Nikon - Coolpix B500 160-megapixel Digital Camera Reviews

Introduction

The Nikon Coolpix B500 is a bridge camera with a 16 megapixel sensor, which is paired with a 40x optical zoom. Yous tin can also activate a digital zoom up to 80x. It offers a range of shooting modes, but there's no manual control, and it can't shoot in raw format.

As such, the intended target audience is beginners and perchance enthusiasts looking for a uncomplicated backup or travel camera.

Similar many of Nikon's well-nigh recent cameras, it features SnapBridge technology, which allows you to maintain a constant Bluetooth link with your smartphone to send images across as you lot take them, set to share on social networking sites and the like.

Other interesting features include a three.0-inch tilting screen, which features a 921k-dot resolution, inbuilt Wi-Fi and Full Hard disk drive video recording.

The Nikon Coolpix B500 retails for $299 / £219.

Ease of Use

The Nikon Coolpix B500 is a mid-sized bridge camera, existence not the smallest in size on the market, but also far from the largest.

Information technology has a chunky hand grip that protrudes quite far from the body and makes it feel pretty secure in the hand. Information technology is also textured which helps to add to an air of quality almost the photographic camera. The balance of the photographic camera is non textured.

Being reasonably lightweight, it'due south possible to hold the camera i-handed to get your shot, only yous may find that using your other hand to agree the photographic camera steady feels more natural and comfortable.

On the top of the Nikon Coolpix B500 you'll find a punch for switching between the various shooting modes that the photographic camera offers. At that place'south no manual modes available here, but at that place's quite a few options placed on the dial for you to choose from. This includes fully automated, scene, creative, movie mode and more than.

Front of the Nikon Coolpix B500

As well on the tiptop of the Nikon Coolpix B500 is a zoom rocker which is establish around the shutter release. You can push this to move from broad angle to telephoto, but there'south also another mode to alter the zoom length if yous prefer. On the side of the lens there'southward another switch which you can button upwardly and down to zoom in and out.

Next to this zoom switch is a button which is very useful for helping to frame shots when using longer focal lengths. If you press it, and keep it held down, the zoom will lens out, allowing you to find any subject field that may have moved out of shot. When you've establish the subject again, release the button and the zoom volition move dorsum in to the same focal length as you were previously using.

A inbuilt flash is found on the top of the Nikon Coolpix B500 as well. There'due south a button to press to enhance information technology, which you'll need to do since it won't pop up automatically. When you lot're done using it, yous only push the wink back into place.

Moving to the dorsum of the camera, all of the buttons here are placed on the right paw side of the camera meaning you have easy access with your correct thumb - especially useful if you have decided to shoot one-handed.

Rear of the Nikon Coolpix B500

The layout hither is pretty traditional. At that place'south a four way navigational pad, with each button having its own particular role - there's up to control flash way, downwardly to switch on macro shooting, left to use the timer, and right to arrange exposure bounty. In the middle of the navigation pad is an OK button, which yous tin can use for diverse carte functions and so on.

Effectually the navigational pad are four buttons, over again each with a specific purpose. At that place's a playback button, a display push button, a carte du jour button and a delete button. Just above the rear thumb rest is also a straight video record button, which is hidden away just plenty to mean you shouldn't accidentally press it when you don't want to, only yet within piece of cake reach when you need it.

The rear screen tilts upwards and downwards, pulling slightly away from the body on its subclass. You can't face it forward for selfies, or use it in portrait format, only it's nevertheless never-the-less useful for some awkwardly angled shots. The screen is not touch sensitive.

Despite its name, the fully automatic mode actually gives you the most amount of control over camera settings. While you tin can't alter aperture or shutter speed, it's possible to change white balance and ISO sensitivity. You can too leave both of these settings in automated too, if you prefer.

Tiptop of the Nikon Coolpix B500

If you want to, you lot can change the AF setting to allow you to set your own AF bespeak. Alternatively you lot can have the Nikon Coolpix B500 decide one for you, track a subject area, or always use the central signal. One time you accept selected "Manual" AF signal, in normal shooting mode you lot can press OK, then apply the navigational keys to movement around the screen to the point y'all want to focus on.

Besides available in this menu is the ability to change image mode, continuous shooting, and more than. You'll also find some different movie options, such every bit frame rate so on. You can modify some settings such equally date and fourth dimension from this main bill of fare too, equally well as access the connection settings.

The Coolpix B500 uses Nikon'south Snapbridge technology, which means that you can fix upward a low ability Bluetooth connection with your smartphone that is constantly maintained. This means that images are sent beyond equally yous take them, gear up for you to share online if you choose.

The camera as well has Wi-Fi, which is quicker for sending larger size photos beyond to your phone than Bluetooth. If you're using SnapBridge its all-time to set the images to be transferred at a smaller size than total resolution for better speed.

A few of the other modes on the mode dial are also quite interesting. If you select Creative Mode, you'll be able to choose from a choice of unlike "sets". Take the moving picture, and the camera volition take ane every bit normal, but also apply four different filters to the shot. Y'all can cull betwixt sets such as "Light", "Retention", "Archetype", "Noir" and so on.

The Nikon Coolpix B500 In-hand

Short Movie Bear witness is also quite fun for events and so on. Y'all can utilise it to create curt clips of a couple of seconds, and so anneal them all into one video - everything is washed automatically in-camera.

The Nikon Coolpix B500 is powered by AA batteries. This will exist liked past some, but hated by others. On the plus side, should you lot run out of battery power, you should have no trouble finding a replacement gear up in a store wherever y'all are in the earth. Notwithstanding, information technology too means that you lot'll e'er be paying out for new batteries. It may be worth investing in a gear up of rechargeable batteries to save money in the long run.

In adept lite, focusing speeds are generally pretty quick, and normally authentic. With macro focusing, it can accept a couple of attempts to get it right, and then you lot should exist careful when attempting to take close-up shots that the camera has correctly focused. That said, the camera does allow you to get very close indeed, which tin be useful.

When the light drops, it takes a piffling longer for focus to be acquired, just it generally gets in that location in the end. Normal operational speeds are reasonable for everyday usage, simply when you're using something like Curt Picture show Show you may get frustrated with how long it takes the Nikon Coolpix B500 to process each prune.

Prototype Quality

As with many bridge cameras of this type and design, the Nikon Coolpix B500 performs at its best in bright, clear calorie-free. If you're looking for a holiday photographic camera that you will mainly use in these conditions, you should be pleased with the output that it is capable of.

In good conditions, images are well detailed, with vibrant colours and nice saturation. At that place's not too much prototype smoothing to be noticed at normal viewing and printing sizes, and for something which is aimed at beginners, it'due south very pleasing.

At that place's also quite a flake of fun to exist had with the Artistic Mode, which is worth experimenting with if you're a fan of digital filters and the similar.

Having a 40x optical zoom is useful when yous're trying to get closer to the subject, and here information technology performs reasonably well. Images taken at the far end of the telephoto optic aren't quite as good equally those taken at the wide bending end, just they're still more than usable. The digital zoom is all-time avoided if it at all possible, as y'all'll run across a deposition in image quality.

Information technology'south worth switching on image stabilisation when yous are photographing at longer telephoto lengths as this will help to ensure your shots are every bit blur free as possible.

Generally speaking, exposures are well balanced, with all-purpose metering doing a good job to get it correct in the majority of occasions.

Images taken upwardly to ISO 1600 look skillful at normal printing sizes, just you may want to avoid ISO 3200 and ISO 1600 if at all possible, as using these speeds reveals racket and a painterly look thanks to prototype smoothing.

Noise

The Nikon Coolpix B500 has seven sensitivity settings ranging from ISO 125 to ISO 6400 at total resolution.

ISO 125 (100% Ingather)	ISO 200 (100% Crop)
ISO 400 (100% Crop)	ISO 800 (100% Crop)
ISO 1600 (100% Ingather)	ISO 3200 (100% Crop)
ISO 6400 (100% Crop)

Focal Range

The Nikon Coolpix B500's 40x zoom lens achieves a maximum broad-bending focal length equivalent to 22.5mm, and is capable of a telephoto reach of 900mm (in 35mm-camera terms).

22.5mm

900mm

Sharpening

Here are 2 100% crops - the right-hand epitome has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images from the Nikon Coolpix B500 are slightly soft at the default sharpening setting and benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. You can alternatively change the in-photographic camera sharpening level to suit your tastes.

Chromatic Aberrations

Given the range of the zoom lens, the Nikon Coolpix B500 shows some obvious purple fringing in areas of high contrast, every bit shown in the examples below.

Macro

The Nikon Coolpix B500'southward lens volition focus as close every bit 1cm from a bailiwick, however depth of field becomes very shallow at this extremely close distance.

Macro

Flash

The popular-upwards wink on the Nikon Coolpix B500 has iv settings: Car, Machine with cherry-red-middle reduction, Fill flash & Tiresome sync. Shooting a white surface from a distance of one.5m, the wink provides even coverage with the lens zoomed in, though some vignetting is visible in the wide-bending shot.

Wink Off - Wide Bending (22.5mm)	Flash On - Wide Bending (22.5mm)
Wink Off - Telephoto (900mm)	Wink On - Telephoto (900mm)

Whether the flash is set to standard Automobile mode – or Motorcar with red-eye reduction – the camera successfully avoids any trace of red-eye.

Make full Flash On

Flash Auto with red-heart reduction

Panoramas

The Nikon Coolpix B500's Piece of cake Panorama way combines multiple shots into a seamless 180- or 360-degree panorama.

180-degree

360-caste

Sample Images

This is a pick of sample images from the Nikon Coolpix B500 camera, which were all taken using the 16 megapixel Loftier JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which take not been altered in any way.

Sample Movie & Video

This is a sample movie at the highest quality setting of 1920x1080 pixels at 25 frames per second. Please annotation that this 20 second movie is 38.8Mb in size.

Product Images

Front of the Nikon Coolpix B500

Front of the Nikon Coolpix B500 / Wink Raised

Side of the Nikon Coolpix B500

Side of the Nikon Coolpix B500

Rear of the Nikon Coolpix B500 / Image Displayed

Rear of the Nikon Coolpix B500 / Principal Bill of fare

Rear of the Nikon Coolpix B500 / Turned Off

Rear of the Nikon Coolpix B500 / Turned On

Rear of the Nikon Coolpix B500 / Tilting LCD Screen

Rear of the Nikon Coolpix B500 / Tilting LCD Screen

Acme of the Nikon Coolpix B500

Bottom of the Nikon Coolpix B500

Side of the Nikon Coolpix B500

Side of the Nikon Coolpix B500

Side of the Nikon Coolpix B500

Side of the Nikon Coolpix B500

Side of the Nikon Coolpix B500

Side of the Nikon Coolpix B500

Forepart of the Nikon Coolpix B500

Front of the Nikon Coolpix B500

Memory Card Slot / Battery Compartment

Conclusion

For anybody who is looking for a camera to take on holiday with them, which is mainly concerned nigh zoom ratio, the Nikon Coolpix B500 represents a adept selection.

Many people also similar the look and feel of a bridge camera, and this ane feels nice and comfortable to concur. The screen tilting helps with some awkward angles, and although information technology would exist nice to have a viewfinder, it's not a deal breaker when you can tilt the screen away from harsh sunlight.

The Nikon Coolpix B500 is for anybody who wants something quite basic, as there'southward no advanced modes. You can have a little bit of control in fully automated modes, but yous won't be able to alter aperture, shutter speed, or shoot in raw format.

The camera has some fun modes, such as Creative manner and Short Film show that once more should be appreciated by holidaying photographers, or peradventure if you're attending a party and and then on.

This camera represents practiced value for money, being reasonably versatile, especially if you're looking for a high zoom ratio. It's best used in bright, good light, so if you recall you're likely to be taking a lot of depression light shots, this probably isn't the photographic camera for yous - that probably won't exist also much of a trouble for the average holidaying photographer.

Having AA batteries can be both a blessing and a curse, but once again it makes sense for a holiday camera as you can usually find replacements easily and you won't have to worry near remembering to accuse the photographic camera.

SnapBridge is useful for sharing your shots quickly and hands without having to become through the faff of setting up a Wi-Fi connection for every shot, too. Just call up to ready the transfer options to a smaller size than full resolution to brand the best use of it.

The bridge photographic camera market at the moment has a lot of options, but the Nikon Coolpix B500 is a skilful pick at this finish of the segment, beingness a good option for beginners. If you're looking for something which offers a fiddling more control, you're probable to be disappointed though.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	3.5
Features	3
Ease-of-use	iv
Image quality	3
Value for coin	4

Main Rivals

Listed below are some of the rivals of the Nikon Coolpix B500.

Travel-zoom cameras are yet popular in 2016 - the new Catechism PowerShot SX720 HS offers a massive 40x zoom lens in a relatively slim and compact body. The Catechism SX720 too offers a 20 megapixel sensor, 3-inch LCD screen, PASM shooting modes, built-in wi-fi/NFC and Total HD 60p movies. Read our in-depth Canon PowerShot SX720 HS review now...

The Fujifilm FinePix S9900W is a bridge camera with a massive 50x, 24-1200mm zoom lens. The Fujifilm S9900W likewise offers born wi-fi, total 1080p movies at 60fps with stereo sound, a 3 inch LCD screen, electronic viewfinder, 10ps burst shooting and a sixteen megapixel back-illuminated CMOS sensor. Read our Fujifilm FinePix S9900W review now...

The brand new Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ72 super-zoom camera (besides known equally the DMC-FZ70) features a massive 60x zoom lens with a focal range of 20-1200mm, the biggest of whatsoever camera on the market place. Other highlights of the FZ72 / FZ70 include a 3 inch LCD screen, full 1080i Hard disk drive movies, 9fps burst shooting, P/A/Southward/M modes, RAW support, a flash hotshoe and a 16.ane megapixel MOS sensor. Read our in-depth Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ72 review now...

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H400 is a new superzoom compact camera with a incredible 63x zoom lens. The Sony H400 also features a 20 megapixel CCD sensor, 720p Hard disk drive video with stereo sound, 3-inch screen, electronic viewfinder and a range of transmission shooting modes. Read our Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H400 review to find out if information technology's the right super-zoom camera for you...

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Nikon Coolpix B500 from around the spider web.

The Nikon Coolpix B500 is an ultra zoom bridge camera, with a 40x optical zoom lens, 16 megapixel sensor, a tilting 3inch screen, and congenital in Wi-Fi, NFC and Bluetooth. The Nikon Coolpix B500 is available in a number of different colours, and takes AA batteries.
Read the full review »

Specifications

• • Type

  • Compact digital camera

• • Effective pixels

  • sixteen.0 million (Image processing may reduce the number of effective pixels.)

• • Image sensor

  • ane/2.three-in. type CMOS, Total pixels: approx. xvi.76 meg

• • Lens

  • NIKKOR lens with 40x optical zoom

• • Focal length

  • 4.0 to 160 mm (angle of view equivalent to that of 22.5 to 900 mm lens in 35 mm [135] format)

• • F-number

  • f/3 to 6.5

• • Lens construction

  • 12 elements in ix groups (3 ED lens elements)

• • Magnification

  • Upwardly to 4x (angle of view equivalent to that of approx. 3600 mm lens in 35 mm [135] format)

• • Vibration reduction

  • Lens-shift VR (still images), Lens shift and electronic VR (movies)

• • Autofocus

  • Contrast-detect AF

• • Focus range

  • [W]: Approx. thirty cm (ane ft) to infinity, [T]: Approx. 3.5 k (xi ft) to infinity, Macro style: Approx. 1 cm (0.iv in.) to infinity (wide-angle position) (All distances measured from center of forepart surface of lens)

• • AF-area mode

  • Face priority, manual with 99 focus areas, eye, discipline tracking, target finding AF

• • Monitor

  • 7.5 cm (3-in.) diagonal, Approx. 921k-dot, wide viewing angle TFT LCD with anti-reflection coating and 5-level brightness adjustment, tiltable approx. 85° down, approx. 90° upward

• • Frame coverage

  • Approx. 99% horizontal and vertical (compared to actual picture)

• • Frame coverage (playback way)

  • Approx. 99% horizontal and vertical (compared to actual picture)

• • Storage media

  • SD, SDHC, SDXC, Internal memory (approx. 20 MB)

• • File system

  • DCF and Exif 2.three compliant

• • Storage file formats

  • Still images: JPEG, Movies: MP4 (Video: H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, Sound: AAC stereo)

• • Image size (pixels)

  • 16M (High) [4608 x 3456 (Fine)], 16M [4608 x 3456], 8M [3264 ten 2448], 4M [2272 10 1704], 2M [1600 10 1200], VGA [640 x 480], xvi:9 [4608 x 2592], ane:one [3456 x 3456]

• • ISO sensitivity

  • ISO 125 to 1600, ISO 3200, 6400 (available when using Automobile mode)

• • Exposure metering

  • Matrix, eye-weighted (digital zoom less than 2x), spot (digital zoom 2x or more)

• • Exposure control

  • Programmed auto exposure and exposure compensation (–ii.0 to +2.0 EV in steps of 1/three EV)

• • Shutter type

  • Mechanical and CMOS electronic shutter

• • Shutter speed

  • 1/1500 to 1 s, one/4000 south (maximum speed during high-speed continuous shooting), 25 s (Star trails of Multiple exp. Lighten scene mode)

• • Cocky-timer

  • 10 s, 2 s, 5 s (cocky-portrait timer)

• • Aperture

  • Electronically-controlled ND filter (–2 AV) pick

• • Aperture range

  • two steps (f/3 and f/6 [Westward])

• • Built-in wink

  • Yes

• • Flash range (approx.)

  • [West]: 0.5 to 6.9 m (1 ft 8 in. to 22 ft), [T]: iii.v m (11 ft)

• • Flash control

  • TTL motorcar wink with monitor preflashes

• • USB

  • Hi-Speed USB, Supports Direct Print (PictBridge), Audio/video output connector (NTSC or PAL can be selected)

• • HDMI output

  • HDMI micro connector (Blazon D)

• • Audio input

  • Stereo mini-pin jack (3.5-mm diameter; plug-in power supported)

• • Audio output

  • Stereo mini-pivot jack (three.five-mm diameter)

• • Wi-Fi (Wireless LAN) standards

  • IEEE 802.11b/g (standard wireless LAN protocol)

• • Wi-Fi (Wireless LAN) operating frequency

  • 2412 to 2462 MHz (1 to xi channels)

• • Wi-Fi (Wireless LAN) security

  • Authentication: Open up system, WPA2-PSK

• • Bluetooth standards

  • Bluetooth Specification Version iv.1

• • Supported languages

  • Arabic, Bengali, Bulgarian, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Marathi, Norwegian, Persian, Smooth, Portuguese (European and Brazilian), Romanaian, Russian, Serbian, Castilian, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese

• • Power sources

  • Four LR6/L40 (AA-size) alkaline batteries Four FR6/L91 (AA-size) lithium batteries Four EN-MH2 Rechargeable Ni-MH batteries (available separately) EH-67/EH-67s Air conditioning Adapter (available separately)

• • Battery life1

  • Approx. 600 shots when using alkaline metal batteries, Approx. 1240 shots when using lithium batteries, Approx. 750 shots when using EN-MH2 batteries

• • Actual battery life for movie recording

  • Approx. 1 h 30 min when using element of group i batteries1, Approx. 4 h 30 min when using lithium batteries1, Approx. two h 35 min when using EN-MH2 batteries1

• • Tripod socket

  • one/4 (ISO 1222)

• • Dimensions (W x H x D)

  • Approx. 113.5 x 78.3 x 94.ix mm (4.5 10 3.1 x 3.viii in.) (excluding projections)

• • Weight

  • Approx. 542 thousand (1 lb iii.2 oz) (including LR6/L40 (AA-size) alkaline batteries and memory card)

• • Operating environment - temperature

  • 0°C to 40°C (32°F to 104°F)

• • Operating environment - humidity

  • 85% or less (no condensation)

• • Supplied accessories

  • Photographic camera Strap, LR6/L40 (AA-size) Alkaline Batteries (x4)(The included batteries are for trial use only.), LC-CP31 Lens Cap (with cord), UC-E16 USB Cable

• ane. Battery life does not reflect the utilize of SnapBridge and may vary with the atmospheric condition of employ, including temperature, the interval betwixt shots, and the length of time that menus and images are displayed. The supplied batteries are for trial utilise just. The figures listed for lithium batteries were obtained using commercially-available FR6/L91 (AA-size) Energizer(R) Ultimate Lithium batteries.

• ii. Individual motion-picture show files cannot exceed 4 GB in size or 29 minutes in length. Recording may end before this limit is reached if camera temperature becomes elevated.

• All measurements are performed in conformity with Camera and Imaging Products Association (CIPA) standards or guidelines.

• Nikon volition not be held liable for any errors these specifications may contain.

• The appearance of this product and its specifications are subject field to modify without notice.

Your Comments

1. Introduction
2. Ease of Apply
3. Image Quality
4. Sample Images
5. Product Images
6. Determination
7. Primary Rivals
8. Review Roundup
9. Specifications

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Source: https://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/nikon_coolpix_b500_review

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