Product Reviews

Nikon has a big presence in the digital camera market, ranging from the consumer to the professional arena. Continued cutting-edge products are what it needs to keep things that way. But is its first 4-megapixel camera a step forward?

The Coolpix 4500 is an interesting camera. For a while it seemed that Nikon wasn't interested in 4-megapixel cameras. The 4500's predecessor, the Coolpix 900 series, featured models up to 3 megapixels and then the range jumps to the Coolpix 5000 at 5 megapixels. However, with so many of its competitors producing well-priced 4-megapixel cameras, Nikon has been forced to compete.

The 4500 features Nikon's proven 'swivel' design, where the lens part of the camera can be rotated around the grip. This allows you tremendous flexibility when shooting and even lets you take a half-decent self-portrait. More importantly, this design has proved its worth for holding above crowds or for easy shooting at near-ground level without the user needing to be a contortionist.

Handling is further enhanced by a comfortable grouping of controls on the lens and viewfinder section, as well as an easy-to-reach series of buttons on the rear of the grip section. The design is so good that the camera can be used one-handed in most situations. One further benefit to the split section design is that it makes the camera stable when held with both hands. This means reasonably slow shutter speeds can be used without the aid of a tripod. In fact, there are only two aspects to the 4500 that caused handling problems.

The first is the strap lug, which can get in the way, depending on the size of your hand and how you hold the camera. This is an age-old problem that shouldn't be an issue these days. The second is the location of the 1.5in LCD. With so many controls placed around it, it's too easy to get finger marks on the screen. The LCD itself is good, showing around 97 per cent of the image recorded. The viewfinder is disappointing, though, showing only 80 per cent.

Power comes courtesy of a rechargeable lithium ion EN-EL cell and there's the option to use an AC supply too. During the review period, the battery performed well, particularly for a camera of this type. Start-up time wasn't bad either and, although

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not super fast, it's practical for most situations.

The 4500's lens has a 7.85-32mm range, which equates to a 38-155mm zoom in a 35mm camera. It's fast too, and apertures range from f/2.8 to f/5.1 at the longest end. The front of the lens has a groove that allows the fitting of a number of options such as fish-eye, wide-angle and telephoto adaptors, plus a 35mm film adaptor. You can also add a remote release, viewfinder hood and macro flash, making the 4500 a highly versatile camera.

The 4x optical zoom is complemented by a 4x digital zoom, and the lens will focus down to about 2cm. Autofocus was a little disappointing, though, as it spent too long hunting for the best focus. There's also a manual control option, which is useful for some applications.

The 4500 produces a maximum image size of 2,272 x 1,704 pixels, with options down to 640 x 480, depending on your needs - 2,560 x 1,520 keeps the 3:2 ratio 35mm film users are accustomed to. Shots are saved as JPEGs using Fine (largest), Normal or Basic compression. You can also record RGB TIFF images. You might want to invest in a larger CompactFlash card, though - the supplied 16Mb card won't hold many images at the maximum image quality.

In terms of image quality, we witnessed a little noise (even with reduction) in some shots and there was also evidence of pixellation. That said, this was only occasionally apparent and not enough to be alarming. I recommend you stick to the lower end of the 100 to 800 ISO sensitivity range, where noise is reduced. General image quality is good, though, with silver halide enlargements and big A3+ inkjet prints all reproduced very well.

Depending on the exposure mode, shutter speeds range from 1/2,300th second to eight seconds, and for night time and creative long-exposure shots there's a bulb mode too. The flash gave some nice, subtle, slightly underexposed results. It's quite powerful, but don't expect it to light large areas of space.

Other modes include programmed, shutter or aperture priority, and manual. Like much of the camera, these are based on proven ideas from earlier models, including the 256-segment matrix metering system. In virtually every situation, point-and-shoot captures enough detail, so few will be tempted by the benefits of the centre-weighted or spot modes. The latter can be linked to whichever of the camera's five AF zones is active. There are plenty of other options too, like saturation and sharpening controls, plus Nikon's Best Shot Selector, which all add up to a capable package.

It may have taken Nikon a while to enter the 4-megapixel arena, but the Coolpix 4500 was worth the wait. Features and image quality are good, and there are plenty of additional options, which extend the camera's capabilities further. It may not be revolutionary, but the 4500 does the job well.