PHOTO QUALITY. This 16-megapixel superzoom camera captured images with very good quality. We judged this model excellent for outdoor performance, such as shooting landscapes in the daytime; good for indoor performance, such as photographing a well-lit basketball game in a gym; good for performance under natural light without a flash, such as shooting under an overcast sky.
FLASH. The Coolpix P610 captured flash shots that were very good. In our distance test, we found the camera's flash could illuminate subjects very well, both near and far. The flash also has excellent, very even coverage.
LENS. It has a very long 60x zoom lens that can be great for travel and sports shooting when you need to zoom in far to capture your subjects. The lens also has very wide-angle (24mm) capability that's very useful for landscapes and group portraits, although you may notice a bit of distortion when you're shooting faces up close, for instance.
IMAGE STABILIZER. This is an important feature with a long zoom lens; taking hand-held shots at the telephoto end of the zoom range can generally blur or soften images due to the slight movement of your hands. Shooting telephoto in well-lit scenes, this model did a very good job of minimizing the effects of camera shake. In low-light settings, it performed well but sometimes produced blurry photos.
SPEED. In terms of performance, the Nikon Coolpix P610 powers up very quickly. It has a very short interval between shots, which can be important when shooting fast-moving or unpredictable subjects.
VIDEO. The Nikon Coolpix P610 takes good video like many in its class, though some do a little better. It captures full HD video at 1920 x 1080 60p. As for sound, it captures good audio in stereo.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS. It has HDR (high-dynamic range) settings. It has a built-in GPS tagging feature. It has an electronic viewfinder, a rarity for point-and-shoot models, which we found to be very good. The display also swivels; this can be helpful when shooting self-portraits or hard-to-reach shots. This superzoom is bigger and a bit heavier than most in its class.
