Nikon Coolpix P5000

Viewfinder (3.75)
The Nikon P5000 has an optical zoom viewfinder that is located above the LCD screen on a protruding plane with two LED indicator lights. The viewfinder itself is very small and putting your eye up to it won’t be exceptionally comfortable because there is no real eyecup and it only protrudes as far as the LCD screen. The viewfinder isn’t perfectly accurate; none of the optical viewfinders on compact models are. It is more accurate when zoomed out, and it doesn’t "see" the bottom third of the recorded image when zoomed in. According to Nikon’s specs, it is 80 percent accurate horizontally and vertically and is most accurate when the subject is within 3 feet, the lens is zoomed out, and the 3:2 or 16:9 image size is in use. Overall, the optical zoom viewfinder isn’t amazing, but it is better than the average compact digital camera’s optical viewfinder.

LCD Screen (7.25)
A display button to the left of the LCD screen turns on the display and add grid lines, shooting info, and even a live histogram. The 2.5-inch LCD screen has ample resolution at 230,000 pixels. It has a very wide viewing angle, and it can be seen from above, below, right, and left. It is one of the best LCD screens we’ve seen in terms of its viewing angle. It has an anti-reflection coating that works indoors but doesn’t do as well outdoors. There is a 5-level brightness adjustment in the setup menu but even then the P5000’s LCD was hard to see in bright light. The LCD screen acts as a viewfinder or playback medium. It is best in the playback mode where it shows 100 percent of the recorded image. As a viewfinder though, it only shows 97 percent of what is being recorded. This will only be a problem for users who are trying to frame to strict specifications – such as our resolution test! Most digital cameras offer roughly 100 percent accuracy on the LCD screen in both recording and playback modes, so this is disappointing. This could be a major blow to the camera’s enthusiast appeal.

Overall, the view is nice and smooth with the great resolution, decent refresh rate, and wide viewing angles but the slight inaccuracy will irk a few photographers for sure.

Flash (8.0)
The built-in flash unit is located to the upper right of the lens on the front of the camera. This off-axis placement translated to a hot spot slightly left of center on the picture. The Nikon P5000’s flash has impressive specs: It can reach from 1-26 feet when the lens is zoomed out and 1-13 feet when zoomed in. It isn’t effective when shooting anything in the macro mode, but performs decently when within its specified range.

Users can change the flash mode with the right side of the multi-selector. Auto, Auto with Red-eye Reduction, Off, On, Slow Sync, and Rear-Curtain Sync are available. The latter two options seem to show more even flash coverage than the other options. The hot spot’s intensity can be decreased with the flash exposure compensation option in the recording menu. It allows users to adjust the brightness of the flash in steps of a third on a scale of +/- 2. This works wonders for portraits, but it may take a few tries to find the right setting because there isn’t an effective live preview of this.

The Nikon Coolpix P5000 has a hot shoe placed off-axis from the lens that can accept Nikon’s i-TTL Speedlight flashes. This includes the SB-400, SB-600, and SB-800. The SB-400 is the smallest of the three, and it still looks ridiculous atop the compact P5000. The hot shoe has a safety lock and the camera comes with a plastic fitting that protects the contacts when no accessory flash is attached. In the recording menu, users can turn the built-in flash off or program the camera to automatically use the accessory flash if one is attached.

Overall, the amount of flash options is impressive. The coverage is spotty though, and the flash adds extra time to the shutter lag. There is a continuous flash mode that snaps three pictures in about three seconds using the flash – but the flash is less powerful so users would have to be close to their quickly moving subjects.

Zoom Lens (7.25)
The P5000 has a Zoom-Nikkor 3.5x optical zoom lens that is similar to those found on other P-series cameras. It is constructed from seven elements in six groups and measures 7.5-26.3mm, which is equivalent to 36-126mm in the 35mm format. The lens is controlled with a zoom ring that surrounds the shutter release and allows users to stop at eight different focal lengths throughout the range. The control moves the lens smoothly forward when zooming in, but it backfires a bit when zooming out.

The lens itself isn’t that long considering its performance designation as a digital camera. Other cameras with similar modes and controls have longer zoom lenses but chunkier SLR shapes too.

Conversion lenses can be purchased to extend the focal length or widen the angle. The Nikon WC-E67 and TC-E3ED lenses can be attached with the optional UR-E20 adapter ring. Users can select the attached conversion lens in the recording menu.

Unlike most other Nikon digital cameras, which have electronic vibration reduction, the Coolpix P5000, like the Coolpix S50 and S50c, has an optical VR image stabilization system that compensates for up to three shutter speed stops, according to Nikon. The system reduced blur in still images significantly. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as noticeable in the movie mode – perhaps because we often look at this feature on cameras with 10x lenses instead of 3.5x and the difference is more pronounced with longer lenses.

The optical zoom lens doesn’t function in the movie mode. The 4x digital zoom functions but it degrades the video quality exponentially.
The Zoom-Nikkor lens has maximum apertures of f/2.7-5.3, which can be manually controlled in the manual and aperture priority modes. The aperture when the lens is zoomed out is impressive since most cameras max out at f/2.8. The tiny f/5.3 aperture when zoomed in is disappointing, though, because it won’t let much light in. The image stabilization is a plus, but the limited zoom range is disappointing.