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Tuesday 29 January 2013

A First Hand Review of the Nikon S9300 Black

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A small frame with superzoom abilities plus a host of stand out features should be an ideal combination to make every point and shoot photographer to wear at least a small grin. Nikon's latest offering is the S9300 which certainly fits the profile and the budget of any consumer. It features a 1/2.3" CMOS sensor with 16 effective Megapixel. The fact that Nikon has chosen to use a CMOS sensor in place of a CCD sensor is quite interesting as they have gone for both a power saving and at the same time a more expensive route for a sensor for this camera. Nikkor's ED glass elements make up the 18x optical zoom lens. Nowadays almost every Nikkor lens is an ED lens and what it does is it reduces chromatic aberrations when shooting at wide angles. This is the same thing as Canon's UD (Ultra-low dispersion) lens element. Let's compare some of the features of the Nikon S9300 Black with the Canon PowerShot ELPH 510 HS and the Canon PowerShot SX260 HS; three cameras with comparable features.
Comparing the features and the performance of the three
Sensor 

Comparing the Nikon S9300 Black with the Canon PowerShot ELPH 510 HS and the Canon PowerShot SX260 HS could be a close thing as all the three cameras have a 1/2.3" CMOS sensor at their heart. However while the Nikon has 16 megapixels both the Canon models have 12.1 megapixels. A lot of consumer prefers a meatier megapixel count. However that may actually be a detrimental factor specially when it comes to sensors so small. A small space divided by a humongous amount of pixels means smaller effective size of each pixel. Smaller the size of the pixel, lesser is the ability to retain light. It effectively translates into more noise in low light conditions.

Focal length 

The Nikon S9300 Black has a focal length range of 4.5-81.0mm which translates to 25-450mm on a 35mm format equivalent. Conversely the PowerShot ELPH 510 HS has a 5 - 60mm lens which is 28 - 336mm on a 35mm format equivalent. The PowerShot SX260 HS has a 4.5 - 90mm which is equivalent to 25-500mm on a 35mm equivalent format. So evidently the PowerShot SX260 HS wins the tele range while the Nikon S9300 Black shares the wide angle honours with it.

Image stabilization 

All three cameras have image stabilization systems built in. While the Nikon has a Lens-shift VR (Vibration Reduction) system, the Canon cameras feature the Optical Image Stabilization System (O.I.S.). The result is always a shake free image when hand holding the camera for everyday shots.

GPS and compass 

The Nikon S9300 Black now has the GPS and compass feature. While not something that we have not seen already (Panasonic has an entire DMC series of compact point and shoots which has geo-location feature and the PowerShot SX260 HS also has it) this feature certainly makes the Nikon an interesting flavour of cocktail. What it does basically is each time you shoot a still or a video with the GPS locator on, it immediately digs into the latitude and longitudinal database and geo-tags the photo. The PowerShot ELPH 510 HS does not have this feature.
Special effects and other bits and pieces of features 

The Nikon has a series of special effects that are built in including selective colour, fisheye and miniature for being creative with the camera. There is also a one touch panorama button for stunning 180/360 degree panorama. The built in Backlight HDR Mode is extremely handy for capturing a wider tonal range. The PowerShot ELPH 510 HS also has some important features such as UA lens (molded glass with an ultra-high refractive index) for reduced aberrations and reduced lens size, touch AF and touch shutter to boot.

Video mode 

All three cameras shoot full HD in 1080p. The Nikon uses the 9 point auto focusing system even when shooing videos and can keep the subject in focus when it is motion. The PowerShot ELPH 510 HS can capture super slow motion videos in 640 x 480 and 320 x 240 in 120 fps and 240 fps respectively.

The final word 

It is very difficult to choose between these three cameras. They all have very similar set of features with some features that are unique one. Overall, however, if price is a constraint then the Nikon S9300 Black retailing at £198.95 should be the best buy.

posted by michaelabela.weebly.com

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