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Gadgets Nikon Introduces a Plethora of New Cameras
Shane McGlaun (Blog) - August 7, 2008 1:19 PM

31 comment(s) - last by Oregonian2.. on Aug 11 at 2:06 PM

Nikon Coolpix P6000

Nikon Coolpix S60

Nikon introduces Coolpix camera with built-in GPS

Nikon has announced several new digital cameras in its Coolpix point-and-shoot line. The first of the new cameras is the Coolpix P6000 -- Nikon's first camera with built-in GPS. The P6000 has 13.5-megapixel resolution and uses a wide-angle 4x zoom NIKKOR lens with 2 ED glass elements. Nikon integrates its EXPEED image-processing system into the camera along with RAW support.

Another interesting feature of the P6000 is a built-in Ethernet connector that allows direct uploading from the camera to Nikon's online My Picturetown service. The rear LCD for the camera is 2.7-inches and three technologies are built-in to get clear images. The technology for clear images includes Vibration reduction, Lens-shift Vibration Reduction, and Best Shot Selector. Best Shot Selector allows the camera to shoot up to 10 sequential shots and save the sharpest image.

Nikon also announced the Coolpix S60 featuring a 10-megapixel sensor and a 5x optical zoom lens. The S60 also features Vibration reduction and other advanced features including Scene Auto Selector, Face Recognition, Smile Timer with blink detection, in-camera retouch, and the ability to record time-lapse movies. The S60 also features HDMI out for viewing images on a big screen and in-camera image retouching. The S60 will go on sale at the end of September for €349 or about $536 USD.

The next new Coolpix camera is the S610/S610c. The difference between these two cameras is that the S610C has built-in Wi-Fi connectivity. The cameras have a resolution of 10-megapixels and according to Nikon, they both have the world's fastest start-up time for the class -- though Nikon doesn’t specify how fast the cameras can start up. The pair also has a 4x wide-angle optical zoom, Scene Auto Selector, Smile Mode, and a 3-inch LCD. The S610C is also hailed as the first compact camera to take advantage of Wi-Fi Protected Setup. The S610 will be available on August 29 for €299 or about $462 USD.

The Coolpix S710 has 14.5-megapixels and a 3.6x optical zoom. Four anti-blur features -- including lens-shift Vibration Reduction, up to ISO 12800, Best Shot Selector and Motion detection -- help keep images sharp. Availability for the S710 will be mid-September for €329 or about $505 USD.

The final new Coolpix camera is the S560 featuring 10-megapixles, 5x optical zoom and a 2.7-inch LCD. The camera features Scene Auto Selector, Blink Warning, and Smile Mode. The S560 will be available in late August for €249 or about $382 USD.

In July, Nikon announced its latest high-end DSLR camera called the D700 retailing for $3,000 for the body only.

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????

By foxtrot9 on 8/7/2008 2:06:24 PM , Rating: 3

I don't really get it...why do you need a GPS in your camera? I understand the phone + camera + music player + GPS thing (to make a single product for lots of things you may need) but seems like an obscure pairing to have camera + GPS with nothing else.

RE: ????

By ATC on 8/7/2008 2:44:18 PM , Rating: 5

Geo-tagging pictures is becoming very popular. In the past, one had to use a separate GPS to note the lat and long of where the picture was taken but then companies, such as Sony, started selling these little addons that tag position info into the exif data but it was a hassle as it usually was a dongle of some sort that attaches to the camera. The next logical step is this, what Nikon is doing now. I guarantee you that this will be standard on mid-to-high-end cameras by next year.

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RE: ????

By foxtrot9 on 8/7/2008 3:46:18 PM , Rating: 2

Ok that actually makes a lot of sense - I just figured it was a regular GPS (with map and directions) not actually part of the photo functions.

Good idea.

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RE: ????

By foxtrot9 on 8/7/2008 3:47:23 PM , Rating: 2

Oh and thanks for clearing that up

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RE: ????

By PointlesS on 8/7/2008 2:46:10 PM , Rating: 2

person 1: "where are we?"

person 2: "I don't know...let me get my camera"

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RE: ????

By ATC on 8/7/2008 2:47:07 PM , Rating: 2

I should also mention the obvious in that the GPS here is not for navigational use but merely for noting positional data to attach to pictures.

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RE: ????

By Solandri on 8/7/2008 3:25:49 PM , Rating: 5

It's not just so you have position data (though that can be useful too). If you take a bunch of pictures, one of the boring post-processing tasks is to assign keywords to them so you can search them later. People hate doing it, so it often never gets done. Then when you need to find that picture you took several years ago on that vacation in Hawaii, you have to look through all the thumbnails by eye to find them.

But having GPS location tags changes everything. If you dump a bunch of pictures from the camera to computer and the software notices the GPS location is all within Yellowstone National Park, it can automatically assign them the keyword "Yellowstone". If you assign a picture a tag of "Bob's wedding" and the software notices 100 other pictures at the same location on the same day, it can automatically give the "Bob's wedding" tag to all of them. If you're looking for those vacation pictures from Hawaii, you can have the computer search for pictures taken in Hawaii even if they were never tagged with that keyword.

I think this is something we're going to see on all cameras in the future.

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RE: ????

By Oregonian2 on 8/7/2008 3:20:15 PM , Rating: 5

When you look at some photos you took a few years ago and you start arguing with your spouse as to where that was, the GPS info can be used to prove that she was right.

:-)

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RE: ????

By 306maxi on 8/7/2008 3:28:39 PM , Rating: 2

So you've never wondered exactly where a photo was taken? With GPS in your camera wonder no more....

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RE: ????

By nofumble62 on 8/7/2008 11:22:03 PM , Rating: 2

Sorry dear.

But I can tell where I met the hot chick last year.

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RE: ????

By RabidDog on 8/8/2008 9:54:07 AM , Rating: 2

But which one had the GPS capability? Or is it all of them?

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Oh boy

By DeepBlue1975 on 8/7/2008 2:05:09 PM , Rating: 2

14.5 mp + ISO 12800 in a consumer P&S camera...

How much more noise and/or detail obliterating due to excessive noise reduction needs could you ask for?

Paraphrasing an old joke in Dailytech's forums...

WiFi, GPS, retard expression detector to take that "looks like a neanderthal" picture, air conditioning for your fingers... But...

Can it take pictures????

RE: Oh boy

By sprockkets on 8/7/2008 3:08:32 PM , Rating: 2

Well, at least the prev gen p5100 took very good pics, and even had a distortion correction function in it. I don't need RAW or GPS support, and will probably just get a cheap p5100 now.

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RE: Oh boy

By Oregonian2 on 8/7/2008 3:25:00 PM , Rating: 2

Would you rather have a crappy watercolor'ed ISO 12800 photo of whatever it is, or have a nice solid black photo instead taken at a much lower respectable ISO ? I'll give you that the solid black one will take a lot less flash-card space (assuming .jpeg format) but I can't see any other reason to prefer the black option.

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RE: Oh boy

By sprockkets on 8/7/2008 4:56:56 PM , Rating: 2

If you use a high ISO + VR lens for nightime pictures = no needing a tripod.

Noise was not much noticeable until 800 in the P5100. It has a larger sensor than the usual P&S though. I wish everyone wouldn't increase the resolution to unnecessary heights though.

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RE: Oh boy

By Oregonian2 on 8/7/2008 7:48:14 PM , Rating: 2

Tripod doesn't help much in any case if it's a photo of moving objects in relative darkness where a very high ISO is the only option (other than the black option).

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RE: Oh boy

By DeepBlue1975 on 8/9/2008 12:27:05 PM , Rating: 2

I don't think an iso12800 image from this cam would be useful at all, maybe if you size it down to 1mp or less and even then I'm not sure.

I've got a Fuji s6000 which supports ISO 3200, has a bigger sensor than most P&S and only sports a 6mp resolution... And boy, I can tell you, at ISO 3200, even shooting in RAW, there's little you can do to make the picture good.

This one has 14mp, which already has to be noisier, specially considering that a really good lens good for that resolution in a DSLR is quite expensive.
I guess anything over ISO 400 on that camera will not look any good.

If you want a low light picture, better than cranking the ISO all the way up is to keep it low and play with exposure times... And use the damn tripod :(

That or you can buy a DSLR which can afford to take high ISO pictures without so much noise (will cost a fortune to get one of those that can do ISO 12800, though good ISO 1600-3200 capable DSLRs are now starting to appear on entry level DSLRs).

I's bet that if you take an ISO 12800 with this cam at a party, you won't be able to recognize a single face on the picture. :D

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RE: Oh boy

By Oregonian2 on 8/11/2008 2:06:08 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
That or you can buy a DSLR which can afford to take high ISO pictures without so much noise (will cost a fortune to get one of those that can do ISO 12800, though good ISO 1600-3200 capable DSLRs are now starting to appear on entry level DSLRs).

A little tough if it needs to fit in a shirt pocket and/or one is at a meeting of those who hold the holy grail -- and they don't have a DSLR store handy at the location.

quote:
I's bet that if you take an ISO 12800 with this cam at a party, you won't be able to recognize a single face on the picture

May still be better than a black screen. I think it'd be worth it for the cost of having another entry on the user-interface (probably not any hardware cost -- hardware wise it's probably a freebie gotten by having a sensor amp with an extra bit or two for the gain setting ).

If the MP rating is high then the noise is very finely grained which makes it look a bit better than one might otherwise think (I've seen this in reviews where the reviewer was a bit toned down a little from his expectations about the higher noise in a high-MP P&S because the finer grain of that noise wasn't taken into account).

Still may be crap, but it's no worse, and probably better than a black screen which often is the only other practical alternative to having very low light and possibly movement in what's being taken a picture of (I would also presume the camera wasn't purchased for this use being the typical expected use).

Mind you I've my P&S set to ASA-100 permanently and just let exposures get long as needed (hoping for the built-in anti-shake to help). But I'd up it to it's max (6400 I think in mine) if I had the need, it'd take only a few seconds and would be better than hand holding it for twenty seconds or whatever (and I'm not going to go home and switch cameras between shots).

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Now put GPS in a DSLR

By 306maxi on 8/7/2008 1:31:45 PM , Rating: 3

Put GPS in a DSLR which does all the things a D300 can do but doesn't cost what a D700 does and I'll replace my aging D70s. Come on Nikon! You know you want to!

RE: Now put GPS in a DSLR

By Fnoob on 8/8/2008 9:21:50 PM , Rating: 2

Buy the 300 - then go buy the GPS accessory for a few hundred more...

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RE: Now put GPS in a DSLR

By Fnoob on 8/8/2008 9:30:10 PM , Rating: 2

Also, going from the 70 to the 300 will amaze you. I went from an 80 to the 300 and it's a stunning upgrade. Go stimulate the economy, you know you want to.

The return on investment for a 700 or D3 compared to the D300 is marginal, and is justified only by specialized needs - ie. if it feeds you, by all means buy one.

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Awesome pic!

By corduroygt on 8/7/2008 2:27:43 PM , Rating: 2

Oh yes, you have a plethora...

RE: Awesome pic!

By Aquila76 on 8/7/2008 10:44:51 PM , Rating: 2

Jefe, I would not like to think that a person would tell someone he has a plethora and find out that that person has no idea what it means to have a plethora.

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RE: Awesome pic!

By Fnoob on 8/8/2008 9:22:57 PM , Rating: 2

that person has no idea what it means to have a plethora

Do tell... Is it similar to a gaggle?

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why bother with ethernet

By TonyB on 8/7/2008 4:31:44 PM , Rating: 2

doesn't make sense, why bother with ethernet connection on one model and WiFi on the other, why not just put wi-fi on both? how much of a real cost saving is it?!? wireless adapters cost so cheap now, are they just purposely trying to segment their own products? seems dumb to me.

RE: why bother with ethernet

By Cunthor666 on 8/8/2008 2:33:40 AM , Rating: 2

It might have not been feasible to get an FCC clearance for a wireless module in time of the release.

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Nikon missed the boat a bit.

By ChipDude on 8/8/2008 4:08:42 PM , Rating: 2

Where is the much needed D80 replacement
Where is the much needed D40 replacement

Nikon has been on a roll with the D3, D300, and the D700 at the high end, but they are no longer competitive in the less then 900 buck range with Canon, Sony, and Pentax all offering much better bang for the buck.

Get real, a 14.8 Meg on a small P&S sensor trying to do 12800, I don't care if you have VR and the best noise reduction algortithms you can overcome diffraction limitations with the small pixle size, nor the noise you are getting jacking the gain on the small sensors.

In P&S Nikon has a long way to go before they can think of competing with Canon. If they aren't carefully they will lose the whole entry level DSLR too!

RE: Nikon missed the boat a bit.

By Fnoob on 8/8/2008 10:13:24 PM , Rating: 2

The entry level P&S market is going to be replaced by 8+MP camera phones here real soon. When the phone that your mobile service gives you 'free' takes 8+MP pictures (with flash and zoom) - watch what happens to that market.

Chip - the D80 replacement is the D300. The D40 replacement is either the D40x or the D60. You will prolly get yer D90 here soon enough though.

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so what's the startup time?

By lucyfek on 8/7/2008 10:04:57 PM , Rating: 2

or does it keep gps always on (at the price of battery life)

Shane is anti-nikon?

By Fnoob on 8/8/2008 10:06:42 PM , Rating: 2

Shane, to use "The Three Amigos" - a picture that should never have been taken - to 'caption' a Nikon release tells me that you are a Canon guy.

Am I wrong?

Orientation Feature

By KingstonU on 8/11/2008 10:42:05 AM , Rating: 2

I love the idea of GPS tagging of photos for easy organizing and searching. Another feature that I have wanted to see is an orientation tool. In certain specified fields of work it would be very useful to tags photots with what angle, direction and cooridinates a photo was taken in.

The more I think about it the more fields I can think of where this would be useful: crime scene investigation, geology, engineering. Aerial photograpy has already been doing this with analog cameras simultaneuously capturing a photo as well as the date,time,height and compass direction onto the film.