Nikon Coolpix 3500 3MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom

by Nikon

Product Details

Product Manual [3.30mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 4.5 x 2.3 x 1.2 inches ; 8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00006RGRJ
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,210 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 25, 2002

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Nikon's Coolpix 3500 follows up on the design of their 2500, featuring a swivel-out lens, complete with a 3x optical zoom, which closes up when not in use. The lens clicks into three different angles (straight out, 45-degrees above and below) when taking pictures, with the user lining up the shot in the bright and crisp 1.5-inch LCD.

The 3500 also has a built-in autoflash and can capture images at up to 3.2 megapixels. It does take a few moments to focus in on your subject, and the image quality isn't the best we've seen (we noticed some flares and dark shadows). But this camera was built more for portability than high-end imaging.

And it definitely hits--and fits--on that level. It weighs only six ounces, and the camera can easily slide into a jeans pocket or hang around your neck.

Several features geared toward the beginning user are included with the 3500. The one-touch upload option takes the thought out of transferring images to your PC. And with the Best Shot Selector option turned on, the 3500 will quickly capture up to 10 shots and choose the sharpest and brightest image. There's also a 20-minute introductory video on CD that walks novices through the digital camera basics.

A 16 MB CompactFlash card ships with the 3500, which will hold 19 images at the highest resolution. However, if you're going to use the camera's movie mode (it can hold passable 35-second soundless clips), you'll want to expand. Our one beef comes with the lithium-ion battery, which needs to be removed to be recharged.

The Nikon Coolpix 3500 would make a great gift for a parent or child new to the digital camera world. It's very user friendly and ultimately portable. --J. Curtis

Pros:

• Nicely compact
• Innovative twisting lens design
• Excellent features for the beginner
• Bright, crisp LCD

Cons:

• Average image quality
• Have to remove battery to recharge

Amazon.com Product Description

This elegant 3.2-megapixel digital camera features a unique inner-swivel design for free-angle shooting and an ergonomic design that puts every function within easy reach. Hold the camera in any position comfortable for you, then twist its 3x Nikkor zoom lens and built-in flash to get the best view. It also features a one-touch upload feature, which easily transfers your photos to your PC.

Optics and Resolution
Featuring a 3.2-megapixel CCD sensor, the Coolpix 3500 delivers a wide range of detail and color (with images up to 2,048 x 1,536 pixels) and prints are detailed up to 11 by 14 inches. Nikon's high-quality 3x Nikkor optical zoom lens (featuring a 5.6-16.8mm focal range, equivalent to 37-111mm in 35mm camera format) allows you to close in on the action. The 4x digital zoom offers a combined 12x total zoom, enabling you to capture even more details.

Body
Most striking is the Coolpix 3500's unique body design, which not only improves the appearance and ergonomics of the camera, but protects the lens when not in use. In addition to the novel swiveling lens barrel, the 3500 dispenses with a rangefinder and relies solely on the LCD monitor. The BriteView LCD enables you to view images easily and clearly even in bright sunlight.

More Features
The general-purpose auto mode, and 12 scene modes, makes getting great shots easy--even for beginning digital photographers. Just select the mode for the scene, and the Coolpix 3500 handles all the adjustments automatically. Nikon's Best Shot Selector takes a series of up to 10 images, compares them, and stores the image with most detail to the memory card.

The Coolpix 3500 makes sending images to your computer simple. Just connect the camera to a computer with the supplied USB cable and press the transfer button. Images in the camera are then transferred automatically to the computer with Nikon View 5 software (included). Pressing the small-picture button creates a reduced-size image for easy e-mailing.

Storage and Transfer
Images are stored on Type I CompactFlash memory cards. The included 16 MB card will store approximately 19 images at 2,048 x 1,536 pixels (at normal setting). Images can be downloaded to either a Mac or PC via USB storage-class connectivity, which means it can be connected to any USB-based Windows Me/2000/XP and Mac OS 8.6 or later computer without installing any software.

Movie Mode
In addition to taking still photos, the Coolpix 3500 can also record movie clips of up to 35 seconds without audio. The QuickTime Motion JPEG format offers a limited resolution, which is great for capturing a short movie that can be e-mailed to friends and family, but is no replacement for a true camcorder.

Power, Size, and Contents
The camera is powered by a proprietary, rechargeable lithium-ion battery (included). It measures 4.5 by 2.3 by 1.2 inches and weighs 6 ounces. This package includes the Coolpix 3500 digital camera, a 16 MB CompactFlash card, a lithium-ion battery (model EN-EL2), battery charger (model MH-60), USB and AV cables, strap, and a CD-ROM with Nikon View 5 imaging software, and USB drivers for Windows and Mac.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good camera for the price, November 23, 2002

By 

T. Stumpf "tstumpf7" (St. Louis, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nikon Coolpix 3500 3MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

This is my first digital camera, so I don't have anything to compare the 3500 to, but overall, this is a good, fun, camera and I'm glad I picked it up. It's easy to use, especially for a beginner. I was able to take pictures right out of the box. You can carry it around with you in your pocket, so it's easy to bring with you anywhere. The pictures it takes vary from exceptional to so so, in my opintion. The camera performs especially well when you have lots of light, giving sharp focus and stunning colors. If you are indoors in dim light, the camera has trouble focusing and the pictures come out somewhat grainy. I've really only used the auto settings, so I'm not really sure if the 12 scene modes that come built in are any good. This camera also suffers from really bad red eye problems. I've read it is because the flash is mounted so close to the aperture and this is a problem of any camera designed this way. I suppose it comes along with the compact size, which is well worth it. If you have good photo editing software, you can deal with red eye in most cases. I would recommed that you buy a bigger flash card than what comes with the unit. I went with a 250 megabite card, and I would have a hard time filling up a card of this size. You can take several hundred pictures at the highest settings. I like the rechargable battery that comes with this camera, but you have to conserve your shots and performance starts to suffer as the battery drains. So, I plan on buying an extra battery since I would hate to run out of juice at a crucial moment. So, if you're looking for a good point and shoot digital camera, I think you'll like this one, but you have to understand its limitations.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You'll learn to love this camera...., January 15, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Nikon Coolpix 3500 3MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

I have to admit, I read all of these bad reviews about this camera and I totally agreed - this camera bites. I kept taking blurry picture after blurry picture and was so frustrated that I put it down for several weeks before getting online and reading all these reviews. I felt vindicated that other people were having the same problem! But since I'm stuck with the camera, I decided to try to figure out how to make it work. What I found the real problem is, no one wants to take the time to READ the manual or play with it to figure it out, including myself. That's a problem with the whole "user friendly" stream-lining that's going on and I got caught up in it. I think the people that are getting the blurry pictures are like me, who immediately went to "scene selection" and picked out "party/indoors" for all of my shots. I thought this made intuitive sense and this is why I'm only giving this camera 4 stars instead of 5. You have to be in automatic mode ("A") to get clear photos. Maybe another of the scenes lets you take clear pictures - I haven't experimented yet. In short, don't use the scene selector until you've experimented with it so you don't miss that prized shot - keep it automatic. The pictures this camera produces are fantastic. It takes great night shots too.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great camera not for beginners, January 9, 2003

By 

JRock "http://www.freeiPods.com/default.aspx?... (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nikon Coolpix 3500 3MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

This is a great camera for a person with some experience of digital cameras. You can just point and shoot with the auto focus in well lit areas, but when it gets a little dark, you have to play around with the scene modes to get a good picture. But it does take a great picture. The battery lasts for hours at a time. Even with it zoomed in all the way, its quality doesn't suffer. I recommend getting the 128mb memory card if you want to take a lot of the really high resolution pitures. If you are not going to take really high resolution pictures, save your money and buy the 2500 because you don't really need 3.2 megapixels than. That is the only difference between the 3500 and the 2500.