Nikon Coolpix 8800 Review

This is a typical screen view when in Program AE mode. The same information is displayed on the EVF or color LCD display. The zoom lens indicator is displayed for several seconds whenever the focal length is changed.

The Coolpix 8800 uses a 9-area AF system that can automatically select the focus area (default) or you can manually select a focus area using the 4-way selector. The AF point turns red when active. Instead of using LED indicators located next to the viewfinder, the Coolpix 8800 puts these indicators on the screen itself. The "SB" icon indicates the condition of the speedlight and the "AF" icon indicates the auto focus status.

In Manual record mode the user has full control of both the shutter speed and aperture. To assist you in getting the exposure correct there is an onscreen metering display. Change the shutter speed or aperture until you get the center box lit to insure proper exposure.

In Shutter speed priority, you select the desired shutter speed to freeze rapid action or to blur movement and the camera selects the proper aperture.

Or use Aperture priority to increase or decrease the depth of field (range of focus), you select the aperture and the camera picks the appropriate shutter speed.

You can also enable the live Histogram by pressing the DISPlay button located on the back. This displays the distribution of light, colors, etc. in an image (can only be used in P, S, or A modes and cannot be used with AE lock.)

The user can manually select one of nine AF points if desired or the camera can automatically select it based on scene content.

Pressing the Quick Review button brings the last picture captured up onscreen in the upper left hand corner of the screen. Press the Quick Review button again and it is displayed full screen. You can quickly go back to record mode by tapping the shutter release at any time.

The Scene Mode options are: Portrait, Party/Indoor, Night portrait, Beach/Snow, Landscape, Dusk/Dawn, Night landscape, Museum, Fireworks show, Close up, Copy, Back light, Panorama assist, Sports, and Sunset.

As with all Coolpix cameras, the 8800 features exceptional macro closeup coverage down to an amazing 1.2 inches from the lens.

In addition to still images the Coolpix 8800 can record motion video sequences as follows: TV movie (640 x 480 pixels) with audio at 30 fps; up to 60 seconds, or Small movie (320 x 240 pixels) with audio at 15 fps; up to 895 seconds, Time-lapse movie (640 x 480 pixels) at 30 fps; up to 35 seconds, Sepia movie (320 x 240 pixels) with audio at 15 fps; up to 895 seconds or B/W movie (320 x 240) with audio at 15 fps; up to 895 seconds. The optical zoom can not be used while recording movies but you can use the digital zoom.

Here is the My Menu screen, which is the shortcut menu that appears when you press the Menu button. This allows you to quickly change camera settings.

You can also customize this menu (shown above.) You can choose from white balance, metering, continuous, BSS, image adjustment, saturation control and user settings.

Page 1 of the Shooting Menu:

White balance - Auto, Preset, Fine, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Cloudy, Speedlight or Shade (at settings other than Auto or Preset the white balance can be "fine tuned" +/-3 steps)

Metering - Matrix, Spot, Center-weighted averaging or Spot AF Area

Continuous - Choose the drive mode (Single, Continuous H, Continuous L, Multi-shot 16, Ultra HS, 5 shot buffer, and Interval Timer Shooting)

BSS - Best Shot Selector (up to 10 images are captured and only the "best" one is saved)

Image Adjustment - Auto, Normal, More Contrast, Less Contrast or Darken

Saturation Control - Maximum, Enhanced, Normal, Moderate, Minimum, B&W

User Setting - Select Custom 1 or Custom 2 settings

Page 2 of the Shooting Menu:

Image mode - Choose the image size and quality settings

Sensitivity - Auto, 50, 100, 200, 400

Image Sharpening - Auto, High, Normal, Low, Off

Lens - Auxiliary lens settings for Wide angle, Fisheye or Telephoto adapters

Exposure Options - AE Lock, Set maximum Bulb duration

Focus Options - AF Area Mode, AF Mode (Continuous or Single), Focus Confirmation

Zoom Options - Enable/disable digital zoom, enable/disable fixed aperture, set zoom speed

Page 3 of the Shooting Menu:

VR mode - Choose VR (Vibration Reduction) setting (Normal, Active)

Speedlight Options - Auto/manual popup, flash exp. compensation, internal and external speedlight control

Auto Bracketing - Set the step value and the number of frames for the AEB or enable white balance bracketing

Noise Reduction - Enable noise reduction for exposures longer than 1/30 sec

Reset All - Reset all parameters to default values.

My Menu - Configure the items displayed on My Menu screen

CF Card Format - Format the CF card