Nikon Coolpix S500

Manual Control Options
This digital camera has an all-purpose "shooting mode" that acts as auto and manual, or perhaps it should be called program. It allows access to the entire recording menu: exposure compensation, ISO, white balance, color options, auto focus areas, etc. The Nikon Coolpix S500 doesn’t have manual exposure controls like shutter speed and aperture, so if you like control, then this mainly automated camera probably won’t interest you.

Focus
Auto Focus (6.75)
The Nikon S500 has a 9-point auto focus system that works fairly well. It can be set to Auto, Manual, or Center. The auto mode selects the point of focus, the manual mode allows users to manually select the auto focus point with the multi-selector from 99 points around the LCD screen, and the center choice keeps the focal point fixed to the center.

The focus options aren’t available in the movie mode. Users can instead choose from single and full-time auto focus modes. Single isn’t as reliable as it should be: subjects often move from the point when recording started and then they are out of focus. It is, after all, a movie. Full-time isn’t a great option either. It focuses well, but the video’s audio picks up all the tiny clicking noises that the full-time auto focus system makes.

The camera’s contrast detection auto focus system functions as close as 5.9 inches in the macro mode. Normally, the camera can focus from 1 feet 8 inches to as far as the eye can see. The S500 needs help focusing in low light, so it shoots out an orange LED beam that outputs a maximum of 1450 µW to slightly illuminate subjects.

Nikon fathered face priority auto focus a few years ago, but since competitors followed suit with superior technology. Nikon’s technology remains mostly unchanged. It is activated with a push of the one-touch portrait button atop the camera. A blinking smiley face appears while the camera searches for faces. It takes the S500 about 1.5 seconds to focus when the face is static and properly framed - the camera replaces the blinking smiley with a box over the face. Moving faces are nearly impossible to capture with this technology though. Competitors’ technology tracks faces, finds them faster, and does so quieter. The S500 uses full-time auto focus in its face priority auto focus mode and makes a bunch of clicking noises.

Overall, the auto focus system functions about 80 percent of the time, although a little slower than it should. The other 20 percent of the time the pictures are blurry.

Manual Focus (0.0)
The mainly automatic Nikon Coolpix S500 does not have a manual focus mode. The closest it gets is the option to choose the auto focus area from 99 points around the frame. Technically, the camera is still employing its auto focus system though.

ISO (7.75)
The S500 and S200 have differing ISO ranges. The pricier Nikon Coolpix S500 has an ISO range that extends from 50-2000, whereas the S200 tops off at 1000. The ISO settings are available in the shooting menu and there isn’t a live view. Most point-and-shoot digital cameras have a truncated automatic ISO range but the S500’s is still a wide 50-1000. The ISO sensitivity usually corresponds to the amount of noise in images: check the Testing/Performance section of this review to see how much noise the S500 produced in each of its ISO settings. This Coolpix includes a High ISO scene mode, although it is positioned separately from the other scene modes on the graphic mode dial. The High ISO mode doesn’t automatically disable the flash: you have to do that on your own. I found out the hard way. I went to snap a picture of my sleeping toddler with this mode and the camera shot out an orange beam, then a series of flashes, which woke him up.

White Balance (7.0)
The white balance settings are available in the recording menu of the shooting mode only. The choices are: Auto, Preset (manual), Daylight, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Cloudy, and Flash. The S500 lacks multiple fluorescent settings, which many digital cameras now offer because fluorescent bulbs vary so much.

In the menu, the background shows a live view of the white balance options. This is helpful. The most useful white balance option is probably the manual setting. To set it, you focus the camera on a white card and press the selection button in the center of the rotary dial. It's easy and accurate.

Exposure (7.0)
The shutter speeds and apertures can’t be manually adjusted, but the exposure can be compensated on a +/- 2 EV scale in steps of 1/3. Exposure compensation is available in almost every mode from the right side of the multi-selector. Because the selector control is placed on the far right edge of the back, the exposure compensation icon is forced around the corner to the right side of the camera body where it can’t be seen at all. There is a live view when the exposure is adjusted. However, there isn’t a histogram to view.

Metering (5.5)
The 256-zone metering system syncs with the auto focus point but there are no metering options available. This is a downer as almost all other digital cameras offer this as a standard feature.

Shutter Speed (0.0)
With its mechanical and charge-coupled electronic shutter, the Nikon S500 can snap pictures at speeds of 4-1/1500th of a second. There is a bit of shutter lag, which is pronounced when the flash is activated. To lessen the shutter lag, Nikon included a "response priority mode," grouped with the vibration reduction options in the setup menu. Shutter speeds cannot be manually chosen on this digital camera; instead, they are automatically selected according to the current lighting and the selected exposure mode.

Aperture (0.0)
Aperture can’t be manually controlled. There isn’t much to control anyway. The Nikon Coolpix S500 has a two-step aperture that opens to f/2.8 and f/5.6 when zoomed out and f/4.7 and f/9.4 when zoomed in. Not many choices here.