The Nikon Coolpix P5100 is a rather disappointing camera. Although it has an extensive feature set and handles well, its overall performance nothing short of pathetic. Noise is present at all ISO settings, with ISO 200 being the highest relatively clean one. The P5100's greatest failure comes from its speed of operation, which is well below average. Given such a sluggish performance, this camera cannot be recommended for the serious photographers who would appreciate all its features.

 

Another serious problem is that its LCD only covers 94% of the frame. This may be a deal breaker since nearly all other fixed-lens digital cameras achieve 100% coverage. The LCD works well in low-light but is too reflective in bright light. There is an optical viewfinder but it is one of the worst ones ever built, showing roughly 64% of the frame.

 

Competitively there are many better choices among compact digital cameras with full manual controls, although a flash hot-show is rare for such small cameras. Both the Canon Powershot A720 IS and the Canon Powershot A570 IS have full-manual controls but no hot-shoe but perform considerably better than the Nikon Coolpix P5100. Another excellent option is the Fuji Finepix E900 which features clean image, full manual controls - including manual focusing - but no image stabilization or hot-shoe. All these alternate cameras achieve much longer battery-life using convenient AA batteries rather than the Nikon's proprietary lithium-ion. Finally, if the hot-shoe is important, there is the full-featured Canon Powershot G9 to consider.