Nikon Coolpix 885 Review
Review based on pre-production Coolpix 885, firmware v1.0
The Coolpix 885 was announced just in time for the IFA 2001 consumer electronics show in Berlin, at the end of August 2001. It marks an evolution to the 880 design of last year, Nikon have brought the 885 in line with the 775 with the addition of the 'Auto Transfer' function (and Transfer button) which make uploading images from the camera far easier. They've also paid attention to the styling, the 885 is a more rounded than the 880, it's also smaller and lighter and looks just like a slightly larger 775.
Another big improvement this year is that the 885 now has a 3x optical zoom lens, this makes it a virtual 'pocket 990' with a large handful of the new features from the 995. The small lens though with its maximum aperture of F2.8 - F4.9 is still slightly slow compared to some of the competition who have F2.0 - F2.5 (and even F1.8) lenses.
The cameras exposure modes have also undergone quite a shake up, gone are separate P, A and M exposure modes, now there's simply the CSM mode which gives you complete control over the camera (white balance, manual focus, bracketing, sharpening etc.) and two exposure settings of P and M (manual). For a camera with only two selectable apertures it's hardly any hardship to do away with aperture priority.
Colours?
Just like the 880 the 885 is available in both a silver and charcoal black finish, the black colour primarily for the US market, silver for Europe and SE Asia.
Nikon Coolpix 880 vs. Coolpix 885
Here's a breakdown of the differences between the 880 and the new 885 (images are to scale).
| Nikon Coolpix 885 | Nikon Coolpix 880 | |
| Image (to scale) |
||
| Lens | 3 x optical zoom, 38 - 114 mm equiv. | 2.5 x optical zoom, 38 - 95 mm equiv. |
| Lens max aperture | F2.8 - F4.9 | F2.8 - F4.2 |
| Small picture sizes | 640 x 480, 320 x 240, 160 x 120, 96 x 72 | None |
| Exposure modes | Auto, Scene, CSM | Auto, Scene, CSM, P, A, M |
| Scene modes | Portrait, Party/Indoor, Night Portrait, Beach/Snow, Landscape, Sunset, Night Landscape, Museum, Fireworks, Close up, Copy, Back Light | Portrait, Party/Indoor, Night Portrait, Beach/Snow, Landscape, Sunset, Night Landscape, Fireworks, Close up, Copy, Back Light |
| WB auto bracket | Yes | No |
| Saturation control | Yes | No |
| Noise reduction | Yes, menu option (long exposures) | No |
| Auto transfer | Yes | No |
| Status LCD | No | Yes |
| LCD | 1.5" | 1.8" |
| Viewfinder | No parallax lines / focus bracket | Parallax lines & focus bracket |
| Weight no battery | 243 g (8.6 oz) | 270 g (9.5 oz) |
| Weight inc battery | 285 g (10.1 oz) | 312 g (11.0 oz) |
| Dimensions | 95 x 69 x 52 mm (3.7 x 2.7 x 2.0 in) | 100 x 75 x 53 mm (3.9 x 3 x 2.1 in) |
Review notes: Because of the cameras operational similarity to the Coolpix 995 (and to some degree the 775) parts of this review are based around (and therefore will be similar to) our Coolpix 995 review.
If you're new to digital photography you may wish to read the Digital
Photography Glossary before diving into this review (it may help you
understand some of the terms used).
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Conclusion / Recommendation / Ratings are based on the opinion of the reviewer, you should read the ENTIRE review before coming to your own conclusions. Images which can be viewed at a larger size have a small magnifying glass icon in the bottom right corner of the image, clicking on the image will display a larger (normally 960 x 720 or smaller if cropped) image in a new window. Some graphics in this review were reproduced with permission from the Nikon Coolpix 885 instruction manual. Copyright Nikon Inc. To navigate the review simply use the next / previous page buttons, to jump to a particular section either pick the section from the drop down or select it from the navigation bar at the top. DPReview calibrate their monitors using Color Vision OptiCal at the (fairly well accepted) PC normal gamma 2.2, this means that on our monitors we can make out the difference between all of the (computer generated) grayscale blocks below. We recommend to make the most of this review you should be able to see the difference (at least) between X,Y and Z and ideally A,B and C. |
This review is Copyright 2001 Phil Askey and the review in part or in whole may NOT be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from the author. For information on reproducing any part of this review (or any images) please contact: Phil Askey.
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