Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6

Optics / CCD

	Nikon Coolpix 950	Canon Powershot Pro 70
CCD	2.11 megapixels 1/2" (1600 x 1200 - 4:3 ratio) RGBG filter	1.68 megapixels 1/2" (1536 x 1024 - 3:2 ratio) CYGM filter
Lens	38mm - 115mm (3x, F2.6 - F4) 3 secs from W to T	28mm - 70mm (2.5x, F2 - F2.4) 3.5 secs from W to T
Normal focus distance	30cm	32cm
Macro focus distance	2cm, smallest full frame: 18mm (3/4") across	12cm, smallest full frame: 64mm (2 3/4")

The Coolpix 950 is one of the new generation of "2 megapixel" cameras, you'll note however that horizontal resolution is pretty similar to that of the Pro 70 (plus 32 pixels either side) which was designed with a 3:2 picture ratio (the same as 35mm film). The Coolpix 950 also uses the fairly standard RGBG colour filter on the CCD however Canon have gone with the CYGM filter used on their other Powershot cameras (for a more detailed explanation of the workings of CCD's in digital cameras read the CCD section of my digital photography glossary).

One of the biggest complaints and "let-downs" of the Pro 70 is it's lack of "top end zoom", 70mm is almost half that of the CP950's top end, however the Pro 70 is unbeaten when it comes to perfectly flat (no distortion) wide angle (28mm) shots. The Coolpix 950 suffers from barrel distortion at wide angle and a strange colour fringing which has been put down to chromatic abberations (for more examples of this see the side-by-side samples later in this article).

Macro

The Coolpix 950 wins hands down when it comes to Macro shots, being able to get an amazing 3.5 times closer (horizontal coverage) than the Pro 70. The combination of the better macro optics and more powerful zoom on the Coolpix 950 can take down to an amazing 3/4" across the full frame allowing you to capture even the tiniest of details.

Nikon Coolpix 950	Canon Powershot Pro 70

To show what kind of a difference this really makes the above shots were both taken of the same area of a circuit board at both cameras macro "sweet spot" - closest possible focus at maximum zoom (on the Coolpix 950 this is when the macro icon indicates green, on the Pro70 it's maximum zoom - 70mm). As you can see the Pro70 performed pretty poorly (get any closer than this and the Pro70 won't focus) however the 950 shined through getting right down to the details.

Standard Features

	Nikon Coolpix 950	Canon Powershot Pro 70
Flash	Built-in, auto / red-eye / slow sync, external synch connector	Not included, hotshoe
Shutter speed range	8 s - 1/750 s	1/2s - 1/500 s (1/8000s in low res)
Lower resolutions	1024 x 768, 640 x 480	768 x 512
ISO rating	80 / 100 / 160 / 320	100 / 200 (up to 400 in low res)
Manual focus	10 positions	None
White balance override	Yes - 5 positions plus manual presetting	No
Exposure compensation	-2EV to +2EV in 1/3EV steps	-2EV to +2EV in 1/3EV steps
Metering modes	256 segment Matrix, Center-weighted average, Spot	Center weighted
Continuous	Yes (up to 1.5fps full size)	Only at low res (up to 3fps)
Remote control	No	Yes
Uncompressed format	TIFF (5.6MB)	CCDRAW (1.9MB)
JPEG image compressions	FINE (700KB) / NORMAL (400KB) / BASIC (250KB)	FINE (400KB) / NORMAL (150KB)
Aperture priority	3 positions, at wide: F2.6 / F4.4 / F7.4	5 positions, at wide: F2 / F2.8 / F4.0 / F5.6 / F8.0 plus F8.0 + ND4 filter
Shutter priority	13 positions: 8s, 4s, 2s, 1s, 1/2s, 1/4s, 1/8s, 1/15s, 1/30s, 1/60s, 1/125s, 1/250s, 1/500s	None (workaround is to use aperture priority)

As you can see by the above table the Nikon CP950 brings a range of "standard" (things you'd expect) features way ahead of the Pro 70. With three different metering modes, user selectable ISO, a bigger shutter speed range, white balance override and shutter priority the CP950 gives you that little extra flexibility to be more creative.

The built-in flash of the 950 is a vast improvement from that of the 900, although their have been some complaints that it produces slightly "pasty" skin tones there are some work-arounds (mostly aimed towards using different white-balance modes).

A word about the uncompressed format used, unfortunately Nikon didn't follow Canon's lead in using a CCDRAW format (which is later decoded into distinct 24-bit colour formats per pixel by a TWAIN driver on your PC/MAC) in real terms this means that on a 64MB CF card you'd be able to get 33 Pro70 uncompressed images but only 11 from the Coolpix 950. Combine this with the Pro70's ability to take the larger CF Type II cards and you'd be able to fit a whopping 178 uncompressed images on a 340MB IBM Microdrive. (Could Nikon introduce a new uncompressed format through a firmware update?)