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Product name	Nikon P6000 Digital Camera
Manufacturer	Nikon
Price range	£400.00
Web link	http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Nikon/nikon_cpp6000.asp
Rated

Full Review

(Price range £350 to £400)

Having finally had a chance to use the new Nikon P6000 underground I thought a review was in order.

It's important to stress this is a review from the perspective of underground use, not a belts and braces photographic review going into every technical specification of the camera. DP Reviews have provided a very thorough review of the P6000 and this is linked from the bottom of this review.

First of all some comparisons are inevitable with the old Nikon 8400 which found favour with underground photographers / explorers due to its combination of sharp optics, timed shutter release (up to 10 minutes, perfect for really large chambers) or proper bulb mode, manual focus and full manual control.

Does the P6000 match or better this?

Unfortunately it doesn't.

First up, it's good points...

- 13.5MP is a lot of pixels, and that gives considerable scope to reduce the size of your shots on your computer a lot to sharpen them up if needs be.

- It's small and lightweight, quite a bit smaller than the 8400:

p6000: 107 x 65.2 x 42mm / 280g

8400: 113 x 82 x 75mm / 470g

(here is a side by side shot of the two)



- It feels tougher than the 8400 being made from anodised aluminium with a rubberised grip, and in use underground it seems easier to keep it clean. This could be at least part due to the fact that the thumbwheel controls are mounted on the body rather than recessed, so by moving these controls you don't transfer grit and mud into the camera.

- It has a nice bright 2.7" screen

- It has most of the prerequisites for underground photography; full manual control, wide angle lens 6.0-24.0mm (35mm format picture angle: 28-112mm) and a focus range from 50cm to infinity (2cm macro).

- ISO 64 and 100 appear completely noise free (it has a suprisingly small sensor so ISO 200 and above will exhibit noise and it's higher ISO settings (in my opinion irrelevant on P&S camera) are only available at a reduced image size).

And now the bad points...

- The maximum exposure time is 30 seconds, not enough for the largest chambers (this could perhaps be addressed in a firmware upgrade if Nikon saw fit, but do not buy a camera based on what a manufacturer may or may not update it with).

- The screen doesn't rotate or flip as it did on the 8400, and lying in wet mud looking at the screen does get tiresome.

- The lens is going to be very vulnerable to damage. Unlike the 8400's rugged plastic lens cap the P6000 has an iris style arrangement that opens in an intricate ballet of delicate moving parts.

- The battery life seemed very poor, Nikon quotes in the region of 240 shots, so unless my battery is defective, the less than 20 shots I got is very disappointing.

- It has a crazy proprietry RAW format, called NRW (Nikon RAW?). Given that Nikon DLSRs use NEF why another format? And to make matters worse, Nikon appear to have released the camera before suitable software originally claiming 'NRW files can only be manipulated on the camera'. It took me two hours to find, download, install and use a suitable piece of software to convert NRW to TIFF. Nikon Transfer can view them and transfer them as NRW, Capture NX can't cope with them at all (and costs more) but eventually I came across ViewNX which, in it's latest (almost undocumented on Nikon's web site) form, can open and convert them.

- For a 13.5MP camera it does have very small sensor, even smaller than true pocket P&S cameras like the Ixus range. Compared with the 8400:

P6000 Sensor size (13.5MP): 7.4 x 5.55 mm

8400 Sensor size (8MP): 8.8 x 6.6mm


And the downright irrelevant (for underground photography)...

- It has inbuilt GPS, which, in fairness, whilst irrelevant for underground photography is quite whizzy.

- It has a built-in ethernet port which makes for nice fast transfers off the camera.

Summary

All in all this camera is a little disappointing for a "flagship point and shoot" camera. It's specifications look good and with the GPS facility it has some novel features. Optically I think it is fine, but the firmware isn't particularly well thought out and the NRW format is a pain in the proverbial.

For underground use it is a compromise, on one hand you've got the good optics and high resolution, on the other you're restricted by the 30 second maximum exposure time. Similarly in terms of durability it's a mess, the body is nice and tough but the lens is very vulnerable.

For an above ground P&S camera, and despite what some of the more demanding pro and semi-pro users are saying about it in photographic forums I do rather like it.

Results

Having only used it once underground, it is probably a bit unfair to post results, it does take a while to get used to a new camera.

However here are some results from my first underground outing with it, and very much still getting to grips with it. I was also getting to grips with a WiseLED Tactical 1500 so perhaps a new camera and new torch on the same outing aren't an ideal combination.

Oddly the 'set to infinity at f2.7' approach used with the 8400 didn't seem to work, so all these were on autofocus.

To view a high resolution un-optimised JPEG rather than the resized slightly optimised versions that are stored on the web site try this: [link]



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Full technical specification from Nikon:

Effective pixels: 13.5 million

Image sensor: 1/1.7-in. CCD; total pixels: approx. 13.93 million

Lens: 4x Zoom-NIKKOR; 6.0-24.0mm (35mm [135] format picture angle: 28-112mm); f/2.7-5.9; 9 elements in 7 groups; Digital
zoom: up to 4x (35mm [135] format picture angle: 448mm)

Focus range (from lens): 50cm (1 ft. 7.7 in.) to infinity; Macro close-up mode: 2cm (0.8 in.) to infinity

Storage media: Internal memory (approx. 48 MB), SD memory cards

Image size (pixels): 4224 x 3168 (13M), 3264 x 2448 (8M), 2592 x 1944 (5M), 2048 x 1536 (3M), 1600 x 1200 (2M), 1280 x 960 (1M), 1024×768 (PC), 640 x 480 (TV), 4224 x 2816, 4224 x 2376 (16:9), 3168 x 3168 (1:1)

Vibration Reduction (VR): Lens shift VR

ISO sensitivity: ISO 64, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 2000, 3200, 6400, Auto (auto gain ISO 64-800), High ISO Sensitivity Auto (ISO 64-1600), Fixed Range Auto (ISO 64-100, 200, 400)

Interface: Hi-Speed USB

Power sources: Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL5 (supplied), AC Adapter EH-66 (supplied)

Battery life: Approx. 260 shots with EN-EL5 battery

Dimensions (WxHxD): Approx. 107 x 65.5 x 42 mm (4.2 x 2.6 x 1.7 in.) excluding projections

Weight: Approx. 240 g (8.5oz.) without battery and SD memory card

Supplied accessories*3: Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL5, AC Adapter EH-66, USB Cable UC-E6, Audio Video Cable EG-CP14, Strap AN-CP18, Software Suite CD-ROM

Optional accessories: Battery Charger MH-61, Wide-angle Converter WC-E76, Adapter Ring UR-E21, Speedlight SB-400, SB-600, SB-900

Not compatible with Multi Media Cards (MMC).

ISO 3200 and 6400 are available only for image sizes of 3M (2048 x 1536) or smaller.

Supplied accessories may differ by country or area.