Nikon offers the Coolpix P50, a compact with an 8 million pixel sensor and a component that is becoming increasingly rarer, an optical viewfinder.

Handling

The Coolpix P50 has a sober almost austere design (its gray isn’t very bright) and is finally not too convincing.  We prefer it in black.  A small handle that also serves as the battery compartment allows a good grip.  For controls, functioning is very classic with a cross selection button, zoom button and a barrel dial for selecting exposure modes.  There is a Manuel mode (allowing modification of parameters via the cross selection button) and a viewfinder.  The latter is practical when it’s bright outside (the screen is quite bright) but as is too often the case, it isn’t very precise. Another downside of the screen is a definition of 114,000 pixels which is too low for proper restitution of detail.  In terms of speed, this little compact isn’t the best needing 2.8 seconds for startup.  Autofocus also isn’t too fast and other compacts now do much better.  On a final good note, the 28 mm wide angle lens left a good impression.

Quality of images

In lower sensitivities (64 and 100 ISO), the Coolpix P50 produces quality images.  Photos have good detail even if there is a slight loss of sharpness on the sides.  White balance is correct even under artificial lighting (tungsten) and overall exposure is amongst the best.  In well lit conditions, the Coolpix P50 is entirely satisfactory.  As soon as we go up in sensitivity, images become much more degraded and from 400 ISO, grain is very noticeable and particularly bothersome.  Luckily, the macro mode slightly compensates for these defects with focusing at 5 cm.  Last but not least, the P50’s video sequences are nice for a camera in this category.