Good Introductory Digital Camera (Nikon Coolpix 2500)

Member Name: jdaglish

Product:	Nikon Coolpix 2500
Date:	15/05/03 (88 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Compact, Easy to use, ideal for beginners

Disadvantages: Poor results in low light, Few manual settings

The Nikon Coolpix 2500 is a good camera for those wishing to enter the world of digital photography. The small, light design means that it can easily be carried in a jacket pocket, and it's robust casing make it durable too. Taking pictures in automatic mode is easy, it really is point and shoot, and the 2.0 megapixel CCD captures clear crisp images.

Nikon's rotating lens allows a better view of the lcd screen when taking shots at an angle different to head height. This rotation also serves to protect the lens and flash inside the body of the camera when not in use. There is a 3x optical zoom allowing you to get close up to your subject without losing image clarity.

If you are an experienced photographer however, you will probably be frustrated by the lack of control you have over the camera's settings. Even in manual mode you are limited in the settings that you can change. This becomes apparent if you try and take photographs in low light conditions without using the flash. Nikon have done their best to help in this regard by providing a Best Shot Selector, which will take a number of images and then pick out what it decides is the best quality. In experience, I have found that this still produces blurred images. Using the flash cures most of these problems, but for anyone that likes to use ambient lighting, this can be frustrating.

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