Nikon Coolpix P5000

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By Lori Grunin, CNET.com
Jun 18, 2007

You've got to squint a little when looking for a camera equipped with a full set of amateur-friendly exposure controls that's small enough to fit into a jacket pocket; there simply aren't that many available, since most manufacturers' time and energy in the enthusiast segment these days go toward budget dSLRs. Nikon, which seemingly abandoned those amateur photographers for a few years, has reappeared with the 10-megapixel Coolpix P5000, a compact competitor for the snapshooter-with-room-to-grow audienc.

Design
With cutting-edge capabilities like face-priority autofocus, optical image stabilization, and full-resolution sensitivity settings as high as ISO 2000 to augment its manual and semimanual exposure options, the P5000 fits some mighty attractive features into its 200g, 98 x 65 x 41mm frame. Though only the front of the chassis uses magnesium alloy in its design, the camera feels quite sturdy. Its smallish, rubberized grip and thumb rest make the P5000 quite comfortable for one-handed shooting.

For more details on the P5000's design and image quality, click on the image.

The scored ring surrounding the f/2.7-to-f/5.3, 36mm-to-126mm-equivalent lens comes off so you can screw on optional wide-angle (24mm-to-84mm-equivalent) and telephoto (108mm-to-378mm-equivalent) conversion lenses via an adapter. A Nikon i-TTL-compatible hot shoe allows for external flashes as well.

Features
A few of the P5000's shooting controls--flash, self-timer, exposure compensation, and macro/distance limit focus--use dedicated buttons for quick access. You can assign another--ISO sensitivity, image quality, image size, white balance, or vibration reduction (VR)--to the single-function Fn button. The others, plus some important additions such as metering and continuous-shooting, require the always-fun trip into the two-level menus.



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Furthermore, though we don't mind putting a few set-them-and-forget-them features in a separate Setup mode, we don't think VR, LCD brightness, or format card really fall into that category; that's the kind of stuff that belongs in the menu system.

Nikon provides 15 program scene modes, plus panorama-assist, interval shooting, and a high-ISO program shift mode that automatically chooses from higher sensitivity settings than the standard program exposure. During photo playback you can apply D-Lighting exposure adjustment and add voice memos.

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