Rating: 
Summary: auto exposure and auto focus rarely work
Review: This camera does produce some outstanding results when the auto-focus and exposure meter work. Unfortunately, this would be an extremely low percentage of the time. Most of the time it requires an enourmous amount of light and contrast in a photo in order to lock in auto-focus. Why many competitors such as Sony and especially Olympus have been able to master this challenge and leave Nikon in the dust is anyones guess. The true problem with the exposure meter is that the sensor is directly next to the area where you must release the trigger. Therefore when you take a photo you are blocking the sensor. I don't think you need an engineering degree to know why this does not work. When I emailed Nikon's service dept they agreed that this was in fact a problem (without a solution.) My reccomendation would be to purchase an Olympus 4040 or Olympus 5000 which I have used with excellent results. Both also have a 1.8 aperature lens which means you will need almost half as much light as you do with the nikon. The only thing you will have to sacrafice is the swivel LCD screen. I think it is a fair trade off for focussed and properly exposed images.
Rating: 
Summary: A sub $1000 pro-sumer camera, despite Nikon's marketing.
Review: The features mimic, and the performance matches, the best of Nikon SLR cameras. The lense quality is exceptional, and veratile. The one-star off is for the accessories and battery life. Expect to buy 3rd party lense hoods, an add-on battery with more life, and extra memory.
Rating:
Summary: Broken down twice
Review: My Coolpix 5000 has broken down twice in the
last year. I treat all my photo equipment with
great care so this is no fault of my own. The first time I sent the Coolpix 5000 in for repair -
the camera froze up and wouldn't operate -
Nikon repair couldn't fix it and sent me a new one. I'm about to send the camera in for repair again, just
a couple weeks before my warranty expires. This time
the monitor isn't working correctly and the camera
won't shoot at all. I'm expecting they'll have to send
me a new Coolpix 5000, which will probably conk out again
in a couple months. I've spent [a lot of money] on this camera and am very
upset with the breakdowns. I don't even want to think what
it would cost to repair this camera without a warranty. When I
contacted customer service at Nikon via e-mail, the best they
could offer was to check with Nikon outlets to see if they offer
extended warranties. Not exactly the support I was looking for. The camera is great when working. But for [the price], this should
not break down every 5-6 months.
Rating: 
Summary: Fragile
Review: As an owner of a Nikon SLR for years with no problems, my first choice in choosing a digital camera was to go with Nikon again. After one year with the Coolpix 5000, let's just say that I'm no longer a happy Nikon customer. As already stated by many other reviewers, the camera's features are great, but this camera is extremely fragile. I was most attracted by the high resolution as I often like to create large prints of a few vacation pics for wall framing. Unfortunately, I've come home from my last two major vacations with nothing to show. The camera failed before I even got to my destination! I also want to point out that I am not rough with my equipment. I take very good care of expensive purchases like this camera. In this case, I carried the camera in a leather padded bag made specifically for the Coolpix 5000. And the camera case was being transported in a padded carry-on bag. So, no Samsonite gorilla was throwing the camera around and it was well protected at all times. To Nikon's credit they repaired the camera in both instances with no questions asked. But, in each case, little information was given as to the failure mode. Both times, the only information returned was 'repaired image control PCB'. With 15 years in the electronics industry, I know that there must be some serious mechanical stability issues with this camera for damage to be this easily incurred on a solid state electronic board. Now that my camera is out of warranty, I'm afraid to take it out of the house. And I have no pictures to share with family and friends from my last two vacation adventures.
Rating:
Summary: Great camera, problems with CCD
Review: Resolution outstanding and worth the effort to learn the complicated controls. CCD failed and required two trips back to Nikon over 5 weeks to repair, now working OK, Nikon responsive on status via their email service support.
Rating: 
Summary: FANTASTIC ENLARGEMENTS
Review: I PURCHASED THIS CAMERA BECAUSE I OWNED A PHOTO LAB,AND I DEMAND QUALITY IN MY PHOTOS. I WAS SELLING THE LAB & KNEW I WANTED TO PRINT MY OWN PHOTOS, AND THEY HAD TO BE AS GOOD AS THOSE I COULD PRINT FROM FILM. THIS CAMERA GIVES ME BETTER PRINTS IN SOME CASES THAN I WAS GETTING FROM FILM!!! AND THE ENLARGEMENTS ARE GREAT.
Rating:
Summary: Easy path to rival film for clarity in all sizes
Review: The learning curve was a little rocky the first two times I used it. Practice makes better, (if not perfect,) and I blow away comparisons from friends shooting top of line Kodaks and Sony.
Rating:
Summary: Best value for the money
Review: With the new $$$$ rebate and the new firmware 1.7, this camera is awesome! I can make great images with the RAW (NEF) files. This is one amazing camera! The pictures are amazing-I can print them at 13 x 19 on my Epson 2200 and you can't tell whether it is film or digital. You have to get this great wide-angle camera!!
Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended
Review: Produces images that rival film. Typical Nikon quality -- feels solid and everything works like it's supposed to. A camera you can grow and learn with -- it has more features than most amateurs will ever need. Easy to use in auto-everything mode, but also has capabilities usually found only on top-of-the-line film cameras. Downside? The non-threaded lens is an annoyance that Nikon easily could have avoided. The LCD display works great most of the time, but it's almost useless in some lighting situations.
Rating:
Summary: Horrible Performance, Horrible Service.
Review: Nikon should be ashamed of themselves for releasing this piece of junk. When it DOES work, it produces superb images--exceptional sharpness, great detail, and accurate color. The problem is it usually DOESN'T work. I've had to send it back twice with problems, and it still doesn't work right. The zoom gets stuck, and the autofocus doesn't lock on. There are major problems with this camera, and Nikon won't do anything about it. Nikon's service is horrible. Unapologetic, no answers, no solutions. Long hold times. They don't offer "loaners." They don't offer anything for people who depend on their products to make a living. It would be bad enough for everyday consumers, but at a professional level, it's unacceptable. We bought this camera for small digital shots done in a professional environment. So not only have we lost the $1000 for the camera, but also about $3000 in billable jobs. I understand that sometimes things go wrong, and if they do, you have an obligation to fix the problem. Nikon is not doing this in any way. Thanks for nothing, Nikon. I'm tossing the whole matter over to our attorney for follow-up...
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