It’s a meh camera for me. This is my first “professional” Camera and The camera almost never gets bokeh and when it does it looks like it was taken on a phone, you couldn’t tell it was a camera! And for some reason before I take a picture on this camera it shows nicely sized bokeh, yet when I take the picture it doesn’t get bokeh at all! I spend A LOT of time in the settings to make it focus, and run out of time to just take pictures. However when it does focus it takes gorgeous shots, I do animal photography (dogs, cats, insects etc.) and it takes a long time to focus on living beings, however when I take pictures of rocks, flowers, items from my shop, etc. they turn out pretty well, it’s quite pretty. I do really like the detail recognition, it was able to point ... MoreIt’s a meh camera for me. This is my first “professional” Camera and The camera almost never gets bokeh and when it does it looks like it was taken on a phone, you couldn’t tell it was a camera! And for some reason before I take a picture on this camera it shows nicely sized bokeh, yet when I take the picture it doesn’t get bokeh at all! I spend A LOT of time in the settings to make it focus, and run out of time to just take pictures. However when it does focus it takes gorgeous shots, I do animal photography (dogs, cats, insects etc.) and it takes a long time to focus on living beings, however when I take pictures of rocks, flowers, items from my shop, etc. they turn out pretty well, it’s quite pretty. I do really like the detail recognition, it was able to point out the small specs of dirt on the rock which impresses me, The auto blur is decent however it takes a while to blur perfectly and not just blur the wrong spots, I’d say it’s a good beginners camera overall but it’s not my favorite, it will look better when I get lenses for the camera and not just use the camera body, My suggestions regarding the camera is improve the Blur/focus/bokeh, Make it easier to take good shots, be able to take better action shots (my action shots were COMPLETELY blurred!) Make the highlights lower, and pretty much all I talked about, I see the point of the camera but there are some minor flaws that need fixing.

The Nikon Coolpix B500 is an amateur photographers dream. My red CoolPix B500 has a 16MP lens with a wide frame shot capable of zooming 40x Optical format. I would learn the is a dynamic zoom of up to 80x. Through researching for this review .On-board is a 3-inch VGA tilt LCD. The camera can film in high definition and uses multimedia interfacing. An application can be found in the Apple Store or Google Play Store titled SnapBridge. This application allows you to connect the camera to the smart device. In the App you can sleep the camera. And take video or photos at distance with ease. The camera has multiple settings. When you purchase the camera you can turn the Scene dial to switch modes and functions. Each mode has different default and changeable user settings ... MoreThe Nikon Coolpix B500 is an amateur photographers dream. My red CoolPix B500 has a 16MP lens with a wide frame shot capable of zooming 40x Optical format. I would learn the is a dynamic zoom of up to 80x. Through researching for this review .On-board is a 3-inch VGA tilt LCD. The camera can film in high definition and uses multimedia interfacing. An application can be found in the Apple Store or Google Play Store titled SnapBridge. This application allows you to connect the camera to the smart device. In the App you can sleep the camera. And take video or photos at distance with ease. The camera has multiple settings. When you purchase the camera you can turn the Scene dial to switch modes and functions. Each mode has different default and changeable user settings limited to the capacity of the camera notwithstanding. On the Scene dial there is the default Auto camera mode, Film mode, Portrait mode (includes a special pet setting), Sports mode, Landscape Mode, Night mode. The camera has editing, date of photo and time options, there is an on-board microphone that is great for not just recording those nearest to the photographer, but I captured the crowd of an audience chanting at a Women's March 2020 in Tucson, AZ. This camera was light weight, easy to grip. The control panel are very user friendly especially for a neophyte photographer not wanting to buy on a budget. Granted I did buy this camera on sale just after the New Year at Wal-Mart. I bought it for $200.00 on a budget. The downside was there is no internal storage but it has a place to use an SD expansion card. I installed a 64GB SanDisk SD w/expansion card into the camera as that is recommended but it can use 128GB (I get leery of SD cards of larger sizes just because it makes storing such large volumes difficult over time, especially if you are deleting, editing, saving and transferring photos to and from the storage card. Sometime less is more). I have used this Nikon B500 to photograph family pets, the land around our property, nature that I use to draw many of my pieces of still life art from when I have the spare time. It is features a nonslip grip of rubber that has been there as an aid as my palms clam or sweat under the sun in Arizona. On the side is a small button that engages flash, but in certain modes the camera will tell you to close the flash to operate. That reminds me to note that the camera will turn on, but will immediately tell you to shut off the camera and remove anything in front of the lens that is preventing it from viewing. This feature has two zoom panels. One for when you are photographing and one for videoing. I have done only minute long videos. The videos are actually packages as 30 frames a second in timelined photos in Full HDMI. I have placed the videos briefly into an editor and was able to select photos froze along the timeline to highlight the vivid quality and definition this affordable Nikon CoolPix B500 has to offer. As I am not even a freelance photographer, I can not begin to expound on the lens quality in comparison to others. The 16 megapixel 1/2.3 inches BSI CMOS Sensor. According to CNET.com the CMOS is designed to make it easier for light to reach the photo diodes on the sensor. In a regular, front-illuminated (FI) CMOS sensor the light has to travel through metal wiring and circuit elements before it hits the photo diodes, what's labeled as "light-receiving surface" in the illustration above. In a BSI CMOS sensor, the wiring is moved behind the light-receiving surface. Doing this makes the sensor more light-sensitive. The more sensitive it is, the less light is needed to get a properly exposed photo and the less noise is created. The Nikkor f/3.0 6.5 millimeter ED lens is perfect for this camera. It is on par for professional quality pictures. The ED stands for Extra Low Dispersion lens which is a way of saying that the lens errors are less and thus more likely to trap light where it enters the view while preventing light entering the lens at different angles from glaring or bowing the light in the image. It also aides the BSI CMOS sensor in not overexposing the image being photographed. At last I will tell you this camera operates on WiFi, can sync and save/backup to device like a Android. It can also use Bluetooth to snap photos and has NFC Connectivity as well. All in all this camera has been a go to for on the go or sporadic shoots.

90% of people can take great shots with this camera. Amazing camera for the money!!!

Normally with a 40X zoom it would be difficult to be steady enough to get a crisp picture; not with this camera. In fact handheld shots are hard to detect. Also with the program SnapBridge, pix can be uploaded via wifi or Bluetooth. In addition, the zoom and shutter can be controlled which makes remote shots quite simple. There's much more, but this is just the icing.

Amazing Camera

I got this camera as a gift and it is amazing! I just started getting into photography and once I got the hang of the different settings to shoot with, it's perfect. In the "Scene" selection, there is a "Moon" option and it's incredible. The detail of the moon it captures and just how easy it is to navigate and take photos is perfect for beginners. So happy with this camera!!

Best for the money!

I bought this camera for its ability to take good clear close up macro shots. And it does not disappoint. It is very good at that. Two things that I am not too happy about, one it has a hard time with black objects close up, but this is a common problem with all camera's. Two, (ties into the first), there is no manual focus witch could easily fix the problem with some macro shots. It has color brightness, and a few other setting that help, you do not have to constantly adjust lighting. Coincidentally I tried the zoom outside and it has an incredible range. But those wont come clear unless your camera is on a mount. All in all this camera is a great choice for just about anything. The Auto does it's job very well and works to make the pic the best it could be. Other ... MoreI bought this camera for its ability to take good clear close up macro shots. And it does not disappoint. It is very good at that. Two things that I am not too happy about, one it has a hard time with black objects close up, but this is a common problem with all camera's. Two, (ties into the first), there is no manual focus witch could easily fix the problem with some macro shots. It has color brightness, and a few other setting that help, you do not have to constantly adjust lighting. Coincidentally I tried the zoom outside and it has an incredible range. But those wont come clear unless your camera is on a mount. All in all this camera is a great choice for just about anything. The Auto does it's job very well and works to make the pic the best it could be. Other camera's it works for some things and others not. THIS ONE works. Plan on getting some rechargeable AA batteries with the highest MAH. It does like to eat batteries. Would be nice if Nikon went the route like other manufacturers and included a propitiatory rechargeable battery. But I guess you cant have it all.

Fantastic for the price!

The camera was refurbished but practically new. Bought as a present for my mother who enjoys photography but doesnt want the hassle of a DSLR and lenses but thought Id test it to make sure shed like it. Its a fantastic camera, especially for the price, honestly wasnt expecting the build quality and image quality to be as good as they are. The zoom is amazing for such a small camera and limiting the camera to just optical zoom in the menu still meant the camera zooms farther than the 300mm lens on my DSLR. The image quality is fantastic, shame the camera doesnt support RAW but my mother wont do much cropping or editing anyway. Picks up colours well indoors and outdoors, better than my point and shoot and my mothers old bridge camera. The biggest surprise for me ... MoreThe camera was refurbished but practically new. Bought as a present for my mother who enjoys photography but doesnt want the hassle of a DSLR and lenses but thought Id test it to make sure shed like it. Its a fantastic camera, especially for the price, honestly wasnt expecting the build quality and image quality to be as good as they are. The zoom is amazing for such a small camera and limiting the camera to just optical zoom in the menu still meant the camera zooms farther than the 300mm lens on my DSLR. The image quality is fantastic, shame the camera doesnt support RAW but my mother wont do much cropping or editing anyway. Picks up colours well indoors and outdoors, better than my point and shoot and my mothers old bridge camera. The biggest surprise for me though was the macro mode. If youre interested in macro photography Id definitely recommend this camera. The macro on this camera outperforms the macro on my DSLR lenses that were similar prices to this camera just for the lens. On the wide angle end I could get about an inch away from the subject and have it perfectly in focus, obviously the telephoto end was a little further away but still amazed me. The fact this camera uses AA batteries was also a plus because theyre available everywhere and can be replaced cheaply if on holiday with no worry about recharging them. The burst or continuous shooting mode on this camera is also excellent for a compact entry level bridge camera, only does around 5-7 shots but thats enough for a sequence if you time it right. The screen is clear and nicely laid out with a couple of different display options and the tilt is great. I doubt my mother will use it much if at all but its ideal if you want to take photos from low or high shooting positions without crouching, kneeling or getting on a step ladder. Would also be useful for video making for low down moving or panning shots. The 1080p video is a nice addition to this camera, shoots similar video to a lower end Nikon DSLR, obviously not as crisp but perfect for family video or holidays. The only downsides for me personally are the lack of manual modes (PSAM) and the lack of RAW support. But for an amateur/beginner photographer or someone who doesnt want or need manual shooting and massive file sizes (like my mother) I couldnt speak highly enough of this camera, like my mother has always told me Nikon dont make crap cameras.

Fantastic package and great hobby camera.

I can only describe this camera package as AWESOME, and I dont use that term very often. I am a casual hobby photographer. My last good camera broke in a fall...it was probably 10 years old, a Panasonic LUMIX. I dearly loved that camera so I was looking for something similar at a reasonable price.The Camera -- A professional photographer would call this a point-and-shoot, but in my view it is so much more than that. I read a lot about the camera online before I decided on it, but none of my reading prepared me for the huge variety of options, bells and whistles that I got. At the moment, I am reading thru the manual that I downloaded to my iPad and, with the camera in hand, I'm working through its capabilities. Crazy example ... the pet portrait mode!! I'm sure I ... MoreI can only describe this camera package as AWESOME, and I dont use that term very often. I am a casual hobby photographer. My last good camera broke in a fall...it was probably 10 years old, a Panasonic LUMIX. I dearly loved that camera so I was looking for something similar at a reasonable price.The Camera -- A professional photographer would call this a point-and-shoot, but in my view it is so much more than that. I read a lot about the camera online before I decided on it, but none of my reading prepared me for the huge variety of options, bells and whistles that I got. At the moment, I am reading thru the manual that I downloaded to my iPad and, with the camera in hand, I'm working through its capabilities. Crazy example ... the pet portrait mode!! I'm sure I won't use a tenth of what this camera can do. Note that the manual with the camera is only the very bare essentials. You must get the full manual to appreciate, understand, and use all the amazing features.I have only taken a few photos, to experiment with the features, but after looking at reviews of the camera, I am comfortable that it is going to be great. I like that it has a pop-up flash, but it even takes a nice crisp photo without the flash in room lighting in the evening. The one thing I miss is a true view finder...After 60 years of taking photos through a viewfinder, its a little hard to get used to not having one.I have uploaded two photos with this review to show the zoom and quality of the photos. The building on the horizon of the first photo is at least a quarter mile away. (There is a 4 lane road, a building, a parking lot, another 2 lane road, and another parking lot between the flag and me.) The second photo is taken from the exact same spot, but I zoomed in on the flag on top of that building to show the zoom and clarity I got from this camera. The lens was zoomed out so far that I couldn't hold the camera totally steady to center the flag...needed a tripod for that.Now for the package -- I decided to buy this because even with all the extras, the package was less than the price of the camera alone on most sites, including my local warehouse club. The camera bag is a much better quality thank I expected, and its big enough to carry the usual stuff you would need with you. I was most interested in having the screen protectors, as I have used these with all my devices dating back to one of the first PDAs, but the included card reader is a wonderful addition to easily upload photos to my computer. The tripod is a little nothing that fits in the palm of my hand, so its obviously for table top. If you want a real tripod, you'll have to buy it separately (I already have a couple, so this was not a deal-breaker for me).I would absolutely buy this camera and this package again.

Great camera

One of he reasons I bought the camera was because of the quality and name but also because you can use AA batteries which can be bought at millions of stores worldwide at low cost. You can use AA rechargeable, lithium, or alkaline and the problem with most cameras with specialized batteries is that you should have a spare and have to carry a charger and in a few years, you have to replace them a huge cost to you. I have this problem with a Sony camera and it will cost more to get 2 batteries than the camera is probably worth. If you use lithium batteries, you can get 900 pictures which is good for me and what is the big deal changing 4 "AA" batteries when needed. It has a very accurate power gauge and when it reads low just simply change the batteries and 4 "AA" ... MoreOne of he reasons I bought the camera was because of the quality and name but also because you can use AA batteries which can be bought at millions of stores worldwide at low cost. You can use AA rechargeable, lithium, or alkaline and the problem with most cameras with specialized batteries is that you should have a spare and have to carry a charger and in a few years, you have to replace them a huge cost to you. I have this problem with a Sony camera and it will cost more to get 2 batteries than the camera is probably worth. If you use lithium batteries, you can get 900 pictures which is good for me and what is the big deal changing 4 "AA" batteries when needed. It has a very accurate power gauge and when it reads low just simply change the batteries and 4 "AA" spare batteries take up little space in your camera bag or purse. I would much rather do that than plug it in and wait for the batteries to charge.I don't know what the other reviewers problems are but mine takes great quality pictures (over 16 megapixels) and the "Snapbridge" App works good but you have to turn it on your camera each time before it will work but that is really easy. Before you complain, read the manual or the dozen's of videos on the web to learn how to use.. It has lots of zoom and great built-in flash and I am not a techie person and still find it easy to operate. Another feature, I like is that it uses a simple SDHC chip to store video and pictures and these chips are readily available from just about anywhere at relatively low cost and available in all storage amounts. I use 32GB and keep a couple in my case and also they are easily changed as they are in battery compartment. By default, the camera puts all video and pictures to the chip before going to the cameras internal memory. When you are done, just remove chip and put in your chip reader on your computer. It doesn't get easier than this. It also comes with a users manual as well. Check out You-tube and see how most people rave about the quality and value of this camera and a lot use this camera for their You-tube video's. In my opinion it is the best camera for the price in this category bar none.

Low Expectations Exceeded... But not by Much

I'm sure that you've read all of the reviews raving about how this camera is as a still camera. My husband and I got this camera as a better alternative for vlogging, though. How does it stack up in that category? Well...After doing some research on better vlogging cameras, we came to the concensus that the Coolpix B500 was a good middle of the road camera. Our only expectation is "better than our phones." When we got it, we were excited to get it going and see what comes out.Visually, this camera is amazing... in optimal lighting. Your stills will be beautiful, good lighting situation will film great. Your imagery will come out beautifully and the effects applied internally are a nice touch. Low lighting situations won't be as good. The quality takes a dip but ... MoreI'm sure that you've read all of the reviews raving about how this camera is as a still camera. My husband and I got this camera as a better alternative for vlogging, though. How does it stack up in that category? Well...After doing some research on better vlogging cameras, we came to the concensus that the Coolpix B500 was a good middle of the road camera. Our only expectation is "better than our phones." When we got it, we were excited to get it going and see what comes out.Visually, this camera is amazing... in optimal lighting. Your stills will be beautiful, good lighting situation will film great. Your imagery will come out beautifully and the effects applied internally are a nice touch. Low lighting situations won't be as good. The quality takes a dip but not too much of one. The camera tries and is still better than stumbling in the dark with your phone. That is to be expected, though, with walking into a low light situation with only a camera.Where the camera takes a dump, though, is in the audio quality. We filmed an entire day before getting home and transferring the video to the computer. Once home, we were thrilled with how the video looked but less than thrilled with how it sounded. The audio was incredibly low quality and sounded like it was recorded on a cheap child's toy recorder from the dollar store. This was a bit disheartening as everything else exceeded our expectations.The only other issue that we had with this camera was how it connects to your PC. There is every way possible to connect the camera to your smartphone. The B500 and your smartphone work incredibly well together and the versatility of it's uses are astounding. You would think that connecting to your PC would be the same. Except, it's not. Keep that transfer cable handy because transferring your images and video to your PC relies solely on it. While you can connect to your smartphone over bluetooth, wifi, or cable, you can not do so with PC. I've found no way to connect the camera to the PC, other than through the transfer cable. There's just no other way. Even then, the versatility that you might hope for is just not there. There is no other use to connect your PC to this camera than to transfer footage and imagery.I know that I've crapped all over this camera a bit, but overall, it exceeds our expectations. We were looking to upgrade our camera from smartphone to something better. We got that... but not by much. Which is fine. This camera is intended for still shots and b-roll video and it does absolutely amazing at that! If you've got the money to spend on a better camera for video than this, do it. The audio quality is what really holds it back and the lack of PC connection options can be a nit-picking point. For it's price, it's great! There are better cameras out there though, and if you can afford them, I'd suggest going there.

Underwhelming for the price

If you're looking for an entry level camera, this Nikon Coolpix B500 might be an okay camera for you. But personally, I this camera left me underwhelmed considering the price. Out of the box, I got the camera set up and I tried to take some basic photos with the AUTO settings. Immediately I noticed that pictures were not crisp and were quite blurry in indoor shots, even though I had kept the camera pretty steady. After fiddling with the auto-focus, I got some better photos, but still not quite as good as those taken on my Samsung phone camera, which was quite surprising - and not in a good way.After reading some 4 and 5 star reviews, I thought this might be a good camera for some amateur night-time photography, so I went ahead and made the purchase. I was looking ... MoreIf you're looking for an entry level camera, this Nikon Coolpix B500 might be an okay camera for you. But personally, I this camera left me underwhelmed considering the price. Out of the box, I got the camera set up and I tried to take some basic photos with the AUTO settings. Immediately I noticed that pictures were not crisp and were quite blurry in indoor shots, even though I had kept the camera pretty steady. After fiddling with the auto-focus, I got some better photos, but still not quite as good as those taken on my Samsung phone camera, which was quite surprising - and not in a good way.After reading some 4 and 5 star reviews, I thought this might be a good camera for some amateur night-time photography, so I went ahead and made the purchase. I was looking for a mid-level camera to do some amateur astrophotography, without having to pay $500+ for a DSLR camera.I was stunned when I got this home and discovered that this camera does not have any manual mode to change things like ISO, Aperature, or Shutter Speed. ASM is pretty much standard on even phone cameras these days.You are offered some pre-programmed options like "Star Trails" or "Nightscape", and "Night Landscape" along with several others. I tried all of them in the hopes that I could get some decent night-time shots of starry skies in a rural area. It was a big disappointment. The camera only picked up a few bright stars - when it was able to stay in focus. It appears that the ISO (which cannot be changed except under the AUTO setting) or the sensor just cannot pick up the light from dimmer stars. TBH, my cell phone camera takes better nighttime photos and indoor shots than this camera. Though in fairness, I didn't try it outdoors during the daytime.I also tried the 40X optical zoom on Saturn. A 40X zoom should easily be able to pick up Saturn's rings when using a tripod. I could not get the auto-focus on this camera to work. Every time I pressed halfway on the shutter button, the image would to out of focus. So I ended up with about 20 blurry photos of blobs of light - even when using a tripod. After messing with various menu settings for over an hour, I finally gave up.The bottom line is, if you're trying to go for simi-professional photos without a high price tag, I don't recommend this camera. This might be a halfway decent entry level camera for people who take only daytime outdoor photos, but after spending the better part of 10 hours with this camera, I have concluded that this is just not a high quality camera. For the $259 price tag, I expected much more. I would give this camera one star, but since I didn't test it outside in daytime, I felt I should at least give it two stars to be fair. I will be returning it tomorrow, and looking for something better suited to my needs.Below are a two photos I took with this camera. The first is indoors under low light conditions using the AUTO setting, and the second is a 25 second exposure at night using the Star Trails setting.