Nikon COOLPIX P500 Compact Digital Camera - Black (12.1MP, 36x Optical Zoom) 3 inch LCD

The Nikon P500 is the ideal camera for holidays or no frills photography although it allows for some sort of creativity. Very compact and lightweight, the menu is clear and easy to navigate. Nikon's lens quality is present as usual and, depending on settings used, delivers colourful, crisp and almost distortion free photos.
A lot of people will be buying the camera purely be for the zoom reach. Don't be fooled!! Handheld, the quality of pictures at "full throtle" is adequate as there is a lot of of "hunting", even at half range. There is no substitute for a tripod if you want full close up. There's a limit to what VR (vibration reduction) or any other system can deliver even with professional lenses costing in excess of £1300,00 like the Nikon's 70-200mm f2.8 VR.
The zoom noise level is also noticeable in quieter surroundings.
A few people complain about low light issues. This can be resolved by simply using one of the several otpions available in the camera menu. People tend to get the camera out of the box and start shooting straight away expecting miracles. READ THE MANUAL! You'll be surprised what you will discover and learn if you do your home work first.
I would also recommend getting a spare battery as recharging takes a good couple of hours.
Movie recording quality is rather good and an 8GB memory card will give you approximately 30mins in full HD.
Overall this is a good camera that will deliver excellent results in all sorts of situations providing you take time to learn what it can do.

I am not a professional photographer nor do I claim to be a semi pro/amateur. I am more of the average person who likes taking pictures for personal use - families, holidays and events. So with that background I don't claim to be know it all in the field of digital photography nor camera. So this review will come from this point of view. I used the camera on a recent family holiday in Hanoi for 5 days.

Camera: big but not too heavy to lug about. We bought a Lowe Alpine camera casing to fit in the camera, battery and memory card. Yes it is obvious but you can put it in your rucksack or even in a big woman's handbag easily. This camera has no memory card that comes with it so you have to purchase one.It does have a 100 MB internal memory. Because of the HD and the size we deliberately choose a Transcend 16GB SDHC Class 10 Memory Card. The result was very good with pictures taken very quickly. Battery life is reasonably good - again dependent on usage, and how often you take the pictures and how often you views the picture on screen. But for my standards and usage we didn't have to recharge every single day. However, once charging it takes about 10 hours if the battery completely drained. In the beginning it does seem that the battery has a bad battery life but after a few charges it improved dramatically.

LCD screen: Big and what we love about it the fact you can angulate it to take pictures. (see sample pictures)

Usage: Very easy to use for someone who is lazy to read the manual like myself. But my other half is far keener and honestly you make far better use with the camera after reading the manual and trying all the setting. But it is very straightforward and not complicated at all. Play and play and read the manual. The camera itself is easily to hold and my niece who is 5 could take a fairly decent picture without feeling it too heavy and bulky and difficult to aim. There are functional buttons like image stabilization, anti-blur, panorama picture assistance, side zoom etc. Most are available anyway in high end digital camera in the last few years. For someone like myself (not great camera literate) it is all pretty good stuff.

Lens and zoom: one word - amazing. We were sitting on a boat where we can zoom in to very clear detailed picture. (see sample picture) Lens does come with a lens cover. My other half did note that the image does distort on zooming in (a bit of barrel vision). Honestly I don't know if this is a common problem or specifically due to this Nikon camera.

Download: easy and straightforward. Either connected straight from the camera to the computer or use the memory card.

This camera was a step up from a compact digital camera. Certainly it was worth getting this camera compare to a digital SLR which would have been more complicated for myself. Recommended.

and oh the camera had a tumble and survived without a problem.

I have recently purchased the Nikon P500 to replace my ageing Olympus SP590, so i have based this review on comparing the 2 cameras..

First impressions are important and i was very impressed with the Nikon when i removed it from the box, all in all a nice looking camera and well built. I always found the Olympus poorly built and slightly ugly looking though the Olympus served me well for nearly 2 years so only time will tell if the Nikon does as well.
I manily use my camera for photgraphing wildlife hence me opting for high zoom products, the 36x zoom of the Nikon is in a word brilliant with obvious advantages over the Olympus's useful 26x zoom.
Overall perfomance the Nikon seems leaps ahead of the Olympus, taking photos in anything other then perfect conditions was always a struggle for the Olympus though the Nikons low light ability seems quite good, the video mode of the Olympus was basic compared to the HD, zoomable, take a photo while filming possiblitys of the Nikon so no comparison on that.
As for other things the Nikon is slightly lighter and though the same size as the Olympus seems less bulky when in hand also the movable 3in LCD of the Nikon is very good. One thing i am struggling with though is the battery!, i found the Olympus and i worked well together with 2 sets of reghargable high power AAs and a charger while the Nikons battery and charging syestem seems a bit over the top in comparison also the Nikons battery dies without warning, i have just purchased a separate charger and battery so hopefully this will amend this problem.
To sum things up i am very impressed with the P500 and when i get the hang of the battery problem i will enjoy using it with all its features and gimiks..
So if you are looking for a good up to date high zoom camera though dont want to spend stupid money on a DSLR and all its lenses the Nikon Coolpix P500 is just up your street, its a lot of camera for such a good price..