With full PASM exposure modes, 12 scene modes (including Panorama Assist), an 8x optical zoom, auto-exposure bracketing, four different metering patterns, full control over ISO, white balance, sharpness, saturation and contrast – plus Nikon’s newly-extended best shot modes, this is as powerful and sophisticated as digital cameras get.

The build quality, finish and ‘feel’ of this camera are just as impressive now as they were with the original CoolPix 5700 back in 2002. It’s a comparatively compact digital camera compared with its other 8-megapixel rivals, but it’s still not too fiddly to use. The handgrip is big enough to afford you good grip, and not so close to the lens barrel that your fingers get jammed.

The LCD on the back can be folded flat, facing the camera, for protection while you use the electronic viewfinder; or you can flip it out and swivel it for composing shots at all kind of odd angles. And a control wheel on the top plate sits just in the right place for quick thumb control as you cycle through different menu options and camera settings. The power switch is in the traditional Nikon position, around the shutter release, but while the siting is perfect and the action positive, it reveals one of the camera’s weaknesses-a start-up time of 3 to 4 seconds isn’t unusual, but it’s a bit slow by today’s standards.

Once the 8700’s running, the 1.8-inch display proves very sharp, crisp and clear. The electronic viewfinder is slightly less good. Although it has nearly twice the resolution, at 235,000 pixels, the greater visual magnification in the eyepiece makes the individual pixels all too obvious, so the display does look quite grainy. The LCD is colourful and contrasty, though (at least compared to the Minolta DiMAGE A2’s), so it’s okay as an alternative viewing system. The 8700’s sluggish start-up time is mirrored by the performance of the AF system. This dissuades you from undertaking too much fast-response action digital photography, but you could always pre-focus manually to avoid shutter lag.

Action fans will note that Nikon Coolpix 8700 can shoot five frames at 2.5fps, but even this isn’t without its drawbacks. While it’s shooting at this speed, the display-amazingly-blacks out. It’s next to impossible to reliably fill the frame with a moving subject, or pan with a speeding racing car, for example.

Nikon Coolpix 8700 Photographic controls

Thanks to its 8-megapixel resolution and photographic options, though, the 8700 is Inevitably going to appeal to a far wider market. The image quality alone will sell it to many, and the extended focal range and sheer build quality are bound to help. So how extensive are its creative abilities and-just as Important – how easy are they to get to?

For a start, there’s no main mode dial. Mode dials are usually used in cameras at this level to offer direct access to the program AE, aperture-priority, shutter-priority and manual (PASM) modes, together with any scene modes. Not here. Instead you have to press the camera’s Func button then rotate the command dial while watching the LCD or monitor image. This switches between the camera’s full auto mode, scene mode, custom users settings 1 and custom user settings 2.

The full auto mode is designed for beginners, takes care of focusing, flash and exposure automatically and reguires no further explanation. In scene mode, you then have to hold down the camera’s mode button and rotate the command dial again to cycle through the 8700’s 12 different scene settings.

The two custom modes are the ones that offer the serious photographic controls, and the fact that there are two means you can switch between one lot of settings and another – for high-quality full colour landscapes or gritty, high-ISO available-light mono shots, for example.

Once you’re in one of the two custom modes, you choose which exposure mode you want (shutter-priority, aperture-priority and so on) by holding down the mode button and rotating the command dial again. The command dial is used extensively, as you can see, but it also plays a part in speeding up the selection of some menu options.

Indeed, while there are buttons on the camera for ISO, image size and guality, flash mode, EV compensation, focus mode and AE/ AF lock, you still need to use the menus to change the white balance, metering pattern, drive mode (single or continuous shooting), contrast, saturation and sharpness. White balance control in particular is something you’d really want to be more accessible than this on a digital camera aimed at this level in the market.

The control wheel does undoubtedly speed up some controls, but you feel Nikon Coolpix 8700 relies on it maybe a little too heavily. The lack of a main mode dial is a bit of a handling issue too, because it significantly slows down the access to the camera’s main shooting modes.

Menu navigation is at least pretty straightforward, not least because the Niton’s navipad controller is guite precise and positive, despite its small size. Indeed, the standard of the controls throughout the camera is very high indeed. In terms of build guality alone, this is an extremely impressive camera.

Nikon Coolpix 8700 Feature highlights

So far, the features of the CoolPix 8700 have proved comprehensive, but not really exceptional. All its 8-megaplxel rivals match it easily in this respect. The Nikon does have a couple of noteworthy features, though. These include its movie mode, which offers 640 x 480 pixel resolution and a frame rate of 30fps, which is very good.

The other notable feature is the camera’s Best Shot Selector. This is a Nikon speciality found on other CoolPix models, too. Designed for low-light shooting, where camera shake can be a real problem, it keeps taking shots for as long as the shutter release is held down.

When you release the shutter, it examines all the shots taken, saves the sharpest to the memory card and discards the rest. But the Best Shot Selector mode’s been extended in this camera to include exposure, not just sharpness. There are three options: Highlight BSS, Shadow BSS or Histogram BSS. The camera takes five shots and chooses the best based on highlight detail retention, shadow detail or least overall highlight/ shadow clipping respectively.

It sounds terrific idea, but shouldn’t it be linked to the exposure bracketing option? As it is (and the manual doesn’t explain this in any more depth), surely the camera is simply taking five shots at the same exposure? Will any of them be any different?

Nikon Coolpix 8700 Picture quality

Nikon Coolpix 8700 proves to be a bit of a mixed bag on the handling front. Thank goodness, then, for its image quality. This digital camera is a world apart from its predecessor, the 5700. Images are far sharper, the saturation is excellent, contrast is good and its shots show a level of quality that’s visibly and usefully superior to any 5MP camera. Indeed, the shots from this camera stack up very well against those from the Nikon D70 digital SLR. Fine detail is very crisp, there’s very little colour fringing or chromatic aberration, and whatever misgivings we might have about the Nikon’s controls, its results are of a very high standard indeed.

But this doesn’t make it the clear choice in the 8-megapixel market. The Sony DSC-F828 may be let down by its colour fringing, but it’s a better-designed, more versatile camera than this one. The Minolta DiMAGE A2 and the Canon PowerShot Pro 1 are better to use, too, and give little away in image quality.

If you buy Nikon Coolpix 8700 out of brand loyalty or just because you like the camera, you will not be disappointed. But it’s not the 8-megaplxel model we would choose. The control layout is a tad too fussy, the zooming range is stacked too much towards the telephoto rather than the wide-angle end, and it’s just a bit sluggish to use all round.