Nikon Coolpix A
Regular readers of www.leonneal.com will know that camera reviews are a bit of a rarity on my blog, but occasionally I find something worth talking about. My quest for a few years now has been trying to find a solid pocket camera that just works. Previously, I had the legendary combination of the Panasonic GF-1 and the 20mm f1.7mm pancake lens. It was brilliant. Despite it having interchangeable lenses and a whole host of accessories available on the market, I never strayed from that perfect set-up. It had fast focus, the sensor was good (for the time), it had a built-in flash for emergencies and the aperture allowed for some creative tinkering to take place.
When I eventually sold it, assuming that there would be something out there to replace it, I realised that there wasn't. I've since spent the last few years trying to find something that ticked all the boxes and have failed.
Then, I decided to stop searching for the very latest news of cameras on the review and rumour sites and see what was already out there on the market. This led me to the Nikon Coolpix A
As this camera may technically be in its autumn years (if the rumour mill is to be believed), it may seem a strange choice to review it now, but all will make sense if you read on.
First up, the Tech-Spec. The A has an APS-sized "DX" 16.2MP sensor, an 18.5mm f2.8 lens fixed lens (equivalent to 28mm on a full frame camera), a built-in flash and a hot-shoe for those wanting to use their Nikon flash or a DF-CP1 optical viewfinder.
Being mirrorless, the A is virtually silent, so it's possible to use the full 4fps burst rate without drawing attention when taking secret squirrel pics and street photography. The "DX" APS-sized sensor allows for higher ISO levels to be used before noise becomes an issue. Noise and ISO are usually the first things to show a camera's age but I've found 3200 to be perfectly usable. It should be remembered that the chip in this pocket camera is the same physical size as that of the DX SLR cameras such as the D7100, D5300 and D3300. While the mega-pixel count may be different, the physical size makes a big difference to allowing higher usable ISO levels in darker conditions.
Using SD cards rather than micro, mini or even XQD cards means that you'll never have difficulty picking up a new card in an emergency.
As I mentioned above, I've been testing a whole range of cameras by various manufacturers recently and every one of them left me a little cold for some reason, whether it was down to the interface or the hardware, I found myself playing with them less and less as my test period went on. With the A, I've taken it to work everyday, as these images show, and have even shot a few smaller features on it. Those of you who love a viewfinder will have noticed that this is a screen-only affair, although the option is there to add an optical viewfinder to the hotshoe. I would have expected to miss working with one but it came quite naturally to me. I guess that the more we use our phones to take photos, the more we get used to the idea of working with a screen.
Metering is carried out through the live preview on the screen, so it really is "What You See Is What You Get". Adjustments are made through the use of of one, or both, of the wheels on the back and top of the camera and the choice of their assignment makes perfect sense, particularly to me as a regular Nikon user although I'm confident that anyone would find it simple to get along with.
In my regular daily life, I shoot raw NEF files, with a JPEG "fine" file in case I need to transmit live from my camera. Because of this, I can't remember the last time that I just worked in jpeg format alone. Working with the A has been a bit of a revelation as the files are just so good, straight out of the camera. I've been particularly taken with the Mono Picture Control mode, as you can probably guess from the images featured here. The tones are exactly what I look for in a monochrome picture and the fact that I can just add a touch of sharpening and it's ready to go is great fun.
Having said that, its colour is clearly equally tasty with auto white balance managing perfectly well in every condition that I've worked in this week.
Okay, negativity. Erm... I'm struggling here.
One thing that has niggled me is the name "Coolpix". It sounds a minor thing but my first thought when I think of Coolpix is snappy cameras the size of matchboxes, for people who just want a point and shoot. I'll admit that it's the name that has subconsciously stopped me from looking at the A since it's release, as I had assumed that it was yet another feature-limited holiday camera with a bunch of "scenes" to tell people how to shoot fireworks. Ironically, the A does have all of these modes but has all the options of a pro camera too. It's just a shame that it was branded along the Coolpix line, rather than a smaller professional series. On the subject of names, did the designers think how hard it is to find something on the internet called “A”?
The operating system will be very recognisable to those who already shoot with Nikon equipment so there are no complaints there. However, sometimes the mixed message of who this camera is aimed at manifests itself in the on-screen display. I've found that playing with the light and metering for the highlights causes a frantic flash and/or question mark symbol to appear on the screen, suggesting that the camera doesn't believe you could possibly be trying to take that picture. Assuming I could turn this warning off, I was surprised to find it's a permanent feature but have since managed to learn to ignore it. Again, a very small gripe but having got it so right in other areas, it's a shame to have little things that appear to have been overlooked.
Sadly, due to its somewhat niche nature, the available accessories have amazingly remained at a premium price point. The viewfinder retails at $449 and still sells in the UK for £199 if you can find one. This was possibly justified when the camera was priced at its full retail. However, now that the camera is discontinued, the viewfinder needs to be cheap as chips. Fifty quid would be about right.
The A doesn't come with a hood or filter holder as standard and while there is a rather expensive Nikon version, thankfully there are sometimes third party options to be found.
Now returning to my reasons for reviewing this camera now that it’s discontinued. This is a great camera, no matter how the websites describe its current status. Like 1980’s teatime television stalwarts; the “A Team”, one of the biggest challenges is actually locating them but when you do, they’ll knock the competition for six. See it as a retro digital camera, in the same way people shoot film; it may not be the fastest or the newest but it has character, was ahead of it’s time on release but, most importantly, unlike that Olympus OM-1, you won’t have to pay the film costs.
Looking at what is available on the market at the moment, anyone who doesn't want 40x megazooms and waterproof casings really should be giving this some serious thought. While any new version will surely have lots of shiny bells and whistles to draw the eye, it will inevitably be a whole lot more than you’ll pay for one of these.
CONCLUSION
Well, if you've just read the entire post, this will come as no great shock to you, but I really like it. It's a pocket-sized camera that produces great images via a decent-sized sensor, all for a bargain price. I lose track of the amount of times that I'm asked by friends and family what advice I can give on equipment purchases and the same requirements come up every time;
Cheap
Easy to carry
Fast lens aperture
Capable of allowing more manual control as skills develop
The Nikon Coolpix A now ticks all of those categories and if you're the kind of person who can appreciate that just because something isn't the very latest doesn't mean it's not worth considering, I think I may have found your new camera. Now you just have to actually find one. Happy hunting.
