Nikon P300 Review

It feels as if Camera Nikon has something to prove with a higher-end but highly compact camera. Something that packs plenty of punch and people who are accustomed to a dSLR can slip it into their pocket and feel as if they’ve a camera that does what they want.
Does the P300 meet these needs? It’s got a great sensor and full HD video, but it doesn’t have RAW capability. Is it worth your hard-enarned pennies, then? See what the reviews have to say.

CNET Australia says ‘Photographers who are downsizing from an SLR on its day off will have a big gripe with the P300, which is the lack of RAW capture. Every other camera in this class has it, so we’re rather puzzled as to why Nikon left it out. We can only hope that the next iteration (or indeed a firmware update) provides this very important feature – and perhaps a bigger sensor like that found in the P7000 as well.’ – Read the full review at CNET Australia

Digital Camera Info says ‘The P300 is an intriguing camera for advanced amateurs looking for something small and sleek. The f/1.8 lens is bound to lure in photographers that crave low light performance without the bulk of an SLR. Manual controls aren’t what you might find on Nikon’s higher-end P7000, but the basic shutter and aperture controls are there. You can also access most of Nikon’s specialty features, without giving up manual control flexibility.’ - Read the full review at DigitalCameraInfo

DPReview says ‘The “big” new feature introduced in the Coolpix P300 is 1080p, ‘Full HD’ video. Full HD is still relatively rare in compact cameras, and it is something that none of the P300′s “high-end” peers currently offer. In most other respects, the P300′s specification sheet is comparable to our expectations of the latest compact cameras.’ – Read the full review at DPReview

ePHOTOzine says ‘The ergonomics, handling and design of the camera are very good, with a well thought out layout and design, although the lens protruding from the camera does make it slightly chunky. The camera has a solid feeling metal body with a good sized thumb grip, and raised rubber grip at the front of the rectangular camera.’ – Read the full review at ePHOTOzine

Neo Camera says ‘The Nikon Coopix P300 is a small compact digital camera with an all-new design from Nikon. The camera is built around a 12 megapixels high-speed CMOS sensor and a very bright F/1.8 ultra-wide angle lens, equivalent to 24-100mm. This model is aimed at advanced users seeking efficient manual controls and is among the smallest digital cameras to feature dual control-dials.’ – Read the full review at Neo Camera

PhotographyBLOG says ‘The front of the Nikon Coolpix P300 features the aforementioned 4.2x zoom lens. Nikon have included their VR (Vibration Reduction) image stabilisation system to help prevent camera-shake, an increasingly de-facto feature on a lot of high-end compact cameras. Annoyingly there isn’t a dedicated button to turn it on and off (it’s somewhat buried in the Setup menu).’ – Read the full review at PhotographyBLOG

TechRadar says ‘Digging further into the feature bowels of the Nikon P300 we discover that there are several advanced multi-exposure composite image functions for taking handheld portraits at night, an Easy Panorama mode that delivers 180- and 360-degree results, optimised Night Portrait and Landscape modes, Backlighting (HDR), plus a modest palette of Filter effects’