Average Rating: 
Rating: - A friendly camera that looks cool
Nikon Coolpix 2500 is a great compact camera. I wanted to buy a camera that can work in an easy to use automatic mode for point & click situations like parties, casual travel; and also provides manual mode for experimenting & control. My choice was mainly between Coolpix 2500, Coolpix 995 & Canon Elph Series. I just fell for the cool styling of 2500 and the ability to carry it in my shirt pocket. I just took it out to Australia for a week long trip. It has performed well under different lighting conditions. All I needed to do was change the "SCENE".The camera allows me to identify the type of scene I am going to photograph. It has a bunch of "SCENE" that I can select from. Some of them are - Beach, Landscape, Party, Portrait, Night Landscape, Backlight to name a few. I was also able to take night shots of the Opera house & the Harbor Bridge in the "night landscape" mode. They came out pretty well. I was happy to see the result in about 2 seconds - the duration of the exposure. Pictures taken in bright daylight like that on a beach also came of well. What disappointed was the photgraphs that I took at a night Bar-be-Q party. In most photographs, the people close to the camera looked bright and those away by more than 7-8 feet away from the camera looked dark. Another "scene" that I found useful was "Close Up". I wanted to note down a recepie from a local magazine. Instead of taking notes I just photographed the page in the "Close Up" mode. Now, I do not have to write them down ! I just read the recepie off the picture stored on my computer. It is not much of a "Manual" camera. So if you want to control everything, I recommend look else where. I found the controls easy to use. There are a bunch of on-screen menu items, buttons & knobs. They are well layed out and are intitutive to use. Let me add - I am a techie. I can handle complexity. I had my first picture in about 10 minutes opening the box and charging the batteries. It took me about 1 hour to understand all the controls & install the software. You got to buy a memory card unless you intend to save your pictures in a very basic picture format (like 640 X??). I bought a 128 MB card. It stores about 140 pictures in best quality mode (called "FINE"). The camera can be put on a tripod. That is a big plus for night photography. It is very easy to put my fingers on the lens. So I have to worry about it all the time, specially while opening or closing the lens. A price for this cool design! In a nutshell I find Nikon Coolpix 2500 a fun, easy to use camera for easy going photography.
Rating: - "I have to admit--I was pleasantly surprised!"
This isn't my first digital camera, but I am certainly no expert.To be honest, I bought a Canon S-45, but it was WAY more than I need for school photos of my middle schoolers. I had school funds, so I went to Wal Mart, and got this 2-mega pixel (really cool!) camera for $297. My first impression was that it was tad expensive for a 2 mega pixel, but on school $$$, who cares? My second impression was "there's no viewfinder!". But the bright LCD is great (you can increase the brightness too!), and after the initial 'getting used to it', I have never missed the viewfinder! OK--here's the scoop. First the POSITIVES:
1. It is small, SLEEK, and ultra-cool style-wise. GREAT here!!!!! 2. The images touched up just a bit in photo-editing software, FAR exceeded my expectations for a 2-mega pixel camera! I had them printed at Wal Mart in a half-hour for 30 cents each, and they are BETTER than my 35 mm photos (at 4X6 or smaller in FINE mode). 3. The swivel lens is cool and sharp!! (Though I'm not sure how necessary). It does protect the lens, but you WILL smudge it OFTEN!! 4. The one touch transfer from camera to computer is easy (can you say EASY?)! 5. The lithium battery (in its charger) lasts me all day with no problem! 6. The twelve scene modes cover just about any shooting situation you could imagine--as does plain ol' automatic. The close-up mode focuses down to 2 inches--I practiced on a salt packet at McDonalds!! 7. Nikon really IS more than just the name. They provide everything you need including the USB cable. I would upgrade the CF card, though, to 64 or 128 MB. A quality camera. 8. It comes with an OK manual, and is reasonably easy to learn. And now for the NOT so positives: 1. The cool case is sturdy, but will scratch if bumped hard. Not a biggie here. 2. The flash washes out the picture when you get TOO close, (forgivable), and is worthless altogether beyond about 10 feet (not forgivable). 3. The buttons are a bit small, so good eyes are required. 4. You get no sound in your 15 seconds of 'movie', but this isn't great to start with. Get a camcorder! 5. The 3x optical zoom is great, but the 4x digital zoom increases the graininess--true in all cameras not just this one. Bottom line:
Am I satisfied with this camera at $297 of school $$$? You bet!! It is all any teacher would need, and 60% of the human race too. Would I pay MY $$$ for it? Nope. I'd pay a little more for a 3-4 mega pixel. This camera does everything it is SUPPOSED to, WELL!
The pictures are OUTSTANDING!! This is a FUN, cool, QUALITY, and slightly overpriced digital camera, that understanding these attributes, you will enjoy if you buy it!
Rating: - Easy to use camera in a compact form-factor....BUT......
I've been living with this camera since last Sept. when I took it on a month-long trip to NYC and Europe. I come from a 35mm SLR background (two college photography classes). I've been waiting for Nikon to create a form factor that utilized much of the features of their higher end cameras, but more compact. This camera is perfect in that regard, so I made the plunge into digital.I've taken over 1000 photos with this camera and overall I'm very happy with it. I don't have much to add to what others have posted, but I'll point out what I consider a major design flaw: the LCD screen used as a viewfinder scratches VERY easily -- in the next iteration of this product, Nikon needs to add a sliding door to protect this LCD panel. Even with a camera case, this thing will get scuffed up -- I liked to keep my camera at my ready, sometimes in a pocket or nylon bag with other solid objects -- if they rub against the LCD, forget it -- Scuff City. On a positive note, I wanted to point out something a lot of other reviewers have neglected to mention: the ability to capture motion video in Quicktime format. If you use digital editing software you can string these together, add a music track and make some cool little movies to post online or email friends and family Very cool. Wish the camera could capture sound, but I suppose that's not the market Nikon is addressing with the Coolpix. It's still a very cool little extra you should explore if you buy this camera. Otherwise, the menus -- once you've used them for a few days -- are quite intuitive and easy to access. However, you should play around with the different presets as well as the manual exposure adjustment to get a feel for what kind of results you'll get. The presets will probably fit most needs, but it's nice to be able to "open" and "close" the aperture for darker or lighter exposure (okay, it's a CCD chip, not a mechanical lens and aperture!). One minor interface gripe: I wish the camera remembered its last settings (like extra sharpening) between powering off and on. If Nikon's goal was the create a simple point and shoot camera in a compact format, the Coolpix 2500 fits the bill. Overall I'm very happy with the purchase. BUT as others have noted, you really need to get a 128MB or larger Compact Flash Card to really put this camera through its paces.
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