Nikon Coolpix 3500 review

Nikon's Coolpix 3500 is based on last year's Coolpix 2500 and features the same innovative case design.

Its swivelling lens is useful for taking shots at awkward angles and provides protection and compactness when the camera is not in use. At 175g and measuring a slim 114mmx59.5mmx31.5mm, this new digital camera is reminiscent of a mobile phone, and feels robust enough to be carried around in a jacket pocket.

Apart from a new 3.2 megapixel CCD and different colour case, the Coolpix 3500 appears identical to its sibling. The increase in resolution, however, is a significant step, providing an improvement in image size from the maximum of 1600x1200 pixels for a 2.0 megapixel camera to 2048x1536 pixels. At the maximum resolution, a 200dpi image will produce a 10inx8in print, and the slight scaling required to A4 is well within the reach of a camera with such good optics and image processing abilities. The 3x optical-zoom lens bears the legend Nikkor, Nikon's brand name found on some of the finest lenses coming out of Japan. It is equivalent to 37-111mm f/2.7-4.8 on a 35mm film camera, so it allows reasonably fast shutter speeds at its widest focal length; but at its longest it's a little slow for anything other than brightly lit subjects. A 4x digital zoom feature is also included, though essentially pointless, as with all digital zooms, the enlargement is gained at the expense of resolution.

Up close and personal

Powering up the camera takes about three seconds, which is reasonably fast. But setting-up for the first time takes a little patience. Three small rubber buttons located under the 1.5mm TFT display appear directly beneath options displayed in the menu. However, they do not directly influence them, and the settings are actually controlled from a small rocker switch elsewhere. Even then, the controls are not as intuitive as they could be. This theme continues when the camera is in one of the 12 pre-programmed settings, fine-tuned for various shooting scenarios for optimum results when taking portraits, landscapes, close-ups and so forth.

If you want to override any of the presets, including the use of flash in some situations, you have to come out of the programmed modes and switch the camera to manual, upon which a host of previously hidden parameters is displayed. This takes some getting used to in the beginning, and is a little too idiot-proof. Thankfully, exposure compensation in 0.3EV steps over +/-2.0EV is still accessible.

However, once these niggles have been accepted, the Coolpix 3500 is a fun camera to use. We were concerned by the lack of an optical viewfinder, but the LCD screen is good, and the zoom controls are quite quick and responsive. Auto focus is noisy, though, and the lens appears to hunt back and forwards before settling on the correct focus.

We were particularly impressed with the exposure accuracy, which was consistent in a wide range of lighting conditions. We also liked the macro mode, which can focus from just 4cm.

The quick preview facility creates a small picture-in-picture of the last frame at the push of a small chrome button. A second push accesses the playback mode for review of all the images captured to the supplied 16 Mb Compact Flash card - which shares an easily accessed compartment with the rechargeable lithium-ion battery.

If slow shutter speeds are a concern under poor lighting conditions and flash is ill-advised - for example, when taking pictures of a newborn baby - the Coolpix 3500 is equipped with a Best Shot Selector. In this mode, the camera takes a number of shots while the shutter button is depressed (up to a maximum of 10), and saves the sharpest. It is a useful feature, though it does nothing to prevent camera shake. In addition to this, there are four available flash modes, including the useful fill-flash facility.