 are slow: shot-to-shot speed, autofocus and video-recording start. Battery-life is below average as well. The more serious downsides of this digital camera are the impossibility of setting framing for video-recording and the lack of an accurate live-histogram or exposure-priority preview. While the Nikon Coolpix P300 is an excellent choice for social and creative photography without bulk, it would have a tough time with action shots.
Competition for the P300 is thin. A few compacts exist with dual-control dials but this is currently the only one with a lens that is both ultra-bright and ultra-wide. The Nikon Coolpix P300 is also the only one among these to use a CMOS sensor and therefore the only one to shoot full 1080p HD video. The CMOS sensor also enables Sweep Panorama, Multi-Frame Noise-Reduction modes, High-Speed video and fast continuous shooting.
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Ultra-Bright F/1.8 lens, lowers required ISO | Visible noise at all ISO sensitivities |
| Excellent automatic white-balance | Slow shot-to-shot speed |
| Good image colors | Slow startup |
| Reliable metering | Strong corner softness |
| Uniform brightness | Blank display during continuous drive |
| No noticeable distortion | Video-recording delay |
| Very responsive controls | Impossible to set up video framing |
| Short shutter-lag | Not exposure-priority |
| Dual-control dials in compact body | No histogram in Manual mode |
| Excellent LCD visibility | EC awkward to change |
| Easy user interface | Short battery life |  Excellent Excellent |
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Nikon Coolpix P300 Related Information
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Nikon P300 Highlights
Compact digital cameraSensor-Size: 6 x 5mm
Actual size when viewed at 100 DPI
| 12 Megapixels Fixed Lens | ISO 160-3200 |
| 4.2X Ultra-Wide Optical Zoom | Shutter 1/2000-8s |
| Built-in Stabilization | Full manual controls |
| 8 FPS Drive, 7 Images | Custom white-balance |
| 1920x1080 @ 30 FPS Video Recording | Lithium-Ion Battery |
| 3" LCD 920K Pixels | Secure Digital Extended Capacity, Internal Memory |
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