With its P6000, Nikon has added yet another high-end digital compact camera to compete in what is an increasingly crowded marketplace.

Boasting a sleek, sober design and some innovative new features, including an Ethernet port and a GPS module, can the Coolpix P6000 match up to the formidable opposition of the Canon G10 and Panasonic LX3.

Handling

The P6000 has a professional feel, but is small and light enough to slide into a jacket pocket or a small bag.  It's definitely more compact than its big rival, the Canon G10.

It's a well-made camera, with quality materials complemented by responsive controls. The dial which sits proudly on top is one example of this--robust, it turns under just the right amount of pressure.

The 2.7'' LCD screen has a resolution of 230 000 pixels, which is a little low compared to some compared to some of the competition.  On the G10, for instance, the 3'' is a little more comfortable, but the inclusion of a 470 000 pixels makes catching details in your photos a lot easier.

You can use the screen under very bright light, but it's a little less impressive when light levels drop.

An optical viewfinder is included, but is not really worth it: it's small, dark and not very accurate, though it might just do the job when the screen really is beyond use.

Getting a grip on the P6000 is easy enough, and all of the controls are well thought-out.  The onscreen interface is clear and concise--a lot more so than on its brothers in Nikon's SLR range, anyway.

What holds you back, though, is the lack of responsiveness.  Switching it on is fast enough, but afterwards, you have to wait three seconds in between each JPEG photo, and you have to wait even longer for RAW photos.  

Burst mode just about struggles to 0.6 frames per second and, although the autofocus isn't terrible, it's a lot slower than on the competition.

You might think the inclusion of innovative connectivity options like Ethernet and GPS would help compensate for these poor speeds, but here too we were disappointed.

A fast Ethernet connection is useful when it comes to moving large RAW files around, but unfortunately, it only allows you to connect directly to Nikon's photo sharing site--you can't use it to copy files onto your computer.  

You can see how the GPS system worked here.


Image Quality

Perhaps it'll be down to the 13.5 Megapixel sensor to save the day for the P6000?

In broad daylight, it takes very good photos, with plenty of detail, and nice, vibrant colors.  The lowest speeds of 64 and 100 ISO are nice and sharp, but electronic noise is visible even at 200 ISO.  From 400 ISO and above, blurriness is visible, and beyond that, the P6000 doesn't really manage photos worthy of a 'high-end' digital compact.


The lens works well, with sharp images.  For JPEGs, distortion caused in the wide angle mode can be corrected on the camera itself.

Chromatic aberrations are under control, and never bad enough to be off-putting.  You can put your trust in the camera's exposure monitor, but the automatic white balancing struggles to correct for the naturally warm tone of artificial light.

The optical stabilization is incredibly efficient, allowing you to take a shot in less than a quarter of a second without a tripod.

Finally, although the flash provided is excellent, you can connect an extra flash if you wish for even better performance.