Nikon COOLPIX 8700 8-megapixel digital camera

Features
Inputs and Outputs Notes
Supplied Software
Specifications

Features

Fold-out LCD Monitor: The Nikon Coolpix 8700 has a 1.8" High Transmissive Advanced TFT LCD monitor featuring approximately 134,000 pixels and five-level brightness and 11-level hue adjustments. The monitor can fold out from the camera body and swivel 270 degrees (180 degrees forward and 90 degrees backward). If the monitor is swiveled to point in the same direction as the lens, the image on the monitor is inverted. When folded out, the monitor adds approximately 2-3/16" to the overall width of the camera. The LCD monitor has approximately 97% horizontal and vertical coverage in the shooting mode.

Color LCD Viewfinder: In addition to the LCD monitor, the camera has a 0.44" polysilicon color LCD viewfinder with 235,000 pixels and a diopter to adjust the image to suit your vision. The LCD viewfinder has a of 97% horizontal and vertical frame coverage (compared to approximately 80% frame coverage of some optical viewfinders).

Optics: All Coolpix digital cameras feature the exclusive Zoom-Nikkor lens for superb image quality. Every aspect of the lens manufacturing process is controlled by Nikon. Each Zoom-Nikkor lens is designed for the specific camera and CCD combination. The Coolpix 8700 has an 8x Zoom-Nikkor ED lens that is equivalent to a 35-280mm lens in 35mm photography, and has two ED (Extra-low Dispersion) glass lens elements for additional sharpness and contrast. Coupled with a digital zoom of 4x, the Coolpix 8700 has a total zoom of 32x.

Optional Lens Converters: You can add two optional lens converters to achieve special photographic effects, including the WC-E80 Wide adapter, and TC-E15ED Telephoto converter. Both optional lenses require a UR-E8 step-down lens adapter ring.

Magnesium Alloy Body: The camera has a rugged magnesium alloy body that makes the camera durable and lightweight.

Control Panel: The camera features a 9/16" x 11/16" LCD control panel, located on the top of the camera, which shows the status of numerous camera settings, such as sensitivity, battery level, image quality and size, exposure mode, shutter speed, and flash mode. 

Image Sensor: The Coolpix 8700 features a 2/3", high-density CCD imager with a total pixel count of approximately 8.31-million pixels. The effective pixel count is 8 million.

Recording Media: Images are recorded onto Type I and II Compact Flash cards. You can also record images onto high-capacity 512MB or 1GB Microdrive cards.

Image Size/Quality: The Coolpix 8700 records still images in JPEG (compressed), as well as RAW and TIFF (uncompressed) formats. You have a choice of 8 image size options and 5 image quality options.

User Setting: You can change any of the default settings to suit your needs, and save them under the Custom 1 or Custom 2 setting.

Scene Modes: You can choose from the following Scene Modes:

• Portrait: main subject stands out clearly while background details are softened
• Party/Indoor: use for shots that include details of the background, or to capture the effects of candlelight and other indoor background lighting
• Night Portrait: use for shots that provide natural balance between main subject and background when shooting portraits under low light
• Beach Snow: captures the brightness of such subjects as snowfields, beaches, or sunlit expanses of water
• Landscape: use for vivid landscape shots that enhance outlines, colors, and contrast in subjects like skyscapes and forests
• Sunset: preserves the deep hues seen in sunsets and sunrises
• Night Landscape: a slow shutter speed is used to produce stunning night landscapes
• Fireworks Show: slow shutter speeds are used to capture the expanding burst of light from a firework
• Close Up: use for close-up shots of flowers, insect, and other small objects
• Copy: provides clear pictures of text or drawings on a white board or in printed material
• Backlight: use when light is coming from behind a portrait subject, throwing their features into shadow, or when the subject is in the shade but the background is brightly lit
• Panorama Assist: use when taking a series of pictures that will later be joined to form a single scene

Movie Modes: In Custom 1 and 2 modes, the camera can record the following types of movies:

• TV Movie (640): movies are recorded at 30 frames per second. Each frame is 640 x 480 with vertical interlacing. Each clip has a maximum length of 35 seconds.
• Small Movie (320): movies are recorded at 15 frames per second. Each frame is 320 x 240. Each clip has a maximum length of 3 minutes.
• Time Lapse: the camera takes pictures automatically at a specified interval. You can choose one of the following intervals: 30 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes, or 60 minutes. Each frame is 640 x 480 with vertical interlacing. Each clip has a maximum length of 35 seconds.
• Sepia Movie (320): movies are recorded in sepia at 5 frames per second. Each frame is 320 x 240. Each clip has a maximum length of 3 minutes.

Exposure Modes: In Auto and Scene modes, the camera automatically adjusts shutter speed and aperture. In Custom 1 and 2 modes, you can choose one of the following exposure modes:

• Programmed Auto (P): camera sets shutter speed and aperture for best exposure; flexible program can be used to select additional combinations of shutter speed and aperture that will produce the same exposure.
• Shutter-Priority Auto (S): user chooses shutter speed, camera sets aperture for best results
• Aperture-Priority Auto (A): user chooses aperture; camera sets shutter speed for best results
• Manual (M): user controls both shutter speed and aperture for complete control over exposure

Sensitivity: When lighting is poor, the camera will automatically increase sensitivity, permitting faster exposures, and minimizing blur caused by inadvertent camera movement, up to a maximum equivalent to ISO 200. When shooting in Custom 1 or 2 mode, you can choose Auto, 50, 100, 200, or 400 ISO settings.

Exposure Compensation: You can alter the exposure from the value suggested by the camera, making pictures brighter or darker. You can adjust the exposure from -2.0 to +2.0 EV in 1/3 steps.

Focus Modes: The focus range is 1' 8" to infinity in normal mode, and 1.2" to infinity in Macro and Manual focus modes. You can choose from the following 4 focus modes:

• Auto: camera automatically adjusts focus according to subject and distance

• Infinity: focus is fixed at infinity; flash is disabled

• Macro: camera can focus on objects as close as 1.2"

• Self-Timer: combines auto focus with a shutter release delay of 3 seconds or 10 seconds

AE/AF Lock: If your subject is off-centered in the frame, it can become difficult to achieve proper exposure and focus. By engaging the AE/AF Lock feature, you can focus and meter on your subject, lock the exposure and focus by pressing the shutter release button halfway, then recompose your shot before taking the picture.

Flash Modes: The Coolpix 8700 has a built-in pop-up Speedlight flash with a range of 1' 8" to 13' 5" (W) and 1' 8" to 8' 10" (T). You can choose from the following flash modes:

• Auto: flash pops up when shutter release button pressed halfway and fires when lighting is poor

• Auto with red-eye reduction: red-eye reduction lamp fires before main flash to reduce red-eye effect

• Fill flash: flash will fire whenever a picture is taken

• Slow Sync: auto flash combined with slow shutter speed; captures both subject and background at night or under dim light

• Flash cancel: flash will not fire, even when lighting is poor

Shooting Menu: In Custom 1 and Custom 2 modes, you have access to the Shooting Menu with advanced shooting options. The Shooting Menu includes: (see explanations below list)

• White Balance
• Metering
• Continuous
• Best Shot Selector
• Image Adjustment
• Saturation Control
• Image Sharpening
• Lens
• Exposure Options
• Focus Options
• Zoom Options
• Speedlight Options
• Auto Bracketing
• Noise Reduction
• Reset

White Balance: White balance is used to preserve natural colors under different types of lighting. In Auto and Scene modes, the white balance is automatically set. In Custom 1 and Custom 2 modes, you can choose from the following white balance options:

• Auto: white balance is automatically adjusted to suit the lighting conditions
• White Balance Preset: a white object is used as reference to set white balance under unusual lighting conditions
• Daylight: white balance is adjusted for direct sunlight
• Incandescent: for use under incandescent lighting
• Fluorescent: for use under most fluorescent lighting
• Cloudy: use when taking pictures under overcast skies
• Speedlight: for use with built-in flash
• Shade: use under sunny skies when subject is in shade
• Fine Tuning White Balance: At settings other than Auto and White Balance Preset, the white balance can be further "fine tuned" in a range from -3 to +3 in increments of 1. This is true for all modes except Fluorescent. When Fluorescent is selected, you can choose from the following bulb types: White, Daylight White/Neutral, or Daylight.

Metering: The Coolpix 8700 gives you four methods of measuring light to achieve the desired results:

• Matrix Metering: Nikon's exclusive 256-segment matrix metering works best for most circumstances
• Spot Metering: measures 1/32 of total frame to ensure central subject is properly exposed
• Center-weighted Metering: entire frame is metered, but center 1/4 of frame has 80% weighting; useful for portraits
• Spot AF Area Metering: links spot metering to active focus area when auto or manual focus area selection is in effect

Continuous Shooting: You can choose from the following continuous shooting modes:

• Single: The camera records one picture each time the shutter release button is pressed.
• Continuous High: The camera takes a maximum of 5 pictures at approximately 2.5 frames per second while the shutter release button is held down. The monitor or viewfinder turns off during shooting.
• Continuous Low: The camera takes a maximum of 12 pictures at a rate up to 1.2 frames per second while the shutter release button is held down.
• Multi-Shot 16: Each time the shutter release button is pressed, the camera takes 16 consecutive "thumbnail" images (816 x 612 pixels) and arranges them in 4 rows to form a single 3264 x 2448 picture. (Only available at image size of 8M: 3264 x 2448)
• Ultra HS: While the shutter release button is pressed, the camera records up to 100 pictures at a rate up to 30 frames per second. Image quality is automatically set to Normal and image size to 640 x 480.
• 5 Shot Buffer: The camera shoots up to 1 frame per second while the shutter release button is pressed, but only the last five shots are saved to the memory card.
• Time Lapse: The camera takes pictures automatically at a specified interval. You can choose one of the following intervals: 30 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes, or 60 minutes.
• Movie: The camera records movies with audio in QuickTime format. Movies are recorded at 15 frames per second with sound recorded via the built-in microphone. Each frame is 320 x 240 pixels in size. Maximum clip length is 3 minutes.

Best Shot Selector: The BSS is recommended for situations in which inadvertent camera movement can produce blurred pictures, or when parts of the image are prone to under- or over-exposure. When BSS is on, the camera takes shots while the shutter-release button is pressed, to a maximum of ten. The images are compared and the sharpest picture is saved to the memory card. When Exposure BSS is selected, the camera takes five shots each time the shutter release button is pressed. These images are then compared and the picture that best meets the user-selected criterion is saved to the memory card. In Exposure BSS mode, you can choose from the following:

• Highlight BSS: picture with smallest area of overexposure is selected
• Shadow BSS: picture with smallest area of underexposure is selected
• Histogram BSS: camera chooses the picture with overall exposure closest to the optimum

Image Adjustment: You can adjust contrast according to the shooting situation or how the picture will be used. The Image Adjustment options include: Auto, Normal, More Contrast, and Less Contrast.

Saturation Control: The saturation control is used to heighten or reduce the vividness of colors. You can choose Maximum (+2), Enhanced (+1), Normal (0), Moderate (-1), Minimum (-2), or Black & White (not available for RAW images).

Image Sharpening: The camera automatically processes pictures to emphasize the borders between light and dark areas of the picture, making edges seem sharper. In Custom 1 and Custom 2 modes, the image-sharpening menu gives you control over the amount of sharpening performed. You can choose from Auto, High, Normal, Low or Off.

Lens Converter Settings: If you add any optional lens converters, you can select from the Shooting Menu a setting suited for the specific types of lens converter being used. The Lens Converter setting options include: Normal (no converter), Wide Adapter, Telephoto, and Fisheye.

Exposure Options: The menu contains the following options for controlling exposure:

• AE Lock:
  • AE Lock On: The first picture taken after AE Lock is set to On sets the exposure (shutter speed, aperture, sensitivity) and auto white balance for all subsequent pictures. Flash turns off while AE Lock is on.
  • AE Lock Reset: Existing exposure settings are cleared and the next picture taken sets the exposure and auto white balance for all subsequent pictures.
  • AE Lock Off: Normal exposure and white balance settings are restored.
• Bulb/Time: In manual exposure mode, the shutter speed can be set to one of the following for long exposures:
  • Bulb Release: shutter will remain open as long as the shutter release button is held down, for a maximum of ten minutes
  • Timed Release: shutter will open when shutter release button is pressed and will remain open until the specified exposure time has elapsed. You can choose one of the following exposure times: 30 seconds, 1 minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, or 10 minutes.

Focus Options: The shooting menu gives you some additional focus options:

• Auto Focus: This camera uses contrast detection, through the lens, 5-area multi-point, automatic focusing. There are 3 AF options:
  • AF Area Mode: In auto mode, the camera automatically focuses on the center of the frame. You can choose to allow the camera to automatically select the focus area (Auto), manually select the focus area (Manual), or use the center focus area only (Off).
  • AF Mode: You can select Single AF (camera only focuses when shutter release button is pressed halfway), or Continuous AF (camera continuously adjusts focus until shutter release button is pressed halfway, which locks the focus).
  • AF Confirmation: This option allows you to check which areas of the frame are in focus. You can select Manual (areas in focus are sharply outlined in the monitor or viewfinder when manual focus is used), On (same as manual, but for all focus modes), or Off (no indication of focus is given).
• Manual Focus: Manual focus can be used in place of auto focus for situations in which you are unable to achieve the desired results using auto focus. Manual focus is achieved by pressing the MF button and rotating  the command dial on the top of the camera until the subject is in focus.

Zoom Options: You can adjust the following zoom option menu settings:

• Digital Tele: When On is selected, pressing the zoom button for about 2 seconds at the maximum optical zoom position activates digital zoom.
• Fixed Aperture: When On is selected, the aperture is kept as close as possible to the selected f/-number in the following modes: Aperture-Priority Auto and Manual. When Off is selected, the aperture changes with the zoom position.
• Zoom Speed: You can choose a setting of High (high-speed zoom) or Low (zoom starts slowly and gradually gains speed).

Speedlight (Flash) Options: You can use the built-in (internal) Speedlight flash and/or an optional Speedlight flash mounted on the camera's hot accessory shoe. You can choose from the following Speedlight Options:

• Pop-Up Flash: Auto (flash pops up when lighting is poor) or Manual (flash pops up only when flash button is pressed)
• Flash Output (Variable Power): You can adjust the flash output by -2.0 EV to +2.0 EV in 1/3 EV steps.
• Speedlight Control:
  • Auto: Optional Speedlight fires. If no optional Speedlight is mounted on the camera, the built-in Speedlight fires.
  • Internal & External Active: Both optional Speedlight and built-in Speedlight will fire (built-in flash will not fire if not required for correct exposure)

Auto Bracketing: In situations where it might be difficult to obtain proper exposure, auto bracketing lets you shoot the same subject at three or five different exposures. You can choose the bracketing interval in 0.3, 0.7, or 1.0 EV steps.  In WB Bracketing, the white balance is bracketed in three shots.

Noise Reduction: When sensitivity is above ISO 100 or the shutter speed is slower than 1/4 second, noise (random, brightly colored pixels) may appear in pictures, particularly in shadowed areas. You can turn on/off the Noise Reduction.

Reviewing Pictures: While the camera is in the shooting mode, you can press the Quick button once to see a thumbnail image of the most recently taken picture in the corner of the viewfinder or monitor (Quick Review). Pressing the button twice allows you to see a full-screen image of the last picture taken (Full Review). While in Quick Review or Full Review, you can also see previously taken images by using the multi-selector to scroll through images.

Playback Menu: The playback menu contains options for managing the images on the memory card. You can choose to delete an image, place an image in a folder, place an image in a slide show, protect the image from being deleted, hide the image from being shown but not deleted, or designate the image for printing or transferring to a computer.

Slide Show: You can display the images in a slide show fashion with a selectable interval of 2, 3, 5 or 10 seconds.

Printing Pictures: Pictures taken with the Coolpix 8700 can be printed and enjoyed in the same way as pictures taken with a film camera. Using the Print Set option you can specify the pictures to be printed, the number of prints, and the information to be included with each picture. The pictures can then be printed by inserting the optional Compact Flash card into any device that supports Digital Print Order Format (DPOF), whether it's your personal printer or your photofinisher's print system.

PictBridge Printing Capability: Using the supplied USB cable, you can connect this camera directly to a PictBridge compliant printer. PictBridge is a new standard that allows you to connect a PictBridge compliant camcorder directly to a PictBridge compliant printer and make prints, regardless of brand.

Power Requirements: The Coolpix 8700 comes with a rechargeable EN-EL1 lithium battery and an MH-53 battery charger. You can also use optional non-rechargeable 2CR5 lithium batteries (6V). For extended camera use, it is recommended that an optional EH-53 AC adapter be used. The MH-53C DC battery charger can plug into a vehicle's cigarette lighter outlet and charge an EN-EL1 battery. An optional MB-E5700 battery pack attaches to the camera body and holds six "AA" alkaline, lithium, NiCad, or NiMH batteries. The supplied EN-EL1 battery has an estimated life of approximately 210 shots (under standard Nikon test). It takes approximately 2 hours to fully charge the EN-EL1 battery.

Auto Off: When the camera is operated on battery power, it will enter sleep mode if no operations are performed for the length of time specified in the Auto Off menu. The monitor will turn off automatically and the camera will enter the standby mode to reduce the drain on the batteries. The time limit for the sleep mode can be set to 30 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes or 30 minutes. The time limit for the shooting mode is independent of the time limit for the playback mode. When powered by an optional AC adapter, the camera will enter standby mode if no operations are performed for 30 minutes.

Inputs and Outputs Notes

Connector Cover: All of the inputs and output are located under a flexible connector cover, located on the left side of the camera body. The connectors include:

• USB Connector: The camera features a Nikon USB connector for plugging in the supplied USB cable. When the camera is connected to a computer, you can easily download images for printing or archiving. 
  • Note: the Nikon USB connector is different from the Mini-B USB connector found on many other brands of digital cameras.
• Audio/Video Output: The camera has a standard mini-jack for connecting the supplied composite video/mono audio cable for viewing your images on a TV. 
  • Note: The video output is NTSC or PAL compatible.
• DC Input: If using the camera for extended periods, you can plug an optional AC adapter into the camera's DC input connector.

Supplied Software

System Requirements:

Specifications

Estimated Image Capacity of an Optional 256MB Compact Flash Card: