Record mode screen display showing the zoom position (momentarily after changing it), flash mode, metering mode, record mode, shutter speed, aperture, image size/quality and the number of pictures remaining.

Other onscreen indicators for: white balance, digital zoom, focus mode, image adjustment, image sharpening, ISO, exposure bracketing, lens converter, Best-shot selection (BSS) and manual focusing will be displayed when appropriate.

Shooting in Movie mode the icon that indicates the current recording mode changes to a little movie camera and "QVGA" indicates the movie resolution. The number in the lower right indicates the length of movie recording time available.

SCENE modes are pre-programmed sets of various camera settings optimized for a specific task.  Available SCENEs are: Portrait, Party/Indoor, Night Portrait, Beach/Snow, Landscape, Sunset, Night Landscape, Fireworks, CloseUp, Copy or Backlight.

Don't like any of the Scene modes?   Use the CSM (Custom) mode to roll your own - all camera settings made are kept in memory and recalled when the dial is set back to CSM.

In Manual record mode you have complete control over both the shutter speed and the aperture. While adjusting either value an analog exposure meter is displayed so you can see whether the picture will be properly exposed.

The Coolpix 880 incorporates the advanced AF Area Mode focusing system found on the D1 professional camera.   If the LCD is on and AF Area Mode focusing is active, the focusing area with the subject closest to the camera will be selected automatically.  When the shutter release is half-pressed the area that is selected is indicated by the red brackets.

You can also set the AF Area Mode to manual and select the desired focusing area using the 4-way selector switch.

To make sure that you get the best possible exposure you can enable the Exposure Bracketing option. The camera will shoot a series of five pictures and vary the exposure value slightly for each. (i.e. +2/3, +1/3, 0, -1/3, -2/3V)  This is in addition to any EV compensation value in effect.

When shooting a series of pictures for a panorama you will find the Auto Exposure Lock (AE-L) of great value. This will lock the exposure and white balance settings calculated after the first exposure is made.

The Coolpix 880 is the first Nikon camera to have the Quick Review function. No longer do you have to switch from Rec to Play to review your stored images. Just push the button and the last image recorded will be displayed in the upper left corner of the screen.

You can use the 4-way jog switch to bring up the next image in either direction just like Play mode. Pressing the button again will put you into regular Play mode where you scroll through the pictures fullscreen or zoom into them.

To return to Record mode just tap the shutter release.

The Record Menu is loaded with advanced options. The items that can be set or changed (except in mode) are:

• White balance:   Auto, Preset (manual), Fine, Incandescent,
  Flourescent 1/2/3, Cloudy, Speedlight
  (most settings have a +/- tuning adjustment)
  
  
• Exposure Metering:   Matrix, Spot, Center-Weighted, Spot-AF Area
  
  
• Continuous:   Single frame, Continuous (3 frames every 2 secs), Multi-shot 16 (takes 16 pictures in sequence and then puts them into one single image), VGA Sequence (640x480 images @2fps), Ultra HS (captures a series of 70 - 320x240 images), Movie (320x240 QuickTime movie clip up to 40 secs)
  
  
• Best-Shot Selector (BSS):   On or Off  (captures a series of images as long as shutter is pressed [up to 10], they are compared and the sharpest one is saved)
  
  
• Lens Converters:   Normal, Wide Adapter, Telephoto 1, Telephoto 2, Fisheye 1, Fisheye 2, Slide Copy Adapter (for use with the Nikon add-on wideangle, telephoto and fisheye lenses)
  
  
• Image adjustment:   Auto, Normal, More Contrast, Less Contrast, Lighten, Darken, Monochrome
  
  
• Image Sharpening:   Auto, High, Normal, Low, Off
  
  
• Image Quality:   HI (TIFF), Fine, Normal or Basic JPEG
  
  
• Image Size:   FULL (2048x1536), XGA (1024x768), VGA (640x480)
  
  
• Sensitivity:   Auto, 100, 200, 400
  
  
• Exposure options:   AE Lock, Auto Bracketing, Exp +/-
  
  
• Focus options:   AF Area Mode (Auto, Manual, Off), Auto-Focus Mode (Continuous AF, Single AF), Focus Confirmation (MF, On, Off)
  
  
• Folder options:   Change, rename or create folders
  
  
• CF Card:   Format the CF card

As noted above the Coolpix 880 has many white balance settings, most of which can be further fine-tuned by +/- 3 steps.

For the truest color possible you can use the manual Preset option and use a white card or other "target" and let the camera calibrate the white point precisely.