 You
are here: Home
>
Digital Camera Reviews > Nikon Coolpix
S500 |
Nikon Coolpix S500 Review |
Review
Date: July 7, 2007 |
Category: Point-and-Shoot
HANDLING & FEEL
The Nikon Coolpix S500 is an ultra-compact and light digital camera with a stainless steel
body that feels solid and well-built. It is quite attractive and is slim enough
to slip into a Jeans pocket or fashion handbag.
The Nikon S500 does not have a handgrip (or "finger grip") and, even though I did not find the body particularly slippery, the use of the wrist strap is highly recommended. I like the large rectangular shutter release button and the Rotary Multi Selector. The other controls, including the zoom lever, is on the small side and, although I did not have any trouble using them, you might want to do a hands-on check before purchasing it, especially if you have large hands and fingers.
Startup time is about 1 sec. from Power ON to the LCD getting ready for taking a shot. Shot to shot time
is about 2 sec. (I took 5 shots in approx.
10 sec.) There is no practical shutter
lag. Autofocus is fast though it will sometimes
hunt a bit in low-light; it is however precise
so you do lock focus.
| STYLE |
| - |
Colours: overall silver with chrome accents |
| - |
Looks: rectangular, retro |
|
| FEEL |
| - |
Well designed, comfortable to hold |
| - |
Controls on the small side |
|
| DIMENSIONS &
WEIGHT |
| - |
Ultra Compact: fits in a Jeans pocket or small fashion purse |
| - |
Dimensions: Approx. 88 x 51 x 22
mm (3.5 x 2.0 x 0.9 in.) excluding projections |
| - |
Weight: Approx. 125 g (4.4 oz.) without
battery and SD memory card |
| - |
Takes 1 Li-ion battery EN-EL10 3.7V
740mAh |
|
| SPEED OF OPERATION |
| - |
Average startup speed with lens extending
about 26 mm (1 in.) and LCD turning
on in about 1 sec. |
| - |
Shot to shot time about 2 sec. |
| - |
No practical shutter lag. |
|
The Terminal compartment is on the right side
of the camera (viewed from the back) with a small
rubber "door".
Controls
The top of the camera has (from right to left)
the Shutter Release Button, the Power ON/OFF button,
the One-Touch Portrait button, and the Anti-Shake button.
The One-Touch Portrait button turns Face-priority AF and Red-eye reduction ON. The Anti-Shake button turns VR (Vibration Reduction, aka Image Stabilization) and BSS (Best Shot Selector) ON to reduce blur caused by camera shake.
Virtual Mode Dial
All other controls are found on the back of the
camera, to
the right of the large 2.5-in. 230,000 pixels resolution
LCD.
There is no Mode Dial but the Mode button together with the Rotary multi selector serve that purpose. Press the Mode button to bring up a virtual Mode Dial on screen, then use the Rotary multi selector to select an option: Shooting mode, High Sensitivity, Scene mode, Voice recording, Movie and Set up.
As Nikon digital cameras are well known for,
there is a Scene Mode for almost everything you
want to do. For example, the Panorama Assist scene
mode allows you to take a number of panoramic
shots and line them up precisely on screen by
overlaying the semi-transparent previous image
on screen. This is one of the best Panorama implementation
I've used.
You can record movies (with sound) @ 640x480
at 30fps, with a maximum file size of 2GB (you can use a 4GB memory card though the camera will only show remaining
time for 2GB). You have a choice of
Single AF (focus locks once movie recording
starts) or Full-time AF (camera continuously adjusts
focus during movie recording, though focusing
sound will also get recorded)
Two movie features are interesting: With Stop-motion movie, you take up to 1,800 frames (memory space permitting) @ 640x480 pixels (at 5, 10 or 15fps) and the camera joins them together into a silent movie which is played back at the selected speed.
With Time-lapse movie, the camera automatically takes pictures (640x480 pixels) at an interval which you specify (30s, 1m, 5m, 10m, 30m, 60m) and then joins them together into a silent movie which is then played back at 30fps. Interestingly, the camera will fire the flash if it deems it is necessary. I have a short Time-lapse movie sample in the User's Experience section.
The Playback function has its own dedicated button,
which makes it very convenient to switch between
the Record and Playback modes with a press of
the button. Touch the shutter-release button
to immediately return to Record mode. If you just
want to view your pics without turning the camera
on (i.e. extending the lens), simply press and hold the Playback button
for about 4 sec. and Playback will start without
the lens extending; when you're done, press the
Power button to turn the camera off. The Playback button is on the soft side and, a couple of times, I've found the camera turned on in Playback mode when I retrieved it from my trousers pocket.
When in Playback mode, the Delete button will
delete the displayed picture; to Delete All, you
need to access the Menu.
On the bottom far left of the camera is the hard plastic tripod socket. On the bottom right side is the Battery
/ SD Card Compartment. There is a small latch
to secure the battery from falling when the door
is opened. Whether you will be able to change
battery and card while the camera is mounted on
a tripod will depend on the type tripod you use.
LCD & Menus
The Nikon S500 has no viewfinder but has a large 2.5 in. LCD monitor that is bright with 230,000 pixels resolution and with a
fast enough refresh rate for a smooth display.
It has an anti-glare coating that helps in bright sunlight. You can manually adjust the LCD monitor's brightness
in SETUP. The LCD monitor will gain up in low-light but not in extreme low-light. There
is an effective AF-assist Illuminator to help
achieve focus in low-light. You can also display
a Framing Grid of horizontal and vertical lines.
 |
SHOOTING MENU 1 of 2
- Image mode
- White balance
- Continuous
- BSS
- ISO sensitivity |
 |
SHOOTING MENU 2 of 2
- Color options
- AF area mode |
 |
SHOOTING MENU ICONS
- All 7 Menu options summarized on a single
page of icons
- Notice on some Menu screens, ? Help (Tele
button) will display a short help description |
 |
IMAGE MODE 1 of 2
- 7M: High (3072*)
- 7M: Normal (3072)
- 5M: Normal (2592)
- 3M: Normal (2048)
- PC screen (1024) |
 |
IMAGE MODE 2 of 2
- TV screen (640)
- 16:9 |
 |
WHITE BALANCE 1 of 2
- Auto
- White balance preset
- Daylight
- Incandescent
- Fluorescent |
 |
WHITE BALANCE 2 of 2
- Cloudy
- Flash |
 |
CONTINUOUS
- Single
- Continuous
- Multi-shot 16
- Interval timer shooting |
 |
INTERVAL TIMER SHOOTING 1 of 2
- 30s
- 1m
- 5m
- 10m
- 30m |
 |
INTERVAL TIMER SHOOTING 2 of 2
- 60m |
 |
ISO 1 of 2
- Auto
- 50
- 100
- 200
- 400 |
 |
ISO 2 of 2
- 800
- 1600
- 2000 |
 |
COLOR OPTIONS
- Standard color
- Vivid color
- Black-and-white
- Sepia
- Cyanotype |
 |
AF AREA MODE
- Auto: leave it to the camera to select
an AF area to focus on
- Manual: select from 99 AF areas
- Center: camera always focuses on center
AF area |
 |
AF AREA MODE - 99 FOCUS AREAS
- When Manual AF area mode is selected,
pressing the MENU/OK button allows you to
position the Af area at one of 99 possible
positions on screen
- Note that the area of the screen outside
the four marked corners (i.e. edges of screen)
cannot be selected |
 |
SETUP 1 of 3
- Menus
- Quick startup
- Welcome screen
- Date
- Monitor settings |
 |
SETUP 2 of 3
- Date imprint
- Vibration reduction: turn this ON to enable
image stabilization; choose OFF when camera
is placed on a tripod
- AF assist: AF-assist lamp lights to enable
focus lock in poor lighting
- Sound settings
- Auto off |
 |
SETUP 3 of 3
- Format card
- Language
- Interface
- Reset all
- Firmware version |
 |
SETUP MENU ICONS
- All 15 Menu options summarized on a single
page of icons
- Note: on all Menu screens, ? Help (Tele
button) will display a short help description |
 |
WELCOME SCREEN
- Nikon
- Animation
- Select an image |
 |
PHOTO INFO
- Show info
- Auto info
- Hide info
- Framing grid |
 |
DATE IMPRINT
- Off
- Date
- Date and time
- Date counter |
 |
DATE IMPRINT
- Date is permanently imprinted on picture |
 |
VIBRATION REDUCTION
- On
- Response priority
- Off |
 |
SOUND SETTINGS
- Button sound
- Shutter sound
- Volume |
 |
AUTO OFF
- 30s
- 1m
- 5m
- 30m |
 |
LANGUAGE
- 20 different languages |
 |
FIRMWARE VERSION
- Ver. 1.0 |
 |
MOVIE MENU
- Movie options
- Auto-focus mode |
 |
MOVIE MENU ICONS
- Movie options
- Auto-focus mode |
 |
MOVIE OPTIONS 1 of 2
- TV Movie 640* [640x480 @ 30fps]
- Small size 320* [320x240 @ 30fps]
- Small size 320 [320x240 @ 15fps]
- Reset Smaller size 160 [160x120 @ 15fps]
- Time-lapse movie* [640x480 @ 30fps] |
 |
MOVIE OPTIONS 2 of 2
- Stop-motion movie [640x480 @ 5, 10 or 15fps] |
 |
PROGRAM AUTO
- Clockwise from top left: Programmed Auto
Shooting mode, Macro ON, Focus indicator, Flash mode,
ISO 50, VR, space for 539 images
left, Image mode 7M*, Exposure Compensation +0.3EV, Vivid color, Preset WB,
Continuous Shooting |
 |
SCENE MODES 1 of 4
- Portrait
- Landscape
- Sports
- Night portrait
- Party/indoor |
 |
SCENE MODES 2 of 4
- Beach/snow
- Sunset
- Dusk/dawn
- Night landscape
- Close up |
 |
SCENE MODES 3 of 4
- Museum
- Fireworks show
- Copy
- Back light
- Panorama assist (with semi transparency) |
 |
SCENE MODES 4 of 4
- Image mode |
 |
SCENE MODES ICONS
- 15 Scene Modes summarized on a single
page of icons |
 |
PLAYBACK MENU 1 of 2
- Print set
- Slide show
- Delete
- Protect
- Transfer marking |
 |
PLAYBACK MENU 2 of 2
- Small pic.
- Copy |
 |
PLAYBACK MENU ICONS
- All 9 options summarized on a single
page of icons |
 |
PLAYBACK DISPLAY |
 |
D-LIGHTING
- Enhances contrast and brightness in dark
areas |
 |
HELP
- Toggle the Zoom control to T to bring
up Help whenever a ? is displayed on screen |
 |
EXPOSURE COMPENSATION
- Press Exp. Comp. (Right Arrow) and rotate
Rotary multi selector to select a value |
 |
FRAMING GRID
- Thick yellow lines
- Note: info displays only when shutter release button is half-pressed |
 |
SELF-TIMER
- Off
- 10 s
- 3 s |
 |
FLASH
- Auto
- Auto with red-eye reduction
- Flash off
- Forced flash (Fill-in flash)
- Slow sync |
The Nikon Coolpix S500 is an attractive
and easy-to-use point-and-shoot digital camera. Its compact form and flush design makes it easy to carry in a trousers pocket, available at any moment to capture a photo. Its stainless steel body has an unstated elegance that belies the practical features under the hood -- features that help you capture great shots.
|
|
|
