Nikon Coolpix P80 - Expert Reviews

Review summary: Nikon's Coolpix P80 combines a 10-megapixel sensor with an 18x 'superzoom' lens that offers wide-angle shooting at the equivalent of 27mm in 35mm format. The overall zoom range (which extends to the equivalent of 486mm) provides a useful span of focal ...

Verdict: The zoom lens on the review camera moved smoothly - and not too fast - providing a better level of precision than we've seen in some superzoom models. With brightly-lit subjects, autofocusing was fast and usually accurate, with little evidence of ...

Review summary: THE P80 isn't as fast as many other advanced cameras, but the images it captures are rich and sharp.

Pros: Great lens, sharp pictures

Cons: Slow to use, high ISOs relatively useless

Verdict: The P80 from Nikon is an advanced camera with a very capable zoom lens. It's not as fast as the majority of other advanced cameras we've looked at, but the images it captures are rich and sharp.

Review summary: The Nikon Coolpix P80 establishes itself as a basically sound ultrazoom - if not the runaway champion in its class that we'd initially hoped for.

Pros: Excellent lens focal range ; Good shutter lag ; Good image quality, color ; Stabilized

Cons: AF acquisition times a bit slow at best

Verdict: has left out the pokey shutter of the 8800. Several weeks have passed and the P80 has been exposed to a more extensive shooting profile - has it been able to sustain those initial high hopes? Read on and find out

Review summary: The latest 18x bridge is unfortunately not the best. While the P80 produces image quality that is more or less equivalant to its rivals, it is handicapped by its lack of reactivity.

Pros: - Compact and stabilized 18x zoom, - Quality LCD screen, - Interesting 1 cm macro mode, - Rather fast zoom, - Numerous scene modes

Cons: - Slow autofocus even in good lighting conditions, - Too much smoothing of détails starting at 200 ISO, - No Raw format, - Overall, not a very fast camera, - Average quality video with no optical zoom

Pros: Great lens, sharp pictures

Cons: Slow to use, high ISOs relatively useless

Verdict: The P80 from Nikon is an advanced camera with a very capable zoom lens. It's not as fast as the majority of other advanced cameras we've looked at, but the images it captures are rich and sharp.