Nikon Coolpix 8700 Digital camera [8MP , 8x Optical]

Beth, my wife, has a 5700 which I bought for her at Christmas, the quality as you would expect is the same at 5megapix as the 8700. My reason for choosing the 8700 was the Scene mode, when I stopped using my Nikon SLR due to its size, I bought a Canon Z135 which had a scene mode and I used all the time.

The real benefit of the 8700 scene mode is that stuff like white balance, colour saturation and metering method are set up, this is the sort of detail you tend to ignore when photographing sunsets or snow scenes etc. The Scene menu is much, much easier to use on the 8700 that I expected, all 12 modes are available through the viewfinder, control panel or monitor without the need to access menus, I found the menus on the 5000 so cumbersome I just set up the main options I use, like spot metering etc on the 3 custom settings, I had to remember which was which, but it worked OK

The 8700 (and 5700) works much more like a SLR than a compact. If you don’t want to use interchangeable lenses, I would suggest there is little reason for choosing a digital SLR. The quality and range of the 8x optical zoom lens is all, most photographers could desire. The 8700 doesn’t require the cleaning of the CCD that the SLR digital need.

The camera is nice and light, but heavy enough to hold steadily, a problem with smaller compacts. It’s too large to slip into a pocket, so the Nikon 4200 or similar would probably be more suitable albeit with some drop in quality from the optics and less functionality.

The colour quality looks exceptional, there appears to be no noticeable purple fringing which is supposed to be a problem with the other 6 and 8 megapix cameras. It is slightly visible on the edge of bright white when the maximum zoom is used on the computer, this equates to a print of around 10 by 8 FEET.

The 8700 is a ‘snugger’ fit in the Nikon case than the 5700, due to the ‘extra bit’ on the monitor, but it’s not a problem, the case soon eases.

Just a few words of caution. There are two methods of transferring pictures to a computer, PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol) or Mass Storage. The default is Mass Storage as it works with all Windows versions since 98 whereas PTP only works with XP. There was no way my XP professional would work on Mass Storage, it kept returning “CF card not present or installed incorrectly” message. The card was clearly storing pictures OK though. The warning wasn’t clear as to why it wouldn’t transfer so I reformatted the CF card and reseated it several times before switching to PTP and away it went. For new users of Nikon digital, there doesn’t appear to be a version of Fotostation with the new software which is a shame, it can be bought separately but Nikon View 6 or Photoshop are both included to manage the pictures. Installing the new version of Nikon View didn’t interfere with Fotostation and readily acknowledged it. There is a small colour problem with RAW image and Nikon View 6 for which there is a downloadable fix, my 8700 came with the upgraded version. I love Scene mode, but find Portrait option too soft.

In summary, anyone thinking of moving to digital who demands high quality won’t be disappointed in any way with the 8700 (or 5700 if you don’t need 8mpix or Scene mode).