Nikon Coolpix 5000

Loads of functions in this superb 5megapixel digital camera.

Price: £928.25

Manufacturer: Nikon

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It doesn't offer any stunning new advances, but the Coolpix 5000 is a superbly well built 5megapixel high-end camera. Every adjustment under the sun is combined with ease of use if you want it, although the Sony F707 is more user friendly initially.

David Fearon, Personal Computer World 02 May 2002

Arriving a few months after Sony's F707, Nikon's Coolpix 5000 goes head-to-head with the Sony. Both boast 5megapixels, and will set you back a cool grand, but the Coolpix could hardly be more different in its styling.

Taking its cues from Nikon's consumer orientated 770 and 880 series, the Coolpix 5000 is a diminutive beast at 102 x 82 x 68mm (w x h x d). Build quality is superb. The magnesium-alloy body feels utterly solid and, at just over 400g, the camera is less than two-thirds the weight of the relatively unwieldy F707.

We thought the Sony had configuration options aplenty, but the Coolpix takes the biscuit. A couple of highlights are: area autofocus, which lets you choose the part of the frame the camera should focus on; and an AF area exposure mode, which increases the likelihood of a correct exposure.

You can also alter image brightness and contrast in a couple of steps. Sports photographers will appreciate the multitude of continuous shooting modes: most useful are the high and low-speed standard modes, which will respectively give 3fps (frames per second) for three shots at high resolution and minimal compression, or 1.5fps for eight frames at the same quality.

The lens is disappointing. It's a 3x 28-85mm (35mm equivalent) optical zoom, compared to Sony's 5x. It's also relatively slow, with a maximum aperture of f2.8 at full wide angle, reducing to a fairly poor f4.8 at full zoom. This means that it will be harder to take good quality pictures in low light conditions.

Given that Nikon is famous for its lenses, we'd have thought it could do better than this. The lens redeems itself to some extent with a macro setting that will focus down to 2cm, but edge focus is a little softer than we'd like at this extreme setting.

We were worried about the 5000's small lithium-ion battery but, in practice, it gives a day's shooting with power to spare. The battery indicator is, however, a basic good/low/knackered affair, which is irritating after the luxury of Sony's 'minutes remaining' Infolithiums.

Previous Coolpix models have made a trip to the LCD menu a necessity for all but the most basic of adjustments, but the 5000 is a big improvement on models of yore.

Dedicated buttons abound for selecting focus modes, picture size and quality, flash mode, exposure compensation and program mode. The top-mounted rotary control easily scrolls through settings and an LCD info display allows you to see important settings when using the optical viewfinder.

As well as standard exposure modes, the Coolpix 5000 has three sets of user memories, each one able to store all the camera's tweakable settings. You can recall any of them in a second or two using the command dial, without resorting to the LCD monitor.

In combination with the ever available automatic mode, this gives you flexibility while side stepping the usual menu hunting shenanigans. Custom white balance settings still require foraging through the menus though. This is particularly frustrating since the auto white balance seemed a bit wayward, with several outdoor shots landing on the yellow side of warm.

The noise reduction mode, which kicks in for exposures over a quarter of a second, works very well. Maximum exposure time in normal modes is eight seconds, but the Coolpix sports a bulb mode, allowing exposures of up to five minutes. Minimum shutter speed is a fast 1/4,000 second.

The 5000 takes Compact Flash storage, and there's a 32Mb card supplied which is good for around 13 shots at 2,560 x 1,920 resolution with minimal compression. It supports IBM's Microdrive too.

Quality is approximately equal to the Sony model, but on close analysis the resolving power of the lens is slightly less. There was some evidence of colour fringing in high-contrast areas, but only in extreme circumstances.

The Coolpix connects to the PC via USB and includes Photostation Easy, a basic photo editing package

Contact: Nikon 0800 230 220
www.nikon.co.uk

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