For over five decades, Nikon, known for its dedication to photographic tradition and quality, has catered mainly to professional and high-end amateur photographers. The Coolpix 2500 is Nikon’s first foray into the world of the average point-and-shoot photographer. This well-known camera manufacturer ventures into this market with much planning and insight. Nikon has successfully combined their photographic quality and know how with a well-designed, visually appealing camera that comes with easy-to-operate controls.
The first thing you notice about the 2500 is the size and design. Its compact body fits easily in the palm of your hand, a shirt pocket, or a small purse. This camera begs to be taken to the soccer game, on vacation, or to grandma’s house. As the 2500 grabs the picture, it also grabs attention. The slightly curved sleek silver body has unusual metallic blue accents. Combined with the unique rotating lens, the Coolpix 2500 is a real head-turner. Everywhere I went, people commented on the camera.
Along with its small size and clever design, this camera delivers Nikon’s durability and image quality. The small 6 ounce Coolpix both feels and looks substantial. At first, I was somewhat mystified by the twisting lens. I began by taking a few pictures of myself (never was able to do that with any other camera). Then I began experimenting. The more I used it, the more I liked it. The rotating lens swivels inside the camera’s frame, so there is no need for a lens cap. The ability to swivel the lens allows you to take photos that you might otherwise miss or have difficulty obtaining. Taking pictures of anything high or low was especially easy. I found it wonderful for shooting pictures of a fireworks display as well as taking shots of children, animals, and other low-to-the-ground critters.
The camera’s buttons and switches are well-placed and easy to operate. There are just enough features to be useful without overwhelming the amateur photographer. The Coolpix has an Auto mode and twelve programmed Scene Modes designed for everyday situations. It’s easy to choose the scene and then click the picture. Scenes include portrait, party/indoor, night portrait, beach/snow, landscape, sunset, night landscape, museum (clarity without flash), fireworks show, close up (with blurred background), copy (for text or drawings), and back light.
The camera’s 2.0 megapixel sensor delivers clear authentic color reproductions. The Coolpix 2500 also supports Epson’s Print Image Matching. If you have a printer that also uses this technology, colors will be realistically reproduced. I got excellent results printing images up to 8 x 10 inches. Remember, that is full-sized images for all digital cameras. You cannot crop an area of a picture and expect to print out an 8 x 10 with clarity.
The camera features a 3x Zoom-Nikkor lens with a focal range of 5.6-16.8mm (equivalent to 37-111mm in 35mm [135] camera format) to deliver sharp images of near or distant subjects. The zoom lens when combined with the close up shooting mode in the Scene menu allows you to take some great on-the-fly close-ups. This camera has no optical viewfinder, but I found the 1.5-inch color LCD monitor adequate, except in low light situations where it could be difficult to see the image.
The Coolpix 2500 comes with a 16MB compact flash memory card. This is adequate for getting started, but it would be wise to add the cost of an additional memory card to initial investment funds. Also, be prepared to purchase an additional lithium-ion battery pack. The camera ships with one battery pack and an external battery charger. Although the battery pack performed admirably (Nikon tests show it lasts for eighty minutes), it is always good to have a spare.
White balance and sharpness can be adjusted, and there is also a continuous shooting mode. The camera has a movie mode which captures moving images at 320 x 240 pixels. Without sound, this is only minimally interesting, and the movies fill the memory card quite quickly. The LCD monitor includes an informational display but does not report aperture or shutter speed settings. I doubt that most amateur photographers will need this information. The camera has no video out mode. Again, very few people will miss this, but if you like to show your pics on the television, you may want to look for a different camera.
The 2500 has a USB jack for downloading images to the computer. It has an auto transfer option that allows the camera to automatically start the download process when it is attached to the computer, making image transfer quick and easy. The camera also comes with a CD containing Nikon View 5 software and USB drivers for a variety of operating systems.
All in all, this is a great shirt pocket camera for the average joe.
