The Nikon Coolpix 8400 is a fantastic digital camera in most respects, but frustratingly poor in a few crucial areas. As I said when I started this review, it is the only digicam to feature a 24mm wide angle lens. Other cameras offer 27mm and 28mm lenses, and whilst 4mm doesn’t sound like much, it does make quite a big difference at this field of view. Lovers of wide-angle photography should obviously strongly consider the Nikon Coolpix 8400. It is also a very capable digital camera in terms of build quality and features - this is a camera that will withstand a lot of abuse and also one which rivals digital SLRs in terms of being feature-rich. Despite that level of complexity the Nikon Coolpix 8400 is still fairly easy to use, with the rotating LCD screen adding an extra creative element and the EVF being very useable. Image quality is also very good, with chromatic aberrations only noticeable by their absence, true-to-life colour and little distortion even at the wide end of the zoom.

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With a wide-angle view that equals the perspective of a 35mm-film camera’s 24mm lens, or 18mm with optional converter, the Nikon Coolpix 8400 is perfect for shooting indoors in tight quarters or for grabbing shots outdoors of an exquisite 18th-century monument when you’re backed up against a 21st-century fruit stand. Add the optional 0.75X converter attachment, and you’re in 18mm (35mm equivalent) bliss. Yet, the 3.5X optical zoom also extends out to 85mm–perfect for portraits and some sports. Priced $100 less than its bigger (literally) sibling, the Coolpix 8800, this model incorporates most of the best features, missing only Nikon’s built-in vibration reduction system, which, unfortunately, would be perfect for those shooting wide-angle pictures indoors at slow shutter speeds without a tripod. Other downers are pronounced barrel distortion at the widest zoom settings and a viewfinder that tends to freeze and blank out during use. If you need a wide-angle shooter and want a smaller package than you’ll find in the most petite dSLR, the Coolpix 8400 may fill the bill.

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A blend of design elements originating in the Coolpix 5400 with others from the recent Coolpix 8800, the Nikon Coolpix 8400 is instantly identifiable as a member of the Nikon family. While the Coolpix 8400 shares the 8-megapixel resolution of the Coolpix 8800, it differs in its optics. Unlike the Coolpix 8800 which has a stabilized 10X zoom, the Coolpix 8400 is equipped with a shorter 3.5X ED glass zoom that a wide angle (equivalent to a 24mm).

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The Nikon Coolpix 8400 offers a full suite of manual controls, and then some. The D-Lighting feature helps brighten dark areas of your photos, without adding too much noise. For those who want to shoot in RAW mode, it’s available, though Nikon’s included software doesn’t take full advantage of the format. The camera is very well built, and it feels like it should for the price, save for the door over the memory card slot. It’s not the easiest camera to use, with a fairly clunky menu system and numerous buttons on the body. Other nice features on the 8400 include its macro mode and VGA movie mode (which is time limited, unfortunately). The camera also supports numerous add-on lenses and filters, plus an external flash.

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The Nikon Coolpix 8400’s most noteworthy feature is its f/2.6 to f/4.9 6.1-mm to 21.6-mm (24-mm to 85-mm, 35-mm equivalent) 3.5X optical zoom lens. We enjoyed the flexibility the lens gave us, and we got some great shots that we wouldn’t have been able to get with a lens that didn’t go as wide (it’s not always practical to frame your shot by moving back). The 8400 is a big blocky camera with a telescoping lens that retracts entirely into the body when deactivated. We like that its LCD swivels, but wish it were a bit bigger than 1.8 inches. We love the Nikon Coolpix 8400 for its lens, which takes impressively sharp images. If you’re not looking for speed or video, this slow but sharp shooter is a very good choice.

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