Review - Nikon CoolPix 3500 - 3.0Mpix Digital Camera

Reviews - Nikon CoolPix 3500 - 4.0Mpix Digital Camera

"The cool digital camera with the swivel. Its innovative rotating lens

is a must for all cameras. Coupled with good operating modes and usability"

HP do printers, scanners & desktops. Casio do watches & calculators. Kodak is a little more specialist but Nikon DO cameras. The companies experience with manufacturing its own lenses is a good thing. This means their cameras are top quality and have the images to prove it.

The CoolPix 3500 (4.0Mpix, 3x Zoom) is the latest addition to the Nikon family's rotating lens range. Ohhh! you say a rotating lens, what's the big deal, even mobile phones have them these days, but until you actually use a camera with one, you wont realise what the "big deal" is.

The versatility of being able to rotate the lens independently of the camera body and screen is sheer convenience. Take snaps from your waist, take snaps of detail in awkward places without making awkward moves. You can even take self portraits and see in real-time how they will come out - Why go to the photo booth ever again?

A digital camera cant simply be a camera these days, it has to offer a range of 'scenes' adjustable options and idiot-proof point-and-shoot functionality. The CoolPix has all of these with 12 scenes and the ability to take the camera into manual mode for lighting, exposure and such controls. The CoolPix's best mode however is its macro mode. This is, the ability to focus and take pictures at extremely close range. This is the best camera in its class for this; you will never look at the world in such a "far off" way again.

The 3500 is the upgraded version of the previous 2500 (2.0Mpix) which was coloured a little too childish for out likings. Appealing mostly to the females population this has been changed with the introduction of a suave grey and silver styling effects. The aesthetics of this camera make it almost pendant-like. Which other camera can bee safely worn around your neck and double as a rather chunky pendant?

Minor annoyances with the camera include the positioning of the flash. Die to its extremely close proximity to the lens, some photos ma occasionally have mysterious feedback circles on them as a result of this. They can be edited out, but this takes a while and you should really have to do this.

Finally the CoolPix has a screen that can literally light up the room on a dark night (we often use the screen to guide us to mini-bar in hotel rooms for midnight raids) And the rechargeable battery source is cheaper and more convenient than using up to 6xAA batteries, as with the very early CoolPix models.

This camera is a paradox in itself. Its for amateurs and for amateurs professionals. Point-and-shoot coupled with manual modes, slinky design and the ability to take a crafty photo of that good-looker on the table opposite with the camera still on your lap.