Nikon Coolpix 5700 Review

Are 5-megapixel digital cameras better than 4-megapixel models? They produce bigger images, certainly, but do they record more detail? Our experiences with Nikon Coolpix 5000 suggest that some models can indeed produce something like the 25 per cent improvement in detail rendition that you might expect, but the test shots taken with our 5700 tell another story.

If you were to take the same shot on a decent 4-megapixel camera, then interpolate it in Photoshop to produce a 5-megapixel file, we’re not convinced the Coolpix 5700 would be significantly sharper. And one of the reasons we’re not convinced is that we’ve actually tried it.

The far cheaper Coolpix 4300 produces visibly crisper images than the 5700, even when interpolated in this way. A double dose of the Sharpen filter restores the 5700’s honour, but only at the expense of edge artefacts you’re unlikely to tolerate.

We maybe need to put this in perspective at this point. The Coolpix 5700’s images are very good indeed, judged in isolation and in absolute terms. Set against those of good 4-megapixel cameras, though, the results aren’t significantly superior. Sorry but if you’re looking for a camera to convince you to make the expensive jump from 4 to 5 megapixels, this isn’t it.

To say this is a disappointment is an understatement. Apart from the price tag, this camera is beautifully made and a delight to use. It’s such a shame, but you’re not going to pay this much money without expecting every last vestige of resolution, and the fact is that the 5700’s images just don’t have enough bite.

You so want this camera to be good. It’s not much larger than the Coolpix 5000 (not as tall, but deeper, thanks to that long lens), but it’s much nicer to handle. Where the controls on the 5000 feel cramped and awkward, the ostensibly similar buttons and wheels on the 5700 just seem to fall into place that bit better.

And the metal construction, finish and build quality are superb. Ditching chrome, aluminium or stainless steel for a matt black finish, Nikon’s kept the classy look and feel but produced a much ‘grippier’ body. The switches are meant to be used, not just admired, and aside from the rather small navipad, they’re well-positioned, well-weighted and the right size.

The 5700’s arch rival in this market, the Minolta DiMAGE 7i, has a zoom that is operated manually using a sleeve on the barrel, but while the Nikon uses a slower solution in the form of motors and rocker switch, it still gets from one end of the zooming range to the other pretty quickly.

The 5700 even beats the DiMAGE 7’s zooming range, with an 8x zoom rather than the Minolta’s 7x optic. Having said that, we’d rather have the extra width (28mm equivalent) of the Minolta’s lens than the extra telephoto capability of the Nikon.

The 5700 makes for an interesting contrast with the cheaper Coolpix 4300. Are they really from the same company? Where the 4300 is awkward and plasticky the 5700 is svelte and wieldy Where the 4300’s handgrip jams your fingernails against the lens barrel, the 5700’s leaves it perfectly positioned for grip and even one-handed shooting.

However, unlike the E-20 from Olympus, which is a genuine ‘optical’ SLR, the 5700 uses a digital viewfinder. As a result, the image isn’t sharp enough for manual focusing, and the colours and tones aren’t that accurate.

Quite often you’ll want to use the LCD panel instead of the viewfinder, and the one fitted to the 5700 is smaller than you might be expecting.

Yes, it does fold out, rotate, flip around and clip back just like those on the Coolpix 5000 and Canon PowerShot G2, but at just 1.5 inches and 110,000 pixels, it’s a tiddler. Compare this with the enormous 2.5-inch LCD fitted to Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-LC5 – now that’s what we call a proper compositional tool. Admirable though the 5700’s design is, the little LCD starts you thinking that maybe the whole camera would be a lot better if everything was scaled up by just 10-20 per cent.

You can’t fault the 5700’s photographic options. With programmed auto-exposure, shutter-priority aperture-priority and full manual control, it’s the keen photographer’s dream. If that doesn’t convince you, maybe the multiple-metering patterns and focusing options, exposure and white balance bracketing, noise reduction, Best Shot Selector, Quick Review mode and optional 3:2 35mm format picture ratio will. This camera’s got the lot.

Not surprisingly this means that there’s a good bit to learn if you want to be able to use this camera to its full potential. What makes it more complicated is the control wheel on the top plate, which duplicates actions found in the menus and can be used to provide rapid access to many of the photographic options.

Yes, it does make things more complicated, but if you spend enough time with this camera you come to appreciate that, in the long run, it repays the extra learning time with faster access to key controls. This is a very powerful camera, that’s also going to prove rewarding to those people who take their photography seriously.

If only those images were sharper. We do keep going on about it, but without that extra dimension in quality, the Coolpix 5700 is just a nice but expensive alternative to equally capable cameras costing less.

There’s an awful lot to like about the Coolpix 5700, but Minolta’s DiMAGE 7i still rules the roost amongst the 5-megapixel digital cameras on the market at the moment. Not only is it better, it’s cheaper, too…

Tagged with: 5700 • coolpix • Nikon • review

Filed under: Nikon

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