Wednesday, 11 June 2014

Nikon Coolpix P340 review: A great option for the street photographer

In the compact camera market, we are increasingly seeing a shift towards the advanced point and shoot cameras as the regular point and shoot market has pretty much been cannibalised by smartphones. While the advanced point and shoot category isn’t new, we are seeing a lot more cameras with Wi-Fi on board. In an age where the need to share photographs instantly is becoming a rage, on board Wi-Fi is a must-have feature on an advanced point and shoot. Nikon Coolpix P340 is an upgrade of the Nikon P330, with the addition of Wi-Fi being the major change.


 


Build and Design

Nikon P340 is literally a palm-sized camera in an all-black metallic magnesium alloy body. Despite the compact size Nikon has ensured that there is provision for a palm rest and thumb rest. There’s a thin rubber strip in the front which gives just enough space to rest the tips of your fingers. Coupled with the thumb rest behind, you get a good grip of the camera. There is just a small Function button which can be programmed to your preference.


 


Nikon P340 houses a 1/1.7-inch CMOS sensor with a fast f/1.8 aperture on its widest endNikon P340 houses a 1/1.7-inch CMOS sensor with a fast f/1.8 aperture on its widest end


 


For an advanced point and shoot, the Nikon P340 has a minimalist approach when it comes to design. It relies on the three control dials – the lens control ring, the control dial on the top edge and the rotational dial around the directional pad. The top edge just has the pop-up flash unit on the left hand side, with a mode dial in the centre, followed by a zoom lever housing the shutter button and finally the horizontal control dial. The lens control dial, which has become a constant on advanced point and shoots, is well built.


 


The rear side of the P340 is quite clean and we like the presence of the thumb rest on top which enhances the grip on the cameraThe rear side of the P340 is quite clean and we like the presence of the thumb rest on top which enhances the grip on the camera


 


The rear side is dominated by the 3-inch LCD screen and on the right hand side you have the directional pad surrounded by the movie record, playback, menu and trash buttons. The SD card goes in beside the battery section. The hinge on the battery lock is spring loaded and although strong, you may want to be careful when its open. The neck holding the hinge in place is quite thin.


 


Features

Nikon P340 is an advanced point-and-shoot featuring a fast f/1.8 lens and in-built Wi-Fi adapter. It houses the same 1/1.7-inch BSI CMOS sensor that is present on its predecessor – the Nikon P330. The Nikon P340 is an update to the Nikon P330. Barring the addition of wireless functionality, not much has changed between the two cameras in terms of sensor and optics. Some minor changes include 4x digital zoom (which is not much help anyway), has reduced the macro focussing distance from 3cm to 2cm, has added effects modes, and so on. Nothing major as such.


 


The top edge of the Nikon P340 has a control dial on the right hand sideThe top edge of the Nikon P340 has a control dial on the right hand side


 


One thing that sets the advanced point and shoots from the other compact cameras are the lens specifications. Nikon P340 has a maximum aperture range of f/1.8 at the wide end and f/5.6 at the telephoto end. We would have liked it if Nikon had worked on this and tried to get the maximum aperture at the telephoto end down by a few steps. Hopefully, we’ll see that in the next generation. It offers a 5x optical zoom with the equivalent focal length being 24-120mm.


 


You can shoot up to 10 frames per second in the burst mode which is quite good for a point and shoot. There are 19 scene modes and 9 effects modes to play around with. Menu navigation is similar to any other Nikon camera and even if you are a new user, it won’t take you long to figure things out.


 


Nikon P340 has a sturdy metallic build, with a lens control ring around the lens barrelNikon P340 has a sturdy metallic build, with a lens control ring around the lens barrel


 


Lens control ring can be used to adjust focus, ISO, exposure, white balance and so on. Manual focus offers focus peaking which speeds up focussing. Also you can turn on the Manual exposure preview, which gives you a zoomed in view of the area you are trying to focus on. It features vibration reduction (VR) image stabilisation which allows you to make steady photographs.


 


Nikon Wireless Mobile Utility allows you to transfer as well as remotely capture picturesNikon Wireless Mobile Utility allows you to transfer as well as remotely capture pictures


 


The wireless mode works in conjunction with an app – Nikon Wireless Mobile Utility. The app has a simple interface. After you have connected your smartphone to the camera, then you can either take pictures using your smartphone or you can transfer images from the camera to the phone. These images can be stored at a recommended, VGA or original resolutions. A simple app without the features we had seen with say the Panasonic and Fujifilm camera apps.


 


Performance
Studio ISO Performance


Our studio ISO comprises a setup which has a healthy mix of colours, textures, materials, fine text and so on. We affixed the Nikon Coolpix P340 on a tripod and kept it in the Aperture priority mode at f/6.3. We proceeded to take images across the ISO range. To ensure minimal camera shake we had a 2-second timer enabled to click the pictures.


 


Sample image for studio ISO testSample image for studio ISO test


 


From ISO 100 to ISO 400 you get clean images with barely any noticeable noise. Around ISO 800, we noticed noise reducing algorithms kicking in. Although, you will notice it only when you have a 100 per cent crop. ISO 800 is definitely print worthy. From ISO 1600, the overall image quality starts taking a hit. We noticed the fine details on the threads and the PCB were losing their definition. In case of emergency, images at ISO 1600 are still usable. ISO 3200 is where things start to get progressively worse. There is a significant loss of detail on the threads, the PCB and there is prominent smudging. So we would recommend only using upto ISO 1600 on the P340. With its wide aperture, there shouldn’t be reason to exceed that anyway. But in case you do go on to ISO 3200 and higher, beware of barely usable images.


Note: Images below have been resized. To see the full sized images, please click on them. Additionally, visit our Nikon Coolpix P340 album on Flickr to see more high resolution images.


 


ISO 100ISO 100
ISO 200ISO 200
ISO 400ISO 400
ISO 800ISO 800
ISO 1600ISO 1600
ISO 3200ISO 3200
ISO 6400ISO 6400
ISO Hi modeISO Hi mode


 


Image Quality

Nikon P340 produces good images both indoors and outdoors. The colours appear natural, although the Standard picture mode was a bit too muted for our liking, but you can adjust the image sharpening, contrast and saturation in each picture mode. In the Monochrome mode, you can also control the toning – black and white, sepia or cyanotype.


Exposure metering was accurate in most situations. In situations with extreme shadows and highlights, we preferred using the spot metering mode. Barrel distortion is noticeable when you shoot at a close range. While shooting in sunny situations, we noticed purple fringing in some images, specially around the edges like leaves, sharp objects and so on. When shooting at night over ISO 400, we noticed that the image sharpness was taking a hit when seen at 100 per cent crops. We liked the high contrast monochrome and high ISO monochrome modes (which gives grainy monochrome images) in the Effects section.


Note: Images below have been resized. To see the full sized images, please click on them. Additionally, visit our Nikon Coolpix P340 album on Flickr to see more high resolution images.


 


ISO 400, f/1.8, 1/20th secISO 400, f/1.8, 1/20th sec
ISO 80, f/2.8, 1/50th secISO 80, f/2.8, 1/50th sec
ISO 800, f/1.8, 1/8th secISO 800, f/1.8, 1/8th sec


 


Handling

One of the best features of the Nikon P340 is its unassuming size which makes it a great tool for street photography. The lens control ring does tend to shake the entire camera body while composing images on first couple of tries, so you will need to spend some time getting used to it. The placement of buttons and dials comes in handy for quick shooting. The camera start up time is fast and you can start shooting within seconds of the camera powering on. However, we noticed on many occasions that we had to hit the power button a couple of times to turn on the P340. Also switching between the playback and shooting mode gives a slight bit of delay.


 


Focus


Acquiring focus is quick for a point and shoot. We noticed hunting only while trying to shoot macros or if the object is too close to the camera in non-macro mode and when it was quite dark. The manual AF selection point offers spot mode, normal mode (which offer an 11 x 9 grid of AF points) and wide mode (which offers a 7 x 9 grid).


Note: Images below have been resized. To see the full sized images, please click on them. Additionally, visit our Nikon Coolpix P340 album on Flickr to see more high resolution images.


 


Shot using the Pet mode. The camera fires the shutter the moment it sees a cat face in the frameShot using the Pet mode. The camera fires the shutter the moment it sees a cat face in the frame
ISO 80, f/2.8, 1/250th secISO 80, f/2.8, 1/250th sec
ISO 400, f/1.8, 1/10th secISO 400, f/1.8, 1/10th sec


 


Video


 



 


Video performance is not its strong suit. Things are fine if the subject is showing little movement, but while shooting a street traffic scene, the camera gives an average output. Keeping the focus on all the time, you will notice that it takes some time to lock focus when shooting moving objects, but the focus acquisition is quicker when there is little subject movement, as seen below. We liked the fact that it does not record zoom motor noise. Overall, the video performance is good enough for family videos.


 



 


Verdict and Price in India

Nikon Coolpix P340 offers impressive performance in still images. It is an ideal camera for those looking at a pocket camera for street shooting and want complete manual control. The dials on the camera help in quickly changing settings. Although we would have loved to see an extra function button. The wireless functionality is an added incentive if you like sharing images as soon as they are shot. The fast f/1.8 lens will ensure that you do not need to use very high ISO settings and the ISO performance upto ISO 800 is good. Although we were disappointed that the telephoto end aperture is unchanged from the Nikon P330.


 


We like the fact that it is priced around Rs 18,950 and a quick online search will get you the camera for around Rs 17,000. That is almost half the price at which the Sony RX100 II is priced at. Agreed, the RX100 II has a superior performance, but if that is the kind of camera you are looking at buying, the Nikon P340 offers an economical alternative. If you like the compact size, but want a higher zoom limit, then check out Sony DSC WX350 (Rs 18,000). Although, you will not get a fast f/1.8  lens to go with it.



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Article source: http://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/could-you-be-the-face-of-fife-2012-1-2218885


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