Nikon Coolpix P5000 10 Megapixel Compact Camera - Black

Nikon P5000 vs S7c vs 5400 First Impressions

Strengths: a great pocket camera to take with me all the time when I can not have my Nikon DSLR. P/S/A/P modes, better fit in the hand, Hot shoe for Flash, optical lens VR.

Weakness: Limited wide angle to 36mm, limited 3.5x Zoom, but can add Wide Angle Lens and Telephoto Lens to get to 24mm - 378mm.

Here are my P5000 vs 5400 First Impressions: I just recently received the P5000 and I have not had a lot of time with the camera. But being a long time Nikon CoolPix and DSLR user I wanted to compare the P5000 vs S7c vs 5400 and note my First Impressions. First impressions, I really like the P5000. Yes I have read the many P5000 vs Canon G7 threads. I know there are some missing features on the...
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Here are my P5000 vs 5400 First Impressions:
I just recently received the P5000 and I have not had a lot of time with the camera. But being a long time Nikon CoolPix and DSLR user I wanted to compare the P5000 vs S7c vs 5400 and note my First Impressions.

First impressions, I really like the P5000. Yes I have read the many P5000 vs Canon G7 threads. I know there are some missing features on the P5000 that I would love to have from the G7 and from my 5400. But as a pocket camera to take with me all the time when I can not have the D70 or D80, the P5000 is great after just a few days use.

I have been carrying a Nikon S6 or S7c with me every day for almost a year. Great little camera. The size is great! But they lack many features I needed. So far the P5000 has most of the features I need: P/S/A/P modes, better fit in the hand, Hot shoe for Flash, optical lens VR. It weighs twice what the S7c weighs and it is twice as thick but the same height and width.

The LCD display on the S7c is 3" and is very good for slide shows. The P5000 LCD is 2.5" and seems large enough, but not as good as the S7c. The 5400 has a tiny LCD but will flip out. The Optical View Finder on the P5000 really helps in bright light.

Finally, since I intend to carry the P5000 every day the leather pouch is important. Again same height and width as the S7c. But the depth is twice as thick. I had the P5000 on my belt tonight out for dinner and it seemed OK. I have carried the P5000 for several days on my belt and it is great.

Cheers, Bill Creech

I posted some of my pictures and thoughts on the P5000 on my web site at www.pbase.com/billcree...
and test shots at www.pbase.com/billcree...d805400s7ctests

By whcreech - Apr 12, 2007

Very Good Image Quality, Sluggish Performance

Strengths: handling - one of the best in a pocketable point and shoot. image quality combined with vr lens

Weakness: sluggish af/shot performance, noise on video recordings, superceded by p5100

First thing you'll notice about the Nikon p5000 (and p5100, which is the same, but with a newer processor and sensor) is the build quality and handling. I was 90% committed to buying a canon a710is, but after repeated (maybe 3-4) times going to the store, picking it up and feeling its cheap-feeling plastic body, I just couldn't pull the trigger. I knew if I were going to buy the camera, I...
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First thing you'll notice about the Nikon p5000 (and p5100, which is the same, but with a newer processor and sensor) is the build quality and handling. I was 90% committed to buying a canon a710is, but after repeated (maybe 3-4) times going to the store, picking it up and feeling its cheap-feeling plastic body, I just couldn't pull the trigger. I knew if I were going to buy the camera, I wouldn't use it as much as I wanted to. The last time I went to feel the canon was the first time I saw the Nikon - after picking it up, I was sold immediately. Initially when the camera came out, I thought it was going to be larger like the canon g-series. Instead, it was the same size as the a710, but with a metal exterior and much better and rubberized grip. I also appreciated the programmable function button (which I use for iso, but another button dedicated to wb adjusting would be nice). The screen is nice and crisp, though does glare a little in bright sun and has a weird purple banding (but doesn't show in the picture). Optical viewfinder (though not great) and flash hot-shoe are nice additions, even if my sb600 looks utterly ridiculous on this camera. The built-in flash is one of the most powerful available on such a small camera. Another thing that attracted me to Nikon was the combination of vr in the lens and bss, which lets you take up to 10 pictures and saves the sharpest one. Works best in a museum or places where your subject doesn't move, and saves card space for later.

Image quality is very good. Colors are bright and evenly saturated. Basically Nikon colors, if you've seen them before. Lens is sharp, but slow (small aperture) zoomed in - best staying toward the wide end for better performance. There is some mild lens distortion (only noticable when shooting buildings and such), which is fixed in-camera in the p5100 or easily done in photoshop. There is noise at iso 400, but can be processed out. iso 800 and above is more challenging. Images are a bit soft at default settings, but only if you pixel-peep into the 10mp sensor. Keep in mind that this is not a beginner camera (even with it's auto scene modes and face detection settings - neither of which I've used). The white balancing is also pretty good, I think. Sample images I had with the a710is indoors were awful and always had a strong yellow tint in auto mode. The whole reason why people would look into this camera is because of the attractiveness of its manual settings and other features previously mentioned.

The main hinderence to this otherwise well-designed camera is its slow shot-to-shot times - most of which stems from the autofocus. Shutter lag is perfectly fine and responsive, as is the lcd. I've taken a few shots with different canon elphs in one hand and the p5000 in the other and the canon would consistently take the picture twice as fast as the Nikon, mostly because of the af segment. And these were last year's canons. That said, the af is usually reliable and does not have the optical deficiencies the small canons usually do (lack of corner sharpness and light falloff). There is also some noise in movies, which has been attributed to the always-on vr element. This and the speed are supposedly improved in the p5100.

Would I liked if this camera were faster? Of course. More zoom? Not really - I'd prefer a wider view and not make the flash (and my feet) work so hard. Better noise performance? Sure, but it's the same everywhere else and at least there's still vr and bss to help with more static shots - unless you're shooting sports and kids. What impacted me most was the build quality and handling - those alone were enough for me. I leave this in the bottom of my bag and smacked it on the turnstiles when in my pocket. Social camera? Go with the canons. If you're willing to sacrifice a little for a great image (and we really aren't talking about much here), the p5100 does a fine job.

By jme1223 - Oct 29, 2007

not up to nikon standard

Strengths: use it with speedlight, if you have one

Weakness: shutter lag

basically, for a camera that is supposed to bridge the gap between point and shoot and DSLR, this camera failed to deliver in one crucial aspect for any photographer who is used to the instant shutter release: the shutter lag of this camera is unbearable, which means you won't be able to capture the "moment" most of the time, go figure:(

By gyang959 - Apr 18, 2007

Stunning

Strengths: Amazing quality, yet so compact

Weakness: Can't think of one...

This camera is absolutely stunning! Well worth the price and you don't have to be a pro to take great pictures with this tiny giant! Nikon power for the rest of us.

By anonymous; - Feb 22, 2008

Digital companion to my Leica

Strengths: Easy manual control. Low light capability. Build quality. Menus

Weakness: Lack of RAW (though personally doesn't bother me)

For a couple of years now I have been looking for a small digital camera to carry alongside of my Leica film cameras. Till now the closest was the Canon G7...but as a self proclaimed luddite I found the Canon's menus confusing. The P5000 seemed to have everything I was looking for. Small, a very easy to use manual (based on the old match needle system), good construction plus very good low light...
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For a couple of years now I have been looking for a small digital camera to carry alongside of my Leica film cameras. Till now the closest was the Canon G7...but as a self proclaimed luddite I found the Canon's menus confusing.
The P5000 seemed to have everything I was looking for. Small, a very easy to use manual (based on the old match needle system), good construction plus very good low light capabilities. Yes, it generates noise at ISO 400 and higher, but less so than most other P&S's...and truthfully the results didn't look much worse than the grain using something like Kodaks UC1000.
What I really liked was the menus. Based on the menu system of the D200 (one of the best in my opinion), it is very easy. I spend most of my time photographing and don't feel like spending a lot of time learning menus or 'digital workflo'. What I found was that I was able to get my P5000 home, open it up, figure out the majority of the menus within 5 minutes, take some photos and have them loaded in my computer...all within 1/2 an hour.
Perfect!
Skin tones (my priority) were nearly perfect right out of the box, and the 10mb sensor has so far yeilded 11x14 prints that are in my mind, the rival of film.

Just as an aside. The camera has very short lag-time for a P&S. The previous reviewer seems to not realize that all the P$S suffer from one drawback...liveview takes time (tranlate: lag time). If you want to be able to preview your images it takes for the image to process to the LCD screen...it is why the DSLR's don't offer the feature.
I found that if I shut off the LCD, used the optical viewfinder plus manually prefocused the camera's lag time approached that of a film camera.
Disregard the last reviews comments entirely.

By anonymous; - May 4, 2007