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Jan. 9, 2009

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Digital Camera Home > Digital Camera Reviews > Nikon Digital Cameras > Nikon Coolpix 2500

"Picky Details" for the Nikon Coolpix 2500 digital camera
(Timing, Power, and Storage Info)

Timing
I measure both cycle times and shutter delay times, using a test system I designed and built for that purpose. Here are the numbers I collected for the Nikon Coolpix 2500:

Nikon Coolpix 2500Timings

Operation Time (secs) Notes

Power On -> First shot 5.1
Power-up to first photo. A little slow.

Shutdown 2.5
Can be pocketed immediately (no lens to retract), this is the time to finish saving a large/fine file to the memory card. Very fast.

Play to Record, first shot 2.3
Time from playback to first shot is captured. Pretty fast.

Record to play 0.89/5.8/1.2/2.7
Time to display a large/fine using quick review mode. First number is time to display immediately after shot is taken, the instant review the camera shows when it gives you the chance to save or delete the file. The second time is that required to display in playback mode, switching immediately after shot is taken. Third ime is for shot already stored to card, to "coarse" display, fourth number is time to full resolution display after camera has stored card. Pretty fast overall.

Shutter lag, full autofocus 0.98/1.12 First time is for wide angle, second is for telephoto. A little slower than average.

Shutter lag, prefocus 0.11
Time to capture, after half-pressing shutter button. Very fast.

Cycle Time, max/min resolution 2.4/3.5
3.0 First number is for large/fine files, first 3 shot, apparently saved to buffer memory. Second number is time between shots after buffer is filled (fourth and subsequent shots). Last number is time for small/basic images. (Never seems to run out of buffer space for these small images.)

Cycle Time, continuous mode
0.68/?
Our prototype was a little rough in continuous mode. Time shown is for small/economy resolution, camera wouldn't run reliably snapping large/fine pictures in continuous mode. (Prototype problem.)

This is another area that may change with a production model, but overall the Coolpix 2500 seems pretty responsive. I'd generally like to see much shorter shutter lag on digicams, especially "consumer oriented" ones. The Coolpix 2500 is a bit slower than average on that score, but not that far off the mark set by competing models. (Which is itself a lot slower than most consumers would like.) Prefocus shutter lag is exceptionall short though, meaning you should be able to catch fleeting action very well if you just half-press and hold the shutter button prior to the shot. - This locks exposure and focus though, so won't work with subjects coming toward you or going away from you very quickly.

Power
The Coolpix 2500 uses a custom LiIon rechargeable battery. It seemed to have pretty average battery life, but I couldn't measure power drain due to the battery configuration, so can't predict overall battery life properly. I'll get an AC adapter for it when I get a production model back to test, will do a complete power rundown at that time.

Storage Capacity
The Coolpix 2500 stores its photos on Type I CompactFlash cards. Nikon hasn't told me what size memory card will ship with the Coolpix 2500, but I'd lay odds that it'll be a 16MB unit. Third-party cards are available in this format in sizes to 512 MB and beyond. I normally include a table here showing the number of images of each size/quality that can be stored on a stock card, but the unit I had apparently didn't have the final size/compression settings loaded into it, or the camera's capacity calculations were buggy. I'll test and show a full chart here after I've gotten a production unit to test.

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