Nikon Coolpix S500 Easy Digital Camera Review

The Nikon Coolpix S500 has a basic design and many basic features but adds a few items of interest that make it a worthwhile choice. Other S-series cameras have wavy designs, musical slide shows, and internal lenses. The S500, however, opts for a flat stainless steel body and an extending 3x optical zoom lens.

The S500’s 3x lens is optically stabilized to reduce the amount of blur in pictures and keep video from shaking along with your hands. Video can be recorded in three resolutions with the best being the standard 640 x 480 pixels at 30 frames per second. The resolution looks good on televisions, but moving subjects still look a little jerky. The optical zoom is disabled while recording video, but the camera allows you to zoom 2x digitally. This degrades the image quality a little, though, so should be used sparingly.

There isn’t a true auto mode, but there is a program mode and 17 scene modes, 15 of which are placed in a “SCN” position on the virtual mode dial. There isn’t a physical mode dial on the camera body, but there is a Mode button that makes a graphic dial appear on the LCD screen and a physical rotary dial to control it. The rotary dial doubles as a multi-selector but eases menu navigation and can flip through images in the playback mode at a speedy 10 frames per second.

With 7.1 megapixels, the Nikon Coolpix S500 can print robust 8 x 10-inch pictures and even 11 x 17-inch pictures while still looking good. The digital camera has the ability to create and save print orders in the playback menu. You can select 0-9 prints to be made from each image and the order is saved until the camera is connected to a PictBridge compatible printer with the included USB cable.

Atop the basics, Nikon has some decent components. The S500 has a fairly powerful flash that reaches more than 24 feet, but almost always leaves the background completely black. It has a 2.5-inch LCD screen that has excellent resolution with 230,000 pixels and a very smooth live view that makes it look almost like a window except for the limited viewing angle; you have to look almost straight at the LCD to see it.

The camera throws in an interesting interval timer, perfect for shooting slow moving subjects, along with Nikon’s host of technology that includes red-eye fix, D-lighting compensation to automatically fix the exposure, and face priority auto focus. A few more perks include a voice recording mode so you can listen to those physics lectures over and over again, and 26 MB of internal memory to back you up when you’ve forgotten your SD or MMC memory card.

Nikon Coolpix S500 - THE BOTTOM LINE.... Rating: 345.38

Likes

- Compact, portable body - Comfortable rotary dial - Big, readable menus - 60 fps live preview - Nice LCD resolution - Optical image stabilization

Dislikes

- Shutter lag - No real auto mode - Limited LCD angle - Weak 180-shot battery

Nikon Coolpix S200 Rating: N/A	Canon PowerShot SD750 Rating: 396.23	Casio Exilim EX-S770 Rating:347.39	Kodak EasyShare V603 Rating: N/A	Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W100 Rating:324.77
Better	Better	Better	Better	Better
- $249 - More compact at 3.6 x 2.2 x 0.7 inches - 230 shots from battery - Macro mode shoots as close as 3.9 inches	- Quicker face detection system - Wider shutter speed range from 15-1/1500 - More picture and color effects - 3 inch LCD screen	- Skinnier 0.7-inch body - Bigger 2.8-inch LCD - More reliable burst mode - 34 scene modes - Widescreen 704 x 384 video at 30 fps - Comes with camera dock - Data Transport function allows you to upload maps and documents	- Comes in shimmer red and black colors - 22 scene modes - Panorama mode stitches 3 images together in the camera rather than in software - 3 fps burst mode - Compatible with ImageLink printers too	- 8.1 megapixels - Optical viewfinder - Compatible with conversion lenses - More intuitive mode dial - 360-shot battery - 64 MB of internal memory - Sells for under $200 now
Equal	Equal	Equal	Equal	Equal
- 7.1 megapixels - 3x optical zoom - 2.5 inch LCD - Same exposure modes - Face priority auto focus - D-lighting exposure fix - Same 4.4 oz weight	- 7.1 megapixels - Similar flat design with extending lens - 3x optical zoom - Similar stitch assist mode - Same 230k pixel resolution on LCD - Similarly weak battery gets 210 shots per charge	- 7.2 megapixels - Flat metal body with extending lens - 3x optical zoom lens - LCD has the same 230k resolution - 640 x 480 video at 30 fps - Similar weak 200-shot battery - Compatible with SD, SDHC, MMC cards - $299 price tag	- 3x optical zoom lens - Flat metal body - Kodak Perfect Touch technology similar to Nikon’s D-lighting fixes exposure after the fact - 2.5 inch LCD screen with 230k resolution - PictBridge compatible - Retails for $299	- Brushed steel front panel - Flat design with extending 3x optical zoom lens - 2.5 inch LCD screen - 640 x 480 video - Flash reaches 24 ft
Worse	Worse	Worse	Worse	Worse
- Narrower 3x lens measures 38-114mm - Digital image stabilization only - Aluminum construction not as sturdy - LCD has poor resolution at 153k pixels - ISO tops off at 1000 - 20 MB internal memory - Flash not as powerful - No rotary dial	- No optical image stabilization - Only 10 scene modes - ISO to 1600 - Flash reaches only 11 ft - $349 retail	- Thin flash effective to 12.8 ft at best - Poorly lit images in low light - 50-400 ISO range - Slower 2 fps burst mode - Only 6 MB of internal memory	- 6.1 megapixels - Weak flash fires to 8.5 ft - Even more shutter lag - Bigger more rectangular design at 3.6 x 2 x 0.9 inches	- Slightly thicker at 3.7 x 2.4 x 1 inches - Awful 115k resolution on LCD - ISO from 64-1250 - Requires Memory Stick Duo Pro media to record 30 fps video - Menus don’t have as big a font - Original $349 retail - Older model