A reliable manufacturer of high-end film and digital cameras, Nikon occasionally parlays this technical experience to the lower end of the camera spectrum with impressive results.
The Nikon Coolpix 2500 is the latest addition to the Coolpix camera range, and is designed with the camera novice in mind.
The camera is well designed, with smooth, rounded curves and a slim body compact enough to slip into a pocket or bag without requiring a carry case. Its most intriguing design feature is that the lens and flash are mounted on a swivel base, which aligns vertically within the camera body to protect the lens from dust and knocks when it is not being used, but swivels down and out of the body when its time to take photos.
The Coolpix 2500 has a 2 megapixel CCD, which makes for good quality photos, particularly for a consumer camera. Image quality ranges from 640 x 480 right up to 1,600 x 1,200. The 2500 features 3x optical zoom (contained entirely within the lens housing), and 4x digital zoom, which lets you zero in on details. For the point-and-shoot crowd, there are a few photography settings for different situations (such as Party, Night, Sunset, Museum, Fireworks and more).
Storage bundled with the camera is not bountiful: it has a Type I Compact Flash slot, and comes with a single 16MB card, but you can store around 22 photos at 1,600 x 1,200 resolution.
Darren Ellis