The Nikon Coolpix P4 is a well made digital camera with eight megapixels and a 3.5x optical zoom lens. In many ways this is a standard digital camera. It does though have a few features that are not found all that often on other cameras.
To start with it offers image stabilisation or vibration reduction as it is called by Nikon. This is likely to come into its own more when the light is failing and getting darker. In these situations the camera needs to hold the shutter open for longer in order to draw in enough light to expose a photograph properly. The downside of this is that when the camera is hand held it is more prone to camera shake. Therefore by using vibration reduction you should find the resulting photos are that bit sharper.
Next up is aperture priority. This is a special setting that lets you control the size of the aperture. The aperture is the hole through which light enters the camera. The wider the aperture is set, the greater the amount of light that is let in. To ensure photographs are not overexposed (too bright) the shutter is left open for a shorter time to compensate. In aperture priority mode the camera will automatically decide how long the shutter needs to be open for in order to achieve the ideal exposure.
The next feature that is not so common elsewhere is the Best Shot Selector. When you turn this on the camera will fire off up to 10 shots. It will then select what it considers to be the best shot based on the exposure levels.
Another feature you do not expect to see with this type of camera is bracketing. The Coolpix P4 offers two types of bracketing. The first is related to the exposure levels. The second is for white balance. When you use bracketing the camera will take three photos. You can then choose which one you think looks the best. I think the white balance bracketing could be very useful. It should help to make sure colours are as good as they can be and that there are no colour castes creeping into your photos.
If you are using higher ISO settings you may find the Noise Reduction setting useful. Noise is a problem when shooting at higher ISO levels and this feature may go some way to controlling the problem.
There is also a feature available after you have taken a photo that may help to save any photos that are too dark or too light. This is called D lighting. When you apply D lighting to a photo it will attempt to improve the current lighting and contrast levels.
To help you work your way through the menu system there is also help text available. This explains the various menu options to you and helps to make the Coolpix P4 easy to use. In fact ease of use is one of the strengths of the camera and it should not take you long to find your way around.
