The P520 is Nikon's top-of-the-range ultra-zoom (or bridge) camera, with a 42x zoom, articulated 3in, 921,000-dot screen, electronic finder (EVF) and GPS. It's quite an bit cheaper than its rivals, though.
It does not take a lot of excavation to reveal however Nikon has been ready, or maybe felt duty-bound, to charge less for this camera: the slim battery lasts for simply two hundred shots, but 0.5 that of most of its competitors; there isn't any accent shoe for external flashguns; it cannot capture in RAW format; and therefore the 201,000-dot EVF is tiny and coarse compared to the 920,000-dot and better resolutions offered elsewhere. there is not even AN orientation device for rotating portrait-shaped photos mechanically.
It's not an entire ton of fun to use, either. optical device was logy, taking a minimum of 0.5 a second, and up to a few seconds in low light-weight or at the long finish of the zoom. Even in favourable conditions with a bright, near subject, it solely managed to capture a photograph each two.9 seconds. when zooming right in, we have a tendency to measured a median of three.7 seconds. something on top of a second is dissatisfactory, particularly for a bridge camera that is probably to be pointed at fugitive subjects.
The controls square measure slow to access, too. there is a Fn button that may be assigned to varied roles, and that we appreciate however fast it's to transfer it to a distinct task. However, it does not conjure for the deficiency of tagged, single-function buttons and lack of a quick-access menu system. It took United States an extended time to work out why we have a tendency to could not choose ISO speeds on top of 800; it eventually transpired that it's solely potential once the Active D-Lighting perform for enhancing shadows is disabled.
Manual exposure is well catered for, though, with shutter speed assigned to the command dial and aperture on the rear wheel. it is simple to maneuver the optical device purpose exploitation the navigation pad. we have a tendency to conjointly appreciate having the ability to trigger optical device momentarily in manual focus mode – helpful for focusing once then avoiding unessential refocus between shots.
The EVF does not start mechanically once the camera is raised to the attention. In fact, it does not even start once the near DISP button is ironed. the sole thanks to change it's to flip the articulated screen, over and back to shut it against the camera. This makes it cumbersome to modify between the 2 screens. Then again, the EVF's poor quality meant we have a tendency to did not have a lot of of AN urge to use it in the least.
VIDEO AND IMAGE QUALITY
The P520 created a way higher impression in our video quality tests. It captured bitter sharp details and a bright, clean image in low light-weight. It conjointly excelled for image quality at the long finish of the zoom, though the optical stabilisation wasn't powerful enough to stay these hand-held shots steady. optical device was typically terribly slow to update, and noises from the assorted lens motors crept into the sound recording. we have a tendency to conjointly detected some compression artefacts in fast-moving scenes, as a result of the comparatively low-bit-rate 16Mbit/s AVC compression. Still, despite these numerous niggles, this is often one in all the higher video modes we have seen from a bridge camera.
Our exposure tests unconcealed the same mixture of strengths and weaknesses. The lens performed well at the long finish of the zoom, and though focus did not quite live up to the formidable 18-megapixel device resolution, the degree of detail compared well with rivals. However, it wasn't thus competitive once shady conditions forced the ISO speed up. The ensuing noise reduction created details look smeared and seedy.
Meanwhile, the camera created some terribly strange selections regarding the shutter and ISO speeds, choosing shutter speeds as slow jointly second instead of raise the ISO speed on the far side 800. there is AN choice to limit the minimum shutter speed in automobile ISO mode, however exploitation it to avoid overly slow shutter speeds in low light-weight paradoxically created the camera use overly slow shutter speeds for telephotograph shots. there is a advanced relationship between shutter speed, ISO speed and focal distance, however this camera makes it even additional advanced and problematic.
CONCLUSION
We might forgive the so-so image quality considering the competitive value, however there square measure lots of different problems to forgive too, from the poor battery life and performance to the inaccessible controls and lack of RAW capture. If your budget cannot stretch on the far side £300, you are {better off|more happy|comfortable|happier|at AN advantage|more contented} finding out an end-of-line deal on one thing just like the Panasonic FZ62.
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