I have had my P5000 for less than a week and really am impressed with it. The color is good, the photo quality is good. For such a small camera, it has good ergonomics and most functions are easily accessed by by buttons or dials. It has full manual controls and noise levels are very good for a 10 MP camera. The VR stabilizing function works well. It makes the perfect accompaniment to my D50 and D70 when I need a smaller purse or pocket-sized camera.

I've had this for a couple of days and love it! Its a great point and shoot, provides crisp, clear, beautiful images in auto mode. But, it also allows you an incredible amount of control and versatiltiy with the preset modes and the manual modes. You can get great results with "art-ier" shots that encorporate depth of field, saturation, etc.

I've had great luck shooting in an indoor setting with natural light coming through the windows and lots of flourescent light coming from overhead when I've adjusting the white-point accordingly. It performs well in low-light situations too. I like the programmable function button that gives you a short-cut to the screen that pertains most to the situation you are shooting.

The portability, image quality, add-on lenses, shoe for a speedlight flash, price, and proven Nikon quality, make this a great choice for someone looking for the most versatile small digital camera they can get.

I was looking for a small portable camera to complement my Nikon D70 and D80 DSLR. Small enough to fit in my pocket or on my belt, light enough to always have with me, yet have advanced capabilities and produce good quality photos when I did not have a DSLR with me.
I have tried many cameras from Nikon and Canon. The P5000 has the right set of features and price to meet my needs. The Canon G7 does have some superior features, but is larger and weighs more so does not fit in my shirt pocket but OK in coat pocket, and is ~$100 more. I have had the P5000 for almost a week and it has been on my belt in the leather case every day. Very travel friendly. I also have the small light SB-400 iTTL Flash in my brief case to add more Flash capability and it is great.

Picture quality is finally what has to be good. The P5000 produces very good IQ with that "Nikon Color" I am used to. I tested the P5000 in good lighting versus my Nikon D80, Nikon S7c and CoolPix 5400. The D80 wins hands down as the best quality. But the P5000 is much better that my other CoolPix. Plus going back and forth from the D80 to the P5000 was smooth due to button placement and similar shooting style. The hand grip on the P5000 is excellent for such a small camera too. I have posted my test pictures on another site if you look at Nikon Talk Forum on DPreview dot com and search for "P5000 vs S7c vs 5400 First Impressions"

Cheers

I'm a nikon DSLR user, semi pro to pro, looking for something smaller. My main camera is my beloved Nikon D200 but sometimes the family mutinies when I want to bring that and all my lenses on an outing.

The Coolpix P5000 is one of the three best pocket-sized cameras out there, and I have literally tried all the competitors. However, I believe the very best is the Canon G7. still not great enough to be excited about, but a step up in some ways from the new Nikon P5000 featured on the page.


Why the p5000 isn't as good--for me--compared to the Canon G7.
1) the auto white balance picks the wrong setting a lot of the time
2) the high ISO performance is SOMETIMES excellent and sometimes dreadful. It's hard to predict. (to be fair, it's bad on the G7 as well).
3) total deal killer: the movie mode is much noiser and much, much inferior visually to the rock solid movies on the G7.
Other than that, both cameras (G7 and p5000) are very disappointing in the tiny apertures they offer. Good luck blurring anything in the background with either camera.

Here are the three top almost pro but still compact cameras I have found, and how they compare.

Canon G7, the Nikon P5000, and the lumix LX2 ( the 10 mp one with the 16X9).
Here are the pros and cons:
lumix lx2 is probably the most fun, just cuz it looks and feels neat and can do 16*9, but it fits poorly into the available space due to the lens protrusion. Also, the pictures look oversaturated outdoors (where otherwise it performs well) and its indoor performance and movie mode are dreadful. ISO performance is bad (as it is on all three of these cameras).

The Nikon P5000 is pretty good but per my review the white balance, movie mode, and ISO performance are all bad.

The G7 takes the best indoor pictures (which is the hardest test), and has the best movie mode. Its auto white balance generally gets it right. On the other hand, the functionality for varying where the focus is set is a pain in the butt, and it always reverts away from spot metering every time you turn the camera off.

Does anybody know if the new nikon p5000 digital camera has remote shooting? I mean, is it able to take pictures while connected to the USB pc port? I need to save taken pictures in the pc hard disk drive instead of camera memory. Thanks MFM

I had read few reviews in dpreview and amazon about the noise in low light conditions. Believe me, I dint notice much of noise in Auto Mode (thats what i explored on Day1 with my P5000).

Good:
1. Neat pics even in low light conditions.
2. Shutter lag - you wont feel it (not during low lighting though, which is understandable)
3. Nice ergonomics
4. Lots of Manual settings which almost matches a DSLR.

Bad:
1. Auto focus takes a little noticeable time, but its not bad.

I had lots of expectations from this cam, and so far am happy with its performance. All in all, a great cam for the price.

For what it is, & how logically it was constructed, I cannot recommend this amazing little gem too highly .

I bought it as a 'sidekick' for my Nikon D80 which I use when my photographic intent is focused & serious. When I am out & about & would like to be prepared 'just in case' but cannot or will not be encumbered by larger, heavier equipment, the P5000's role is stellar.

Whatever the camera doesn't offer is eclipsed by what it does: a tiny yet ergonimically comfortable high-quality image-delivery system. I am delighted, & will now see if, in the longer run, the camera offers sufficient durability if attentively handled.

I recently bought this camera to replace my well used Nikon Coolpix 7900. It takes fabulous photos and the multitude of manual controls is exceptional but what was Nikon thinking by having such a noisy autofocus motor in this camera? It makes a constant whirring sound--it's almost like you are using a camcorder instead of a still camera. There is no way to shut the sound off. I can hear it quite clearly even when just holding the camera in my hand. This issue is now being reported in the Nikon forums. It was a deal breaker for me. It was just too annoying and I returned the camera to the store. The sound is loud enough to record when using the the video setting so if you like to take videos alot you might want to read up what others have to say in regards to the noise issue. Otherwise, it's a first rate camera that takes photos almost the equivalent of my Nikon D50. What a shame that Nikon didn't address this issue before sending the camera out to customers.

i swapped out my Nikon P1 for this one. It's faster and the software has been tweaked to improve the feel and handling.

Has a couple of improvements I like:
- viewfinder as well as LCD targeting
- flash shoe
- fantastic video quality (for such a camera)
- good finger grip
- better design of the zoom button

My only dislike is the strap and strap eyelets

I RECEIVED THIS CAMERA A FEW WEEKS AGO, AND I THOUGHT IT WAS GOING TO BE A GOOD SO SO CAMERA.......WELL I SHOT SOME FOTOS FOR VARIOUS JOB SITES WITH IT, DOWNLOADED IT TO MY COMPUTER AND TWEEKED THE FOTOS WITH THE NIKON SOFTWARE, PRINTED THE FOTOS WITH MY EPSON RX700 PRINTER........AND I WAS AMAZED WITH THE PICTURE QUALITY, IT RIVALS MY NIKON D80.....
SO IF YOU ARE A AVERAGE POINT AND SHOOT CAMERA PERSON, THIS WOULD BE A VERY FINE CHOICE FOR YOU.AND IN FOR THAT REASON I SAY THIS THE NIKON P 5000 IS A TEN MEG CAMERA.YOU WILL NEVER OUT GROW IT , SUCH AS THE LESSER CAMERAS I SEE OFFERED, IT WILL ALWAYS GIVE YOU BEAUTIFUL FOTOS, AND AS YOU GET BETTER WITH DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY. YOUR FOTOS WILL NEVER DISSAPOINT
NO MATTER WHAT SIZE YOU PRINT THEM AS.........ENJOY.........

Nikon has come up with another winner when it introduced the Coolpix P5000.
This little compact camera equals larger more expensive models. Picture clarity is excellent, even when shooting indoors. The vibration reduction and high ISO options really prove their worth. Its' small size makes it easy to travel with. The 10.2 megapixel camera produces large prints with no problem.
If you are condsidering a second digital camera for you bag or as a first timer in the digital world. This camera is for you.

Uma Câmera de altíssima qualidade e desempenho nas fotos, com uma resolução de 10MP e uma alta performance, estou muito satisfeito.

I recently bought this camera after I spent a lot of time doing a research that include similar items, and I am very proud of my selection. These camera has very options, it has a great design, sized screen and it is very easy to use. My pictures get clear (have no grains)and the inside flash works excellent, specially if you don't have any other. The only small "critic" is the neck strap that doesn't like me because it is very uncomfortable to use and wear, I particulary prefer another kind. Everything else is just perfect.

I received this camera as a graduation present from my parents. I couldn't be happier with the results I am getting! I love my old D1x, but I wanted something smaller and more portable that I could take on trips. I found a perfect complement with the p5000. When in the market to purchase a digital camera, I believe it's best to do lots of research and buy a camera for clarity, color, features, and performance instead of looks or brand popularity... it's the same reason I buy Mizuno shoes instead of Nike.

I was looking for a quality point & shoot camera small enough for my handbag or even pocket, easy enough to hand to others to take photos of me, an optional viewfinder to use when lighting conditions are strong on the screen, with an emphasis on light weight. Well that is exactly what this camera is. Well balanced in your right hand with a good grip. Chose this camera over the Canon G5 because of weight and size, which has proven to be a great decision. If I could change just one thing, I'd love the lens wide angle to be 28mm. Well done Nikon, I've always been a Canon supporter but this little beauty has earn't you top marks in the compact point & shoot category - keep up the good work.
p.s. love the KISS approach to dials and menus - any dummy can work it out.

I did a lot of research on finding a small point and shoot camera with the right set of features. The finalists in the order of preference was 1. Nikon Coolpix P5000, 2. FujiFilm F31 fd, 3. Lumix DMC TZ3, 4. Canon SD700IS.

All those cameras meet the following requirements: small enough to be carried around, good picture quality at lower ISO, fast startup, and reasonable shot to shot performance.

[...].

I picked the Nikon Coolpix in a large part because of the flash hotshoe for external bounce flash, 10MP (more pixels for cropping), easy creative control (shutterspeed, aperture, ...).

The one major problem with the P5000 is that it focuses quite slowly compared to the others on the list, so I have to prefocus most of the time. If external flash is not a major need for you, go with the FujiFilm F31d. Its low light performance is top rated. The Lumix TZ3 is a great 12x zoom camera, extremely fun to use (a friend of mine has this).

Love the camera, great pictures, fabulous video clips; it comes with battery charger and rechargeable battery, so don't need to buy aside an AC Adapter or battery, which I did because nowhere in the product description mentions this, since my previous camera did not have these accesories I ordered them, the extra battery I don't mind but the AC Adapter I don't see the use for.

I replaced my Nikon Coolpix 7600 with this camera. I LOVE the P5000. It is easy to use, has a large view finder, and does not have the delay that used to drive me crazy with the Coolpix 7600. I used to miss so many good photo opportunites with the 7600. This has not been a problem with the P5000. While it has a lot of bells and whistles, it is still compact enough to carry in my pocket book. I also like the fact that I can wear it around my neck (very helpful when you have three young children).

This looses a star because it lacks: RAW, 28mm(equiv) wide angle,diopter adjustment,full manual focus, more than 3.5:1 zoom. Not a perfect camera.

BUT that said, it is VERY small and light (120gm less than G7,)with
high resolution, image stabilization, a hot shoe, optical finder, and well made.

It also works well with a variety of previous Nikon converter lenses, which makes it very flexible.

I would buy it again.

this camera is great and easy to use!!!
It has great features like d-lite so you can change pictures on the spot if the lighting is not perfect!! I highly reccommend it.

I had to return this otherwise excellent camera because there was a loud motor noise at all times it was turned on. I'm not sure if this is fixable via firmware and/or if I had a buggy unit.

It is probably part of the VR mechanism, but it was always on -- even when the shutter release button was not held down, and even when I turned off VR in the menus.

The noise was fairly loud on any movies I recorded with the camera.

I hope that Nikon is able to fix this with a firmware update, and I'll buy the camera again if this happens.

Camera works well and is easy to use. After using a Canon PowerShot I find the P5000 a bit bulky. The image quality is not always consistent when I save my photos for email or web This was never a problem with the Powershot. Printed photos are terrific and the anti shake is great when using the camera in low light.

I recently purchased the Nikon P5000 to replace and upgrade a 5.0 MP Canon Digital ELPH camera that I carry with me. As an architect that travels a lot, it is important to have a reliable, good quality digital camera that has both easy automatic point-and-shoot capability, as well as manual control when needed. The P5000 gives all of that. Of course, nothing is perfect, but this camera delivers mostly in the areas that I need.

PROS - high resolution; sturdy magnesium case; fairly straight-forward operation (easy to navigate even without the manual); better battery life than my previous Canon; 2.5-inch LCD screen; and 3.5 optical zoom. This camera also has a viewfinder (no diopter adjustment). I personally prefer a viewfinder to an LCD screen in certain settings, such as when the LCD is washed out by bright sunlight. If a viewfinder is important to you, this has one.

CONS - slight lag in Auto-Focus; wimpy accessory Nikon leather case (the Canon's case was of a sturdier, thicker leather); some learning curve going from Canon to Nikon equipment; and having to change from CF cards to SD memory cards. The latter is not anyone's fault, since almost all new digital cameras seem to have adopted the SD format in order to achieve smaller physical form.

All my previous cameras were Canon (even the film cameras). While my current Digital ELPH was only 3 years old, advances made since 2004 easily eclipsed the old camera, and not just in MP resolution. Things like Face-Recognition (available on several brands) and longer-life batteries greatly improve the camera's utility.

Other models seriously considered were the Sony DSC-W200 (12.1 MP) and the Canon SD900 (10.0 MP). All were in the same price range, but the Sony (new) and Canon were difficult to find. I wanted to at least try this out in person before buying, rather than purchasing sight unseen.

There are some features that digital camera manufacturers seem to always include that many users just do not use very often, if at all. The P5000 has 16 "scenes" to shoot in a variety of conditions, such as Landscape, Museum, Sports, etc. These "scenes" should have also included "Cloudy", "Indoor Lighting", etc. These are on the Canon and while again not perfect, they were appropriate in many instances. You can always retouch photos (to a certain extent) in ACDSee, PhotoShop, or any other similar programs. But getting the exposure correct right from the start is always the best way to go. The remedy on the P5000 is to stick with fully-automatic mode if you are unsure which "scene" is appropriate. Photo-philes can manually adjust the speed and aperture - features I have not yet found on similarly-priced cameras.

The various movie settings have a similar minor gripe. It would have been good to also include an HD setting, but that may have been limited by memory restrictions.

When you pick up the P5000, you will noticed that the shutter release button is located on the front edge of the right-side hand grip, not on top of the camera as is the case in most other models. This is a design feature that is remedied only by time and familiarity. Again, not a deal-breaker, but you may find yourself inadvertently pushing the function button rather than the shutter release.

The price-point for 10-to-12 MP cameras, regardless of manufacturer, seems to be around $400. It would be nice if they included 2 batteries for that price, but do not hold your breath. If wireless capability is important to you, the P5000 does not have it. You will still need to use the supplied USB cable or use an SD card adapter to transfer pictures from the camera. The P5000 is so compact, you cannot fault the absence of WiFi. There is also no way to remotely release the shutter, exception for the automated self-timer function.

The P5000 has two features not found in comparable cameras - a hot shoe and a ring for adapter lenses. The hot shoe is an interesting feature, since this is a compact digital camera and most people will want to just carry it around in their pocket. But if you are so inclined, Nikon does offer a few small flash units specifically designed for this model. They look kind of silly on the small camera and make it slightly unbalanced when attached, but if you need it, this is less of a hassle than carrying a second camera with a better flash unit. I have not tried the lens adapters yet, but you can add dedicated lenses for improved wide-angle and telephoto. Most P5000 buyers may never need these functions but Nikon's design appears to attempt to bridge the gap between high-performance compact digital cameras and a digital SLR.

In conclusion, the P5000 gets 4 out of 5 stars. There are some software tweaks that could make this camera better in its next iteration (if there is a next one). It has a rather high ISO (3200), so you might expect some degree of visual "noise", but that should not be a problem in most applications.

Nikon has set the bar pretty high with the P5000. Competitors will have their hands full trying to improve on this.

I bought and returned this camera.

If I returned it, then why did I give it a respectable 4 rating? Because in many (most) situations, it takes very nice pictures, it is small and stylish, it has full manual controls, it has a hotshoe for an external flash, it can accept different lenses, and it takes SD cards.

Why did I return it? Because it has one fatal flaw. Despite being billed as the flagship point & shoot camera for Nikon, and despite the many cutting edge features, and despite the great qualities noted above, the auto focus is VERY SLOW. It makes this camera almost unuseable if your subjects are moving kids, which is why I bought the camera. I lost at least 1/2 the shots that I tried to take of my kids because I couldn't get them focussed. If you read the various photography forums, there are several workarounds that help somewhat, but at the end of the day, the AF is still slow.

If you don't plan on taking candid shots of your kids, then this could be a great camera for you. I took several hundred wonderful pictures before I returned it. Just not of my kids.

By the way, I ended up buying a Fuji F31FD. I won't go into great detail about the pros and cons of this camera (and it has both), but I'll just say I kept it and I like it. The AF is much faster, and it has the added bonus of being one of the best (if not the best) low light cameras on the market today.

This camera takes excellent photographs and is quite easy to use. It has lots of professional features that I haven't bothered using yet, but I love the idea of having them. I am impressed with the battery power and how long it lasts. i would recommend this product.

The cammera is almost the best.
Pros: Great, great, quality of pictures
Lot of functions. Versatile. Has the options as a professional cammera, but in a compact size.
Cons: Only two details: 1)It has an ugly silver-alluminium ring around the lens, in body front, that disfigure its nice presence. It's not clearly visible at the images of the camera that you can see at Internet.
And 2) The rear display is upper than the rest of rear surface. So is very fragile and easy to scratch or broke

The P5000 is a sophisticated P&S camera, however it is too limited to take the place of your DSLR. For the basic P&S user, it has too many options & controls and, in my opinion, the default settings are not optimal for good results. I had to change a number of settings to get satisfactory images. More experienced shooters will appreciate its many settings, options and tweaks for creative control. In this regard it is very versatile and sophisticated. (I don't use the video feature so I am only addressing still photography.)

I've had mine for about two months, here's my summary:

The good:

Excellent picture quality at 10MP
Price
Lots of manual control
Good exposure
Histogram picture review setting very helpful
Includes white balance pre-set setting for tough lighting situations
Generally well built
Choice of shooting modes
Large LCD monitor viewable from many angles
Has both optical viewfinder and LCD

The bad:

Too small to hold comfortably, I'm always afraid I'll drop it
Pink streaks show on LCD when pointed at a light source (but not visible in the picture)
Optical viewfinder framing is *VERY* inaccurate
Zooms too fast to be precise, needs finer zoom control
Could use a wider focal length on the short end
Battery/memory door is flimsy, seems like it could break off easily

Overall, I recommend the camera for the advanced P&S user, but would tell a less experienced and casual photographer to get something simpler.

First things first. I am a semi-professional photographer. I own a Nikon D70 and many Nikon lenses and flash units. I also own a CoolPix 775. 2 of them actually. I am not a Nikon-hater by nature ...

... but, about the P5000:

Horrendous noise at every ISO. Yes, every ISO. Look at sample shots on photography review sites. Even at ISO 64, the noise is visible from across the room. Worse noise than my CoolPix 775 which I bought over 6 years ago. As bad as my $50 camera phone, sometimes worse. Unbelievably bad. I can not believe Nikon would release a camera with such a worthless, noisy sensor.

Painfully slow auto-focus. Slower than my CoolPix 775. Slow at wider angles, exponentially worse when zoomed in a bit.

Painfully slow recycle time between shots (even with no flash and a professional, high speed SD card). As bad as my CoolPix 775. I would think Nikon would have improved this sometime over the past 6 years. Guess not.

Terrible JPG compression. 10+ MP images that come out as 2 MB JPG's on "Fine" mode? Are you kidding? If they were compressed at an acceptable level, they should be 3 times that size. My 6 MP D70 images are larger files than the 10 MP images from the P5000. That tells you just how compressed the P5000 photos are. (And given how cheap memory cards are now, why is this extreme level of compression even necessary? Why doesn't Nikon let you save the images without compression or with mimimal compression?) It's bad enough that Nikon, like the other camera makers, stuffs 10 MP on a ridiculously tiny sensor just to trick people into thinking that a greater number of megapixels means better photos (the opposite is true actually, unless the sensor is large enough to accommodate the higher megapixel count, like in a professional DSLR), but to then compress those 10 MP of data into a 2 MB JPG is a joke. You end up lossing a huge percentage of the information those 10 megapixels collected (poorly) in the first place. Simply put, you wind up with 10 megapixels of garbage that's unsuitable for printing or posting on the web.

The autofocus assist light is blinding to people and animals alike. It's like a laser pointer. So much for discreetly taking candid photos if there's not enough light for the autofocus to work. And, sadly, unless you photographing the sun itself, there's not enough light for the autofocus to work. So forget about turning it off.

The camera is useless for indoor shots, candid people/animal shots, low light shots, and shots of anything that moves even slightly. Unless you plan on photographing architecture on Mercury (or you're blind), DO NOT buy this camera.

Just don't do it.

Overall, for a point-and-shoot you can put in your pocket, I'm quite happy with this camera. What I like about it is full features, especially the ability to override the fixed scene settings (which are good) with shutter or aperture bias and manual -- all with 10 MP resolution. I haven't put the camera through its paces yet, but I'm noticing the color appears to be inconsistent and favors blue. But this can be adjusted easily with post-processing programs such as iPhoto which is what I use. Some have criticized the slower shutter lag, but if I want to shoot sports photography I'd use my digital SLR, not a point-and-shoot.

It's a 4-star camera at ISOs 64 and 100. Once you get above that the noise is obvious in the shadow areas and needs a heavy dose of Photoshop. I have a Nikon D100 and D200 and shoot at low ISOs, so it's no problem for me to use my P5000 at ISO64 and 100. If I know I'm going to shoot at high ISOs I'll use my D100 or D200 which is superior to the P5000.

I have done all the experiments with the P5000 at all the different ISOs, and 64 and 100 are the best, especially with NR on.

If I knew the noise would be so poor above ISO 100, I don't know if I would have bought it. But, I think all small cameras have this problem to some degree.

camera arrived in new packing, all parts included. Have enjoyed using it (previously had an older coolpix and this is smaller and higher res!

I wanted to update my Coolpix 7600 because of 2 issues: slow shutterspeed and poor low-light shots (better flash). The P5000 was not a major improvement in these areas. A perk that I like with my old 7600 is the fact that I can copy pictures taken by other cameras and move to the memory card of the 7600 to make prints. The P5000 does not have this capability. Other than that, it is a good camera. It requires a special battery where the 7600 still uses AA batteries. I do not notice a difference in picture quality. Overall, I will keep this camera for when my 7600 calls it quits because it has the optical viewfinder which is a must in my books and this camerea enables you to crop and save your pictures on the camera which my 7600 does as well (the Canon S3 does not have this feature). Size is small enough to carry around and overall a good camera if you don't mind the slow shutter speeds and less than perfect low-light condition pictures.

I bought this camera to give me something smaller to carry when I couldn't carry my Nikon D80. I really like the VR and the fact that I can use my Nikon flash units.

After about 500 shots with the P5000 I am very happy with it but one must realize that it is NOT a SLR and there are some cases when you miss a shot because of that. Viewing a zoomed scene through the P5000 LCD can be very difficult in conditions except for very bright light. It is hard to see what you are going to get. With a SLR, you have no doubt.

The other difference is the lag time in the shutter. It is almost useless in fast moving sport action. For example I was shooting the grand children on a Bungee Jump where they bounce on a trampoline and then bungee into the air about 20 feet while wearing a harness. With the rangefinder camera, the action of the shutter does not keep up with the motion. By the time the shutter reacts to your finger press on the button, the child is not in the frame. The lag time is not fast. With my D80, you get exactly what you see in the viewfinder because there is almost no lag time for the shutter to open.

Overall, I give this camera FIVE Stars because it does VERY WELL what it was designed to do and it is very easy to hold and operate. It is NOT a DLR but was not designed to be one.

I had the opportunity to try out this camera for a few days before returning it. Let me preface this by saying I am a Nikon fanatic with several Nikon cameras and a D200 dSLR. I have turned to the canon G7, though, as my point and shoot and thought I would try out the Nikon P5000 when it arraived at my local camera shop. I returned it a few days later and stuck with the G7 (see my review there for positives for the G7)

The Nikon P5000 disappoints almost across the board. The look and build quality is that of the old Nikon 7900 model. It feels small and somewhat clumsy, although it appears sturdily built. It comes with a neckstrap and not a hand strap, kind of odd for a small light camera like this.

The setup is easy, but limited. There are a few dedicated buttons for functions across the left rear of the camera, but most of them point to View options rather than shooting options. The G7 dedicated buttons and dials are far superior here.

Day shots in bright sunlight are wonderful - exactly what you expect from Nikon. But indoor shots and flash shots become very problematic. High ISO is virtually unusable due to the noise created by the in-camera processing. The flash is extremely slow -- I haven't seen shutter lag like this since the early canon models. It even puts the Nikon P3/P4 models way above this (supposedly) higher level camera.

I found shutter priority to be almost unusable - without cranking up the ISO, all you get are black shots. WIth higher ISO all you get is noise. Aperture priority didn't create enough depth of field to see any significant difference. Do your own test -- line up three coffee cans about a foot apart on a counter - then try to focus on the back, the middle and the front coffee can and shoot for depth of field. With the G7 you get some nice blur toward the back, with the P5000 all shots are the same -- i.e. depth of field remains constant at the full-panoramic focus range. No artsy shots possible here.

Where this camera excels is in day shots in sunlight under Auto settings. These produce good, crisp shots of stationary objects. But almost all point and shoots should produce those types of results.

Finally -- ONE BIG WARNING -- this camera, while aimed at the more advance enthusiast, is terrible at capturing action -- exactly the type of thing many dSLR users will want in lieu of dragging along their larger cameras -- In other words, if you want photos of your squirming kids at Walt Disney World, or your dog running around the backyard, or your son hitting the whiffle ball off the T in that first little league game, your NOT GOING TO GET IT with this camera. By the time the autofocus kicks in, and the shutter activates, the lag is so horrendous that you will never get those action family shots you want.

Your usage will of course vary depending on your own personal shooting style. For me, it gave me a nice form-factor camera, from a company I would love to support more, with exactly none of the features that I would need in a small point and shoot rather than my dSLR. I stuck with the Canon G7 and returned this. If you want to stick with Nikon, their best cameras remain the P3/P4 models if you can find them.

I bought this camera to give me something smaller to carry when I couldn't carry my Nikon D80. I really like the VR and the fact that I can use my Nikon flash units.

After about 500 shots with the P5000 I am very happy with it but one must realize that it is NOT a SLR and there are some cases when you miss a shot because of that. Viewing a zoomed scene through the P5000 LCD can be very difficult in conditions except for very bright light. It is hard to see what you are going to get. With a SLR, you have no doubt.

The other difference is the lag time in the shutter. It is almost useless in fast moving sport action. For example I was shooting the grand children on a Bungee Jump where they bounce on a trampoline and then bungee into the air about 20 feet while wearing a harness. With the rangefinder camera, the action of the shutter does not keep up with the motion. By the time the shutter reacts to your finger press on the button, the child is not in the frame. The lag time is not fast. With my D80, you get exactly what you see in the viewfinder because there is almost no lag time for the shutter to open.

Overall, I give this camera FIVE Stars because it does VERY WELL what it was designed to do and it is very easy to hold and operate. It is NOT a DLR but was not designed to be one.

I bought this camera right before going on vacation. I owned an old Nikon Coolpix 5000 and I was already familiar with most of the features. It worked well on the trip and the battery lasted quite a long time. I had three batteries with me (they are very inexpensive) and I normally lasted a couple of days just on one battery.


I won't go into great detail on the features but I will talk about one I used most often on my trip. It was the Panorama feature. It allows you to align your camera in such a way that taking panoramic pictures is relatively easy... even without a tripod or a bubble level.


The way it works is you set the camera to panoramic mode then take the first picture. The LCD screen will display the edge of the last image so that you can align it up for the next shot. This works very good if you are stitching together 3-4 images but beyond that you may end up needing a tripod and/or a bubble level. Creating a full 360 degree panorama is child's play after that.


Not only can the panorama feature work horizontal but can create vertical panoramas as well. You can tell the camera what direction you want to move next and it will show you the proper alignment. So if you wanted to create one "big" image from 9 images using a 3x3 alignment it is very easy to do.


The camera comes with Arcsoft Panorama maker version 3 which will stitch the images together for you. It works well and I decided to upgrade to the 4.0 version but I liked 3 better though because it seems to do a better job of making interactive panoramas in Apple Quicktime (another very cool feature). Photoshop can do the same thing but I found that Arcsoft ran faster and it did not eat up as much memory.


I posted three panoramic images I took on vacation. See the Product images associated with this product to see them. They are MUCH smaller than the real output.


The camera works with the new SDHC cards. I bought a Kingston 8GB card and will probably never need another card again. Saving images in the highest resolution is very fast. Somewhere between 1-2 seconds.


The biggest downside I personally found is the inability to save in a RAW format. RAW format is an unprocessed/uncompressed image that are very useful with using in Photoshop. It gives the most detail and information for Photoshop to work with. My older Coolpix 5000 did not originally have it but Nikon put out a software upgrade for the camera that gave it RAW format capability. I am hoping they will do the same for the p5000 but so far no dice.


Overall I really like this camera and am glad I purchased it. I was going to go for a DSLR but I decided that I did not want to learn something new while on vacation.

I returned this camera not because anything was wrong with it, but because it had too many features for what I wanted. The shutter lag was a bit slow, and I wanted a point-and-shoot that I could carry everywhere and whip out of my bag at a moment's notice. I was also a Canon and Olympus user before and had never had a Nikon. I chose to buy the Canon PowerShot SD1000 instead and am very happy now.

I already have a D200 and a D80, but I also needed a small compact camera for those times and places when you don't want to or are not able to haul around one of the big boys. The Coolpix P5000 is perfect, very easy to stick in a pocket or hand bag and yet you still have 10 megapixels, a long battery life, a huge screen and it's easy to use. What's not to like. I waited a long time before I bought a small camera, the P5000 was worth the wait. My wife loves it too.

I just got this little camera the other day, having ordered it right here on Amazon via a 3rd party seller in excellent condition, new in the box with warranty etc.

First of all, let me say that I have done some research and knew what I wanted/needed in a camera. I'm beyond mere point and shoot type photography although there are times when going fully automatic can be a godsend. My needs were more advanced and also had to consider my budget too in this process.

My first digital camera was an old Kodak CX series 4mp camera that did allow for exposure adjustment, but that and ISO ("film" speed) only and had about a half dozen, if that scene modes, lens range is about the same for both however the Nikon is a 3.5x zoom whilst the Kodak only does 3x, both had digital zoom capabilities too.

When the old Kodak took a tumble to the floor in the fall of 2005, I was able to nurse it along for about a year and a half off and on until it seemingly died this past January. To be honest, the Kodak was pretty good for what it was, it's macro was OK and I did get plenty of use from it which is more than I have with any film camera I've owned previously.

First thing was I had been eying the Nikon cameras after some initial research on the previous 7600 and 7900 coolpix models and came close to buying one then, but my financial situation was dire and the funds had to be diverted to more important things so no camera then. And in that research was the fact that Nikon in it's coolpix line tend to not be as aggressive, generally, in their Jpg compression, nor as heavy handed with noise reduction compared to many companies for this type of camera.

So when the situation finally came for me to be able to actually look into a new camera, I had been looking at several models, including the L12 and the S500 but ultimately, found myself suddenly able to afford a P5000, which is comperable to the old 7900 in features etc.

Now I've also read the reviews here and elsewhere, and on major camera review sites such as DPReview, C/Net and others and the reviews of the P5000 were mixed with both good and negative comments, namely it's slow start up, slow shutter lag and focus, but it had very, very good image quality despite the 1-7/8" 10MP sensor and it had a really good layout, good menu that is along the lines of their DSLR's and a very good grip, which allows for steady 1 handed shooting when needed.

I was not able to get my hands on one to try out and then heard that it was being discontinued so had to act fast if I was going to get one and by that point, I found myself with funds to do so and ended up buying it without a tryout at a local camera store.

In the 3 days since it arrived, I've been snapping pictures like nobody's business, mostly in manual mode and am learning quite fast it's idiocrycasies and how one goes about adjusting aperture and shutter, sadly, one can't do true manual focus, but one can tell the camera how you want it to focus and one feature allows the user to move the focus metering brackets around to get the best readings for both exposure and focus, in this instance, when shooting a dark scene with a bright spot, I can then scoot the metering bracket to get both the dark and light so when I adjust both the aperture and shutter, I can then see whether I'm over exposing or underexposing in either setting before I pre-focus by holding down the shutter halfway for a second before taking the shot. One thing the reviews do say is that this camera really isn't the best choice for sports type shots or any other fast action type shots although I've seen one case where it proved to be no so useless in that situation due to slow shutter speed and frames per second capture speed.

Some pros/cons of this little darling.

PROS
Excellent grip
Easily navigated menu system, easily learned
Good button layout and a nice set of separate buttons on the left of the LCD for functions such as preview, view options and to bring up the histrogram, sadly not available in real time but a minor quibble, the menu access and the delete button, on the right is the 4 way control button and OK button for navigating the menus along with accessing flash options, macro etc.
Good low light sensitivity
Wide ISO range (64-3200) However with 3200ISO, the MP count drops to 5MP though
Option to turn off noise reduction
Optical vibration reduction

CONS
Slow focus
Definite shutter lag
Noisy at higher ISO's above 200 ISO (I've heard it's quite noisy but have not really tried it yet)
Power button could stand to be a bit larger and in a better location
No RAW capabilities for such a flagship camera for more advanced users while it's direct competition, the Canon G7 has it (I think and it's more expensive too).
LCD is washed out in very bright light although one can adjust the settings and that might help some, don't know though.

Overall, I found the con's to not be of issue to me based on how I use the camera and what I'm shooting. I hope to slowly get more and more familiar with it and slowly begin to stretch it's limits some in the future but from what I've experienced with it so far, it's a very excellent camera, it's easy to use, feels comfortable in a minimum of time spent with it and I'm really impressed with what I'm getting out of it already. One thing is for sure, I'm fast learning what to look for to determine if overexposing (or underexposing as well) as I go along and yesterday's photo shoot proved, 95% of my shots were more or less correctly exposed by the end of the day.

A couple of caveats, it's now discontinued and is being replaced by the P5100, but at 12MP instead (and we don't know if it's image quality will suffer as of yet either and it's the same sensor as what's in the new Canon G9, the G7's replacement and it's proving a dissapointment) and has some changes to the AF system which might address the slow shutter lag/focus issues. It's not in stores yet but was announced about a week ago though.

If you are a beginner type or simply prefer a simple camera, this is more camera than you need and some of the reviews here have born that out where people bought it based on price and ended up returning it for it overwhelmed them with too much stuff.

Overall though I really am liking this camera quite a bit.

It may be about to be upgraded to a newer version,but the basic design is unimpeachable. I use another heavy duty camera, with interchangeable lenses. This little jewel can be a great supplement to grab and take along on small outings or parties or when you don't have time to fuss. It is small,but surprisingly easy to hold. The flash,the SB400 is a must have accessory,in my opinion. Nikon made it small,with a dedicated contact,and movable flash tube. Perfect for bounce and fill shots. All cameras being compromises, realize that the little sliver of a battery this Coolpix uses can not be expected to power its motors super fast. So if you are one who likes to focus,then compose, and if you trust Program mode ( I now do) you can hardly go wrong. So...get in line for the P 5100 or pick up the P 5000. It is the "Baskin Robbins flavor of the month" for this camera user.

I've had the P5000 for over 6 months now and I'm pretty happy with it overall. By far, it is the most comfortable (to hold) compact camera I've ever tried and the build quality is excellent. The layout & design of the body & buttons is outstanding, and the menu system is intuitive and easy to navigate.

The LCD is big, bright, and beautiful and sufficient 99% of the time. I've had the rare occasion outdoors where I could not see the screen so I used the viewfinder instead. Picture quality is very good. I really love the colours this camera produces, and the images are sharp and detailed.

My only complaint is that the focus/shutter speed could be better. I would not recommend this camera if you need it for children who can't stay still for more than one second. If you are shooting still life and/or landscapes then you will be very happy with the P5000. It also has manual control for those who want/need/know what to do with them.

The camera features are fine for a point and shoot camera and the images come out fine, whether displayed on a monitor or printed.

I used the camera extensively while writing Best Hikes Near Seattle, a guidebook to hiking within 60 miles or 60 minutes of Seattle which will be coming out mid-2008. During my field work I moved constantly through several scene modes but mostly used the macro, landscape and sport functions. The latter two modes are located next to each other but the macro mode selection is further away. It would be nice if there was a way to customize the scene modes to group together the ones a photographer uses most often.