The Nikon COOLPIX S9900 is a compact super-zoom with a 30x optical reach. This camera has been released in February 2015 and it’s an update to the COOLPIX S9700 which was released a year earlier. The new model holds the 25-750mm comparable f3.7 – 6.4 lens of its ancestor alongside the 16 Megapixel CMOS sensor.
The S9900’s body has gone through a restyle, to some extent to oblige another vari-point 3-inch LCD screen which is side-pivoted and can look in basically any heading. Additionally new is an NFC chip, which permits you to make a Wifi connection by tapping the S9900 with an appropriately prepared cell phone.
In the past, there was an implicit GPS receiver, but now, it is increased with an inherent mapping display. New shooting modes incorporate a time-lapse by component and Short Movie Show Mode which, similar to the Hybrid mode on Canon PowerShot compacts, gathers an assortment of short clasps into a more extended film in the camera.
The COOLPIX S9900 is a more reasonable contender to the top-of-the-line Panasonic Lumix TZ70 ZS50 and Sony HX90V. If you’re on a limited financial plan and are ready to forfeit an implicit electronic viewfinder, the COOLPIX S9900 addresses an incredible value for money – particularly thinking of it as sports a 30x zoom, completely expressed screen, and inherent GPS.
Contrasted and smash-hit super-zooms like the Panasonic Lumix TZ70/ZS50 and Sony HX90V, the COOLPIX S9900 is evaluated highly, yet it misses the mark on of those models’ additional convincing highlights, most quite an implicit electronic viewfinder. So would you be able to set aside cash regardless to get a compact super-zoom that could leave you wishing you’d spent more? Go through my full review where I have presented the full feature of this model. Find the best features of the Nikon COOLPIX S9900 below:
Key Features:
- 16-megapixel illuminated CMOS sensor
- Crossover VR, optical, and electronic picture adjustment
- 30x optical long-range focal point, identical to 25-750mm
- 3inch 921k dot OLED vari-point screen
- FullHD video recording
- P/A/S/M Manual controls
- ISO125 – ISO6400
- 1cm macro mode
- Wi-Fi, NFC, and GPS
- Simple all-encompassing mode
- Time-lapse motion pictures
- Available in silver and dark
Design and Controls
At 112x66x39.5mm and weighing 289 grams, the COOLPIX S9900 is an all-rounder and somewhat heavier than its ancestor. Contrasted and the opposition, the more established COOLPIX S9700 was at that point on the large side. Close to the Sony HX90V, which measures 102x58x35.4mm and weighs 245g, the COOLPIX S9900 looks massive and it is – a centimeter more extensive, almost a centimeter taller and a large portion of a centimeter thicker.
I hefted the Sony HX90V around in the back pocket of my pants, a spot the COOLPIX S9900 would never fantasize about involving. So it will be either in your grasp or a spacious coat or coat pocket or in a sack. A portion of the S9900’s mass is no question due to the completely expressed screen pivot, however, recollect while the S9900 has developed since its ancestor, the Sony HX90V has contracted while bragging the increments a shifting screen and a pop-up electronic viewfinder. It makes you wonder even more why Nikon could never have overseen something a little nearer in size and weight to the previous model.
All things considered, a side-hinged screen is an exceptionally flexible and welcome expansion to the new model, also something pretty novel among rivals – recall Sony’s screen just slants upward. The new screen on the Nikon is an LCD board with similar 3-inch slanting and 4:3 extent as the decent OLED screen on the past model. It has a resolution of 921k specks and shows a punchy-soaked picture with a decent degree of detail.
The review point is likewise great, however, this isn’t anywhere near so particularly significant for all intents and purposes with a decent screen due to course you can flip the screen out and point it all the more advantageously if you can’t see it appropriately. The screen can be calculated advances for selfies (however there’s no unique self-clock like on the HX90V) and be collapsed inwards to safeguard it when not being used.
Normally I wouldn’t refer to the absence of an electronic viewfinder, however, both the Lumix TZ70/ZS50 and the Sony HX90V have little yet, in any case, fantastic electronic viewfinders so the shortfall of one on the S9900 puts it in a difficult situation contrasted and those models. In this regard, the S9900 is more similar to Canon’s SX710 HS.
It isn’t simply that certain individuals like to form a shot utilizing a viewfinder as opposed to a screen, or even that in splendid daylight it’s generally expected the main way you can build out a shot appropriately; on a compact super-zoom, it is very well may be hard to approach a subject at the fax end of the zoom range utilizing a screen.
With the camera pressed to your face and your eye to a viewfinder, things become particularly simpler. Having said that, as you can see from my example pictures, I figured out how to have a few decent chances of activity subjects with the S9900 at its most extreme 750mm comparable central length, so it is conceivable – only not however simple as it seems to be with the Lumix and the Sony.
The other new presentation on the S9900 is an order dial; this is arranged on the top board at the right back corner so it’s thumb-worked. The mode dial has moved to the opposite side of the shutter release and the top board is presently a two-level plan, raised on the left to oblige the Wifi and GPS aerials and the blaze. I’ve discussed how much greater the S9900 is yet to be fair it likewise looks somewhat more expert than the prior model.
The inherent glimmer pops up from the top board on the left side, initiated by a little change to its right. It has a cited greatest reach of six meters at 1600 ISO, generally identical to the Lumix TZ70/ZS50 and Sony HX90V.
The back control format is to a great extent unaltered aside from that the button recently used to show the guide view currently enacts the Wifi, while the guide view button is presently moved to the left half of the body. The film record button has been moved slightly off to one side and presently sits in a quadrant cut out of the more significant thumb rest. Discussing which, its amplified extents make the S9900 considerably more secure in your grasp, yet if there was any uncertainty there’s presently a significantly more significant front hold shrouded in delicate elastic-like material.
Like the Sony HX90V and Lumix TZ70/ZS50, the COOLPIX S9900 has a smaller than usual HDMI port and a USB information and charging port behind a flap on the right half of the body. The battery is charged in the camera over USB, utilizing the provided AC charger or another appropriate source like a PC or vehicle connector. When completely energized it’s great for 300 shots, precisely equivalent to the Lumix TZ70/ZS50, however not generally so liberal as the 390 shots you’ll get from the Sony HX90V.
Lens and Stabilization
The COOLPIX S9900 holds the 25-750mm identical f3.7-6.4 focal point of last year’s S9700. It’s normal for makers to involve focal points in two ages of super-zooms. Panasonic, Sony, and Canon are all at a similar point in the focal point overhaul cycle; all element 30x zooms with a comparable reach and most extreme gap.
The Sony HX90V is in a marginally unique position, however, its focal point has a similar zoom range as its ancestor it’s been redesigned from Sony’s G series to the better quality Zeiss Vario Sonar T* configuration, take a gander at my quality outcomes to perceive the amount of a distinction that makes. Besides that, you’ll see minor contrasts in the zoom range – 25-750mm on the COOLPIX S9900 contrasted with 24-720mm on the Lumix TZ70/ZS50 and Sony HX90V, with most extreme openings of f3.7-6.4, f3.3-6.4 and f3.5-6.4 individually.
All things being equal, neither the 1mm at the wide point, nor 30mm at the fax end of the zoom range has a lot of effects, and the equivalent goes for the not exactly large portion of a stop distinction in the most extreme wide point opening between the COOLPIX S9900 and the Lumix TZ70/ZS50.
The COOLPIX S9900 has optical picture adjustment which Nikon calls Vibration Reduction or VR. Vibration decrease is set independently for stills and film shooting with Photo VR actuated from the Setup menu. Notwithstanding the On and Off positions, there’s a third choice called Hybrid. This joins the optical adjustment with in-camera present handling to carefully eliminate any obscuring of the remaining parts. The advanced adjustment is applied uniquely under specific circumstances, including when the shade speed is slower than 1/30 at the wide point setting or 1/250 at the fax central length and when the responsiveness is 200 ISO or lower.
It appears as though Nikon has deserted the Motion identification include which consequently raises the ISO aversion to empower choice of a quicker screen speed when either subject development is distinguished or there’s a gamble of camera shake.
To test the COOLPIX S9900’s adjustment I put forth it to Shutter boundary exposure mode, zoomed the focal point to its greatest 750mm identical fax setting, and went after logically slow screen speeds, first with Photo VR switched off and afterward with it on. The COOLPIX S9900 can create obscure free shots down to 1/25 at the most extreme zoom range, up to the principles of the HX90V and TZ70/ZS50, which were likewise ready to come by reliably great outcomes with at a 25th.
Film Modes
The COOLPIX S9900 holds the best quality 1080/25p HD method of its ancestor which is encoded at around 17Mbit/s. As before you can switch between NTSC and PAL viable frame rates, so all the 25fps modes I notice here are likewise available at 30fps.
Next on the menu is an entwined 1080i50 mode, trailed by 720p25 and in conclusion a VGA mode that records 640×480 goal video at 25fps (or 30fps). The prior model’s 720p mode saved in Apple’s altered amicable iFrame design has been dropped.
The COOLPIX S9700 likewise has several HS choices for playback at speeds other than continuous. HS 1080/0.5x records full HD video at a large portion of the ordinary edge rate for twofold speed playback.
However, the prior model’s HS720/2x choice, which records 1280×720 at twofold the ordinary casing rate for half-speed playback, has been dropped – a choice that has neither rhyme nor reason. As far as I might be concerned, the higher resolution half-speed option is a far superior decision to the VGA quarter-speed one. Be that as it may, why drop either? Maybe the COOLPIX S9900 is overflowing over with video modes; It comes up short on 50/60p choice which both the TZ70/ZS50 and HX90V can offer and the TZ70 has a 4x (quarter speed) 720p sluggish movement mode. The HX90V honestly has no sluggish movement methods of any sort.
While the COOLPIX S9900 loses some video modes, it acquires another film highlight as a Short Movie show. This works in a very much like manner to the Hybrid film mode (previously Movie Digest) found on Canon compacts and records several seconds of 1080/25/30p film which are then collected in-camera into a more extended film.
You can pick between 15 2-second, three 10-second, or five 6-second clasps which are then gathered into a 30-second film. It’s a slick component however not exactly as easy to use as Canon’s which shoots a short clasp each time you snap a picture.
The COOLPIX S9900 gives two self-adjust modes to film shooting, Single (AF-S), which sets the concentration toward the start of your clasp and Full time (AF-F) which ceaselessly changes it. AF-S is the default, however, if you need to record whatever’s moving, or on the other hand, if you’re panning the camera from close to far subjects, you want to change to Full-time AF. The COOLPIX S9900’s full-time AF mode functions admirably, but it’s somewhat inclined to meandering in certain circumstances.
The COOLPIX S9900 doesn’t uphold any of the PASM exposure modes for film shooting, no matter what the place of the mode dial and ISO, the awareness and openness are set consequently. In that regard, it’s equivalent to the Lumix TZ70/ZS50, however with that model you can pick a scene mode. If you need PASM modes for motion pictures the Sony HX90V is the model to go for.
Shooting Experience
There could be no less than five AF area modes on the COOLPIX S9900, more than is normal for a camera in this class, however, there’s no manual focus option. If there are no countenances in the edge it defaults to the nine-region AF framework which it uses to focus on the matter nearest to the camera. On the other hand, you can physically choose the center region from one of 99 positions utilizing the multi-selector to move the edge around a 9×11 framework or set a focal center point.
The COOLPIX S9900 incorporates the objective observing AF include presented on the COOLPIX S8200 back in 2011. This distinguishes both human and non-human subjects in the frame when the camera is pointed at a scene. If you’re shooting individuals, face acknowledgment is likely a superior decision of AF modes, yet target finding appears to have an uncanny skill for picking the principal subject in a scene which for certain, circumstances is a genuine enhancement for the nine-region AF mode.
At last, there’s a subject following mode which permits you to distinguish a subject with an AF point which then chases after it. this functions admirably, given your subject is well separated from the foundation, you’re not zoomed in quite far and the subject isn’t moving rapidly or sporadically.
I suspect the vast majority will leave the AF Area on the default face need mode, which is the most ideal choice other than in low light when it some of the time pays to utilize focus or Manual AF region determination. At that point, the COOLPIX S9900 is essentially ensured to secure the concentration in a negligible portion of a second. It takes somewhat longer if you zoom right in and it needs to change the concentration from close to far, but even then it seldom took as long as a large portion of a second. I observed it for the most part took care of business a little speedier than the Lumix TZ70/ZS50 and a bug slower than the Sony HX90V.
Note that when I talk about Manual above, I’m alluding to the AF region choice. In contrast to the Lumix TZ70/ZS50 and Sony HX90V, the COOLPIX S9900 doesn’t have a manual focus mode.
The quicker of the two shoots a 5-outline burst, spotlight, and exposure are fixed on the principal outline for all consistent shooting modes. Two quicker settings shoot 1280×960 pictures at 60fps and 640×480 at 120fps. There’s additionally an astute Pre-shooting reserve mode that starts recording when the shade is half squeezed; when you completely press the screen the COOLPIX S9900 catches an explosion of 25 1280×960 casings at 20fps including up to 5 stored outlines from before the shade was completely discouraged.
Likewise, with the film modes, Nikon has matched down the ceaseless shooting highlight options eliminating the Best Shot Selector and Multi-shot 16 modes.
This is the very persistent shooting performance that you’ll find on the previous S9700, so it’s somewhat disheartening to see it unchanged. The HX90V can shoot at a somewhat quicker 10fps and for 10 edges. While 7fps is quick enough for some subjects, the short burst time truly hampers it – if you entirely misunderstand the timing, the activity can without much of a stretch occur after you’ve completed the process of shooting, while the S9900 is caught up with composing edges to the card. Also, if your subject is moving towards or away from you, the last frames of the grouping may not be in the center.
All things considered, consistent shooting is a decent method for working on your possibilities getting a couple of good edges from a quick subject over-utilizing the single shooting drive mode. The shot above is from a grouping of five edges shot in Continuous H mode. Whenever I tried the COOLPIX S9900’s nonstop shooting I had the option to shoot an explosion of five shots at fine JPEG quality at a somewhat quicker than cited 7.4fps.
New to the COOLPIX S9900 is a Time-slip by Movie mode which shoots an arrangement of pictures at pre-characterized spans and gathers them into a 1080/30p HD film. There are five presets – Landscape, Cityscape, Sunset, Night sky, and Star trails. Each shoots 300 pictures at periods, 5, 10, 30, and 30 seconds separately which are then consolidated into a 10-second film.
The COOLPIX S9900 has inherent Wifi and another NFC chip implies that you can tap it with an appropriately prepared cell phone to start an association. So connecting with your cell phone is the very same on the COOLPIX S9900, the Lumix TZ70/ZS50, and the Sony HX90V; if your telephone has NFC you simply tap it on the camera (however not the iPhone 6, not yet basically as its NFC chip is switched for Apple Pay as it were).
If you don’t have NFC you should simply empower Wifi from the menu and then select the COOLPIX S9900’s SSID on your telephone. Before you do that, it’s prudent to set up security choices on the camera, in any case, you have an open Wifi connection that anybody can take advantage of.
You then have the choice of remote shooting utilizing Nikon’s Wireless Mobile Utility application as well as downloading pictures from the card in the camera. The remote shooting highlights are fundamental and it’s somewhat disheartening to see that they haven’t changed since last year’s COOLPIX S9700. No matter what the mode dial position the camera shoots in Auto mode and there’s no exposure control accessible, not even exposure compensation. You can zoom the lens and there’s a perceptible slack between tapping the control on your phone and the camera answering.
Downloading pictures from the camera’s card to the phone seems direct, You can see the pictures in a lattice, get a full screen take a gander at a low resolution see and select it for download. Be that as it may, you can never again download photographs at their unique size – just VGA for sure Nikon Calls ‘Suggested size’ which for my situation ended up being 1440×1080.
I can’t comprehend the reason why Nikon has done this, definite it’s faster to download more modest records to your telephone and more often than not that you’ll need to do, yet it was great to have the option to for unique measured downloads and I don’t have the foggiest idea what’s acquired by eliminating it.
This is one region in which the COOLPIX S9900 might have been the equivalent of or shockingly better than the opposition. It’s likewise frustrating to see Nikon neglecting to develop the remote shooting capacities of the S9900 to give minimum exposure control options.
In any case, while it is remote shooting through Wifi is dreary, the COOLPIX S9900 compensates for it with work in GPS includes that are superior to those on offer from the opposition. The underlying GPS collector labels pictures with lat and long coordinates and these aren’t shown on-screen during playback as on the Sony HX90V, you can show the area on a guide show, ascertain distances between pictures or a picture and your present area, and show focal points. There’s likewise an electronic compass that labels photographs with where you were confronting when you made the effort.
The Sony HX90V additionally incorporates a GPS collector and showcases the lat and long coordinates, yet there’s no guide. What’s more, prior TZ series models included modern designing capacities, alongside the inherent GPS, have been dropped from the TZ70/ZS50 for a choice to match up a tracklog recorded on your cell phone. so this is one region in which the COOLPIX S9900 is in front of the opposition.
Notwithstanding its PASM and auto shooting modes, the COOLPIX S9900 has a Smart Portrait mode which can enact the screen when a grin is distinguished and apply skin mellowing and different impacts. There’s likewise an Easy scene mode and a genuinely decent determination of impacts channels.
Pros of Nikon COOLPIX S9900:
- Slim and lightweight
- 30x optical zoom range
- Image Stabilization
- Face Detection Focusing
- Built-in GPS
- Manual Exposure
- Wifi and NFC connectivity
Cons of Nikon COOLPIX S9900:
- No Built-in Viewfinder
- No RAW Shooting
FAQs
When did the Nikon S9900 come out?
The Nikon COOLPIX S9900 is a compact super-zoom with a 30x optical reach. This camera has been released in February 2015.
Is Nikon Coolpix 4K?
Yes, some Nikon Coolpix models can record 4k videos.
Where are Nikon Coolpix cameras made?
Nikon has moved quite a bit of its assembling offices to Thailand, with some productions particularly Coolpix cameras and some low-end focal points in Indonesia. The organization built a manufacturing plant in Ayuthaya north of Bangkok in Thailand.
Which camera has the highest zoom?
Nikon COOLPIX P1000 has the highest zoom which is 125x optical zoom (the 35mm camera equivalent of 24-3000mm). Such a strong zoom implies you could catch the most remote objects, from distant wildlife to the outer layer of the moon.
Final Words
The Nikon Coolpix S9900 is one of the best travel zoom cameras with a vari-point screen and a very rare example to offer both Wi-Fi and GPS worked in, with the main different cameras being the TZ70 and HX60V. The S9900 has filled in size, because of the vari-point screen, but the camera presently has better handling with a superior front and back handgrip, which is valuable with the long 30x optical long-range focal point.
High-velocity shooting is incorporated and the camera highlights manual controls as well as full HD video recording. The Nikon Coolpix S9900 is also very affordable, being valued somewhat higher than a portion of the opposition, and is available in various varieties, including dark and silver. Like the S9700, pictures don’t show as much detail as we would have jumped at the chance to see, but variety and exposure are both great which ought to make the camera ideal for sharing pictures on social media platforms.