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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If you’re looking for a neat, chic SLR back-up, check out this new S-series compact. S-series cameras were positioned just below the G-series models, and designed to offer similar control but in a pocket-sized body.

The S90 certainly is pocket-sized, at around half the size of the G11. But surely it’s not as good? In fact, there’s not much in it. The S90 only has a 3.8x zoom rather than the G11’s 5x, but that’s not a huge difference really, and the S90’s lens has a maximum aperture of f/2 at the wide-angle end.

Yes, the S90 has PASM exposure modes. Yes, it shoots RAW files. And yes, it comes with Canon’s Digital Photo Professional RAW conversion/editing software. It may be small, but there’s room for a three-inch display with twice the normal resolution at 461,000 pixels.

It doesn’t articulate like the G11’s but, amazingly, it is slightly larger. The screen takes up much of the back, leaving room for just a rotary controller on the right and four buttons. On the top, there’s a mode dial, shutter button/zoom switch, power button and ‘Ring func.’button, used to change the function of the ring mounted around the lens. It can be configured to adjust the ISO, EV and white balance compensation, or operate a ‘step zoom’ feature that sets the lens to a series of specific focal lengths.

Form and function

This is how the S90 manages to combine minimal exterior controls with maximum photographic function. Between the lens control ring and the rotary controller, it’s possible to set up and carry out your favourite adjustments in moments. That said, there is a bit of a disparity between the two.

The lens control ring is beautifully engineered, with positive click-stops and just the right weighting, but the rear controller is just a little too light. Too often you end up pressing the directional button underneath as you turn it. This is a small point, though, given that the S90 is perfectly put together in every other respect.

The design is understated, it’s devoid of stickers and spurious styling details, and its smoothed corners mean it’s easy to slide in and out of a pocket. Small cameras mean small lenses, and this generally brings more distortion, chromatic aberration and edge softness. Not here. In fact, the S90 seems to produce less barrel distortion than the G11. There’s little or no chromatic aberration, the definition at the edges of the frame is as good as it is at the centre, and it doesn’t soften up at full zoom, unlike most compacts. It might be small, but the S90’s lens is absolutely in the first division.

So what about high-ISO performance? Canon’s used the same new 10-megapixel sensor in both the G11 and the S90, and it has paid dividends. With this camera you don’t really notice a major drop in performance until you get past ISO800. It’s hard to fault the exposure system or white balance, either, and Canon’s enhanced its i-Contrast feature so it does more than just apply a quick and dirty shadow ‘fix’.

Now, the camera increases the ‘gain’, or sensitivity, in darker areas as the image is processed to produce a much subtler enhancement of high-contrast scenes. There are a few little weaknesses. There’s no HD movie mode, and the S90 can only manage 0.9fps in continuous shooting mode.
It saves RAW files in around three seconds, which isn’t bad, but takes a couple of seconds even with JPEGs.

But on the whole it’s small, it’s beautifully made and it’s a joy to use.And the pictures are very good indeed.

See below for some test shots (click to see full sized image, opens in new window):

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.