Nikon Coolpix 5700 Review

Timings & File Sizes

Overall the Coolpix 5700 performed well, its slowest function being startup and that because of the extending lens design. One surprise was the extremely fast wide angle auto focus time of just 0.6 seconds, telephoto focusing was also relatively quick so long as the subject distance is similar to the last shot. In low light however the 5700's auto focus system can really struggle, no AF assist lamp penalizes the camera here.

Timing Notes: All times calculated as an average of three operations. Unless otherwise stated all timings were made on a 2560 x 1920 FINE JPEG image (approx. 1,700 KB per image).

The media used for these tests were:

• 256 MB Viking Type I Compact Flash card
• 512 MB Lexar Pro 24x Type I Compact Flash card
• 1 GB IBM Microdrive Type II Compact Flash card
  

Action	Details	Time, seconds (Viking CF)	Time, seconds (Lexar CF)	Time, seconds (Microdrive)
Power: Off to Record *1		4.4	4.4	5.9
Power: Record to Off *2		3.8	3.8	3.9
Mode: Record to Play *3	Play switch	2.2	2.2	4.0
Mode: Record to Play *3	Quick view	1.9	1.9	4.0
Mode: Play to Record *3	Play switch	2.3	2.3	2.7
Mode: Play to Record *3	Quick view *4	1.6	1.6	2.2
Play: Thumbnail view 2 x 2		0.5	0.5	1.9
Play: Thumbnail view 3 x 3		0.7	0.7	3.1

Action	Details	Time, seconds (average)
Auto Focus LAG	Full wide angle (35 mm equiv.) *5	0.6
Auto Focus LAG	Full telephoto (280 mm equiv.) *5	1.0
Shutter Release LAG	LCD monitor, pre-focused (shutter rel. half-pressed)	0.1
Shutter Release LAG	EVF, pre-focused (shutter rel. half-pressed)	0.1
Shutter Release LAG	LCD monitor, full press of shutter release *6	0.8
Shutter Release LAG	EVF, full press of shutter release *6	0.8
Off to Shot Taken	Media: 256 MB Viking CF card	5.0
Shot to Shot	Shutter Release Speed: Normal, Review: On	2.3
Shot to Shot	Shutter Release Speed: Quick, Review: On *7	1.2
Shot to Shot	Shutter Release Speed: Normal, Review: Off	2.3
Shot to Shot	Shutter Release Speed: Quick, Review: Off *7	2.1

Auto Focus LAG is (roughly) the amount of time it takes the camera to autofocus (a half-press and hold of the shutter release button), this timing is normally the most variable as its affected by the subject matter, current focus position, still or moving subject etc. This timing is an average.

Shutter Release LAG is the amount of time it takes to take the shot from the moment you fully depress the shutter release button, measured both as a time including auto focus and a time assuming you have already pre-focused by holding a half-press of the shutter release.

Low Light Focus

This test measures 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).

This test target is the optimum type of subject for most "contrast detect" AF systems (as it has a vertical line at its center), you should consider the results below the best you could expect to achieve.

Light intensity (Lux) = 2.5 x 2^EV (@ ISO 100), 10.76391 Lux = 1 foot-candle (fc)

The timings above were made with AF Area Mode set to 'Auto', we soon discovered that setting AF Area Mode to manual (where you select one of the five AF points) and a detrimental effect on low light AF, requiring at least another stop of light.

The Coolpix 5700 exhibited below average low light focusing ability, especially at any point from half zoom to telephoto. At full telephoto the auto focus took almost five seconds and only locked 50% of the time (at the light level noted above). What I said in my 4500 also applies here, the Coolpix 5700 really needs is an auto focus lamp, and I can't believe with so many new cameras coming out with this basic feature that Nikon haven't yet delivered this on their top end digital cameras.

Continuous modes

The table below shows 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. Media used for these tests was the 256 MB Viking CF card. Shutter speed during these tests was always 1/250 sec or faster (slower shutter speeds will affect frame rate).

High / Low speed continuous drive modes

Standard continuous drive mode shoots as quickly as the camera can respond, between each shot the LCD live view returns momentarily before the next shot is taken. HI (TIFF) and RAW modes are not available when continuous drive mode is selected.

Image Type	Continuous mode	Frames per sec *1	Frames in one burst *2	Wait before next shot *3
2560 x 1920 Fine	High	3.8 fps	3	6.4
2560 x 1920 Normal	High	3.8 fps	3	5.9
1600 x 1200 Normal	High	3.8 fps	3	4.6
1280 x 960 Normal	High	6.0 fps	3	3.5
1024 x 768 Normal	High	6.0 fps	3	3.4
2560 x 1920 Fine	Low	1.2 fps	8	5.8
2560 x 1920 Normal	Low	1.2 fps	12	5.1
1600 x 1200 Normal	Low	1.3 fps	31	4.6
1280 x 960 Normal	Low	1.3 fps	46	4.2
1024 x 768 Normal	Low	1.3 fps	71	4.2

Other continuous drive modes

In addition to the standard continuous shooting mode the Coolpix 5700 also features the Multi-shot 16 and Ultra HS modes we've seen on Coolpix cameras for a while now. These unique modes allow you to capture a continuous sequence in different ways. Multi-shot 16 captures a 4x4 grid of images onto a single 2560 x 1920 image. Ultra HS creates a new folder on the CF card and writes 100 images at 320 x 240 recorded at very high speed.

File Flush Timing

Timings shown below are the time taken for the camera to process and "flush" the image out to the Compact Flash card, the timer was started as soon as the shutter release was pressed (shutter click was heard) and stopped when activity indicator on the LCD screen 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". Note that in HI (TIFF) mode you must wait for the image to be saved before the next shot can be taken, in all other modes (including RAW) you can shoot as long as there is space in the buffer.

The media used for these tests were:

• 256 MB Viking Type I Compact Flash card
• 512 MB Lexar Pro 24x Type I Compact Flash card
• 1 GB IBM Microdrive Type II Compact Flash card

Despite the large price difference between the Lexar Pro 24x and Viking card both appear to perform identically with the Coopix 5700. The Microdrive was slower than the others only for smaller JPEG files, and you wouldn't necessarily notice this small difference in real life as the write process happens in the background. Not sure why it took longer to write a RAW file than a TIFF file...

File Sizes

Here's a comparison of the average byte size of each of different image size / quality combinations.

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, when on LCD is also on)
• Take 1 shot with flash
• Wait 1 minute
• Repeat

All batteries had been fully discharged and recharged before the test and all cameras were reset to their factory default settings. Here are the results:

Not a bad performance, but not the best either. The Coolpix 5700 didn't last as long in our tests as its smaller sibling the 4500 (by about 20 minutes). Clearly the larger body, EVF and bigger zoom have higher power requirements than the 4500. I'd recommend getting at least one spare EN-EL1 with your Coolpix 5700. Note that Auto Focus was set to 'Single Focus', in Continuous Focus mode the focus stepper motor is almost always 'jittering' and this will obviously have an impact on battery life.