Rating: 
Summary: Great camera
Review: I'm quite happy with my Nikon Coolpix 2500. It's cute, small and easy to use for a first time digital camera user, such as myself.
I've been using it for a couple months now to take pictures of just abot everything and overall, it takes some really great pictures. Although, lighting is a big factor for a picture to turn out well, without the orange glow that seems to be quite common from this camera. Any slight movement, such as a small hand twitch, can really the image.Be sure to have Windows 98 SECOND EDITION or higher. It didn't say that anywhere when I bought it, and sadly I only have Win98. Thank goodness it's compatible with a Mac or I wouldn't be able to use it.
In a nutshell, it takes good pictures with good lighting. The 20 second movie capability could be a bit better, but it works and is great for spur of the movement fun. Lots of different settings to use in different conditions: portrait, landscape, fireworks, close up, sunset, party/indoor, night time, night landscape, back light, museum, beach/snow. Worth the money.
Rating:
Summary: "I have to admit--I was pleasantly surprised!"
Review: 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 $$$ for it? Nope. I'd pay a little more for a 3-4 mega pixel. This camera does everything it is SUPPOSED to, WELL!
The pictures are OUTSTANDING!! This is a FUN, cool, QUALITY, and slightly overpriced digital camera, that understanding these attributes, you will enjoy if you buy it!
Rating: 
Summary: Picture Quality of "big" digital Nikons
Review: 0. I had to return my new Pentax 430rs (4 Megapixel Ultra-Compact) because of the unexceptable level of digital color noise, very poor focusing system, light sensitivity (esp. at max resolution) and unnatural looking colors. Now I feel mutch happier with Coolpix 2500.
1. Professional picture quality provided by "256 segment exposure metering" system, "noise reduction" system, fantastic light sensitivity ("ISO400" auto-gain works - pure pleasure).
2. White balance is excellent. 3. No digital noise visible at 100% size picture (unlike most of the competitors).
4. Most definitely "not a 1st time user camera" (too many features, options), read few 1st time user reviews on this page - nonsensical comments. This is the camera for enthusiast or professional who wants to have a camera with him all the time (ultra-compact) and still get serious quality pictures.
5. Best value for $$$.
6. I hope Coolpix SQ will be even better Ultra-Copmact (not like 3500).
Rating: 
Summary: Surprisingly underwhelming
Review: I bought this as my first digital camera five months ago, largely on the strength of the Amazon reviews. I intended to use it for routine snapshots. I can't state how well it stacks up against other digital cameras, of which I know nothing. But I can say I was surprised by deficiencies it has, when compared against my $100 Olympus 35mm film camera. First, the indoor exposure quality is pretty poor. Its sensitivity reminds me of ASA 100 speed film. A flash is always required indoors. The flash is quite anemic: anything 8 feet or more away will be dark. In photographing a kids' soccer team two rows deep, the front row was slightly overexposed while the rear was underexposed. The line was about 3 feet deep total. There is very little exposure latitude with the flash. Second, I have never seen such red eye in my life! The flash is about 3/4" from the lens in the same horizontal plane. I have to spend a couple minutes in Photoshop to clean up every single shot. I'm used to seeing eyes like this on flash photos of cats, not humans. Third, the battery is tiny, proprietary and very expensive. This probably explains the weak flash - there's very little power and Nikon needs to preserve it. Plus, after about 30 seconds idle time, the camera hibernates to save the battery. One has to press the shutter and wait about 5 seconds for it to revive each time. Fourth, while outdoor exposure has been good, the LED screen is too weakly backlit to view at the beach or ski slope. And there's no optical viewfinder, so you often can't see what you're photographing in these circumstances. Fifth, one must swivel the lens assembly open in order to use the camera. When doing this, it's very easy to put a fingerprint over the fixed transparent lens cover. And a little bit of smudge on that cover gives plenty of artifact on the pictures. Finally, while I shoot at the unit's maximum resolution, it's still not acceptable to press the shutter button and wait two seconds before it takes the shot - and then wait another 3 or 4 seconds for it to be ready for the next. And if the flash is involved, that adds another 2 seconds before the picture is taken. Like I said, I was looking for family snapshots; but far too many pictures have the subject moved out of the frame because of these delays. So, this camera is okay for some things - especially outdoor daylight shots that are not too bright. But my 35mm performs a lot better in many circumstances. And its Costco-developed pictures are about 30% the cost of those from a digital camera. And I don't have to spend hours engineering Photoshop corrections, or burning the images to archival CD. If I had it to do over again, I'd be more fussy about cycle time, battery capacity, flash distance from lens and exposure latitude. Live and learn.
Rating: 
Summary: Limited use camera
Review: I guess this is a good camera. But let me tell you the places you can NOT use this camera: You can't use it indoors. This camera has the worst case of flash flare I have ever seen. The flash is just too close to the lense. You can't use this camera at night. The flash is too wimpy to take anything but a close up. So, I guess if you want a camera that you can use outside during the day, then this camera will work for you.
Rating:
Summary: Easy to use camera in a compact form-factor....BUT......
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Very good camera with one drawback
Review: We bought this camera when our baby was born and have been very happy with it. The one drawback which has proven to be a challenge is that many, many photos we take have a significant red-eye problem. I've been told that this happens often with babies and animals, but it seems to happen more with this camera than it does with others. Overall, however, I would recommend the camera -- it's light, takes generally good photos and is in an affordable price range.
Rating:
Summary: disadvantage
Review: i wrote a review about this camera before but i forgot to
write a big disadvantage which is: WHEN LIGHT IS POOR THE CAMERA CAN NOT FOCUS!!!
THERE IS NO INFRA-RED SENSOR IN THE CAMERA OR A BUILT-IN LIGHT FOR THE CAMREA TO FOCUS IN POOR LIGHT CONDITIONS ( THIS OPTION IS AVAILABLE IN SONY CAMERAS) NOTE : MY PREVIOUS REVIEW TITLE WAS (i love it) please read it i think it is helpful
Rating:
Summary: i love it
Review: advantages:
- brand name
- nice looking
- excellent print results for 10cm*15cm , very good 21cm*15cm prints
- great picture quality (compared to any other 2MP camera and even to 3MP cameras)
- the swivel lens is a very helpful and protects the lens when not in use
- fits easily in your pocket
- very easy to use (does not have many manual settings ; great for beginners)
- best shoot selector is a very good option
- u can choose from 12 scenes ( useful option)
- the quick button lets u see the picture you shot without having to change the mode disadvantages:
- any person who holds the camera even for just a second will put his finger on the lens
- does NOT have optical finder (i think it is not important ; my friends have optical finders in their cameras and they never use it)
- the quality of the view you see in the LCD before shooting is bad ; you can feel it very much when you use a SONY )
- u can NOT resize the photo after shooting (this would have been very helpful when there is no disk space in your camera so u can choose the least important photos and change them to less resolution to have space for more photos)
- u can not view the photos on a TV
- i do NOT like the supplied software (nikon view 5); it is easier to download the pictures by making your computer see the camera as a removable disk
- the video is limited by 15 seconds each , and it does NOT record audio ( anyway it is a still camera not a video camera)
- i had some problems using the macro (close up) mode ; it was very difficult to set the focus comments:
- if u really need to display your photos on a TV and u can't wait till u go home and view them on your desktop PC do not buy this product , OTHERWISE GO AND BUY IT NOW !!
NOTE :if u need better quality prints for larger size prints(larger than 21cm*15cm) and u can spend some more money , buy the coolpix 3500 it has exactly the same features for coolpix 2500 except for the resolutin which is 3.2MP instead of 2MP
Rating:
Summary: Just got mine
Review: I just got my camera, and it is great.
Once you learn the menu structure it is very easy. The free software is very good also and better at removing red-eye than Photoshop.
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