NEW DELHI: Nikon's new S1200pj digital camera sports a matte finish but doesn't offer a very striking design. The lens has an internal zooming mechanism and an automatic lens cover for protection.
Right next to the lens is the flash and slightly below it is the projector lens with a sliding cover. The cover protects the projector lens from dust and doubles up as the start/stop trigger for it. The navigation and selection buttons are neatly placed on the back next to a bright 3-inch display with a dedicated one-touch video recording button present on the top right corner.
On the top is the shutter button with zoom rocker, power button and a dial to adjust the focus of the projection. At the bottom is a tiny tilt stand to angle the camera – very useful when projecting images when kept on a level surface. Although the overall build quality is great, the flimsy cover for the proprietary A/V and USB port is a downer.
In terms of performance, the 14MP CCD sensor on the camera gave good results, though the colours seemed washed out on occasion. It provides basic controls including an Auto mode, a Smart Portrait mode, a Scene mode (18 scenes) and a Special Effects mode to apply effects like high tone or selective color. All this makes the camera good for someone who just likes to point and shoot. The camera impresses with fast shot-toshot speeds – it takes about a second to shoot an image and be ready for the next one, even with the use of flash.
Video recording is in 720p HD and although the quality of recording is top notch, the slow zoom while recording video is a letdown. The lack of an HDMI out is an issue as well – most competing camera now offer full HD video recording with HDMI out.
What makes this camera stand out is the LED projector. It uses DLP technology and has improved upon the previous S1100pj with better brightness and contrast. The projection from the camera was visible in a well-lit room during daytime, and looks way better in darker environments. Watching recorded videos is also great, but the low volume from the onboard speaker is a bit of a turn off.
Nikon has also launched an iOS app that lets you connect the camera and project content from the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad using the on board projector. A PC/Mac app does the same from your computer. The issue is that a separate dock connector cable is required (and is not included in the box).
Nikon is the only one offering a camera with a built-in projector so there is no direct competition. If you don't really need the projector function, take a look at the Sony CyberShot HX7V (`14,990). It has a 16MP CMOS sensor, 10X optical zoom, full HD video recording, built in GPS and 3D/HDR stills out of the box.