Nikon Coolpix P5000

Opinion: Another great camera form the Nikon P range, have just passed it on to my son, have upgraded to a Leica C lux 3, think I prefere the Nikon!!

Opinion: P.5000 takes extrem sharp pictures, and f.eks. 30x45 copies are very very sharp with many details.
F.eks. Snow is very white with details without burnt-out.

I use 64 iso only.
Colours are beautiful.
Sometimes I use my P.5000 professionel.
Most Fishingboats.

Opinion: I bought my P5000 2nd hand off eBay and it is just superb. I find it a very handy wee camera. I have it in my van glovebox and its ready to go at any time. The battery is very long lasting. I carry a spare battery just in case but I have never needed it... We have an old Olypus digital camera at work and its a night mare to use and setup. It still takes really fuzzy pictures. I usually end up going for my P5000.... The inside shots and close ups are really clear. It gets used for taking shots of PCB's and electronic assemblies but is equally at home taking portraits and landscapes... Just press and go... I am in the market for a D80 or D200 second hand as the P5000 has stirred me into action....!

Opinion: I bought the Nikon Coolpix P 5000 the week that the camera go to market.
I have taken more than 3,000 pictures as Portraits,Part/Inddor, Night Portrits, Landscapes, Mmuseum, Close Ups, Sports, etc., etc.
The performance of this camera is excellent and the picture quality is very good for a Camera of this size and the price of U.S. $ 339.00 (approximatly).
To get good results with the P 5000 the buyer is suppose to have good acknowled of basic photographic, reed and undersatands the owner manual, know how to set the camera, have a good acknowledge of computers, pictures sofwares, and agood experience in printing.
CONGRATULATIONS TO NIKON FOR THE PRODUCTION OF THIS COOLPIX P 5000 ANDO ALSO TO ALL THE PERSONS THAT HAVE PURCHASED THIS GEM.

Opinion: This is my best pocketable cam ever! Many users complained about its responsiveness. It's more than adequate for many many different situations and occasions. This is NOT a 6 frame/sec sports camera...; if you want a sports camera, you should get a DSLR. If you shoot regular static frames such as; lanscapes, nature, cars, macro, people, friends, pets etc, it's more than perfect...to me anyway.

Some other digicams in this class may be faster for frame to frame shooting and autofocus but are they actually better? Do you prefer noisy images with CA everywhere or do you prefer clean, smooth, CA free and sharp images? I prefer the latter.

I got the Nikon P5000 last month, July 07, to complement my DSLR's; D80, 30D and 1D, that sometimes I do not feel like bringing along with me. I shot over a 1000 frames with it already and it gives very very suprising quality images. Daytime and outdoors shot images; noise is hard to notice and the lowest I have ever seen so far at ISO 64 at 100% pixel view, very low at ISO 100, low at ISO 200. ISO 400 is still very usable for 8"x10" prints. I have printed its ISO 64-200 images on 13"x19" size paper on my Canon Pro9000 printer and well, I can't even tell the difference if it was shot with my DSLR or not. I already have sold many pictures from it. That's how good it is!

Natural light indoor shots are also very good, no trouble focussing and on cam flash is powerfull enough for a camera this small. Flash is also compensable and a hot shoe is provided to install more powerfull Flash units. I don't shoot many indoor shots, I mostly shoot outdoors.

Compared to other non-DSLRs that I had tried before;

Canons: S2 IS and S3 IS, noise level at ISO 100 on these are noticeble even in bright day light shots and disapointed me so much with CA that I got rid of them quickly.
Canon A640: Nice camera but body design is very disapointing. The AA battery compartement is where the memory card is accessed. So, everytime you want your card, your batteries fall out. The cover is also hard to open and close and feels like it won't last. The AV/Digital out ports cover on the side is made of very thin plastic and never stays closed.

Panasonic: FZ5, images were CA free but images were too noisy even at the lowest ISO.

I'm a perfectionist by nature and very demanding in my pictures. I had almost given up on getting another pocketable, p&s digicam and superzoom until I found the new Nikon P5000. I decided to take one last chance and got it even though I knew it was not a superzoom. I needed a small cam that I can bring anywhere!

Of course the P5000 is not a zuperzoom like the ones I tried above, but I wish it was though after seeing the results I get from it with its curent lens. Maybe putting a superzoom on it would not be a good idea either as CA may possibly appear. The lens is not very fast; f/5.3 at the long end but it has a very effective VR system. The lens is very good indeed, no CA and decently sharp. I took some macro's and I all I can say is Wow, everytime!

Zooming motor is almost silent, much more than Canons.

The P5000 has all the modes you can normaly find on DSLRs, with some limitations of course, and other advanced small digicams but it does offer more than adequate features. I was able to create 'angel hair' from water falls!

Battery life is good as well. Charges in less then 90 minutes. Batt. warning comes on screen when about 1/3 life is left. Better than most cam that do NOT have any warning at all. Battery will last even longer if you turn off VR in daylight. Get a spare one, about $40. Well spent :)

Here is what I set the cam at;
Quality;
Fine
Custom Image Optimization;
Contrast -2
Image Sharpening OFF
Saturation +1

Handling...
Feels very solid. The grip is great, especialy the thumb rest is a very nice idea. Grip areas are made of rubbery material so fingers and thumb slipping is unlikely to happen. Buttons layout is very well thought out. The mode dial feels very good and sits well in position. It turns smoothly with adequate resistance.

LCD
The LCD is great, nice size and colors are acurate. It does fringe (blue lines) a bit when composing in contrasty sceens but will not, I say again, will not show up in your pictures. Canon's A640 LCD does that as well. Some may not like this but like I said, it's not affecting your pictures at all. Therefore. does not bother me.

I could go on and on but I think overall, IMO, the Nikon P5000 is the best pocketable, everyday camera ever made. It is however a little more expensive than other cams out there but it's very well built, will last a lifetime, takes GREAT pictures and it's full of features that any new shooter will be able to learn about aperture, shutter speeds etc and advance shooters will be able to go out extra extra light.

The above is my opinion after taking over 1000 frames with the Nikon P5000. I'm not a pro. I'm an advanced amateur. It is not a suggestion. Please go to your nearest Nikon dealer and try one out yourself before commiting to buy.

Keep shooting!
PJ

Opinion: After read some reviews in this site and opinions of some users. price is very good for camera with all these features and the NIKON lens. Happy with the purchase and the pictures quality turn out even better than my Olympus E500. sharper than the Panasonic and Canon when enlarged. First time Nikon owner. I love this little camera with great features.
I will upgrade to P5100 as soon as its available. The P5000 is a wonderful compact dc, I am sure the P5100 will be even better. I will let you know as soon as received my P5100 which is already ordered.

Opinion: OK, I am a Nikon fan, but that's not the reason why I chose the P5000 as my latest pro-compact digital camera. My most recent purchase was the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX2, which was fine. But I have always wanted to find the ultimate pro-compact DC.

The P5000 came very close to my specification. It's a pity it does not have RAW and that the lens is not wider say 28mm (personal preference). Other than that, I really can't fault it.

The Auto WB is probably the most accurate so far for Nikon compacts, and it beats my Lumix hands down.

The focusing is not that slow actually, quite bearable and fast for me especially when compared with my Nikon Coolpix 8800 and Coolpix 7900.

I bought the SB400 to go with the P5000 which is great for many low light shots. In the dark, the P5000 focuses a lot faster than any of its predecessors and other competitors I could mention. It is quite acceptable.

The size of the P5000 is quite impressive and it now totally replaces my Lumix on my belt. The P5000 shall be with me all the time.

I think Nikon really got it right this time, and the price is unbelievable. For me the P5000 is Highly Recommended.

Opinion: The P5000 is a very likable camera. But, it does have quirks and nuances that take you awhile to master. It has "character," it feels great in hand, looks great, can be coached into producing outstanding images, but it doesn't toss them at you without you having played a major role in producing them. Shooting well with the P5000 takes skill, it is not a point and shoot. More like a consider, adjust, refine and shoot. I rate it a 4.2 out of 5.

Opinion: It's easy to carry. It is easy to use w/ its many buttons and dials. It has A, S, and M mode. It seems to work welll with my old stock wide and tele conversion lenses, WC-E63, E68, E24, TC-E2, TC-E3, and FC-E8. Some of the photos I took look excellent! VR works well.All over it's a very good camera.