The Nikon Coolpix 2000 is a bold step for Nikon, because it further broadens Sony's digital range as the manufacturer moves from top-end SLR cameras and prosumer models into the popular point-and-shoot arena dominated by Kodak and Fuji.
The Coolpix 2000 shares many of the design cues with the recent 2500 with a silver finish and metallic blue accent around the lens and the absence of a normal optical rangefinder. Instead, as with the 2500, Nikon has chosen to ensure that the LCD viewer on the rear of the camera is of sufficient quality to be used in all conditions, including bright sunlight. It has also ensured that the camera will run comfortably on four AA alkaline batteries. Unlike the 2500, the Coolpix 2000's lens does not rotate into the body of the camera--it does, however, have an automatic lens cover.
The Coolpix 2000 is not the smallest 2-megapixel camera we’ve seen. However, it has a nicely rounded body and will fit comfortably in the pocket. Controls are straightforward and comprise shutter release, power slide, mode dial, zoom controls, menu navigation, and buttons for self timer, macro, and flash. The modes include party/indoor, backlight, portrait, night portrait, and beach/snow. We found that when chosen carefully, these modes would significantly improve the quality of the final image compared with the Auto setting.
The Coolpix 2000 scores highly in two areas--image quality and value for money. It takes excellent pictures in most conditions. The colors are accurate and the images crisp. This must be due to the quality of the Nikkor lens and the in-camera processing.
The Coolpix 2000 offers a lot of bang for the buck, providing many of the features found on Nikon's high-end range. For instance, despite the Coolpix 2000's many automated features, you can still adjust exposure and metering as well as manually set white balance and in-camera sharpening. Nikon has also included its Best Shot Selector, which takes a series of images while the shutter is depressed and then saves the sharpest to the flash card--this can produce better images more reliably without using up your memory.
The Coolpix 2000 is supplied with a quick start guide, a comprehensive paper manual, strap, 16 MB CompactFlash card, four AA alkaline batteries, AV cable, USB cable, software CD, and reference CD. The basic image transfer software supplied is the excellent and straightforward Nikon View 5. This provides an interface to the camera to upload images, and then organize and view them. --Nick Baxter
Pros:
- Excellent and affordable point-and-shoot digital camera
- Very automated, but also offers many manual controls
- Nikkor lens produces crisp images and accurate colors
- LCD performs well, even in sunlight
Cons:
- Doesn't have the cool twisting effect of the Coolpix 2500
- Included 16 MB memory is a good start, but you'll need a higher capacity card
Get great prints from Nikon's fun and easy-to-use Coolpix 2000 digital camera, featuring a 3x optical Zoom-Nikkor lens, a 2.5x digital zoom, and a 2-megapixel CCD sensor for imagery at resolutions up to 1,632 x 1,224 pixels--providing prints up to 8 by 10 inches.
Get great-looking photos in all manner of situations with selectable scene modes, including party/indoor, back light, portrait, night portrait, and beach/snow.
View your pictures instantly on the camera's LCD by pressing the quick-review button. When reviewing images on the Coolpix 2000, pressing the small-pic button saves a copy of the current image as a small file, perfect for sending via e-mail--no resizing or adjusting necessary.
Nikon's one-touch upload feature makes it easy to download your images to the Internet or your computer (via the included USB cable).
Nikon includes everything you need to get started with the Coolpix 2000, so you're ready to go right out of the box. Included is a USB cable for connecting the camera to your computer, and a video-out cable for connecting the camera to a television. It also comes with an 16 MB Nikon starter CompactFlash (type I) memory card.
1 Alta Calidad de fotos con mucha Luz
Esta camara es muy buena para amateurs - la calidad de las fotos es alta de d’a o en ambientes cerrados con buena iluminaci—n - el problema es cuando tomas fotos de noche o en lugares con poco iluminaci—n, la foto no tiene buena resoluci—n y por ende poca nitidez. El otro drawback es el doble flash - cuando predeterminas para que la camara utilice el doble flash, estas salen movidas y no hay manera de corregir este problema.
Pero en general es una buena camara y por el precio es muy recomendable.
2 Great Camera
I was pleasantly surprised with the Coolpix 2000. It has all I want and more. It's easy to figure out and I was snapping pictures away in no time. As others have stated, the camera does have a low battery life but that was fully expected from me. Rechargable batteries take care of that problem rather easily.
I've had the camera for a couple of weeks now and have no complaints. One possible problem that might come up is the bright sunshine may inhibit viewing the viewfinder. So far no problems but the weather has been rather cloudy.
3 FAIR FOR THE PRICE
Esta camara es muy buena cuando tomas fotos outside o en lugares bien iluminados, el problema es cuando la utilizas en lugares poco iluminados o en la oscuridad de la noche - el flash normal no te ayuda - por q las fotos salen oscuras - y si utilizas el doble flash osea el nigth mode, las fotos salen con bastante luz, pero movidas. Yo he tratado de obtener fotos de buena calidad en el night mode, pero sin resultados positivos.
4 Great Camera for the price
This is a great camera for outdoor photography. We took this camera to our Canada Trip and the result was beyond our expectation. It took excellent photographs of Niagara falls in the night using the Night Scene Mode.
Also, both of my kids ( 4 and 8 yrs old) can takes great photos ( in auto mode) with this camera.
It consumes lots of battery power so rechargeable batteries are recommended. I also purchased lexar media compact flash card (256MB) with this camera.
5 Better tips
I've gotten better acquainted with my camera. Here are my final tips. In most cases set EV to -1 and brighten the picture with the Nikon software, or if you have the sun behind the object, set EV to +1. Use manual white setting at all times, set in camera sharpening to low. Have a nice day.
6 Great Entry-Level Digital Camera
Easy to use - I haven't even opened the Owner's Manual, yet (probably should do that sometime)! For those wanting a simple camera that takes great pictures, this is the camera for you. Great, small size plus features of many far more expensive cameras make this a great choice for those just getting into the market for a digital camera. I do a lot of digital work for the web and this camera suffices for everything I need.
7 Easy to use, lots of great features
This is the first digital camera I have ever bought and it was totally worth it. Ive only had it for 3 days. Even without the rebate the price was reasonable. It would be great for a beginning photographer and for the experienced. The photos come out very crisp and colorful, its easy to use, has lots of great features (including the different light settings and macro mode...Im obsessed with it), the menus are easy to use...even without browsing through the manual before hand. Ive read other reviews complaining about the memory card being a little difficult to remove...nonsense. Theres no viewfinder but the LCD screen is great...very clear and sharp. One warning though...battery life. If you buy this camera, BUY one set of NiMH rechargables and a charger. I went through one set of 4 AA's in one day because I had no idea how fast the camera would drain them. If youre like me and cant afford to buy the batteries & charger yet, another item I would defintely recommend is the EH-53 AC power adapter...its excellent for uploading the pictures and not having to use batteries. It seems like a lot of extras youve got to buy but its completely worth it.I installed all of the software on Windows 98 with no problems at all. If you want to edit your photos I suggest downloading Paintshop Pro or some other image editing program. Overall, this camera is excellent and Im sure it will be even better once I get a little more practice with it.
8 Easy to use, lots of great features
This is the first digital camera I have ever bought and it was totally worth it. Ive only had it for 3 days. Even without the rebate the price was reasonable. It would be great for a beginning photographer and for the experienced. The photos come out very crisp and colorful, its easy to use, has lots of great features (including the different light settings and macro mode...Im obsessed with it), the menus are easy to use...even without browsing through the manual before hand. Ive read other reviews complaining about the memory card being a little difficult to remove...nonsense. Theres no viewfinder but the LCD screen is great...very clear and sharp. One warning though...battery life. If you buy this camera, BUY one set of NiMH rechargables and a charger. I went through one set of 4 AA's in one day because I had no idea how fast the camera would drain them. If youre like me and cant afford to buy the batteries & charger yet, another item I would defintely recommend is the EH-53 AC power adapter...its excellent for uploading the pictures and not having to use batteries. It seems like a lot of extras youve got to buy but its completely worth it.I installed all of the software on Windows 98 with no problems at all. If you want to edit your photos I suggest downloading Paintshop Pro or some other image editing program. Overall, this camera is excellent and Im sure it will be even better once I get a little more practice with it.
9 Tip
To get the most out of the camera, learn about the EV-setting. I take several shots of a sceene with different EV-settings which helps me get the ultimate version of the sceene. I always use in camera sharpening set to high or the images are soft. The best shot selector (the camera takes several shots and picks the less blurry of them automaticly) is always on too. The landscape mode is used often (focus on infinity) with my camera. I've grown to dislike the auto color/contrast option in the software. Better adjust the image with the brightness and color control for wider contrast range. If I can, I put the camera on a fence, a book shelf or some thing and use the timer for less blurry pictures. The in camera auto color is best with sunlight and the manual white setting is used indoors if possible, otherwise incadescent. A great camera at that price.
10 Coolpix 2000
This is a very user friendly camera and it is so simple to use. Value for money.
11 Superb macros, practical features
I chose the CP2000 over the 2500 at the time because of the AA batteries and the fact that the macro function was controlled from an external button rather than within the menu. I am glad I did on both counts. Its been to New Guinea with me and on a 6 day bushwalk in Tasmania. One set of NiMH batteries lasted five days of picture taking on the walk-then I popped in the second set and we were off again. Infinity focus (landscape) mode was really useful in taking pictures out of windows. Macro is superb-changes the way I look at of the world around me. I am constantly switching in and out of macro mode and value that macro button.
Cons include minimal buffer memory, so slow image processing and poor low light capability. Its been a great introduction to digital photography and is leading me on to want more!!!!
12 Nikon Coolpix 2000
The Coolpix 2000 is my first digital camera. For the money, I can't imagine a better camera out there. I bought it at Amazon.com, and with the low price they have on it (then figure in the rebate from Nikon) how can you beat it? It is a Nikon product, and has their usual quality.
If you go through the manual, and view the info CD that comes with it, you will be taking superb pictures in no time.
I had a little trouble with blurriness when taking pictures in low light at first, but all you need to do is use the correct setting, and use a tripod. There is a little "hand shake" symbol that pops up in the display whenever you run into a situation that a steady hand is required to achieve a sharp picture. I found that a tripod is the ticket for those situations. Tripods are a cheap and wise investment.
As for the battery life...no big deal. It will accept an external power pack plug-in if you need to use it for extended periods. I bought a 7.5 volt Digicom model and it works great. You can take a TON of pictures on it without fear of it going dead. You will still need to pick up a charger and a couple of sets of rechargable AA batteries for the times where you use it for only an hour or two at a time. Forget about using any non-rechargable batteries. You would go broke in a hurry!
Just set it so that it will automatically shut itself off after 30 seconds or one minute (there are a few settings for different auto shut off durations available).
Compared to the way we used to go about it (buy film, pay for development, then sort through and save only the "good" shots), this is a far better way to go.
If you want to view the pictures on your tv (like the old projector slide shows we used to sit through as kids) you can just plug it into the TV, and run through any shots stored on a card. We find ourselves doing this a lot after family outings to help determine which pictures we want to print out. There is never a shortage of opinion!
By the way, You will want to pick up a bigger capacity CF card or two. I went with a 128 mb card, and that is enough for my usage. You can take about 132 pictures in the highest quality settings with it. It will store well over 200 on the second highest quality settings (still extremely good quality for 5 X 7 photos).
I suppose there are a few flaws as expressed in some of the other reviews, but why worry? This a great camera from a great company for a great price. In its price range, I doubt if you can touch it (and I shopped). Buy one!
13 Does the Job
...I bought this for my Dad six months ago. Unless you're one of those people cursed with the inability to set the clock on your VCR or microwave oven, this is an awesome camera for the price; and by one account, better than a more expensive camera. I have a friend who was disappointed with his high-end Coolpix (5700?). I've had none of his problems (night shots, zoom). With a little practice and study I've taken every shot I've wanted to take: indoors, slow shutter adjustment; outdoors, fast shutter adjustment for too bright light; outdoors: the moon, with long shutter; zoom; outdoors in the daytime: telephoto shots of billboards, urban shots; a series of dramatic sunrise shots in Southern California using FINE and highest resolution settings -- and more. I have transferred both still shots AND movies (MOV) to my TV and VCR, and so on. As for the complaints about lack of viewfinder -- that's balony. My dad may very well be the worst snapshot photographer on the planet, having previously attempted to use film cameras with viewfinders. This is the first camera he's ever owned that allowed him to take decent -- even great -- photos -- and he's over 90 years old! Finally, he takes photos without his index finger taking center stage.
It has a tendency to suck up batteries, but, yeah? ...And gasoline in California is expensive. Technology has costs. Sorry.
One thing I bought on the outside was the AC power adapter (EH-53, I think: look it up) for [$$$]. That's very handy for downloads and particularly many indoor shots and transferring to video (video transfer cable included). The more familiar I became with the Coolpix 2000, the better battery life I got, since I didn't waste battery time on the settings. You'll use 2 sets or 3 sets of four AA batteries getting the hang of it. Both of my brohters bought this exact same model after they saw my results.
The software is typically crappy : just what I have learned to expect! If you're gonna take digital photos in this day and age, then you're probably going to use some digital imagery software, such as Adobe products, or Mindworkshop (Alchemy) or Paintshop Pro (like I do).
I got this camera through Amazon.com ...and with a bonus 32 mb compact flash -- and it was a sweet deal.
Oh! The product tutorial on CD is the best I've ever seen. The booklet is exhautive, and is available online in PDF format from Nikonusa (or something like that).
After a few months of using it, I realized that it has a focus setting for super close-ups (which I liked so much on my DLINK 350).
Works flawlessly on Windows 98 Second Edition, even using battery power to download. On Windows 2000 Pro, I had problems downloading. The problems were reduced by using the AC adapter, but sometimes I had to download more than once.
Yeah. Good camera.
BTW. My dad can't set the clock on the VCR, but he takes good photos with this camera on the AUTO setting, both indoors and outside.
14 Lack of viewfinder a downer; battery life is lousy
The Coolpix 2000 is a easy-to-use digital camera with two important features: 3x optical zoom and great picture quality. However, it lacks an optical viewfinder, so you must use the LCD screen to shoot pictures -- which is awkward and annoying. I thought this problem was gone on all but the cheapest DCs. Guess not. Also, the CompactFlash memory card is hard to remove. Another problem is that the path to deleting photos is a little confusing at first. Be FOREWARNED: Battery life is the worst I've ever seen, and this is the third digital camera I'ved owned and about the sixth or seventh that I've operated on a regular basis. It's a good camera to keep in the car for emergencies or to use for work. If you're serious about digital photograpy, though, spend a little extra on a [more expensive camera]. You'll be happy you did. My wife owns a 2300 and I bought this, so I'm a bit disappointed.
15 No viewfinder is a real downer
The Coolpix 2000 is a easy-to-use digital camera with two important features: 3x optical zoom and great picture quality. However, it lacks a viewfinder, so you must use the LCD screen to shoot pictures, which is awkward and annoying. I thought this problem was gone on all but the cheapest DCs. Guess not. Another problem is that the path to deleting photos is a little confusing at first. This is the perfect camera to keep in the car for emergencies or to use for work. If you're serious about digital photograpy, though, spend a little extra on a [more expensive camera]. You'll be happy you did.
16 Great Point and Shoot Camera
This camera is great for the average user. It is small, light weight, and EASY to use. Like all Nikon cameras it takes great pictures. Unless you're making posters, 2 MegaPixels is all you'll ever need to take snap shots or even 5 x 10's.
17 Okay for beginners
I bought this camera for my fiance for Christmas so we could take it on our honeymoon in January. The pictures turned out pretty well. They aren't the sharpest pictures but they are at least as good as (if not sharper) than 35mm pictures.
The viewing screen is impossible to see in the dark, you just have to point and shoot and hope for the best. Most people don't know how to use digital cameras yet so when asking someone to take a pic of us, we got our heads chopped off many times.
This wouldn't be a bad camera for a beginner or a casual picture taker.
18 Excellent product for the price
I got this thing on special at $... That came with a 32m flash card free on promotion.
When I finally received this baby, I just could not put it down. I played with it until I could not find anything to photograph.
It's fairly easy to figure on the buttons as well, without having to read the manual. I started taking picture and transfering them to my notebook before I even read the manual.
The manual is very nice written, precise and written in an easy to understand language. Once I read the manual, which took less than an our, I was using my Coolpix 2000 like I have owned it for a year.
This scene modes make it easy to take quality pictures under any type lighting. With the right sceme mode, I have yet to take a picture that's too bright or too dark.
The red eye reduction works pretty well too. I turned off all the lights at my place and took pics of my girfriend in the dark. The results were good. I noticed though that from the side it does not work too lekker. Anyway, it's red eye redution not elimination.
I did not use the software that came with the camera. I think it's not necessary if you're using Windows XP. It's just another package that fills up much needed drive and memory space.
The LCD display is very clear, even under bright light. The screen updates very quickly as well, so you can move the screen around a lot and still not have to wait while it catches up.
For an amateur, this camera is an excellent buy. It pretty much does everything for you and still takes excellent quality pics. I was not too impressed with the sticker that Nikon has put on the front of the camera and I could do without th noise from the zoom lens.
19 An Excellent Camera to start exploring with
Nikon's line of digital cameras has been good, and the 2000 is a great bang for the buck. The camera is not the sleekest around, nor the lightest, but it gives you a lot of features and control for not too much money. You can point and shoot, or take more control over the photos you take. Right out of the box, you can start taking pictures, and then expand to higher capacity memory cards and longer life batteries. The optical zoom is superior to the digital zoom that you find on many cameras in this range. Most of the controls are on the right hand side of the camera, with a large open grip space in the front so pictures can be taken with one hand. And the picture quality is exceptional for a camera at this price point. Overall this is a very good bargain for the hobbyist who wants to record the family vacation or experiment in the world of digital images. A solid leader.
20 Best bang for buck
This camera is great. UPS delivered it today and I have been bowled over by all the features that I didn't know it had. The photos are very sharp--I can't imagine needing more than 2 megapixels. The 20-second video mode is neat, too. The camera does use batteries like crazy though. Using the LCD instead of the viewfinder takes some adjustment, but is superior in my opinion. The LCD is super-bright and crisp. After using it for a short time today, I have already gone through the supplied Panasonic batteries! I recommend some powerful rechargable batteries for this unit.
21 Great Deal
I got this digital camera as a gift. It was very easy to get started and it was no trouble figuring out how to use it. Its controls are easy and taking pictures are no problem.
22 VERY IMPRESSED!
GREAT camera for the money! Has tons of extra shooting modes, very customizable photos, easy to use interface (even my dad could figure it out the first night using it!). Good investment for family & students, 2MP is more than enough for most home user applications. Sure, the zoom lens is noisy but for the price it's great that it even has zoom! GREAT JOB NIKON!
23 Excellent for the price
I've had my camera for about two weeks and love it. Excellent pictures. It is extremely easy to use. I was able to use it without reading the manual. Easy to review your photos, delete if you want, etc. The manual is very concise and easy to understand, and gives lots of useful tips. The more advance features are very easy to use and easy to remember so you don't have to cart your manual around with you everywhere.
It does suck up the non-rechargable batteries. I got two sets of rechargable batteries and haven't had to go into the 2nd set yet even though I've taken lots of photos and a few little movies. Very easy to download onto the computer. I haven't yet installed the software that came with the camera. Accessories are pretty inexpensive. ... The card reader is nice to be able to move your photos off the card onto the computer really quickly.
The only drawback is the LCD viewer is the only way to see what you're take a photo or movie of. In bright light and at certain angles it's a tad hard to see but I'm getting used to it quickly and probably won't mind it at all later. I can hold out the camera and take a decent photo even if I can't really see clearly what I'm taking a photo of.
24 perfect for a beginner
pros: small but powerful, good image quality, easy to use menu, nice software and computer interface.
cons: no preview window, no carrying case.
25 Worth your Money!
Nikon Coolpix camera is the way to go, if you don't want to spend a fortune on a camera. You can preview pictures, change settings, but the only thing I don't like about this camera is that it eats up batteries! Please consider getting a Battery Pack with it!
26 Great camera for the price.
This camera has many good features I have used so far and many I haven't learned yet. The camera is easy to use if you don't want to spend a lot of time with the CD's and included manual. But the extra features are there if you want to get a little deeper, which I plan to do when I have the time.
Sharp pictures, ease of use, TV out, and enough extra settings and features to keep you going for a while. The only reason I didn't rate this five stars is because the batteries that came with the camera lasted about an hour. I bought a charger and some NiMH batteries and they seem to do the trick.
27 Excellent camera but two minor drawbacks
This is my first digital camera but I had the chance to compare this against other cams owned by friends & family. I've been using it for a little more than a month now, here are my "results" ;)
Positive notes go to...
Picture quality:
Great. Details are crisp & colors are natural.
Ok pictures are a little overexposed when the flash goes on in a mildly lit environment, but I had this problem with my old-fashioned "analog" camera as well and advanced photographers can use the exposure settings to minimize this.
Features:
Great. This camera has every feature I need. It has a wide variety of settings & option, you can record "animations" (no sound), etc... In addition the user interface is clear & user-friendly.
Design:
Looks ok, handles great. A little bulky but not oversized.
Negative aspects...
Battery:
Battery life is low. This is the main drawback: as you can't switch the TFT view off (no optical viewfinder), batteries die rather quickly. They don't last more than 1-2 days under moderate use. Maybe using rechargeable lithium batteries might help, but I haven't tried it yet. So if you use this while traveling, be sure to bring in 2 sets of 4 rechargeable batteries with you. You'll probably have to change batteries every day. Because of this, you'll have to carry spare batteries everywhere you go... Grrrr...
Software included:
Nikon's software was really lame. My brother's Sony has much better software. I uninstalled everything and now I'm only using XP's built in features.
Overall...
This is a great camera if you don't mind the battery life that might fall a little short. But my brother's Sony doesn't last much longer either. This is maybe a common problem among all digital cameras. But it's worse here because you don't have the alternative to use an optical viewfinder...
Still if you don't want to spend much and if excellent quality pictures are more important than long battery life, give it a try!
