We decided to use the Nikon Coolpix P100 for its HD movie making and its small compact look, this made it easy for us to carry around the camera and set it up in small spaces. Recording in HD gave the shots a much more real look than they may have otherwise.
Some of the main features of this camera are:
Auto: Camera establishes most settings, but user can adjust focus mode, exposure compensation, image quality and size.
Scene: Camera selects settings for 16 scene modes chosen by user (including backlit scene HDR, which we'll discuss at length later on). User may have some input available depending on specific scene.
Scene auto: Camera chooses specific scene from auto, portrait, night portrait, landscape, night landscape, close-up or backlight options.
Smart portrait: A face detection shooting mode that can incorporate automatic shutter release by the camera if a smile is detected.
Subject tracking: Allows user to designate a subject and the camera focus area will move and follow the subject.
User setting: Frequently used settings in P, A, S, or M modes can be saved in mode dial U.
Program auto: Camera sets shutter and aperture, user has wide variety of setting options (image quality and size, color palette, white balance, ISO sensitivity, single or continuous shooting rates, autofocus area and mode, noise reduction, active D-lighting, distortion control, flash exposure compensation) and flexible program to select different combinations of aperture and shutter while retaining same exposure.
Aperture priority: User sets aperture, camera sets shutter; wide variety of setting options available.
Shutter priority: User sets shutter speed, camera sets aperture; wide variety of setting options available.
Manual: User sets aperture and shutter; wide variety of setting options available.
Movie: Captures video in HD 1080p resolution (1920 x 1080) at either 14 or 12 megabyte per second (Mbps) bitrates; HD 720p (1280 x 720) at 9 Mbps; 640 x 480 at 3 Mbps or 320 x 240 at 640 kilobytes per second. Also available are HS modes that capture in slow motion rates of 240 frames per second (fps) at 320 x 240 resolution; 120 fps at 640 x 480 and 60 fps at 1280 x 720. A fast motion movie (15 fps at 1920 x 1080) is also available.
