Customer Reviews

Nikon Coolpix S500 7MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Vibration Reduction Zoom

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I love this camera, for the price.. had it for a couple months now, and overall it's great for a compact digital camera... only negative is that I still manage to get blurred images sometimes, unless I'm completely not moving or using a tripod. Otherwise, it takes very clear, lush and detailed pictures with true to life colors, and doesn't seem to burn through batteries as easily as other cameras I've had in years past, and has a lot of nice features. The Red Eye redux and direct to TV/computer works wonderfully... it's pretty fast in recovery time... and it does an excellent job in self adjusting to the light situation, no matter what it may be.

This camera looks like a little tank, and I bought it to replace a Canon Elph that really had been a tank. I had tossed that old camera in briefcases, backpacks, pockets, and it had always been fine. When looking for a new pocketable camera, I was drawn to the S500 because it reminded me of my trusty old Elph. The Nikon had similarly rugged looks. But it fails to live up to the promise.

I know what you're thinking---"Another Amazon customer who got a rare defective product, so I can disregard his negative review and look at the positive ones." Well, that's how I usually feel, too. I'm writing this review because, after my camera broke, I did a quick google search and saw others who had also bought this same new model who have had the same mysterious problem. Caution seems appropriate, maybe instead looking at a more established model until Nikon figures out how to make these new ones correctly.

About 45 days into owning the camera, I pulled out the S500, clicked the power button, and saw a white screen LCD with black splotches. It seems that the LCD panel had broken at some point in the prior week. I hadn't taken the camera anywhere stressful. It had either been in a pocket or in the small pocket in a student backpack, the part where you put pens, a cell phone, an iPod, etc. Those seem like natural habitats for a "pocket" camera. I have carried lots of electronics around (phones, iPods, etc.), and nothing had ever been damaged. But this little camera is now completely worthless. (Since it lacks an optical viewfinder, and since the menu is all on-screen on the LCD, it's really just an expensive little doorstop now.)

I'm still investigating what my options are under Nikon's warranty. Based on some quick web searching today, I expect to be told that I'm at fault for the LCD damage and that I should always carry these cameras inside a protective case. If that's so, then why bother buying a pocket camera? The protective case (and I bought the Nikon-branded one) won't fit in your pocket, and without a case, you're apparently just waiting for the little thing to shatter.

Nikon, are you listening? Does this happen to your other cameras, too, or is this one an outlier that consumers should avoid?

I believe this is one of the smallest cameras on the market with optical vibration reduction (VR). I have a VR lens on my larger camera and find it invaluable and now consider it a must have feature. It also has a very fast startup/shutter response and the stainless steel exudes a quality feel.

I own a Nikon D80 DSLR and was looking for a small P&S to use when taking the larger camera along wasn't practical. Although it has very little advanced controls I believe it is exactly what I needed. I also like that it has a more powerful flash than most other cameras in its class.

The camera takes absolutly fantastic pictures. Unfortunately it is very fragile. We had the camera fall about 1' and hit the floor. After whicht it was no longer functional (reports "Lens Error"). The Nikon repair shop wants $150 to repair it. A bit steep for a $175 camera.

We now own a Stylus 790 SW from Olympus. The image quality isn't quite as good, but the camera is supposed to be able to survive a 5' drop.

I got some great shots with the Coolpix S500 about a month ago, I found useful Nikon's Best Shot Selection, which takes a series of shots and keeps just the one it determines is the sharpest. You can increase the camera's sensitivity up to ISO 2000 to cope with moving targets in low light, but even daylight shots at this level contained so much noise that they were barely worth having. I noticed little noise, however, in images shot at ISO 400, a big improvement over how most compact cameras performed until recently.