Nikon Coolpix 2000 Review

The Coolpix 2000 is equipped with a 3x Nikkor optical zoom lens with a 38 to 114mm (in 35mm equivalent) focal length coverage plus 2.5x digital zoom. The maximum aperture is F2.8 to 4.9 and it has a dedicated macro mode. Auto focus is handled by a contrast detect TTL system and the focus range is 12 in. to infinity in normal mode and from 1.6 in. to infinity in Macro mode.

The built in speedlight has a 1'4" to 8'10" range in wide angle and 1'4" to 4'3" in telephoto and can be set for Auto Flash, Disabled Flash, Auto Red-Eye Reduction (pre-flash type), Fill Flash, or Slow Sync.

The power on/off switch is positioned to the rear of the shutter release. The Mode Dial has positions for Auto, Party, Backlight, Portrait, Night Portrait(with Noise Reduction), Beach/Snow, Movie, or Play.

The LCD is the viewfinder as there is no optical viewfinder in the 2000. The LCD displays about 95% of the recorded image. Above the LCD are the Self Timer, Focus, and Flash buttons. The Self timer button allows 10 or 3 second delay on shutter release in record and creates a small 320x240-Basic Email sized copy of the displayed image while in playback. The Focus button selects Landscape (infinity focus and no flash) or Macro modes in record and in playback it transfers an image to a printer or computer. The Flash button cycles through the flash modes in Record and deletion of image in Playback or Quick View. The small black dot next to the flash control is the Flash Indicator light. It flashes red during flash charging and glows steadily when flash will fire with the next picture taken. The "W"ide / "T"elephoto zoom control zooms the lens in record and the current image in playback. Also in playback the "W" puts the LCD in index mode.

The button lets you quickly view the last picture taken. The MENU button enables the onscreen menu system which is navigated by the 4-way controller. The 4-way controller is also used to select images during Play mode. Pressing the "Left" button toggles the data overlay information on the LCD.

Opening the upper port cover exposes the USB port which is Widows or Macintosh USB 1.1 not 2.0 compliant and the Video-Out port that is selectable to NTSC or PAL video signal.

The lower cover reveals the DC-IN port that accepts 8.4v DC from the optional AC power supply. Nikon's AC adapter is the EH-53.

The Coolpix 2000 is equipped with a CompactFlash Type I card slot and is supplied with a 16MB size card which are available up to 1 GB. Cards are easily removed by lifting and pushing in the ejector button.

Unlike most of Nikon's other compact cameras the 2000 is powered by four AA type batteries. A set of alkaline batteries are supplied but I highly recommend the use of high-capacity NiMH rechargeables which are more environmentally friendly.