Nikon Coolpix 885 Review

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.