The image above was taken with the Nikon Coolpix P7700. The camera was set to Aperture priority mode with the aperture set to f4 and the sensitivity to 80 ISO. As both the Coolpix P7700 and PowerShot G15 overexposed the scene, exposure compensation on both cameras was adjusted by -2/3EV which resulted in an exposure of 1/250 at f4 on the Coolpix P7700 and 1/200 on the G15.

Overall these crops are really very good, so it’s a shame to start on a negative note, but, like the PowerShot G15 the Coolpix P7700 would have overexposed this shot if left to its own devices. In the P7700’s case I think the reason for the incorrect metering was probably down to something called focus-coupled metering which gives higher priority to the AF area even when in Matrix (average) metering mode. Focus-coupled metering is enabled by default, so if you want true Matrix metering that’s not weighted to the AF area, which in this case would almost certainly have produced a better result, I’d suggest you disable it.

So what about the crops? Well, overall the sharpness and level of detail is excellent. In the first crop the edges of the chapel and walls are crisp and the door and windows are clearly defined. There’s good detail in the grassy hill and rocks and, though there’s a very slight texture in the sky the horizon line between the sea and sky is cleanly defined.

In the second crop you can just make out the outline of the lighthouse but any indistinctness is probably down to atmospheric conditions as much as anything else. The window frames in the foreground are nice and crisp and there’s good detail in the roofs.

The third crop from closer to the frame edge is a tiny bit softer and less contrasty than those from closer to the middle but the difference is slight and there’s no evidence of any colour fringing. Finally, the last crop from nearer the middle of the frame has a good level of detail with nice crisp edges. This isn’t quite up to the standards you’d expect from bigger Four Thirds or APS-C sensors, but it’s a cut above the kind of quality you’d get from a compact with a 1/2.3 inch sensor

Compared with the Canon PowerShot G15 it looks to me very much like the Coolpix P7700 crops are cleaner, sharper and show more detail than those from the G15. And I think this is more than just a question of processing. In all of the crops you can see more detail from the P7700 – the doors and windows in the chapel, the lighthouse and the bacony dividers in the final crop.

Check out my Nikon P7700 RAW quality results on the next page or see how these models compare at higher sensitivities in my Nikon P7700 Noise results.

The image above was taken with the Nikon Coolpix P7700. The camera was set to Aperture priority mode with the aperture set to f4 and the sensitivity to 80 ISO. As both the Coolpix P7700 and PowerShot G15 overexposed the scene, exposure compensation on both cameras was adjusted by -2/3EV which resulted in an exposure of 1/250 at f4 on the Coolpix P7700 and 1/200th on the G15.

I processed both files in Adobe Camera RAW using identical settings: Sharpening at 70 / 0.5 / 36 / 10, Luminance and Colour Noise Reduction both set to zero, and the Process to 2012 with the Adobe Standard profile. To further reduce any distracting visual differences between the crops I also set custom white balance to 6000K and tint to 0. These settings were chosen to reveal the differences in sensor quality and isolate them from in-camera processing. The high degree of sharpening with a small radius enhances the finest details without causing undesirable artefacts, while the zero noise reduction unveils what’s really going on behind the scenes.

The Coolpix P7700 crops from the RAW files processed in this way reveal even more detail than was present in the in-camera JPEGs, but they also reveal quite a bit more noise too. In the absence of any noise processing all of the crops have quite a grainy appearance. It isn’t overwhelming, but then you probably wouldn’t choose these settings for everyday RAW processing. While the abscence of noise reduction and degree of sharpening used here is good for revealing detail and making comparisons, it also shows that, if you can tweak it out, there’s more detail being recorded by the P7700’s sensor than is being retained by the in-camera JPEG processing. The difficulty is going to be in holding onto it while at the same time dealing with the graininess.

Compared with the RAW crops from the PowerShot G15 processed in exactly the same way, there isn’t as much of a quality gap as with the JPEG crops. The Coolpix P7700 still has the edge, with crisper, sharper edges and superior fine detail resolution, and the G15 crops still look a little soft in comparison, but the difference isn’t nearly as noticeable. With these processing settings the P7700 crops also look grainier than those from the G15 and there’s clearly some chromatic aberration that’s being dealt with in-camera. But let’s take nothing away from the P7700 which produces very good in-camera jpegs from RAW data that reveals a very capable sensor and lens.

Now, it’s time to examine their high ISO performance, starting with a JPEG comparison in my Nikon P7700 Noise results.

To compare RAW noise levels under real-life conditions, I shot this scene with the Nikon Coolpix P7700 and Canon PowerShot G15 within a few moments of each other using their best quality JPEG settings at each of their ISO sensitivity settings.

The zoom on both cameras was set to its maximum wide angle, 6mm on the P7700 and 6.1mm on the G15, providing an approximately equivalent fields of view.

Image stabilisation was disabled for this tripod-mounted test and all other settings were left on the defaults.

To compare noise levels under real-life conditions, I shot this scene with the Nikon Coolpix P7700 and Canon PowerShot G15 within a few moments of each other using their best quality JPEG settings at each of their ISO sensitivity settings.

The zoom on both cameras was set to its maximum wide angle, 6mm on the P7700 and 6.1mm on the G15, providing an approximately equivalent fields of view.

Image stabilisation was disabled for this tripod-mounted test and all other settings were left on the defaults.