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| Scaly breasted lorikeet at Taronga zoo Sydney. This picture was made with the zoom at (equivalent) 800mm and 1/30 second hand held, an amazingly slow shutter speed made possible by the excellent VR. |
Readers of this blog will be aware that I like the versatility of fixed zoom cameras. Some of them such as the B700 appear to promise an all purpose solution to a wide range of photographic requirements.
In their promotional material for the B700, Nikon says... …”Come face to face with fast moving wildlife or players on a pitch…”
This says to me that Nikon wants you to believe that the camera is suitable for photographing sports and “fast moving” wildlife.
I recently acquired one and have been putting the camera through its paces.
Here is a summary of what I regard as the camera’s best and most frustrating features.
Best features
* The concept This is a remarkably compact 60x zoom camera. It fits neatly into a Think Tank Mirrorless Mover 10 bag.
It is modestly priced.
The combination of compact dimensions and moderate price make it accessible to a wide spectrum of ordinary consumers.
The most successful cameras over the years have been those which are accessible to ordinary people of modest means.
* The lens For a compact 60x zoom the lens on the B700 does a very good job. From the wide end through to the mid zoom range it delivers commendably good definition right across the frame.
Contrast and resolution fall away somewhat towards the long end of the zoom as is usual with this type of lens but resolution is decent even at full zoom.
* Vibration reduction Nikon knows how to do effective VR and it shows in the B700. I have some decently sharp pictures made hand held at the long end of the zoom (equivalent focal length 1440 mm) at 1/100 second shutter speed.
In the middle of the zoom range (focal length equivalent 300-600mm) I have sharp pictures in the shutter speed range 1/20 to 1/60 second.
That is impressive. In fact I rate the VR as this camera’s best feature.
Of course results like this demand careful technique by the photographer and a static subject or at least one which holds still for a few seconds.
* Handle and thumb support The handle on the B700 is well shaped and carries a heavily textured surface finish for grip. The shutter button is in the optimal position directly above the inner face of the handle.
The thumb support is well shaped and substantial with a soft rubberised insert providing a secure location for the thumb.
The command dial is easily reached and operated by the right thumb.
* Easy Panorama really is easy and works very well with generally artefact free stitching even with difficult foliage type subjects.
* Manual focus works well (I assign MF to the T/W lever on the side of the lens barrel) with peaking level adjustable on the fly without having to enter a menu.
* Fully articulated monitor This is the most versatile monitor type and it works well on the B700.
* Picture quality for stills and video is generally very good especially in the lower ISO sensitivity range.
I suspect that some photographers who would never think of using a camera with the very small 6.17 x 4.55 (diagonal 7.6mm) sensor might be surprised at what it can do.
I have been making prints up to 410 x 540 actual picture size from these small sensor cameras and they look absolutely fine with no grain visible at normal viewing distance.
I have been making photographs for 63 years with various types of equipment. I rate the picture quality produced by the B700 as about equal to color negative 35mm film from an SLR with a good prime lens.
Of course the depth of focus is different but in my view sharpness, color fidelity and grain are equivalent.
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| B700 at the long end of the zoom hand held. I cleaned up some flare over the finch's beak in Photoshop |
So there is much to like about the B700
However………………there are some
Frustrating and annoying features
These range from substantial to trivial.
Unfortunately they are numerous which detracts from the pleasure of using this camera.
Starting with the most disappointing things first:
* Shot-to-shot times The B700 shares the same body and lens as its precursor, the P610.
The B700 adds RAW output for stills and 4K for video.
This requires a faster processor, particularly given the large size (31.5MB) of the RAW files.
Unfortunately this is precisely where the B700 is much less capable than it needs to be if any user is to photograph “fast moving wildlife”, or indeed anything moving at all.
I test shot to shot times as follows:
I set AF Single and Single shot drive. I point the camera at a subject on which it can easily focus then repeatedly press the shutter forcing the camera to AF, AE and live view on each shot. I use a stopwatch to time how long it takes to make 10 shots.
With RAW+JPG Fine and auto image review ON, the B700 took 20 seconds for a shot to shot time of 2 seconds.
With auto image review OFF the time dropped to 16 seconds, giving a shot to shot time of 1.6 seconds.
With image review OFF the user is presented with a blank screen for about half a second after each shot.
With JPG only and image review OFF it took 10 seconds giving a shot to shot time of 1.0 seconds.
To put these figures into perspective I ran the same tests on my little Panasonic TZ80 compact.
This camera made 10 RAW+JPGs in 4 seconds with no screen blackout. That is four times the speed of the B700.
* Continuous autofocus The B700 does not have AF-C. At all. Nada. Nothing.
It cannot follow focus on a subject moving towards or away from the camera.
This is very disappointing on a camera touted by its maker as suitable for fast moving wildlife.
The B700 does have various speeds of continuous drive but all of them fix focus and exposure on the first frame.
It also has Full time AF and Prefocus modes but these only work prior to the shot being taken.
Again using the little TZ80 compact for comparison, the TZ80 can follow focus on moving subjects at 5 fps with AF, AE and live view on each frame and approximately 90% of frames sharply in focus.
I have previously owned and used a P7800 and a P900 and found both those cameras lacking performance and desperately needing a faster processor.
Unfortunately Nikon is still failing to fix this problem.
So the technique for making still photos of moving subjects, sport, action and similar is the same as we used in the old days of manual focus.
That is to prefocus on a spot you know the runner, motorbike or whatever will pass, then press the shutter just before the subject arrives.
Unfortunately the B700 does not have AF Lock so you have to prefocus manually which is slower and in my experience less accurate than AF.
The really strange thing about this is that Nikon makes (or did make, they might have forgotten lately) the “1” series ILCs which are capable of continuous AF and follow focus at extremely high speeds, even faster than most DSLRs.
Clearly Nikon has the capability to give their mirrorless cameras super fast performance.
Yet they don’t endow their Coolpix cameras with this.
Why, Nikon ??
* Insufficient control points There is no My Menu, no Quick Menu and only 2 Function buttons.
There is only one command dial on top of the camera but there is space behind the shutter button for a Canon style command dial there also.
On many cameras the Delete button does double duty in Capture Phase as a Function button but on the B700 it sits there doing nothing.
There is plenty of space on the B700 for a more comprehensive control layout.
Unfortunately I find myself in the Main menus frequently when using the B700 just to adjust parameters which should be easily controllable via quick access portals.
For instance the active AF area can be moved about the screen. The sequence is:
Press OK > press up/down/left/right or up/down/rotate lower dial to move the AF area which is shown with a white bounding box and arrows when active.
At this point I expect to be able to change the size of the AF area with the command dial, as I can with other cameras. The dial is otherwise just sitting there doing nothing.
But no, not on the B700. The portal for changing the size of the AF area is [AF Area Mode] which you find on a completely different tab in the Shooting Menu. And to get at that you must either enter the Shooting Menu or assign the function to a Fn button.
But watch out there are only two of these.
Fortunately menu resume applies so it is reasonably easy to return to the last accessed item.
Also there is a User Settings Mode which allows the user to create two separate sets of settings with different allocations to the function buttons so in effect the camera can operate as if it has four function buttons.
Minor irritations
If a camera has but a few of these it is no big deal. Unfortunately the B700 has many.
Here in no particular order are some of them:
* Menus The B700 has a minimalist menu system. The advantage of this is there are not many
choices which must be made. The disadvantage is there are not many choices which can be made.
There are also some oddities.
VR is in the Setup menu. Why ???
Noise Reduction is on a separate tab from Picture Control. Why ??
* Displays The actual focal length is not displayed unless [Zoom Memory] has been selected.
But a) this does not work if Auto Mode is selected
b) When selected the focal length can only be changed from one set point to the next taking one pull or push on the zoom lever each time. If all the available set points are selected that is 14 actions of the zoom lever to traverse the zoom range once.
The actual ISO sensitivity is not displayed unless a fixed ISO is set.
Shots taken in portrait orientation to not auto rotate on playback or in Photoshop. Actually my notes say they do rotate when the picture was made in the Auto Mode. But now as I check this is not happening. ?????
Update: I checked this again and found some frames auto rotate and others do not, go figure…..??
There is no level gauge and no zebras.
The battery status indicator is inadequate. I changes very quickly from “full” to ‘almost empty” then ‘Empty”.
* Others
No filter threads.
No lens hood.
The EVF eyepiece is hard, rectangular and uncomfortable.
Battery charging is by USB only.
There is no hotshoe.
Auto ISO algorithms are basic with no way to have minimum shutter speed change with lens focal length. With a 60x zoom I think that is an issue which needs to be rectified.
The B700 goes some way to making up for this with its excellent VR but a more sophisticated auto ISO algorithm would be even better.
There is no way to change both aperture and shutter speed with the command dial as is normal practice on a DSLR.
On the B700, the command dial changes aperture and the multi selector dial changes shutter speed (or the reverse).
I find this irritating. I learn to drive a camera by muscle memory. If my memory says the command dial is the place to go to control primary exposure parameters it is disruptive to have to remember to go somewhere else for one of them.
You have to re-set the timer for every shot !!! I find this extremely irritating and routinely forget when I am working from the tripod.
Moving AF area This is easy enough to move but only one click of the multi selector at a time.
There is no [return to center] button. You have to click-click-click-click to get the AF area back to the center.
There is no [return to default size] function when the AF area is active. As described above you have to go to the separate [AF Area Mode].
RAW files display with uncorrected distortion in Bridge, Photoshop and Adobe Camera Raw. Each has to be corrected manually.
By the way the RAWs have a field of view about 10% linear larger than the JPGs.
Playback I have not been able to find a way to scroll from one enlarged image to the next.
The only way I can discover to get from one image to the next in playback is to press the OK button to resume [fit on screen] size, then scroll with the multi selector.
I find this extremely irritating if, for instance I want to review a series of frames of the same subject
such as a person, and want to pick the best one.
Summary
Nikon has done a very good job with the basic bones of this camera. It is very compact and comfortable to hold. It has a very good lens with excellent vibration reduction. Image quality is good. It has some well implemented features such as easy panorama and manual focusing. Single autofocus is commendably reliable and accurate.
The camera is decently competent indoors with or without flash
It makes good quality video.
As a stills camera it works very well for a wide variety of subjects as long as they hold still for a few seconds at least.
For my usage the main disappointments of the B700 are the same ones I found with the P900 and the P7800 before that.
These are slow shot to shot times and inability to follow focus effectively on subjects moving towards or away from the camera.
In addition there are numerous quirks and foibles in the operating system each of which is perhaps minor but in sum they diminish my enjoyment of using the camera.
I find the B700 a more appealing model than the P900. It is more compact, has RAW output and a more useful focal length range.
With a faster processor and better implemented ergonomics Nikon could have made the B700 a category killer model.
As it stands the B700 seems to me like a half finished project.
There are so many impediments to smooth operation in the P,S,A,M modes that I usually just set the green [Auto] mode or P Mode and let the camera do its automatic thing.
This mostly works out quite well and often produces a good result.
Suggestions for Nikon’s product development people
The Coolpix series desperately needs
1. A seriously fast processor. Other Nikon cameras have one. Why is the Coolpix line being starved of speed ?
Are they worried that users will give up their DSLRs in favour of bridge cameras ?
Why would they care as long as the customers are buying a Nikon ?
It’s a mystery.
2. The capacity to follow focus on moving subjects.
Panasonic has DFD, Sony has on chip PDAF and Nikon has on chip PDAF in the “1” series and the as-yet-unseen and often delayed DL series compacts.
Why not the Coolpix ??
3. The entire operating system needs a very big refresh and re-alignment with the performance potential of a modern digital camera. It needs to appeal to the expert/enthusiast user.
Nikon needs to grasp the idea that expert/enthusiasts want to use bridge cameras, as well as or instead of DSLRs.
Sony and Panasonic are running rings around Canon and Nikon with speed and capability in the fixed zoom category.
Nikon appears to have an edge over the competition with regard to lens quality, VR and to some extent picture quality but I doubt that will last forever.