Rating: 
Summary: A friendly camera that looks cool
Review: 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:
Summary: Great Medium-Resolution Camera
Review: This is my first digital camera, and it's been great so far. It's not quite film quality, but it's fun. The swivel design, movie mode, and adequate included storage make it easy to capture much more of an event than traditional film cameras. The included 16-meg compactflash card is fairly big, holding anywhere from about 15 to over 200 pictures, depending on the size and compression options which are accessed through an intuitive menu system. The design of the camera is very smooth--when the lens is rotated back into the body, there are no protrusions, making it nice for carrying in a pocket. As others have noted, the lag time before the camera actually takes the picture can be annoying, but choosing the right "scene" (a preset of various camera settings) or using a tripod eliminate much of the problem. The "Museum" scene is pretty impressive, and does a good job of capturing vivid colors in indoor situations without the use of the flash. All in all, it's a great camera. It manages to retain some of the high-end features found in the more expensive Coolpix models--although shutter speed, focus, etc. aren't accessible through menus, there are enough "scenes" to cover most situations. And it's unlikely that the average user would be able to do a better job of adjusting these settings anyway. One thing it's missing is a video out for connection to a TV--which the Sony camera in this price range does have. But no camera in this price range has the Nikon's quality feel or graceful design. Finally, the included software is great. I've used the software bundled with Sony products before, and it's just awful. The software Nikon gives you is unobtrusive--connect the camera via USB or compactflash reader, and a little window pops up, transfers the pictures, and leaves you alone. Also, a panorama maker takes a collection of pictures and makes great 360 degree views (viewable in QuickTime), as well as APS-like panoramic shots. Pros: -Swivel lens is fun and protects the lens when not in use
-Many "Scenes" which allow for professional camera settings at the touch of a button
-Intuitive menu system
-Great software Cons:
-No video out
-Small delay before shot is taken
Rating:
Summary: Different from the rest
Review: I had been searching and pricing Digital Camera's for several months, and then stumbled upon this new product from Nikon and really liked the way that it doesn't look like a camera. It's compact size allows you to put it in a shirt pocket or sun glasses case... you can take it anywhere! and the different angles that you can place the lens and then store it back in its own body is really cool. It's features are also among the best in it's class allowing the user the ability to change most settings. The 16MB starter card is just that, and depending on camera settings will get you a limited number of pictures, but if you plan to take alot of pic's w/out downloading you will need a bigger card. The battery lasts quite a long time and must charge 2 hours before first use. My only beef is that the flash and the lens are next to each other and this seems to cause quite a bit of red eye even with the reduction on, other than that if your looking for a great camera that gives alot of bang for your buck and you dare to be different this is the camera for you !
Rating:
Summary: Mostly Excellent
Review: This camera is extremely portable and durable, and it takes beautiful photos in most situations. In two months of using mine as a snappy, I have found only three consistent problems: 1) The shutter release is slow compared to film cameras, so you have to be patient when taking photos. Hold the camera still until it's done, or it will take blurry pictures. The slowness also means that you have to anticipate action shots, such as a child in motion, or you'll miss the subject. (This is true mainly when the subject is within a couple of yards. It's fine with longshots.) 2) The flash unit really does create some nasty red-eye. 3) It takes practice to use the swivel lens. Early on, you might miss some great shots because you're fumbling with it. Despite these problems, I have grown to appreciate the Nikon 2500's simplicity and excellent optics. I strongly recommend it to anyone who wants a low-profile camera that delivers great results. (NOTE FOR THE COST-CONSCIOUS: Make sure to include the cost of a larger (64-128 megabyte) compact flash memory card in your product comparison. The card sold with this camera and most digital cameras holds very few photos at maximum resolution.)
Rating: 
Summary: It's okay
Review: I bought this camera a few months ago, and I've come across both good and bad features since using it. This is a 2MP digital camera that comes with about 12 scenic features - including portraits, landscape, sunset, close up, indoor, fireworks (though I've never used it ..), backlight, night portaits/lanscape, etc. It has a LCD moniter, swivel lens, self-timer; and I believe a video option but I would never recommend using it. It's an easy one-touch upload. You simply attach the camera to the provided USB, go into the program and hit "transfer" and you're all done. The Negative:
It contains no veiwfinder, only a LCD moniter. In bright light, such as sunlight, it's practically imposssible to know what you're taking a picture of! Also, forget about taking any action shots. Unless you're planning on taking still-life pictures, I wouldn't recommend it. All of my pictures where something is moving, even in the slightest, such as somebody walking, the picture is blurry. And for some reason, pictures taken at night or in the dark come out bad. The flash sometimes makes the subject look very bright, while the background is very dark, and I've had some weird spots show up on my pictures before, due to dusty conditions or something. The camera comes with an 8MB card, which only holds about 15 pictures taken in the best settings (Fine, 1600 x 1200). If you're planning on taking lots of pictures in an extended amount of time, I would recommend buying another card, preferably one that is bigger than 8MB. The Positive:
It's lightweight and easy to carry. I've kept it in my pocket, or in my purse, and it is comfortable and convienent. The pictures come out good, as far as I know. This is my first camera, so I can't really compare. I had no problem understanding the manual. It was simple and direct, and I liked the easy features. The best thing about this camera is the swivel lens! It allows for cool angles and is terrific for self-portraits. Overall:
It's been a pleasure using the Nikon Coolpix 2500. I'm a beginner to photography and had no problem mastering this camera's features. I bring this camera everywhere, it's so compatible and easy to carry. I love the slim design and the swivel lens, as well as the basic upload and quality of the pictures. But it does have some problems that I mentioned. I wish they would have put in a veiwfinder, and the delay is about 2 1/3 seconds so any movement in pictures shows up as a blur. Those are my only real complaints, though. I would recommend this camera to anybody who wants a fun, simple, easy-going camera and is planning on taking pictures of still-life.
Rating:
Summary: Very good but not the best
Review: I'll get one thing out of the way. I bought this camera mainly because it looked cool. I was shopping for a digital camera in an electronics market (I live in Asia) and was looking for something in the 2.0 megapixel range. I ran across the CoolPix 2500 and the design of it definitely caught my eye. I looked at it for a while, toyed around and decided I wanted to buy it. While it's definitely a good camera, it's not the best. On the whole, I thought this camera was pretty good. One thing that sets the Nikon CoolPix line of cameras apart from everything else is its swivel lens design. This is clever because when you're not using it, it covers the lens. No need to worry about broken lens covers or scratched lenses anymore. Plus it helps getting angled shots much easier. No more craning your neck to get a shot above of below you, just tilt the lens. It's a whole lot more useful than you'd think. The picture quality of this in general is pretty good. The colors come out accurately and the pictures are clear. However, the night exposure could be better, although it's good enough to pass without any qualms. A big problem that's related to night time shots however is red eye. It's always there and it never seems to go away. I managed to minimize it using the different scene settings, but it just never completely leaves. It gets sort of annoying after a while, but it's something most people can live with. Also, the camera tends to feel on the fragile side. Whenever I put it in my pocket, I always feel like it's going to break any second. Of course it's never happened and I realize that it'll take quite a bit to knock it out of commission, but it does have that light easily breakable feeling that I can never seem to shrug off. Some other minor complaints is that there is no video output straight to a TV and there is no optical viewfinder, although the optical viewfinder part isn't really too big of a problem. Also, there is no protection for the LCD screen. Something along the lines of what Sony does with their cameras would have been a good protective measure to take with the screen. With all these negative aspects to it, you would think that I wouldn't like it, but that isn't the case. It still is a good camera and it's a blast to use. The visual quality is still fairly good and has a bunch of nifty features to it, namely the swivel lens. And besides, whenever you pull it out in front of other people and you swing the lens, everyone will go "ooohhhhhh."
Rating:
Summary: A friendly camera that looks cool
Review: 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: 
Summary: Don't waste your money
Review: The camera went dead after 18 mos. You could view the menu but the lens would not display an image. I doubt I will ever own another Nikon digital camera.
Rating: 
Summary: Ain't is not a word
Review: I'd like to point out to the reviewer who stated "It Ain't that simple to use" two things............. #1 -- the camera is ultra simple to use
#2 -- ain't is not a word
Rating:
Summary: BAD build quality and so-so image quality
Review: My coolpix 2500 suddenly went dead after 14 months. This is the first tech product I owned that has ever died on me. I will never buy another Nikon product. The picture quality is so-so, tends to have red-eye.
| 
