Full review updated for Nikon Coolpix 5000!
By
Dave Etchells
(Friday, December 28, 2001 - 22:02 EST)
I've now completely updated my review of the Nikon Coolpix 5000, including all my usual performance and timing measurements. Overall, it's a very solid performer, albeit not the speed demon I'd been expecting based on Nikon's early billing. (It's actually about average, speed-wise, see the numbers in the review.) I did like it's operating controls a lot though, and liked its color handling very much - The color it produces is very natural and "film like" to my eyes, a quality I think it shares with Canon's G2, but that some other high-end digicams miss by a little.
In my test results, I also checked out the "ISOR" image noise-reduction Photoshop action by Fred Miranda. Fred has created a customized version of his generic High-ISO noise-filtering action that is tailored to the specific characteristics of the 5000's image noise, and the results are little short of incredible. - It reduces the image noise by an amount almost equivalent to two f-stops decrease in ISO speed! And it leaves image detail more or less alone in the process. Very impressive, no Coolpix 5000 owner should buy the camera without also getting Fred's ISOR action. It's that good. (See the Test Results and Conclusion page of my review for a sample photo and link to more info and examples from Fred. Check it out!
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