Nikon’s P series of compact cameras are the company’s answer to the popular Canon G series cameras, and the latest in the lineup is the Nikon P7700.

Featuring a large 1/1.7-inch 12 million pixel CMOS sensor, a 7.1x optical zoom lens and a fully articulating screen.

Though Nikon has chosen to keep a smaller sensor size than a couple of other premium compacts starting to enter the market (most notably the Canon G1 X and the Sony RX100), it’s important to remember that the sensor size is exactly the same as that found in the Canon G15, very newly announced at Photokina 2012.

The lens, which offers an equivalent of 28-200mm in 35mm terms, is capable of going down to f/2.0 at the widest angle of the lens, rising up to f/4.0 at the top end.

That doesn’t compare spectacularly well to other premium compacts currently on the market, with the Panasonic LX7 and Samsung EX1 both having f/1.4 optics, while the Sony RX100 and Fuji X-F1 can both reach f/1.8.

It’s worth pointing out, however, that the Nikon P7700 does have a longer zoom capability, so it offers more flexibility in that respect. The Canon G15 features an f/1.8-2.8 lens, but only boasts 5x optical zoom.

Other features of the Nikon P7700 include a 921k dot vari-angle LCD screen, a fast EXPEED 2 image processing system, and high sensitivity shooting up to ISO 6400.

As on most other premium compact models, the Nikon P7700 has the ability to shoot in raw format, while full manual control is also available, as well as semi-automatic modes.

Although not-built in, the Nikon P7700 is compatible with Eye-Fi cards, which enable you to directly transfer images over wireless networks. Other compatible accessories include a GPS unit, remote control and Speedlight flash units.

It’s clear that the Nikon P7700 is a direct rival to the Canon G15. The Nikon P7700 retails at £500/AU$650/US$500, compared with £550/AU$630/US$500 for the Canon G15.

To see how the Nikon P7700 fared in our extensive lab and field testing, watch our Nikon P7700 review below.

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The Nikon Coolpix S800c also introduces an integrated Wi-Fi feature that lets photographers download apps to use with the Android camera, as well as send emails and images.

The Nikon Android camera works best if you’re in a Wi-Fi hotspot, but if you’re not you can also tether the Android camera to your smartphone to share its 3G signals.

See our Nikon S800c review video below to find out how it fares.

Nikon Android Camera Review – Video Transcript

This is the Nikon Coolpix S800c, it’s a compact camera with a bit of a difference as it features the Android operating system.

Its standard camera spec includes a 16 million pixel CMOS sensor, which is physically larger than those found on a mobile phone, a 10x optical zoom, an OLED 819k dot touchscreen and Full HD video recording.

So, what this camera should offer in real terms, is a high quality camera device, coupled with all the benefits of an Android operating system, such as the ability to download apps, upload to social networking sites and browse the internet.

Many people will probably question the point of that, but the ability to use a myriad of photographic apps currently available on the market with a camera which is better than your average smart phone optic is an intriguing prospect.

Currently, there’s not many cameras like this on the market, with its biggest rival being the recently announced Samsung Galaxy camera. However, unlike that camera, this S800c is roughly the same size as the average compact camera, and therefore fits much more easily in a jeans pocket.

It’s perhaps a little surprising that a large 10x zoom can fit into this camera’s sleek body. This is just one of the features which elevates this camera above a standard mobile phone camera.

There’s very few physical buttons on the S800c, with most of the operation taking place via the touchscreen itself. The touchscreen is capacitive – like the screen you get on an iPhone – and is therefore very responsive and easy to use.

If you’re already an Android user, picking up and using the S800c will seem like second nature. You can also choose to ignore the Android element altogether and use the S800c as a standard device, by choosing “shooting” from the home screen. This will extend the lens ready to use.

Unfortunately the start up time of this camera can be a little slow… this is basically akin to switching on a mobile phone, rather than super quick speeds we’re used to seeing from cameras. However, once it’s on, operation is generally pretty quick, and the camera will enter standby rather than switching completely off.

When you do want to access the different apps available, you’ll find that several, such as Google Mail are already installed. You can download more by visiting the Google Play store. Look out for the photography category of the app store for dedicated photographic apps.

Once an app is installed, using the camera becomes pretty much identical to using the same app on a mobile phone. So let’s take a look at the incredibly popular Instagram. As you can see here, it’s just like using a phone, you just take the picture, add the effect and then you can choose to upload to Facebook, Twitter and so on.

The camera is equipped with WiFi, so you will need to be in a WiFi hotspot to upload your shots, however if you’re out and about and you’ve got a smartphone, you could always use your phone as a personal hotspot to get online.

There’s currently thousands of apps available for the Android system, so it can be really fun experimenting with what’s available. The camera has a built in memory of 1.7GB which can be used for apps or storing photos. There’s also an SD card slot to expand that capability.

Images straight from the camera are pretty decent, and having the ability to use a 10x optical zoom is definitely what elevates this above the realms of a smartphone. The larger sensor also makes it perform better in low-light as well, worth bearing in mind if you want to photograph at parties and nights out. Those images which have been run through photo apps also appear to be of a higher quality than from a standard phone.

Ultimately, the Nikon S800c is a very interesting proposition. With not much competition in the market at the moment, in terms of standalone cameras, it’ll be interesting to see if this takes off – and whether other manufacturers decide to also include an operating system on camera devices.

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The Coolpix P510 is the successor to the Nikon Coolpix P500 and features a 42x optical NIKKOR zoom lens that boasts a focal range extending from 24mm up to 1000mm.

Also on board the P510 is a 16-megapixel back-illuminated CMOS sensor and advanced lens-shift vibration reduction to help photographers capture sharp images in low light.

A new one-touch access to movie mode lets photographers switch from shooting stills to filming in Full HD (1080p) with stereo sound, and optical zoom and autofocus functions are still available when filming.

The Nikon Coolpix P510 can also record in slow or fast motion using speeds of up to 120 fps (VGA). Movies can be shot in iFrame format, and a built-in HDMI connector lets you connect the camera directly to an HDTV to view photos and films.

Also on board is a tiltable LCD screen to take shots from above or below to get a different perspective, while a built-in GPS records the exact location where a picture was taken as a geotag in the image data.

The Nikon Coolpix P510 comes in black, red and dark grey.

Megapixels alone don’t guarantee image quality. A 12MP APS-C sensor in a DSLR produces great detail and high ISO performance; the same number of pixels on the five times smaller sensor of a compact produces much less detail and far more noise, but there’s something else that affects even the big sensors in D-SLRs.

Megapixels alone don’t guarantee image quality. A 12MP APS-C sensor in a DSLR produces great detail and high ISO performance; the same number of pixels on the five times smaller sensor of a compact produces much less detail and far more noise. But there’s another dimension (literally) to this argument that affects even the big sensors in DSLRs.

All makers but one use single-layer sensors, where the red, green and blue pixels are laid out in a pattern and the colour information for each pixel is interpolated using information from its neighbours. It’s a technical bodge which we’ve grown accustomed to, but it does leave fine, pixel-level detail looking soft.

Just how soft becomes apparent when you examine images taken with the Sigma DP2. It uses Sigma’s Foveon X3 sensor, a unique triple-layer design where red, green and blue pixels are arranged in a vertical stack and each pixel in the final image has full colour information from the start. As a result, the pixel-level definition is genuinely startling.

But Sigma has a problem. The DP2 produces files of only 4.7MP, which sound tiny by today’s standards. Sigma points out that the total pixel count is actually 14.1MP which is true – it has as many red, green and blue photosites as a conventional 14MP sensor. Its output files, though, aren’t the same size.

But does it matter? You can blow the DP2′s super-sharp images up far further than you could with any conventional sensor of the same resolution. Or you could use interpolation to ‘inflate’ those 4.7MP files to 12-14 million pixels, and find that the fine detail isn’t really so very different to that of a conventional DSLR.

The DP2 can shoot JPEGs, but it really comes alive when you shoot RAW and use the dedicated Sigma Photo Pro software supplied with the camera. At low ISOs images are essentially noiseless, but at higher ISOs the quality does deteriorate faster than you’d expect with a conventional sensor. The DP2 goes right up to ISO 3200, but by this point the image quality is pretty terrible and really you probably wouldn’t want to go beyond ISO 800.

Using the DP2

The DP2′s design is straightforward, with a plain rectangular design and the minimum of external controls, all of which have a really firm, high-quality feel. These include the excellent mode dial (which is too stiff to turn by accident) and the manual focus wheel at the back of the top plate. Most routine adjustments are carried out with two quick function screens. You press the button on the back of the camera once to access the first screen (ISO, lash, metering pattern, white balance) and again to access the second (quality, file type, drive mode, picture style). It’s very fast, and very effective. The autofocus system is rather less impressive. It’s not that quick, and it’s pretty noisy, too. The manual focus dial makes up for it, though. It’s quick to use and the distance markings are clear.

The DP2′s buffer is large enough to take three RAW files or four JPEGs, but after that you have to wait several seconds for the memory to clear. This is a bit of an issue because if you’re taking lots of pictures the camera will sometimes not be ready right at the moment you need to grab the shot.

Incidentally, the ‘old’ DP1 carries on. That camera has a 28mm equivalent lens as opposed to the DP2′s 41mm equivalent. It’s not a question of which camera is newer, but which has the focal length that you need.

Megapixels alone don’t guarantee image quality. A 12MP APS-C sensor in a DSLR produces great detail and high ISO performance; the same number of pixels on the five times smaller sensor of a compact produces much less detail and far more noise, but there’s something else that affects even the big sensors in D-SLRs.

All makers but one use single-layer sensors, where the red, green and blue pixels are laid out in a pattern and the colour information for each pixel is interpolated using information from its neighbours. It’s a technical bodge which we’ve grown accustomed to, but it does leave fine, pixel-level detail looking soft.

Just how soft becomes apparent when you examine images taken with the Sigma DP2. It uses Sigma’s Foveon X3 sensor, a unique triple-layer design where red, green and blue pixels are arranged in a vertical stack and each pixel in the final image has full colour information from the start. As a result, the pixel-level definition is genuinely startling.

But Sigma has a problem. The DP2 produces files of only 4.7MP, which sound tiny by today’s standards. Sigma points out that the total pixel count is actually 14.1MP which is true – it has as many red, green and blue photosites as a conventional 14MP sensor. Its output files, though, aren’t the same size.

But does it matter? You can blow the DP2′s super-sharp images up far further than you could with any conventional sensor of the same resolution. Or you could use interpolation to ‘inflate’ those 4.7MP files to 12-14 million pixels, and find that the fine detail isn’t really so very different to that of a conventional DSLR.

The DP2 can shoot JPEGs, but it really comes alive when you shoot RAW and use the dedicated Sigma Photo Pro software supplied with the camera. At low ISOs images are essentially noiseless, but at higher ISOs the quality does deteriorate faster than you’d expect with a conventional sensor. The DP2 goes right up to ISO 3200, but by this point the image quality is pretty terrible and really you probably wouldn’t want to go beyond ISO 800.

Using the DP2

The DP2′s design is straightforward, with a plain rectangular design and the minimum of external controls, all of which have a really firm, high-quality feel. These include the excellent mode dial (which is too stiff to turn by accident) and the manual focus wheel at the back of the top plate. Most routine adjustments are carried out with two quick function screens. You press the button on the back of the camera once to access the first screen (ISO, lash, metering pattern, white balance) and again to access the second (quality, file type, drive mode, picture style). It’s very fast, and very effective. The autofocus system is rather less impressive. It’s not that quick, and it’s pretty noisy, too. The manual focus dial makes up for it, though. It’s quick to use and the distance markings are clear.

The DP2′s buffer is large enough to take three RAW files or four JPEGs, but after that you have to wait several seconds for the memory to clear. This is a bit of an issue because if you’re taking lots of pictures the camera will sometimes not be ready right at the moment you need to grab the shot.

Incidentally, the ‘old’ DP1 carries on. That camera has a 28mm equivalent lens as opposed to the DP2′s 41mm equivalent. It’s not a question of which camera is newer, but which has the focal length that you need.

Big and tough and waterproof – up to a point – the Ricoh G600 takes impressive pictures and features controls that won’t prove too fiddly for the rough and ready outdoors life. Whether that makes it worth the steep asking price is another matter.

If looks counted for anything, the Ricoh G600 would be the toughest camera around.

It’s much larger than the most compacts, and has a rubber-like finish that feels much more suited to bouncing off rocks or getting a grip on underwater.

Unfortunately, with a depth rating of just 1m, it’s going to be in trouble in anything deeper than a paddling pool. It’s shockproof to 1.5m, though, so it’ll take a knocks, and could be useful for hikers.

The G600′s size and finish are strong points, as are the controls. They’re bigger and spacier than those on other waterproof cameras.

The picture quality is impressive too, with resolution at both ends of the 5x zoom range and decent colours and exposure, though the Auto White Balance did prove a bit variable in bright sun.

You can drown it, you can drop it, you can freeze it; Panasonic’s Lumix FT1 takes all manner of abuse in its stride and still manages to shoot creditable HD video. But can it take on the mighty Olympus Mju 8000?

At first sight, Panasonic’s FT1 looks the nearest rival to Olympus’ mighty Mju 8000. It’s a similar size, weight and shape and is also waterproof, shockproof and operable down to -10 degrees.

The buttons are small and close together and the markings don’t stand out well. The Shutter and Zoom buttons are right next to each other on the top of the camera. It’s far too easy to take a picture when you simply meant to zoom in or out.

The FT1 worked fine after freezing, though the battery level indicator dropped considerably. It had no problems shooting underwater and survived a drop test onto a hard floor unscathed.

The Panasonic’s 1,280×720 HD Movie mode is a bonus, but for ultimate toughness it has to play second fiddle to the Olympus.

You can’t beat the convenience of a slimline compact camera. Slip it into a spare pocket and take it just about anywhere. However, with that portability comes an almost universal frustration…

However, with that portability comes an almost universal frustration in the shape of a virtually ubiquitous 3x zoom lens, which fails to supply a decent wide-angle view at one end of its range or give anything remotely approaching telephoto at the other. Despite a slim (26mm) form factor, Ricoh has somehow managed to shoehorn a far more generous 7.1x zoom lens into its Caplio R5. Its equivalent focal range of 28- 200mm gives the camera an edge over most of its competition.When in use, the zoom switch for the lens is a bit small, it isn’t very conveniently placed and is rather more fiddly than on most cameras. As with many motorised zooms, you don’t get a smooth progression but rather a lurching from one zoom setting to the next, in this case stepping between 28, 35, 50, 85, 105, 135 and 200mm. Even so, we were delighted with the sharpness of the lens throughout the whole zoom range, even when shooting at wide-open apertures.

Pincushion and barrel distortion at the telephoto and wide-angle zoom extremities was also less than we were expecting, considering the generous 7x range.The R5 also includes a new Skew Correction option in its variety of scene modes, enabling you to photograph something from an angle and make it look like it was shot head on. In practice, this works best with things such as shots of TV or computer screens, or shop windows where you don’t want your reflection in the photo.Feel the noiseCompared with the older Caplio R4, the new model has more resolution both in its CCD sensor and its 2.5-inch LCD. This has to be used for composing shots because there’s no separate viewfinder, the lack of which is now common in digital compact cameras. Two problems with using large LCDs as viewfinders are that they can cane battery life and can lead to blurred photos from camera shake in low light levels, because you can’t ‘lock’ the camera into your face. The R5 gets around the first problem easily enough, with a Li-ion battery pack that lasts for around 380 shots between charges – more than doubling the performance of some of its competitors. There’s also a CCD-shift anti-shake mechanism built in. However, this didn’t work quite as well in our tests as similar systems built into Canon and Nikon compact cameras.In general use, both indoors and outdoors and in varying light conditions, the exposure and colour accuracy of the R5 proved very good in our tests. Skin tones were natural, vivid colours were recreated with passion and the camera did a good job of maintaining both lowlight and highlight details in high contrast scenes. The only real Achilles heel of the camera is image noise. Like many Ricoh cameras we’ve seen in the past, the R5 has noticeable grain-like noise attributes that affect too many areas of too many photos. It’s noticeable as soon as you go beyond the 100 ISO setting, getting steadily worse all the way up to 1600 ISO. It’s a shame because, apart from this one flaw, the R5 is a seriously handy pocket camera.

Sony’s second generation bridge looks a bit like an old sci-fi prop; it’s also a well-specced all-in-one alternative to a budget SLR.

Like last year’s H1, Sony’s second generation bridge camera has a touch of the Flash Gordon about it.

There’s something about its eyepiece, lens barrel and silver plasticky body that recalls the helmets and spaceships of a 1950s TV show. However, on first inspection it also looks chunky, clunky and unwieldy.

Still, it helps the H2 stand out against the near-identical specifications of Canon’s more solid-feel PowerShot S3 IS and Panasonic’s acclaimed Lumix DMC-FZ7.

While both rivals boast optical image stabilisation to prevent image blur at the telephoto end of the zoom, Sony has christened its own anti-shake mechanism ‘Super SteadyShot’.

Denoted by a wobbly hand icon, this has a dedicated button that can be set to continuous adjustment, or activated on a shot-by-shot basis. And, as you’d expect with Sony’s camcorder heritage, it’s also present in MPEG Movie mode.

Common JPEG

When it comes to still capture, the H2, like the Canon S3, eschews TIFF or RAW formats and sticks with common JPEG. Though Panasonic’s FZ7 combines TIFF capture with light sensitivity up to ISO 600 for shooting in the near dark, the H2 stops at ISO 1000.

Nevertheless, it betters the Canon’s noisy ISO 800. Sony claims to have minimised noise problems at high ISO by improving signal-to-noise ratio, which, for those looking for available file formats, it has confusingly dubbed Clear RAW NR technology.

The rubberised grip to the right of the H2 affords comfortable one-handed operation and houses two rechargeable AAs. They’re claimed to be good for up to 400 shots, though the battery indicator was showing half full after 50.

Shot composition is via the 2-inch LCD or, a better bet, the tiny but higher resolution electronic viewfinder. Although you can quickly swap between them, it would have been great if (like Sony’s Alpha DSLR) the EVF sported an eye sensor that immediately activated it and perhaps even pre-focused.

One thing to bear in mind: as the eyepiece juts back proud of the body, it’s awkward to use if you’re wearing glasses.

On a positive note, the H2 powers up in a couple of seconds, the lens barrel extending to maximum wide angle in anticipation of the first shot, while the LCD bursts into life. Screen menus have a clean, legible layout, while the mode wheel atop the camera is mirrored by a virtual on-screen equivalent, complete with explanations of the settings.

What’s immediately noticeable on review is Sony’s typically vivid handling of colours. Images aren’t quite as sharp as those from the Canon S3 IS, despite the H2′s inclusion of Carl Zeiss optics. It’s a trade- off though, as the H2′s handling of image noise is better than the Canon’s.

On close inspection, it starts to creep in from ISO 400 upwards, though we still got usable images at ISO 800 and IS0 000. While the Panasonic also loses detail at higher ISO, the addition of that camera’s TIFF settings may give it the edge for some.

As expected, the H2′s Super SteadyShot anti-shake system isn’t infallible, but it will allow more usable shots at the telephoto end when shooting hand-held. There’s also a screw thread for a tripod. No MemoryStick came with our review unit, although a 30MB internal memory – enough for nine maximum-quality JPEGs – is included to get you started.

Indeed, Sony has ensured that the H2 features sufficient hand-holding to allow a beginner to take the camera out of its box and start shooting straight away, but crammed with enough real photographic functionality to satisfy the expert. It should also be noted that it’s roughly £100 cheaper than a budget digital SLR.

Aimed squarely at Canon’s IXUS range and Fuji’s “F” series, the T10 packs in some great features but struggles to deliver great pictures.

Upgrading last year’s almost identical-looking Cyber-shot, the similarly flat-faced T10 snapshot brings another million pixels to the party, crammed on to the same physical size chip.

Just 21mm wide, it also boosts maximum light sensitivity from its predecessor’s ISO 640 to ISO 1000 for low-light photography without flash, adding in optical image stabilisation (under the billing ‘Super SteadyShot’), designed to avoid camera shake.

You also get a low-light Movie mode for the first time on a Sony. All this sets the T10 up as a rival to Canon’s IXUS range and Fuji ‘F’ series compacts – the former now boasting real image stabilisation; the latter, increasingly high ISO speeds.

The slender T10 trumps the boxier Fuji in the style stakes, even if its brushed steel fascia and internally stacked 3x zoom lens fail to give Canon a true run for its money. A love-it-or-hate-it sliding faceplate maintains the minimalist feel, protects the T10′s optics and powers up the camera when opened.

But there’s a real danger of flipping it open and accidentally activating the T10 when sliding it into a bag or pocket. Still, the camera automatically powers down when left inactive and the lithium battery is good for an okay-ish 250 shots.

Done to a T

On the plus side, the T10 is well constructed and user-friendly. A bright and clear 2.5-inch LCD screen overshadows solid and responsive controls on the back, in the absence of an optical viewfinder. Usefully, the screen displays battery life remaining, and in both Capture mode and Playback a live histogram can be called upon to double-check exposure.

Shooting options within the menus are shown as an unobtrusive tool bar along the bottom of the screen that expands when you switch from Auto to Program setting. Selecting Set Up provides access to five more sub-folders, where the likes of digital zoom can be turned on/off; Super SteadyShot set to continuous, or activated at the point of capture only; and a memory card formatted.

Speed of performance can’t be faulted – the T10 powers up in just under two seconds (officially 1.3 seconds). A full press of the lozenge-shape shutter button and a shot is taken with no discernable shutter delay, while committing a full resolution, maximum-quality image to optional Memory Stick Duo card or internal 56MB cache takes a speedy second.

Whereas so many digital compacts suffer from underexposure, the T10 goes the other way, with the result that daylight images look slightly washed out, with an inevitable loss of highlight detail.

Under bright sunshine it’s difficult to avoid lens flare, while the positioning of the lens to the top right of the camera body means that users also have to guard against the occasional fingertip straying into shot. Pixel fringing is also noticeable between areas of high contrast, though it’s less pronounced than on previous generations.

Unfortunately, image noise is visible even at the Auto default setting of ISO 320, though not infuriatingly so. Still, it’s advisable to steer well clear of ISO 1000 unless there’s really no other way you can achieve the shot you have in mind.

Sharp results are achievable, but images are often softer than we like, and it’s difficult to be convinced that 7-megapixels offers any more genuine detail from the same chip than 6-megapixels.

Although the T10 is certainly one of the quickest snapshots off the mark outside Ricoh’s acclaimed Caplio range, ultimately it seems better suited to the point-and-shoot brigade, who are likely to attach as much importance to style as substance.

Inevitably, it feels like certain headline features have been rather over-egged and others over- compromised in order to bring a camera boasting these dimensions to market at a street price of around £230.