Timothy
Parker Consulting Incorporated
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Nikon Coolpix 990 Several other camera manufacturers have introduced 3.3
megapixel cameras and now Nikon joins the group with the Coolpix 990. If
you’ve used or seen the Coolpix 950, the 990 will look and behave the same
except it has a 3.34 megapixel count. Just upping a pixel count doesn’t
necessarily make a better camera, but Nikon’s engineers did a great job of
retaining the popular features of the earlier models in the Coolpix line while
increasing the capabilities of the 990 over the 950. The Coolpix 990 is a fairly small, lightweight CompactFlash-based
camera. The specifications are
impressive and there’s no reason why every digital photographer and many film
professionals will not find the Coolpix 990 a perfect fit in a camera bag. At 13
ounces, it’s not a heavy camera to carry. As you’ll see there’s a lot to
like in this camera and very few nits to pick.
It’s a solid five out of five. Capacity The Coolpix 990 comes with only a 16MB CompactFlash memory
card but you can add any of the CompactFlash cards up to 96MB (including
Lexar’s 4X versions). At the
highest resolution you’re not going to cram too many shots onto a 16MB card
(one picture only, in fact!) but at the Fine resolution mode you will get ten
shots, while Normal mode stores about twenty on the 16MB card.
Moving to Basic mode gives you 40 shots on the 16MB card. The highest
resolution mode is stored in a TIFF file at 2048x1536 with no compression at
all. The output is stunning, but
you’d better be sure of your single shot! Battery life with four AA cells was just over an hour with
the rear LCD in constant use. If
you use the LCD sparingly (for quick composing and previewing) you’ll extend
the battery life somewhat, but we never did get more than four hours from a set
of batteries. Take lots of spare
batteries with you on extended photo shoots! An optional AC adapter is available
if you can use the camera tethered. The real LCD is brighter and more detailed than the LCD on
the Coolpix 950, offering a good look at the subject even in direct sunshine.
The viewfinder is acceptable but doesn’t offer the direct feedback the
LCD screen provides. Further, the viewfinder has only about 85% frame coverage,
which means you’ll be guessing about the edges of your photos if you use the
viewfinder. The LCD is better with
almost 97% frame coverage. Working It One of the buzzwords Nikon must have had in mind when
developing the Coolpix 990 is flexibility.
There’s a lot of “big camera” features on the 990, some reminiscent
of the much more expensive D1. For
example, focus can be continuous, single (at time of clicking) or manual.
Exposure metering is selected from one of four modes including spot.
Exposure control can be fully automatic, shutter priority, aperture priority, or
manual. Automatic bracketing is
supported, which is a nice feature to have in some shooting conditions. You can
also perform in-camera exposure compensation over a couple of stops range. There’s lots of little customizable details with the
Coolpix 990 (most of which many users will never touch). An auto-shutoff feature can be set for any length of time,
for example, and there’s two autotimer modes (3 and 10 seconds). White balance
can be varied over a useful range, although few digital photographers bother
with these controls. There are several capture modes ranging from single shot to
continuous, as well as a Movie mode that provides 40 seconds of images on a
CompactFlash card. There are also two multi-shot continuous modes of varying
qualities. Flash and Zoom The internal flash is small, rated at a Guide Number of 30
at ISO 100. This works for close-up
shots and fill flash, but won’t give much coverage beyond a few feet.
The camera can be synced to most SpeedLights and other flash systems.
We tested it with a SpeedLight SS 24 and a big Metz flash gun with
complete success. In fact, up to five off-camera flashes can be directly
controlled by the Coolpix 990, but it’s unlikely you’ll go that far with
this camera. One camera setting, AnyTime flash, adds the correct amount of flash
to fill as needed and will often save marginal shots from deletion.
Red eye reduction is also available.
Naturally, using the flash depletes the four AA batteries quickly. The lens on the Coolpix 990 is a glass sandwich with
aspherical correction and a coating applied.
The lens performed well in resolution tests although was a slight
aberration at the extreme edges of our test unit (unlikely to be noticeable in
normal use even at Fine resolution modes). The zoom range of the lens is 8 to
24mm (equivalent to about 35 to 110mm with a 35mm camera). The range gives you
good coverage for panoramic as well as portrait shots, but won’t provide good
close-ups of distant objects. Optional Coolpix add-on lenses are fully supported
including fish-eye and telephoto (obviously at additional cost). The little things The Coolpix 990 includes a Lexar USB JumpShot connector for
downloading photos to a computer. This
is by far a much faster and convenient method of moving images around than
connecting the camera directly. The
Lexar system makes the CompactFlash card appear as a removable drive to your
computer. Nikon is also bundling
some image editing software with the Coolpix 990, although our early evaluation
unit was missing the CD-ROM. The supplied documentation does of good job of explaining
the features of the camera, and for those who don’t read manuals there are
Fast Track Guides for getting the camera set up and functioning in a few
minutes. The Nikon Coolpix 990 is an excellent 3.3 megapixel camera combining lots of adjustability for the more advanced photographer as well as simple point-and-shoot capabilities for those who don’t want to bother with the details. The image quality is excellent, and the wide pixel count allows you to crop and adjust photos in your computer for the best image without suffering pixellation. The Coolpix 990 is the best of the new 3.3 megapixel cameras we’ve tested. Specs:
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