Nikon P7100 Performance

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Nikon Coolpix P7100 Performance

Timing and Performance

Slow to average speed for most operations, but fast autofocus.

Startup/Shutdown
Power on to first shot	1.9 seconds	Time it takes for LCD to turn on and lens to deploy and capture a picture.
Shutdown	1.7 seconds	How long it takes to retract lens.
Buffer clearing time	15 seconds (after 25 L/F JPEG frames)* 7 seconds (after 5 RAW frames)* 10 seconds (after 5 RAW+ L/F JPEG frames)*	Worst case buffer clearing time. -- This is the delay after a set of shots before you can remove the card. Some cameras won't retract their lenses and shut down until the buffer is cleared.
*Note: Buffer clearing times measured with a SanDisk Extreme Pro 45MB/sec UHS-I SDHC memory card. Slower cards may produce correspondingly slower clearing times.

Average startup time, though about a second faster than the P7000 tested. Shutdown was the same as the P7000. Slightly slow buffer clearing, though much faster than the P7000.

Mode Switching
Play to Record, first shot	1.2 seconds	Time until first shot is captured.
Record to Play	3.5 seconds	Time to display a large/fine JPEG file immediately after capture.
Display recorded image	~0.6 second	Time to display a large/fine JPEG file already on the memory card.

Play to Record wasn't bad, but Record to Play was quite sluggish. Displaying a recorded image was pretty fast.

Shutter Response (Lag Time)
Full Autofocus Wide	0.281 second	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, zoom lens at wide-angle position.
Full Autofocus Tele	0.268 second	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, zoom lens at telephoto position.
Full Autofocus Flash enabled	0.594 second	Time to capture while forcing flash to fire, zoom lens at wide-angle position.
Prefocused	0.019 second	Time to capture, after half-pressing and holding shutter button.

Full AF shutter response was quite fast for a compact camera at both wide-angle and telephoto, at 0.28s and 0.27s respectively, though a bit slower than the P7000 which tested at 0.20-0.23s. Enabling the flash increased shutter lag to an average of 0.59 second as a result of the flash metering preflashes, also slower than the P7000's 0.34s. "Prefocusing" the camera by half-pressing and holding down the shutter button before the final exposure resulted in a lag time of only 0.019 second, which was a bit faster than the P7000's 0.021s shutter lag.

Cycle Time (shot to shot)
Single Shot mode Large Fine JPEG	2.02 seconds	Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots, 2 seconds to clear.*
Single Shot mode RAW	2.43 seconds	Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots, 2 seconds to clear.*
Single Shot mode RAW + L/F JPEG	2.82 seconds	Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots, 2 seconds to clear.*
Early shutter penalty?	YES	Some cameras don't snap another shot if you release and press the shutter too quickly in Single Shot mode, making "No" the preferred answer.
Continuous mode Large Fine JPEG	0.87 second (1.15 frames per second); 25+ frames total; 15 seconds to clear*	Time per shot, averaged over 25 frames, with no signs of slowing.
Continuous mode RAW	0.63 second (1.59 frames per second); 5 frames total; 7 seconds to clear*	Time per shot, averaged over buffer length of 5 frames.
Continuous mode RAW + L/F JPEG	0.63 second (1.59 frames per second); 5 frames total; 10 seconds to clear*	Time per shot, averaged over buffer length of 5 frames.
Flash recycling	4.7 seconds	Flash at maximum output.
*Note: Buffer clearing times measured with a SanDisk Extreme Pro 45MB/sec UHS-I SDHC memory card. Slower cards may produce correspondingly slower clearing times. Slow cards may also limit length of bursts in continuous mode. ISO sensitivity also affects cycle times and burst mode performance, with higher ISOs generally increasing cycle times and reducing burst performance.

Shot-to-shot cycle times are slower than average, at 2.02 seconds for large/fine JPEGs, 2.43 seconds for RAW, and 2.82 seconds for RAW + L/F JPEG, but the camera does seem to capture frames continuously at this rate. (That is, given a fast enough memory card, it doesn't have to pause every few frames to wait for the card to catch up.)

The Coolpix P7100's continuous shooting modes were sluggish for its class, capturing large/fine JPEGs at only 1.15 frames per second, though buffer depth was very good at over 25 frames (the user manual says up to 90 frames). Interestingly, the Nikon P7100's burst rate actually increased to 1.59 frames per second when shooting RAW and RAW + L/F JPEGs, though buffer length was much smaller at 5 frames. Buffer clearing times weren't too bad, though; markedly better than the P7000.

The flash took 4.7 seconds to recharge after a full-power shot, which is about average.

Download Speed
Windows Computer, USB 2.0	3,864 KBytes/sec	Typical Values: Less than 600=USB 1.1; 600-769=USB 2.0 Low; Above 770=USB 2.0 High

Connected to a computer or printer with USB 2.0, download speeds were a bit on the slow side these days.

Bottom line, the Nikon Coolpix P7100's autofocus and shutter lag were pretty fast, but most everything else we tested was average or slower than average.

Battery Life

Battery
Above average battery life for a lithium-ion design.

Operating Mode	Number of Shots
Lithium-ion Rechargeable Battery, Optical Viewfinder (CIPA standard)	Unpublished
Lithium-ion Rechargeable Battery, LCD Monitor (CIPA standard)	350

The Nikon Coolpix P7100 uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power, and ships with a charger. Although battery life is pretty good when using the LCD monitor, and will be even better when using only the optical viewfinder, we recommend you pick up a spare battery and keep it freshly charged and on-hand for extended outings. Nikon doesn't publish battery life with the monitor off.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on a fully-charged rechargeable battery as appropriate), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))