Photography with a Twist

Nikon's new Coolpix 2500 is a pocket-sized 2.0 million effective pixel digital camera featuring the world’s first inner-swivel lens design. This inner-swivel lens makes shooting from various angles -- including a 180-degree flip for self-portraits -- easy and fun, while providing protection for the lens when not in use. The compact design also features Nikon’s built-in One-Touch Upload button to easily transfer images to the computer or web. The Coolpix 2500’s inner-swivel 3x Optical Zoom-Nikkor lens, features a zoom range of 37-111mm (35mm equivalent), built-in speedlight with a Red Eye reduction pre-flash feature and an enhanced LCD screen with Nikon’s BriteView technology. To provide high-level color reproduction the Coolpix 2500 has Nikon’s 256-segment Matrix Metering and digital image-processing algorithm.

The Coolpix 2500 weighs approximately six-ounces and measures 4.5 x 2.3 x 1.2.

The camera comes with fully automatic picture taking capability, continuous shooting modes for fast action sequencing and 12 versatile scene modes to easily capture any situation. Selectable scene modes include: party, portrait, night portrait, sunset, landscape, night landscape, close-up, backlight, fireworks show, beach/snow, museum and copy. The Coolpix 2500 can also record 15 seconds of QVGA movies at approximately 15 frames per second.

Once the picture is captured, the photos can be viewed on ¼ of the LCD monitor through the camera’s Quick Review function while simultaneously maintaining live action viewing. After taking the picture, the camera can even save the image in a reduced-size with the convenient Small Picture function for quick emailing and Internet applications.

The Transfer button featured on the back of the Coolpix 2500 makes uploading photos to the desktop or web simple. With this function, users connect the camera to a computer (with the included USB cable), press the Transfer button and photos can be automatically moved to the desktop or uploaded to NikonNet (www.nikonnet.com).

The camera package includes the new NikonView 5 software, which gives users ultimate control of how they save, view, store and use their digital images. For added image creativity, the Coolpix 2500 features a suite of software from ArcSoft. PhotoImpression 2000, is a fun manipulation package that allows users to edit, retouch or apply special effects to photos. ArcSoft VideoImpression 2000 lets users edit and share their QuickTime movies. The camera also offers ArcSoft Panorama Maker, which lets users easily stitch together a number of images to automatically create beautiful panoramic photographs ready to print or e-mail and ArcSoft PhotoBase for Palm OS.

The Coolpix 2500 includes Nikon’s new, rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery that has been exclusively designed for the Coolpix 2500 to accommodate the slim size, as well as provide extended battery life. A battery charger and Nikon Coolpix Starter Memory CompactFlash Card come with the camera, making a complete package right out of the box. A holding strap is also included. $379.95. www.nikonusa.com