Customer Reviews

Nikon Coolpix P6000 13.5MP Digital Camera with 4x Wide Angle Optical Vibration Reduction (VR) Zoom

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I'm a Nikon enthusiast. I own two professional digital SLR bodies and several lenses, but I wanted something small to carry around when I didn't want to lug a big SLR around. You know, night on the town or anywhere where a big camera would attract too much unwanted attention. So when Nikon announced a point and shoot (P&S) camera that supported a RAW file format, I was immediately interested. When I heard about all the other bells and whistles on this P&S, I was determine to get one. So does it live up to all the hype? Let begin with what I liked.

THE GOOD

13.5 Megapixel RAW files - Yep, it's even got a higher pixel count than my D300 and depending on the settings I can get some great enlargements or a lot of flexibility to crop. With RAW files, there's more latitude for post-processing adjustments.

Fully Automatic or Manual - Just like its bigger brothers, the P6000 has Programmed Auto, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority or Full Manual modes. A large selection dial on top of the camera selects the mode. The command dial near your thumb controls the selection of speed, aperture or both in manual or programmed modes. It also has specific scene modes just like Nikon's other P&S cameras.

Two User Modes - After you've customized the settings to what you like, you can save them to one of two user modes to recall anytime by just selecting U1 or U2 on the mode dial. Pretty handy.

Auto or Manual Focus - Yes, manual focus on a P&S. Select the macro/MF button and put the camera into manual focus mode and you have even more control. Another to the left of the screen activates a close up section of the screen--apparently to help focus--and also allows the same command dial that control everything else to also focus the lens. It sounds good in theory, but more about that later. Auto focus is probably easier and does a good job.

Facial Recognition - Select Face Recognition for focus mode and the camera will find the faces in the image shown on the screen and put a square yellow box around each face. A half-press of the shutter and the box changes to green to indicate it's in focus. The caveat here is that the entire face must be visible for the camera to recognize it. If your subject has their face slightly turned, it won't see it.

Geotagging - This is Nikon's first foray into the GPS arena and when it does work, it works well. It's not as quick in acquiring a position as the one I use on my SLR, but because it's built-in, it's always available and convenient. When you use it with good software or upload your pictures to Flickr, it proves to be very accurate. Great if you do location scouting or if you're just getting old like me and having a harder time remembering where you took a picture.

VR (Vibration Reduction) - By default the VR mode is on. I can't see any reason to turn it off. Even when mounted on a tripod, it works fine and causes no problems. Of course, I haven't tried a long time exposure yet and that's usually where VR gives me problems on my bigger cameras.

Optical Viewfinder - This is a rarity in this day and age, but I like to have this option when I really want to be discreet and not even have the viewfinder screen turn on. It zooms with the lens but only shows about 80% of the actual image.

Decent Movie Mode - It's only TV quality and not HD, but it works for those few times I would want to record a short video. I captures the sound and allows you to zoom the lens during the movie, unlike some cameras.

Ergonomic Design - The camera has enough size and weight to be substantial but not too much to be difficult to carry around. Granted, it probably won't fit into your shirt pocket, but it can certainly fit in places your big SLR won't. The camera has a magnesium front and rubberized grip and feels like a bigger camera. The buttons are, for the most part, in logical places and the layout will seem familiar to Nikon SLR owners. The one thing that I had to get used to was the zoom control. On the P6000 it's in the same place that the power control is on Nikon SLR's.

Flash i-TTL Hot Shoe - You can use your big flash on this little camera. When I mount the SB-800 on this camera, it dwarfs the camera itself. I think the SB-400 would be ideal if you need more flash power than the built-in flash provides, but for most situation, I think the built-in is more than sufficient.

4X Zoom ED Lens - Equivalent to a 28-112mm in 35mm format. It's more than enough for most needs. If I need more than than, I'll grab my SLR. The two ED elements do a good job of correcting chromatic aberrations.

Lens Accessories - There's a screw ring that allows a 0.75X wide-angle adapter to be used, making the effective focal length about 21mm.

THE BAD

Distortion - At the widest zoom, there is a lot of barrel distortion. You'll especially notice it when taking pictures of building or anything that has parallel lines in the image. At the telephoto end of the zoom there is just a slight amount of pincushioning. Nikon must have been aware of this issue since they've included a menu option for Distortion Control. It works, but there are limitations which I mention further in this review. At the widest zoom, there is a fair amount of image softness in the corners which I would expect in a P&S.

Noise - Even though Nikon advertises that this camera goes from ISO 64 to 6400, The usable range is effectively 100-400. ISO 64 is just too slow unless you have a tripod. Everything above ISO 400 produces too much noise. Even at ISO 800, the number of artifacts in the image starts to get distracting. At ISO 3200 and 6400, the camera automatically reduces the resolution to 3 megapixels. So you end up with a photo that's grainy from both the noise and the small resolution. In other words, barely usable. I can't really think of a situation where I would want that.

Horrible Software and Mac Support - This is usually Nikon's downfall. There software is so bad, it's not even usable. As a matter of fact, I can't even use the latest ViewNX software that the installation program downloads from Nikon. Every time I try to view my images, it crashes on my Mac. The RAW format is a new Nikon proprietary format: NRW, and it only seems to work natively on Windows Vista machines. To use it on my Mac, I need to convert them using Lightroom or ViewNX...which, of course, doesn't work. I'll need to wait until Apple releases Aperture NRW support so I can use my normal workflow.

Poor Battery Life - The P6000 is using battery technology developed nearly 4 years ago. It's the same battery that my old 3700 P&S used: the EN-EL5. Good for maybe 250 shots if you don't use the flash much and turn off the GPS. With the GPS on, and updating only every 5 minutes, the battery life can be measured in hours since the GPS updates even when the camera is turned off. With all the bells and whistles this camera has, you would think they would come up with better battery technology. A spare is essential.

GPS Acquisition - It takes a long time to acquire the satellites when you first get to an area and turn on the GPS. In an open area, it took over 5 minutes to first acquire. Thereafter, it still sometimes took up to 2 minutes to get a good signal. If you're inside or amongst trees or buildings, it may take even longer and even then, it may only get three good satellite fixes which means your altitude measurement may be less than accurate.

Features Disabled in RAW mode - Talk about bait and switch. If you use RAW mode, many of the image adjustment features are disabled. True, you would probably do most of the adjustments in post-processing, but if the Nikon software doesn't work, how do I correct the barrel distortion since the Distortion Control is disable? Active D-lighting isn't a great loss, nor is the ISO 3200 and 6400 settings that won't work in RAW mode, but Auto Bracketing is a nice feature to lose. They don't tell you this in any of the advertising or on most of the trade sites.

THE QUESTIONABLE

Popup Flash - I'm not sure why Nikon did this. There was plenty of room to have the flash flush with the front. In the fully automatic mode, I would expect the flash to pop up and fire if needed, but that doesn't happen. You have to manually pop up the flash if you want flash. Some people may like this feature as an easy way to disable the flash, which then begs the question: why is there a disable option in the flash menu?

Built-in LAN - Sounds like great idea until you realize that it's wired Ethernet and it only connects to Nikon's Picturetown service. Pretty much useless if you're using wireless like most people.

2.7 inch Screen - There was room for a 3 inch screen but Nikon opted to use the smaller screen when everybody else is maxing out screen sizes.

No Battery Charger - With such poor battery performance, you'll need an extra battery. But how to charge it? You only get an AC adapter with the camera which forces you to charge the battery IN the camera. Which means you're tethered to a wall outlet until you charge two or more batteries. Add the separate MH-61 battery charger to your shopping list.

Remote Control - You can use an infrared remote to trigger the camera. Why didn't they include it with the camera though? Minor, but annoying point. (I have the infrared remote from a previous camera, but most people will not and I always find it annoying when companies make you pay extra for these little things.)

SUMMARY

As a point and shoot camera, the P6000 is very good. It takes excellent pictures that you would typically use a P&S for. But for those occasions when you want to do a little more, and you would think with all the features of this camera, it's not an unreasonable expectation that it should do a much better job. Unfortunately, even all the features have limitations if you choose to use the NRW format. And forget about making it work on your Mac.

After looking at this and the Canon G10, I'm tempted to return the P6000 and get the Canon. It's priced competitively and has many of the same problems but at least it works on my Mac. But then, I'd have to give up the GPS.

Should you buy one? That depends. Do you really need 13.5 megapixel RAW images? Do you need the GPS feature? Can you live with poor battery performance and the need for a charger and extra batteries? Are you willing to spend $550 for the camera and necessary accessories? If so, you might consider the P6000. You might also want to consider a D40 or D40x. But if these features are a mystery to you, you'd be better off with a much cheaper camera without all the extra features. Any of the Nikon S-series P&S cameras or the Panasonics would do the job splendidly.

I just got this camera yesterday evening and have had time to play with just about all the main features. I also own a Canon PowerShot G9 so I find myself comparing the two all the time. With that said, I wasn't expecting anything with ultra low noise. The G9 noise levels are unacceptable (in my opinion) at any ISO setting over 200. Having come from this same type of CCD, I wasn't expecting miracles so I'm not disappointed. If anything, I think the noise is on par or a little less noticeable on the P6000 than it is on the G9. That was a surprise considering that the P6000 is packing in more pixels on the same sized CCD. Here's my summary:

Noise = not great, but not bad at all as long as you stay ISO 200 or lower. If you go up to 400 and above, plan on using noise reduction software.

Optics = not tack sharp like you can get out of a dSLR, but, again, not bad. It reminds me of a good mid-range P&S camera in terms of optics. I think the G9 might be a little better here.

GPS = great! I really love this. Two words of warning: it eats the battery quickly and it takes a while to lock on to the GPS signal (especially if you are in a city like Chicago). Once it's locked on, the GPS coordinates are pretty accurate.

Speed = Good. I found the camera responsive. No speed demon, but shutter lag isn't a problem and all the camera functions are fairly snappy.

Mac Compatible = 50/50. It's terrible if you're expecting native Mac support from Nikon on it's new RAW format. It's great if you're just shooting JPG images. I only use a Mac, but third-party solutions are already available to let you process the RAW files on your Mac. Lightroom 2.1 is compatible with the new format and so is Adobe's Camera RAW 4.6 plugin for Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. I've been shooting almost exclusively with RAW and happily processing them on my Mac with no problems at all.

Size = GREAT! I love the size. It's just about the same physical size as the G9, but it's twice as light. It's much easier to take this camera long and stuff it into a loose pocket. You almost don't know it's there. Anything smaller would have been too small.

Vibration Reduction = a must have. It really works well, especially in lower light settings.

You'll enjoy this camera if you want a high-quality compact camera that has GPS, RAW and great creative control. It is a nice camera to take along with you when you just don't feel like pulling out the dSLR, but don't expect it to be a dSLR replacement because it's not. I'm quite happy with it and look forward to using it more and more.

Well, this is an early review (more as I run the camera through its paces), but I must reply to the review by TGre. If you want EVERYTHING found in a D-SLR, then you need to buy a D-SLR. I own a D300 and use it professionally. However, I needed a camera that I carry with me at all times and that packed as many features as possible. This camera certainly seems to be it! I still can't believe that this little beauty packs 13.5 megapixels, raw camera mode, aperture and shutter priority, and vibration reduction. My preliminary photos with the P6000 are sharp, vibrant, and solid in color rendition. I am impressed. As for not being able to see the zoom through the viewfinder, I don't get that at all. The wide-angle and zoom functions are clearly viewable. Maybe TGre was referring to an accessory zoom lens. Again, if you want an SLR, go out and buy one, don't expect a small package like the P6000, at a very reasonable price, to replace high-end professional cameras in every respect.

The Nikon Coolpix P6000 is a great camera. I have two Pentax k-1000's, Nikon 808, Nikon D-100 and now this! I had an accident In Jan 06' and since then i haven't been able to work professionally as my d-100 was too heavy for me to carry on my shoulder and hold. I'd been discouraged with so many light weight cameras out there, too much noise, light sensors were horrible and the list went on and on. So finally this came out and still looking after two years i found this one. I was skeptical at first and turned off, since amateur photographers rave about the digital little point and shoots and even their cell phone cameras for that matter! But i decided to give it a try. Within a week i had shot over 500 pics and now have my true love for photography back. I love the fact it has a manual focus, which really works and shows your depth of field. The colors are awesome and even has settings you can set yourself to increase your contrast and tonality. Depending on if you are inside or outside the iso's matter. Shooting above 800 iso w/o a flash, you will start to see some noise. WIth flash, obviously that is eliminated. Now i know for the pros, flash is always a huge reluctance, but ahhhh with this camera you can turn down the flash to use it as a fill light or increase it for a more dramatic affect. You can shoot in black & white, sepia, and blue (can't remember the technical term), plus you can change the saturation on these as well, and or the contrast. I love the wide angle, and was even surprised by the digital zoom! Most digital zooms are worthless, but this looks pretty good and is useful. The light sensor is great for reading available lighting and you have the option of changing your white balance and even customizing one of the WB settings. For a little camera you have lots of control with how YOU want your photo to look like. I am absolutely impressed!

I am a big fan of Nikon and before buying this P&S, I got a D90 which is really phenomenal.
I did not have much time yet to review in details the performance of the P6000 but I want to share the first impressions I had from using it indoors for the past 3 days.

I must admit the performance of this camera is extremely disappointing
- Slow Focus
- Slow file saving on the memory card when selecting fine+raw
- Very slow continuous shooting
- You need to wait 5 seconds for the flash to be ready!!! This can completely ruin the picture you want to take! You cannot ask people to stand still for 5 long seconds to take a spontaneous picture. Nikon must absolutely do something about this.

After years of developments in cameras, this is simply not acceptable.

I had read on the web that P6000 is not as fast as the canon G10 but I would never have imagined I would be so much disappointed.

So think twice before buying this item if performance matters to you.
Should you have suggestions for me, please do so and I will update this review accordingly.

PS : I will update this review with more details in the coming weeks when I test the camera a bit more in other contidions (outdoors, etc). I am sure it has many pluses...

Once again Nikon goes all out with the latest edition of the P series point and shoot cameras. The Coolpix P6000 is the newest addition to the P series family, replacing last year's P5100. Loaded with onboard GPS, ethernet connection, VR(Optical Vibration Reduction),13.5 Mpegs, D Lighting and wireless flash, the P6000 finally brings to the table Vista compatible raw format.

Even though wireless flash has been around for a couple of years now and most notably on Olympus systems, it is still rather uncommon in point and shoot systems. As far as external lighting support goes, the P6000 operates with a single external speedlight. I am not totally sold on the wired ethernet connection but Nikon is betting that somewhere out there, someone may have the need to connect the camera to a router.

Like all point and shoots, the Coolpix P6000 does have limited flash capability. For those insistent on shooting in auto mode in low light situations, the noise gremlins are indeed going to be noticeable due to a higher preset ISO. To alleviate that scenario I suggest that if auto is the preference, try shooting in a programmed auto mode. This will at least give the photographer options to work with.

Unlike earlier models in the P series line, Nikon opens new doors with the NRW raw format. NRW is compatible with Vista's Windows Imaging Component codec API whereas NEF format is not. NRW format allows using raw files more transparent under the Windows umbrella. Simply put, the operating system does the format transcoding rather than the application. So much for scratching your head wondering about application support. This is a sweet bonus for amateur photographers trying to go the extra distance in achieving quality photographs. For NEF format and Nikon Capture junkies (Raw Processing Software) no worries. With all the dollars sunk into Capture software Nikon is not going to abandon NEF format anytime soon. Not as long as it remains a bankable money cow at least.

Of note, the P6000 utilizes a 1/1.7-inch 13.5-megapixel CCD that supports sensitivities up to ISO 3200 at full resolution. A 4x 28-112mm optically stabilized lens does an all around sweet job. The well lit, wide view 2.7-inch LCD is standard. Taking a page from its family of DSLRs Nikon incorporates the Picture Control settings feature. Manual and semi PASM shooting modes remain the same.

The onboard GPS worked well with no hiccups and is a sweet addition for allowing the user to immediately id shooting locations. Similar to its predecessor the Coolpix P5100, I still encountered a sluggish feel in between shots. Other then that, the P6000 operated smoothly in transition and delivered some great shots. As with all new digital cameras it comes down to memory card speed and quality batteries. I highly recommend SDHC cards and rechargeable batteries.

Novice camera owners should remember that like all point and shoot cameras, the Nikon P6000 will only go so far. It is by no means a DSLR and does have limitations. Point and shoots are all about convenience. Overall, I remain quite impressed with the Nikon Coolpix P6000.

After reading all the other reviews I couldn't help but laugh....what did you guys think this camera was going to be? For those of you not old enough to remember, I can assure you that back in the Nikon F days of the late 60's & early 70's the 35mm rangerfinders were a compromise vs the SLR's too! That what this camera is, a compromise between a DSLR and a DP&S (glorified digital instamatic).

This is actually the first digital P&S camera I have ever owned, but have in the past owned a D-70 and currently have a D-200 with the extra battery pack and many Nikon lenses including the 300 2.8 (which weighs a ton.

But I needed a very small HQ camera that would fit in my pocket, give some of the creative control I wanted, be durable and most of all be one 20th the weight of my other camera gear so I would carry it with me all the time and the P6000 has filled that need.

In the last week and a half, I have given this little camera a great workout and tried every conrol feature, every image quality feature, time lapse, GPS & more and have had better than good results in many different modes and conditions leading me to say I am more than happy with this camera because I didn't expect too much and judged it on it's own merits.

It will require a bit tweaking to get the image you want but it is well worth it in the end and that is one part of photography I have always liked the best, playing around with the equipment until I get the results I want!

I agree the GPS is semi useless inside a building and the battery life could be better but overall I like this little camera and really enjoy having it with me at all times to capture life's unexpected moments.

Despite several somewhat negative reviews I found on the Internet I decided to buy a P6000 and I do not regret it at all. If you are looking for a point and shot camera that feels professional this is the right camera for you. I have done amateur photography with SLR and now with DSLR (I own a D40X) but I needed a smaller camera that I can easily carry with me with most of the DSLR features (you know, you want to feel in control of the camera rather than the camera in control of you). I was looking around and tempted to get Lumix DCM LX3, I went to the store, play with Lumix and Canon and I decided to get the P6000. So far it has performed very well, the camera was designed for those who are used to manipulate a DSLR, it feels professional, much more than the Lumix does. Besides all the features that you can find in other reviews I wanted to add 10 that I found extremely good:
1. 1:1 format (square) photograph format. I know you can crop images later but I found this format good to play with
2. Monochrome filters
3. BSS (Best shot selector)
4. Multi-shot 16. This is a very cool feature that takes 16 consecutive shots and groups them in one single image.
5. Auto bracketing (not even my D40x has most of this features) with several exposure options
6. Face priority focus mode
7. Wide Angle Converter. It works great and if you compare it with its competitors no one offers this wide-angle (21mm for 35 format). If you take photographs of interior spaces and architecture in general you will like this feature. The distortion control minimizes the barrel distortion effectively.
8. Viewing pictures by date
9. Voice Memo for each of your photos (you can attach a 20sec memo) and voice recorder!
10. My Menu. Customized menu access on the back by the screen.

This camera is a very fun camera with a lot of features and with the feeling of a professional one. Very well constructed and with an intuitive interface (especially if you have worked with Nikon before) You can be in control of everything and you can place it in your pocket too!
As I mentioned before, I do not regret obtaining this camera but the opposite. I have a Mac and it works perfectly, the 1.1 firmware version is compatible with Macs. It is a very good point and shot camera, the more I play with it the more I like it.

The camera is very good as a point and shoot camera. The camera handles well and outdoors the camera generates great pictures. Indoors the images can be noisy and the flash is weak and a bit akward to operate. A higher ISO there is noticeable noise in the images. I have also owned a Canon G9 and the canon has better noise handling than the Nikon.

The camera comes with build-in GPS for geo-tagging of images. The performance of the GPS unit is terrible. The time to get a fix is LONG and the GPS only operates in areas with few to no buildings. In urban settings the performance is weak and well below what you experience with other GPS units.

Finally the battery performance is poor in comparison to Canon.

If you are an outdoor photographer that takes most of your pictures away from the city and you have a spare battery it could be a great choice. For urban geotagged images choose something else.

I'm an advanced amateur that wanted something better and more versatile than my Canon A640. After reading numerous reviews comparing the new Canon G10 and the Nikon P6000 I was convinced the Canon G10 was the right choice, then went into a local camera store to compare the two. The Nikon falls into my hand better than the Canon, is lighter and smaller, has a sturdy metal case and the photo quality is indistinguishable from the Canon's. With a few minor exceptions, I prefer the Nikon over the Canon. The P6000's controls and menus are very intuitive and easy to use. Photo quality is outstanding. This Nikon provides a great zoom and powerful internal flash.

Nikon customer support is outstanding. I had difficulty upgrading the firmware, phoned Nikon Support, was in contact with a rep within 5 minutes and my problem was resolved within 20 minutes from the time I called.

Trust your own judgement. If you're searching for a versatile, sturdy, and pocketable camera you won't be disappointed with the Nikon P6000.