Product Description

From the solid feel and comfortable wraparound grip of the world's smallest compact stainless steel body to its large, easy-access control buttons and 2.5-inch high-resolution LCD monitor, the COOLPIX S500 is a joy to carry and to take pictures with.All functions are optimized for immediate response, freeing you to capture special moments as you experience them. The COOLPIX S500 powers up within 0.8 seconds, and the shutter releases in less than 0.005 seconds.Light sensitivity range up to ISO 2000 with manual control or auto control creates new opportunities to take sharper, more natural looking photos in lower lighting conditions, or to capture fast-moving subjects with outstanding clarity.One press of the button simultaneously activates the High-ISO, lens shift VR and BSS (Best Shot Selector) features of Anti-Shake mode for clearer results in low light or when zoomed in for close-ups.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7171 in Camera & Photo
• Color: Silver
• Brand: Nikon
• Model: 25559
• Released on: 2007-03-31
• Dimensions: 2.00" h x .90" w x 3.50" l, .75 pounds
• Memory: 26MB
• Display size: 2.5

Features

• 7.1-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality 16 x 20-inch prints
• 3x optical zoom through a quality Zoom-Nikkor lens (zoom is equivalent to 38-114mm in a 35mm camera)
• 2.5-inch LCD display; exclusive Nikon In-Camera Red-Eye Fix
• Face-Priority AF automatically focuses on faces
• Sleek, stainless steel design

Manufacturer Description
The new Coolpix S500 captures exceptional images with 7.1 megapixels and a 3x optical Zoom-Nikkor glass lens. Optical VR Image Stabilization minimizes the effect of camera shake, while the bright 2.5-inch LCD makes it easy to share pictures with friends and family, even in bright sunlight. Among compact digital cameras, the Coolpix S500 is fast. Start-up time is an amazing 0.6 seconds and shutter lag, in Release Priority Mode, is just 0.005 seconds. Wrapped in stainless steel, the S500 will impress any compact digital camera enthusiast!

The Coolpix S500 also features 15 specially-programmed modes to automatically handle focus, exposure, white balance and other adjustments that help you take great pictures easily.

Nikon Coolpix S500 Highlights

3x Optical Zoom-Nikkor glass lens High-quality lenses deliver high-quality pictures. The Zoom-Nikkor lens gives you the power of 3x optical zoom lens, (38-114mm for 35mm equivalent) while Macro capability lets you get as close as 3.9 inches. This combination is supported by Nikons’ world-renowned optical technology delivering crisp, clear images.

Optical VR Image Stabilization Stability advanced... images enhanced. You can shoot sharper, clearer and without blur with Nikon’s ingenious Vibration Reduction. VR Image Stabilization detects and corrects for camera movement to give you rock-steady results time after time in lower light. So effective, it even lets you shoot in lower light.

ISO 2000 capability The Coolpix S500 offers light sensitivity up to ISO 2000 allowing you to tackle scenes and situations far beyond the capabilities of conventional compacts, it gives you great exposures in significantly lower light.

Incredible, bright 2.5-inch LCD Makes shooting and sharing pictures easier. The Coolpix S500 is equipped with an incredible 2.5-inch LCD great for viewing images anywhere, anytime. Anti-reflective coating makes it easier for everyone to see and enjoy images. The larger LCD lets you make the most of smooth, sharp movies, and great-looking stills.

Nikon In-Camera Innovations

• Rotary multi-selector display features swift circular scrolling action that allows speedy image browsing at up to 10 images per second. On-screen icon with cursor tracks scrolling for easy feature selection.
• Blur warning alerts you to a burry image.
• Auto image rotation detects pictures that have been taken with the camera held vertically and automatically rotates the image for in-camera LCD playback.
• Noise Reduction mode minimizes digital artifacts in long exposures.
• In-camera cropping allows you to crop out the part of the image you don’t want and keep the part you do.
• Color options allows you to make pictures more vivid or record monotones.
• Best Shot selector enables the camera to take a series of photos and automatically select the one with the sharpest focus.
• Date and time imprinting is available to document the exact time and date that your photo is taken.
• Voice Memo function records up to 20 seconds of sound that can be then attached to an image.

D-Lighting In playback mode, D-Lighting will compensate for underexposed images or insufficient flash by adding light and detail to selected shots where needed, without affecting properly exposed areas.

Face-Priority AF To ensure superb portraits with crisp focus, select Face-Priority AF (in Portrait Scene mode). This feature automatically finds the subject’s face and focuses on it.

In-Camera Red-Eye Fix This in-camera feature automatically fixes most typical occurrences of red-eye.

Coolpix S500 one-touch Portrait button Your shortcut to three unique innovations, it offers instant access to Facepriority AF and In-Camera Red-Eye Fix for optimized image capture and lets you transform exposure with Nikon’s powerful D-Lighting advantage.

In-camera color options & QuickTime movie with sound Shoot a QuickTime movie with sound at 30 frames per second, and choose from five color shooting options (standard, vivid color, black and white, sepia, cyanotype).

Transfer Directly to Printer, TV or Web

Print directly from your camera You can transfer images directly to print, without the need of a PC, when using PictBridge and USB Direct Print compatible printers.

Connect directly to your TV Show friends and family the results on a grand scale with the supplied video cable.

Customer Reviews

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I love this camera, for the price.. had it for a couple months now, and overall it's great for a compact digital camera... only negative is that I still manage to get blurred images sometimes, unless I'm completely not moving or using a tripod. Otherwise, it takes very clear, lush and detailed pictures with true to life colors, and doesn't seem to burn through batteries as easily as other cameras I've had in years past, and has a lot of nice features. The Red Eye redux and direct to TV/computer works wonderfully... it's pretty fast in recovery time... and it does an excellent job in self adjusting to the light situation, no matter what it may be.

Fragile LCD --- cute but looks are deceiving
This camera looks like a little tank, and I bought it to replace a Canon Elph that really had been a tank. I had tossed that old camera in briefcases, backpacks, pockets, and it had always been fine. When looking for a new pocketable camera, I was drawn to the S500 because it reminded me of my trusty old Elph. The Nikon had similarly rugged looks. But it fails to live up to the promise.

I know what you're thinking---"Another Amazon customer who got a rare defective product, so I can disregard his negative review and look at the positive ones." Well, that's how I usually feel, too. I'm writing this review because, after my camera broke, I did a quick google search and saw others who had also bought this same new model who have had the same mysterious problem. Caution seems appropriate, maybe instead looking at a more established model until Nikon figures out how to make these new ones correctly.

About 45 days into owning the camera, I pulled out the S500, clicked the power button, and saw a white screen LCD with black splotches. It seems that the LCD panel had broken at some point in the prior week. I hadn't taken the camera anywhere stressful. It had either been in a pocket or in the small pocket in a student backpack, the part where you put pens, a cell phone, an iPod, etc. Those seem like natural habitats for a "pocket" camera. I have carried lots of electronics around (phones, iPods, etc.), and nothing had ever been damaged. But this little camera is now completely worthless. (Since it lacks an optical viewfinder, and since the menu is all on-screen on the LCD, it's really just an expensive little doorstop now.)

I'm still investigating what my options are under Nikon's warranty. Based on some quick web searching today, I expect to be told that I'm at fault for the LCD damage and that I should always carry these cameras inside a protective case. If that's so, then why bother buying a pocket camera? The protective case (and I bought the Nikon-branded one) won't fit in your pocket, and without a case, you're apparently just waiting for the little thing to shatter.

Nikon, are you listening? Does this happen to your other cameras, too, or is this one an outlier that consumers should avoid?

Very small & includes optical vibration reduction
I believe this is one of the smallest cameras on the market with optical vibration reduction (VR). I have a VR lens on my larger camera and find it invaluable and now consider it a must have feature. It also has a very fast startup/shutter response and the stainless steel exudes a quality feel.

I own a Nikon D80 DSLR and was looking for a small P&S to use when taking the larger camera along wasn't practical. Although it has very little advanced controls I believe it is exactly what I needed. I also like that it has a more powerful flash than most other cameras in its class.