Nikon CoolPix 990

In terms of performance and image quality, the 990 is as impressive as its list of features suggests. There's the capacity for shooting uncompressed TIFF images at full resolution, but this is impractical since it only allows you to fit a single image on the supplied 16Mb card. Fortunately, the next level down - low level JPEG compression - allows ten 2,048x1,536 images to be stored with virtually no loss of quality, while in XGA mode, which is fine for printing 4x6in photos, there's room for up to 40 pictures. The only disappointment is that there's a big gap between XGA and maximum resolution.

Image quality in all resolutions is superb, with an astonishing level of detail captured in all of our test shots, and colour balance didn't pose the same problems as with the 950. We couldn't, however, distinguish a significant difference in quality between the 990 and the current A List resident, Olympus' Camedia C-3030ZOOM (reviewed issue 70, p173), so in the end it came down to features and price. In terms of features, the CoolPix wins thanks to its wide sweep of capabilities, the ability to squeeze more images into 16Mb and its innovative BSS feature. In terms of price, the Olympus just edges it and so hangs on to its A List place.

Author: Jonathan Bray