On 3 November 2016, I bought a Nikon Coolpix B700 superzoom camera to replace my Fuji FinePix S1 that died in August 2016. I chose the B700 because, like the S1, it has RAW capability. Even better, the B700 can shoot RAW brackets, something the S1 could never do (although it could shoot JPEG brackets, go figure). The lack of RAW brackets was a constant annoyance and a puzzling oversight on Fuji’s part.

So far, after having had the B700 for three weeks as I write this, I’m liking it. On the positive side: it’s small and light with solid build quality, its lens is sharp; JPEG quality is quite good (often difficult to improve on it with RAW); the EVF is good and has an eye sensor; the articulating display is very useful, it has manual focus with peaking, focus area size options, easy access to exposure compensation, two programmable function buttons, 4K video, and despite what the salesman told me and despite some of the things I've read about it online, its Vibration Reduction (Nikon's brand of image stabilization) is effective even for handholding at full 1,440mm zoom (assuming a steady hand and good light, of course), so I'm happy enough with the camera.

On the negative side: it has no level indicator; it shoots brackets quite slowly compared to my Fuji HS50 (but the B700's image quality is much better); it doesn’t retain the 2 or 10 second self-timer setting after the shot; it has excessive lens flare around exceptionally bright lights (as have every superzoom I’ve owned); in A and M modes it often doesn't retain the last aperture setting when you turn the camera back on but does in P and S modes (mystifying behavior), sometimes in Aperture Priority the aperture won’t open up, being locked at f7.6 until the camera is turned off then back on, slow zoom speed, no remote release connector (remote operation via smartphone only), no hot shoe, battery indicator is useless since it shows full charge until just before the battery dies, came with no lens hood and no way to mount one solidly, filter threads do not run continuously but are divided into three sections making it more difficult to screw in a filter solidly, and it has no designated AE lock or AF lock button, and file numbering resets to 0000 after only 9999 shots. None of those negatives are deal breakers, but taken as a whole they detract from the overall enjoyment of using the camera.