We've seen plenty of cameras with long lenses that let you bring the action up close, but almost none with lenses that are wide enough to capture a broad scene without an inordinate amount of backing up on foot: Until now, that is. The 8-megapixel Nikon Coolpix 8400 has the widest-angle lens we've seen on a digital camera, and it takes impressive pictures to boot.

The 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.

The camera shares many of the same high-end features as the 8MP Nikon Coolpix 8800, including in-camera red-eye removal, D-Lighting (which can brighten dark or backlit subjects after image are taken), and Best Shot Selector (or BBS, which can take up to ten images in quick succession and pick the sharpest or the best-exposed one). These features worked quite well in testing; D-Lighting turned several images we wouldn't have saved into keepers, and we liked BSS well enough to use it whenever the subject would hold still long enough. The 8400 shoots 640-by-480, 30-FPS video, but only for up to a minute, to the camera's CompactFlash card.

In testing, the 8400 showed similar results to the 8800: It produced some wonderful images, but took a while to do it. Bootup time was mediocre 5.2 seconds, and flash-recycle time was a disappointing 4.0 seconds. This isn't terrible when compared with all digital cameras, but for a $900 enthusiast camera, we'd like to see the recycle take about half this long or less. The images, however, make up for the speed. On our resolution tests, the 8400 scored a razor-sharp 1,725 average lines—even better than the 8800's score of 1,700. The 8400's pixel-transition scores were similarly good, at 1.85 percent, which is one of the better results we've seen, even among enthusiast cameras.

The 8400 turned in wonderful daylight still-lifes, with very good contrast and plenty of detail throughout the dynamic range. The images were crisp and well-exposed, with no significant noise or falloff at the edges. As with the 8800, our flash images were a bit less impressive, mainly because they tended to be underexposed, and consequently dull and shifted toward blue. Still, they were sharp, with plenty of detail and even illumination. There are controls for adjusting the flash output and exposure values, and the camera has a hot shoe for external flashes as well.

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.

Benchmark Tests
Click here to view the Nikon Coolpix 8400 benchmark test results