Timing & Performance
The Coolpix 8700's performance was a bit of a mixed bag. On the upside its startup time and off to shot taken times are considerably better than the 5700, on the other side of the coin it's still not really a 'fast' camera by prosumer standards. Because of the extending lens you're stuck with waiting for it to extend each time you power up and while auto focus times at wide angle or at similar focus distances are relatively quick you can find the camera 'hunting' especially at full telephoto. Good but not the best.
Timing Notes
All times calculated as an average of three operations. Unless otherwise stated all timings were made on a 3264 x 2448 Fine JPEG image (approx. 2,500 KB per image). The media used for these tests was a 1 GB SanDisk Ultra II Type I Compact Flash card.
| Action | Details | Time, seconds |
| Power: Off to Record | Live view appears | 3.0 |
| Power: Off to Play | Initial image displayed | 2.5 |
| Power: Record to Off | 3.6 | |
| Power: Play to Off | 1.4 | |
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| Record Review | Image displayed | 1.0 |
| Mode: Record to Play | Depends on image size | 1.0 |
| Mode: Play to Record | Lens already extended | 2.3 |
| Mode: Play to Record | Lens not extended | 4.5 |
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| Play: Magnify | To full magnification | 3.2 |
| Play: Thumbnail view | 2 x 2 thumbnails | 0.9 |
| Play: Thumbnail view | 3 x 3 thumbnails | 1.5 |
| Action | Details | Time, seconds |
| Zoom from Wide to Tele | 35 to 280 mm (8 x), Low speed zoom *1 | 2.2 |
| Zoom from Wide to Tele | 35 to 280 mm (8 x), High speed zoom | 2.5 |
| Half-press Lag (0->S1) | Wide angle (Auto AF Area) | 0.5 - 1.3 |
| Half-press Lag (0->S1) | Telephoto (Auto AF Area) | 0.5 - 2.5 |
| Half-press Lag (0->S1) | Wide angle (Manual AF Area) | 0.7 - 1.3 |
| Half-press Lag (0->S1) | Telephoto (Manual AF Area) | 0.7 - 1.8 |
| Half to Full-press Lag (S1->S2) | Wide angle (LCD / EVF) | 0.1 |
| Full-press Lag (0->S2) | Wide angle (Auto AF Area) | 0.5 |
| Off to Shot Taken | Wide angle (Auto AF Area) | 3.8 |
| Shot to Shot | Record Review, Normal | 2.4 |
| Shot to Shot | Record Review, Quick response *2 | 2.2 |
| Shot to Shot | No Review, Normal *3 | 2.6 |
| Shot to Shot | No Review, Quick response *2. 3 | 2.6 |
| *1 | Low speed zoom quickly switches to high speed zoom if you keep the zoom lever held down. |
| *2 | When Shutter Release Speed is set to 'Quick Response' and you quickly re-press the shutter release after taking a shot the camera does not recalculate Auto Exposure and Auto Focus. Note that this function only appears to work if you have Review Options set to 'Review On'. |
| *3 | Interestingly shot to shot times were slower with record review disabled which appears to require the image to be written before allowing you to take the next shot. |
Lag Timing Definitions
| Half-press Lag (0->S1) Many digital camera users prime the AF and AE systems on their camera by half-pressing the shutter release. This is the amount of time between a half-press of the shutter release and the camera indicating an auto focus & auto exposure lock on the LCD monitor / viewfinder (ready to shoot). |
 (Prime AF/AE) |
|---|---|
| Half to Full-press Lag (S1->S2) The amount of time it takes from a full depression of the shutter release button (assuming you have already primed the camera with a half-press) to the image being taken. |
 (Take shot, AF/AE primed) |
| Full-press Lag (0->S2) The amount of time it takes from a full depression of the shutter release button (without performing a half-press of the shutter release beforehand) to the image being taken. This is more representative of the use of the camera in a spur of the moment 'point and shoot' situation. |
 (Take shot, AF/AE not primed) |
Continuous mode
The tables below show the results of our continuous shooting test, indicating the actual frame rate along with maximum number of frames and how long you would have to wait after taking the maximum number of frames before you could take another shot. Note that continuous shooting modes are not available for RAW image format. Media used for these tests was a 1 GB SanDisk Ultra II card. Shutter speed was kept above 1/250 sec during these tests.
High / Low speed continuous drive modes
| Image Type | Continuous mode |
Avg. frames per sec *1 |
Frames in one burst *2 |
Delay before |
| 3264 x 2448 Fine | High | 1.9 fps | 5 | 7.6 sec |
| 3264 x 2448 Normal | High | 1.9 fps | 5 | 7.3 sec |
| 2592 x 1944 Fine | High | 1.9 fps | 5 | 8.1 sec |
| 1600 x 1200 Fine | High | 1.9 fps | 5 | 7.3 sec |
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| 3264 x 2448 Fine | Low | 1.0 fps | 13 | 10.7 sec |
| 3264 x 2448 Normal | Low | 1.0 fps | 20 | 9.8 sec |
| 2592 x 1944 Fine | Low | 1.0 fps | 15 | 10.3 sec |
| 1600 x 1200 Fine | Low | 1.0 fps | 42 | 9.2 sec |
| *1 | This is an average. Monitor options did not affect frame rate. In Low speed mode shooting speed 'stutters' after first frame then becomes consistent then slows down again before the buffer fills. |
| *2 | In a single "burst" (finger held down on shutter release). In Continuous High mode the maximum frames you can shoot is always five. In Continuous Low mode the maximum frames is a function of the camera processor, buffer size and the write speed of your Compact Flash card). |
| *3 | You can take a frame as soon as there is space in the cameras internal buffer (writing continues "in the background"). |
Interestingly our measured frame rate fell short of Nikon's advertised 2.5 fps / 1.2 fps, and in actual fact I think that despite the consideration of larger file sizes most owners will expect a higher shooting rate than just under 2 frames per second.
Other continuous drive modes
In addition to the standard continuous shooting mode the Coolpix 8700 also features Multi-shot 16, Ultra HS and 5 shot buffer modes we've seen on Coolpix cameras for a while now. These unique shooting modes allow you to capture a continuous sequence in different ways.
| Continuous Mode | Frames in one burst | Image size | Frames per sec |
| Multi-shot 16 | 16 | Sixteen 816 x 612 on a 3264 x 2448 image | 1.4 fps |
| Ultra HS | 100 | 640 x 480 (VGA) | 0.7 fps |
| 5 shot buffer (last 5 frames) | 5 | Any size | 30.0 fps |
File Write / Display and Sizes
Timings shown below are the time taken for the camera to process and "flush" the image out to the storage card, the timer was started as soon as the shutter release was pressed and stopped when activity indicator on the LCD monitor disappeared. This means the timings also include the cameras processing time and as such are more representative of the actual time to "complete the task". The media used for these tests was a 1 GB SanDisk Ultra II Type I Compact Flash card.
| Image Type | Time
to write (secs) |
Time
to display (secs) *1 |
File
size *2 (approx.) |
Images
on a *3 1 GB Card |
| 3264 x 2448 TIFF HI | 15.6 | 1.0 | 23,520 KB | 42 |
| 3264 x 2448 RAW | 14.7 | 1.0 | 12,375 KB | 80 |
| 3264 x 2448 JPEG Fine | 3.6 | 2.3 | 2,500 KB | 256 |
| 3264 x 2448 JPEG Normal | 3.2 | 1.8 | 1,600 KB | 504 |
| 3264 x 2448 JPEG Basic | 2.9 | 1.5 | 1,000 KB | 977 |
| 2048 x 1536 JPEG Fine | 2.7 | 1.4 | 1,100 KB | 638 |
| 1280 x 960 JPEG Fine | 2.3 | 1.0 | 484 KB | 1563 |
| *1 | Note that for all JPEG modes the timing shown is for the camera to replace the initial rough image with the finer detailed image (after loading the full image from the card). The initial rough image is displayed very quickly, probably less than a tenth of a second. You can not magnify until the camera has loaded the full image from the card. |
| *2 | All file sizes are an average of three files. As is the case with JPEG it's difficult to predict the size of an image because it will vary a fair amount depending on the content of the image (detail and noise). |
| *3 | Camera estimation. |
Respectable write times considering the larger file sizes involved. We estimated camera's Compact Flash interface throughput to be between 1 - 1.5 MB/sec for a good card like this Ultra II. This is notably faster than the Coolpix 5700 which took longer to process and write smaller files.
Low Light Auto Focus
This
test is designed to measure the minimum amount of light under which the
camera can still focus. The focus target is our lens distortion test chart
(shown here on the right), camera is positioned exactly 2 m (6.6 ft) away.
Light levels are gradually dropped until the camera can no longer focus. This is carried out at both wide angle and telephoto zoom positions (as more light reaches the focusing systems with a larger aperture).
AF assist lamp
The Coolpix 8700 is the Nikon prosumer digital camera to feature an AF assist lamp. The lamp itself is located beside the flash and therefore requires the flash to be popped up to operate. If the 'Pop Up' setting for the internal flash is set to 'Auto' it will pop up whenever the AF assist lamp is required, otherwise if set to 'Manual' you will need to raise the flash by pressing the flash button on the lens barrel before the AF assist lamp can operate.
| Focal length | Aperture at focal len. |
AF assist lamp | Lowest light focus | Time
to focus from min. *1 |
| Wide (35 mm equiv.) | F2.8 | Yes | 0.1 EV | 1.9 sec |
| Tele (280 mm equiv.) | F4.2 | Yes | 0.9 EV | 4.8 sec |
| Wide (35 mm equiv.) | F2.8 | No | 1.1 EV | 1.6 sec |
| Tele (280 mm equiv.) | F4.2 | No | 1.6 EV | 4.4 sec |
| Light intensity (Lux) = 2.5 x 2^EV (@ ISO 100), 10.76391 Lux = 1 foot-candle (fc) |
Even with its AF assist lamp the 8700 can't focus in absolute darkness, it still requires a dim ambient light to provide some extra illumination. At wide angle focus speeds aren't blistering but are acceptable, zoom in a little more and the camera has to scan through its full focus range before locking, at full telephoto this can take four and a half seconds.
Battery life
We ran the camera through our new battery life test. This test is designed to be fair and comparative to each camera and battery type:
- Take 4 shots without flash
- Wait 2 minutes (50% of the time powering the camera off)
- Take 1 shot with flash
- Wait 1 minute
- Repeat
Batteries are fully discharged and recharged before the test and all cameras were reset to their factory default settings. Here are the results:
| Camera Prosumer / SLR-Like |
Battery | Power | Battery life | Number of shots |
| Minolta DiMAGE 7 | 4 x AA NiMH 1600 mAh (GP) | 7.7 Wh | 1 hr 14 mins | 125 |
| Minolta DiMAGE 5 | 4 x AA NiMH 1600 mAh (GP) | 7.7 Wh | 1 hr 56 mins | 195 |
| Nikon Coolpix 5700 | EN-EL1 | 4.8 Wh | 2 hr 08 mins | 215 |
| Canon PowerShot S40 | NB-2L | 3.9 Wh | 2 hr 13 mins | 225 |
| Minolta DiMAGE S304 | 4 x AA NiMH 1600 mAh (GP) | 7.7 Wh | 2 hr 18 mins | 235 |
| Canon PowerShot S45 | NB-2L | 3.9 Wh | 2 hr 28 mins | 240 |
| Nikon Coolpix 4500 | EN-EL1 | 4.8 Wh | 2 hr 27 mins | 250 |
| Fujifilm FinePix 6900Z | NP-80 | 4.1 Wh | 2 hr 29 mins | 250 |
| Nikon Coolpix 990 | 4 x AA NiMH 1600 mAh (GP) | 7.7 Wh | 2 hr 30 mins | 255 |
| Nikon Coolpix 995 | EN-EL1 | 4.8 Wh | 2 hr 30 mins | 255 |
| Nikon Coolpix 5000 | EN-EL1 | 4.8 Wh | 2 hr 32 mins | 260 |
| Minolta DiMAGE 7Hi | 4 x AA NiMH 1600 mAh (GP) | 7.7 Wh | 2 hr 33 mins | 260 |
| Canon PowerShot Pro1 | BP-511A | 10.2 Wh | 2 hr 36 mins | 265 |
| Canon PowerShot S50 | NB-2L | 3.9 Wh | 2 hr 39 mins | 270 |
| Minolta DiMAGE S404 | 4 x AA NiMH 1600 mAh (GP) | 7.7 Wh | 2 hr 39 mins | 270 |
| Sony DSC-V1 | NP-FC11 | 2.8 Wh | 2 hr 39 mins | 270 |
| Olympus C-7000 Zoom | LI-12B | 4.5 Wh | 2 hr 44 mins | 280 |
| Nikon Coolpix 8700 | EN-EL1 | 5.0 Wh | 2 hr 45 mins | 280 |
| Minolta DiMAGE 7i | 4 x AA NiMH 1600 mAh (GP) | 7.7 Wh | 2 hr 46 mins | 270 |
| Olympus E-20 | 4 x AA NiMH 1600 mAh (GP) | 7.7 Wh | 2 hr 48 mins | 285 |
| Canon PowerShot G1 | BP-511 | 8.1 Wh | 3 hr 00 mins | 300 |
| Nikon Coolpix 5400 | EN-EL1 | 4.8 Wh | 3 hr 06 mins | 315 |
| HP Photosmart 850 | 4 x AA NiMH 1600 mAh (GP) | 7.7 Wh | 3 hr 12 mins | 325 |
| Sony DSC-S75 | NP-FM50 | 8.6 Wh | 3 hr 15 mins | 330 |
| Nikon Coolpix 8800 | EN-EL7 | 8.1 Wh | 3 hr 27 mins | 350 |
| Fujifilm FinePix S602Z | 4 x AA NiMH 1600 mAh (GP) | 7.7 Wh | 3 hr 29 mins | 350 |
| Canon PowerShot G2 | BP-511 | 8.1 Wh | 3 hr 32 mins | 355 |
| Casio QV-4000 | 4 x AA NiMH 1600 mAh (GP) | 7.7 Wh | 3 hr 38 mins | 365 |
| Olympus C-5050 Zoom | 4 x AA NiMH 1600 mAh (GP) | 7.7 Wh | 3 hr 48 mins | 380 |
| Casio EXILIM EX-P700 | NP-40 | 4.5 Wh | 3 hr 48 mins | 385 |
| Sony DSC-S85 | NP-FM50 | 8.6 Wh | 3 hr 50 mins | 400 |
| Sony DSC-F717 | NP-FM50 | 8.6 Wh | 4 hr 02 mins | 405 |
| Pentax Optio 750Z | D-LI7 | 6.6 Wh | 4 hr 03 mins | 415 |
| Sony DSC-V3 | NP-FR1 | 4.4 Wh | 4 hr 05 mins | 415 |
| Nikon Coolpix 8400 | EN-EL7 | 8.1 Wh | 4 hr 09 mins | 420 |
| Sony DSC-F707 | NP-FM50 | 8.6 Wh | 4 hr 20 mins | 440 |
| Fujifilm S7000 Zoom | 4 x AA NiMH 1600 mAh (GP) | 7.7 Wh | 4 hr 23 mins | 445 |
| Konica Minolta DiMAGE A2 | NP-400 | 11.1 Wh | 4 hr 26 mins | 450 |
| Canon PowerShot G3 | BP-511 | 8.1 Wh | 4 hr 32 mins | 455 |
| Canon PowerShot G5 | BP-511 | 8.1 Wh | 4 hr 33 mins | 460 |
| Pentax Optio 550 | D-LI7 | 6.6 Wh | 4 hr 36 mins | 465 |
| Minolta DiMAGE A1 | NP-400 | 11.1 Wh | 5 hr 02 mins | 515 |
| Leica Digilux 2 | BP-DC1-E | 10.1 Wh | 5 hr 05 mins | 515 |
| Sony DSC-F828 | NP-FM50 | 8.6 Wh | 5 hr 28 mins | 540 |
| Fujifilm FinePix S5000 | 4 x AA NiMH 1600 mAh (GP) | 7.7 Wh | 5 hr 31 mins | 555 |
| Canon PowerShot G6 | BP-511A | 10.3 Wh | 5 hr 38 mins | 570 |
| Olympus C-8080 WZ | BLM-1 | 10.8 Wh | 5 hr 52 mins | 595 |
| Other test notes: | ||||
| • LCD monitor is left on during
the battery test • The camera is powered off half of the time and left on half of the time (switch every 10 iterations) • There are now higher capacity AA NiMH batteries available, however in the interests of fair comparison we will continue to use our 1600 mAh test set |
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It's a pity Nikon decided to stick with its rather low capacity 5 Wh EN-EL1 battery because the Coolpix 8700 could clearly have lasted almost four hours with a 7 Wh battery. However they have and this limits the 8700 to a maximum of around two hours forty five minutes, good considering the battery power (and much better than the Coolpix 5700) but still lower than we would hope from a prosumer level camera.
