I have some reasons why my new camera (Nikon Coolpix P5100, 12 Megapixels) isn't as good as the old one (Nikon Coolpix 5200, 5 Megapixels) bought around 3 years ago.

Pictures are not that much larger. 12 Megapixels is surely much larger than 5? Maybe not.. 5 million pixels on a square sensor is a square 2236 pixels on a side. With 12 Million pixels it’s 3464 pixels a side. 3464 over 2236 is about 1.55. The picture sides are only 1.55 times as long in pixels. So it's one and half times as large in pixels.

The image sensor inside the camera is probably about the same size as before, so the pixels are actually smaller sensors that now work off less light falling on them. This means more guesswork. Which would you rather have for a particular part of the image – 10 pixels with clean colour values, or 15 noisy ones? It's not clear any more that the new camera is an improvement.

It doesn't autofocus as well. Often things are out of focus, or I take longer finding the focus. Macro mode is not quite as good.



It takes longer to store pictures. Sports mode (i.e., shoot as fast as you can) wasn't very good on the old camera, but on the new one, it’s nigh-useless, maybe 3 shots per 2 seconds. This is with a newer and higher-spec SD card.

Less compatible. It refused to accept the old 1Gb Sd card that worked fine in the old camera.

Low light. Probably the biggest disappointment. It may not have the long exposures and streaks when people move, but the pixels are noisy as hell. The pictures look really bad, like they were taken on a camera-phone. In a sandstorm. Even if there's good light, there's often a curious softness to the image, as though the even colour was due to averaging noisy pixels.

The flash won't stay off. Turn the flash off. Turn the dial to anti-shake mode and back. Flash is back on. Almost always, I want the flash to stay off. Similarly, macro or landscape mode is disabled by turning the camera off and on again.

More complex user interface. Seriously, do I look like I care what all those modes, settings, options and buttons do? It's a compact camera, can't it Just Work? Are Nikon trying to make it upmarket by including more options and settings? How about making it upmarket by having it take good pictures of whatever you point it at.

To be fair, my expectations have gotten a lot higher in the intervening years as I got a taste for taking pictures. I was hoping that this little camera would meet them. In some cases (strong light, a following wind, luck with the focus) it does, and I get colourful shots with loads of detail. In other cases, not so much. I want to take pictures in all kinds of scenes and light.

There is a lot to like about it: It feels as if the build quality is excellent, and the ergonomics are great, with the little grippy pad under my right thumb and all the buttons within reach (I wonder if they make a left-handed model?). The USB port is better protected. The battery lasts for ages. The colours are vibrant, and I don't think that's just from cranking up the saturation; it actually seems to have more colour detail. The screen is larger. You can turn on lines dividing the picture into thirds (but, frustratingly, only in some modes). So why the regressions?

The old Coolpix reached the end of its working life, with multiple failures occurring after just three years. I was not totally happy about that, but hey, it meant that I could get a new, better camera. I'm now in two minds as to if I want the new one to last a long time. Much as I like the convenience of a compact, handling a DSLR may have spoiled me.