Nikon Coolpix 5200: Does It Deliver?
by Stephen Caston on July 23, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Digital Camera
Playback Features
You can enter Playback mode in 2 different ways. If you are already in Record mode, you can simply press the Play button. However, if you wish to enter Playback mode when the camera is off, you can hold down the Play button for 2 seconds to enter Playback mode without extending the lens. The following information is available when viewing a picture: date and time of picture, folder name, file number, storage location (internal memory or SD card), transfer (on or off), whether or not a voice memo has been recorded, image quality setting, and the picture number (out of the total number of pictures).
(Sample playback screen)
You can move from picture to picture by using the left/right arrow pads or you can view the pictures as thumbnails by pressing the W (zoom out) button on the zoom control. Pressing the W button once will display a screen with 4 pictures at a time and pressing it again will display 9 pictures on the screen. You can then select a picture to view full-screen by using the arrow pad controls. While viewing a picture in full-screen mode, you can use the T (zoom in) button on the zoom control to magnify the image by up to 6x in 0.2x increments. While zoomed in on a picture, pressing the shutter button all the way down will bring up a dialog that asks if you want to "Save this image as displayed?" Selecting "Yes" will copy a cropped version of the original image to the original image's storage location. To exit the zoom mode quickly, you can press the middle Enter button. If you press the Enter button again, a histogram will appear onscreen along with new information about the metering mode, exposure compensation, and flash mode used in the picture.
A cool feature that the CP5200 offers is the ability to record voice memos. When viewing a full-screen image, you can hold the shutter button down to record a memo that will be linked to the picture. Pressing the Menu button in Playback mode will display the following list of options: Print set, Slide show, Delete, Protect, Auto transfer, Small pic., and Copy. Selecting the Print set option will bring up a display that allows you to pick which pictures to print on a DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) printer. The Slideshow option allows you to display all the pictures on the camera either one time through or in a loop. With the Delete option, you can either select pictures to erase or you can delete all of them. By using the Protect feature, you can safeguard yoru pictures against accidental deletion pictures; however, formatting the card (in Set up mode) will erase everything including protected pictures. The menu option Auto transfer is used to tell the camera which pictures to transfer to your computer when it is connected. You can choose All on, All off, or Select images. With the Small pic. feature, you are able to resize pictures to 640x480, 320x240, or 160x120. Selecting one of the resize options will create a copy of the image in the newly specified size. Lastly, the Copy option allows you to copy images from the internal memory to an SD card or vice versa.
Something that disappoints us about the CP5200 is the absence of a shooting-priority feature in Playback mode. In many digital cameras, pressing the shutter button down halfway will automatically return the camera to Record mode. Interestingly, a shooting-priority feature is available in Record mode during menu navigation. This feature would have been nice to include in Playback mode as well because it makes quick shooting possible. Instead, you must press the Play button to switch the camera to Record mode.
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FFS - Thursday, July 29, 2004 - link
ANANDECH Please stick to HARDWARE REVIEWSThere much better sites over Internet for DigiCams reviews... You just could not compete with there competence.
Do not make the same mistake as TomsHardware guide did.
What would be next - Games... :(((
That is my POINT OF VIEW
And I'm also very disappointed (to say at least)
Thou not about english, my is not perfect as well.
WooDaddy - Friday, July 23, 2004 - link
Ok.. I guess..You might not what to make up a phrase like that and instead just call it what it is; play to record transition. That's the term that is widely accepted and would prevent confusion.
From other reviews I've seen on the 5200, this 'feature' exists and there are timings for this as well. Maybe try a full press .. or read the manual. Nikon probably uses a different method for switching between play and record modes. Each manufacturer is different... and their customers know this.
It's upsetting that I have to look to other reviews to validate or invalidate what you're written.
(Also, it's "Timing", not "The Times". Simple 8th grade grammar. And yes, I'm pissed again..)
stephencaston - Friday, July 23, 2004 - link
WooDaddy: When I say shooting priority, I am not referring to Shutter Priority. I am referring to when a half-press of the shutter button will switch the camera back to shooting mode from playback mode, menus, etc. Shooting priority means the camera's priority is to take pictures as opposed to reviewing pictures or changing menu options.Sorry for the confusion
WooDaddy - Friday, July 23, 2004 - link
You know I had to say something...Better, has potential. A few comments though:
The garbage dumpster in the parking lot... Come on man. That's a horrible subject. You can do better. Would you show that to your friends and say "Hey look at this cool picture!". I think not.
Shooting-priority - There is no such thing. You probably saw it somewhere but it is a poorly chosen marketing term. There are only four types of exposure based shooting: aperture, SHUTTER, manual and full auto. Think about it.. Shooting-priority. Shooting priority over what? Not shooting? It's a marketing term gone awry.
Even though you are showcasing the Nikon, you should still have a reference point from another similarly marketed camera from another company. I mentioned this in my last post. Even though this is not a camera roundup, it still applies here as well.
I can tell from your subjects (the subjects in your photos) and your commentary that you are still new to photography as a whole. A REALLY OUTSTANDING book is Photography by Barbara London and John Upton. It's about $86 but it is a great book for beginners and pros alike. It's the standard textbook that all photographers use. If you want some suggestions for subjects, I can be of help. PM me and I promise not to bite.
The final word didn't really convince me. The features you mentioned as being good are features that most 5mp have or should have and nothing that stands out. Try out the Minolta G500 as it is a similar camera. Compare them and I bet you'll see what I mean. Also, use dpreview.com. Compare their reviews to steves-digicams and imaging-resource.com. You'll see the WIDE difference between them from dpreview.com. The level of professionalism and inherent photography skill vs gadget love is obvious. I want you to decide which side you want to be on. It seems like you'd like to be a dpreview editor but I think based on AT's focus, you might just want to focus on prices, features and that's it. Most of us know about dpreview and will go there.
It'll take some time, but you'll get there...
And I promise, I'll be less harsh as time goes on. Us photogs can be ruthless ;)
LoneWolf15 - Friday, July 23, 2004 - link
For about $100 less, one can get the Fuji Finepix S5000, which has lower resolution (3.1MP) but compensates by having a 10x optical zoom, aperture priority, shutter priority, and full manual, as well as a digital TTL viewfinder. It has 6MP resolution with interpolation, which I wouldn't use, but I think you get more for the money overall.