Nikon Coolpix 5600

Front (7.0)
The Nikon Coolpix 5600 displays its brand and model name in the top left corner of its front face. This branding lies at the top of the right-hand grip, which consists of a slightly raised portion with a smooth silver vertical bump for the fingers to grab. Nikon goes for all the marketing it can get with a removable sticker that boasts its 5.1 effective megapixels, 3x optical zoom lens, and in-camera red-eye fix technology. The applied Nikkor zoom lens extends in two segments (when turned on) from the right side of the camera body. The lens is surrounded by an aesthetically pleasing polished silver ring. Around the inner rim are the words, "Zoom Nikkor, 5.7-17.1 mm 1:2.9-4.9." Above the lens are three features. On the left is a small LED light to indicate the self-timer. Above this LED is the Speedlight flash, which is rectangular in shape. The top right corner is occupied by a rectangular optical zoom viewfinder, which is surrounded by black in an oval-shaped window.

Back (5.5)
The back side of the camera has limited real estate, so buttons and controls are crammed in and tiny. The left side of the body is slightly raised, with the 1.8-inch LCD screen recessed inside of it. The Nikon logo is embossed onto the body, below the screen; above the LCD is an extending segment containing the optical viewfinder. While I’m not a huge fan of optical viewfinders (inaccurate framing bothers me to no end), I have to applaud Nikon for at least raising it a bit more off the camera body to make it easier for the user to engage; with this feature, users are less likely to find greasy nose prints on their LCD monitors. The viewfinder has two LED indicators on the raised portion – one for flash and one for auto focus. To the right of the viewfinder is the mode dial, with eight selections available on it: Automatic (green camera icon), Scene, Portrait, Landscape, Sport, Night Portrait, Setup, and Movie. Utilization of controls would have been helped significantly by moving the mode dial to the largely barren camera top. To the right of this mode dial is the zoom rocker, which is about the width of a fingernail and unfortunately only a single control. The left side is labeled with a W for "wide" and the right is designated with a T for "telephoto." Besides zooming out, the left side of the lever displays thumbnails in playback mode. The right side of the lever acts as a Help function in menus. These two options are separated by a wide divot in the lever. This setup should be fine for most users, but could be problematic for large-fingered photographers.

Below the mode dial is a circular button labeled "Menu." Below this and to the right is the four-way navigational dial with an OK button in its center. The OK button is used to make selections and transfer images to printers and computers. The surrounding dial has four arrows on it, one pointing in each direction. The ring is a single piece of plastic, but there are divots between the arrows to differentiate the surfaces. When the camera is not within a menu, the four-way dial has other functions. The top part of the dial quickly selects the flash mode. The right side does not have a separate function. The bottom enables the macro mode and the left side activates the self-timer. Below the dial, there are two buttons. The one on the left is for the playback mode and the one on the right is for deleting files. Overall, the back is cluttered with buttons and icons – but that’s unavoidable with a camera of its size.

Left Side (7.0)
The left side of the Nikon Coolpix 5600 has a decorative darker silver line running down its center. To the left of the line are two screws that hold the frame together. In the center of this side is the built-in speaker, composed of 7 holes. In the bottom right corner, a rubber door to the USB / A/V port can be pried open from the bottom.

Right Side (7.5)
The right side of the Coolpix 5600 has a similar design to the left side, except its dark silver band is thicker. This coincides with the extra thickness of the right side which allows it to serve better as a hand grip. The screws that hold the camera together are placed on the decorative dark silver band. To the left of the band is a wrist strap loop at the top and a plastic door that opens to a Secure Digital card slot at the bottom.

Top (5.0)
There are hardly any features on the top of the Nikon 5600. There is a dark silver band that runs from the left side to the thicker right side, where it fans out into a thicker band. The Coolpix logo is embossed into the band on the left side. Just right of the center is the power button, with a built-in microphone and LED indicator nearby. Forward from and to the right of the power button is the shutter release button, which sits at the tip of the right-hand grip. The front side of the top is nicely beveled for a pleasing look and grip. It seems to me that the camera would be far easier to use if some of the many features crammed onto the back were moved to the vacant top face.