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.