Nikon Coolpix 5900 Review

The Coolpix 5900 is equipped with a 3x Nikkor optical zoom lens with a 38 - 114mm (in 35mm equivalent) focal length coverage. The maximum aperture is F2.8 to 4.9 and it has a dedicated macro mode. When powered down the lens retracts and is protected by a builtin shutter, no lens cap needed.

Auto focus is handled by a contrast detect TTL system and the focus range is 11.8 in. to infinity in normal wide angle mode. For low-light focusing there is an AF-assist beam.

The user can choose Manual AF mode and select any one of 99 different AF points.

The eyelevel optical viewfinder zooms in and out with the lens but only shows about 75% of the captured image. The two LEDs indicate the flash and focus/SD card status. There is no diopter adjustment.

The large 2-inch color LCD can also be used as a viewfinder as well as for reviewing your images and movies and accessing the menu screens. In lower light conditions the color LCD will "gain up" for better framing and unlike the optical viewfinder, provides 100% coverage.

The built-in speedlight has a shooting range of approx. 0.3-4.5m / 1 - 14.8 ft. (W), 0.3-3.5m / 1 - 11.5 ft. (T), and can be set for Auto Flash, Red-Eye Reduction, Fill Flash, Slow Sync or Disabled.

On top is the power on/off switch, the shutter release and The Mode Dial has positions for Setup, Movie, Auto, Scene, Portrait, Landscape, Sports and Night Portrait.

Controls on the back: Upper right are the zoom lens control buttons. In playback mode these buttons serve as the magnify and index buttons. When accessing menus the telephoto button can call up Help screens. The "trashcan" button is for deleting images. The MENU button calls up and dismisses menu screens. The "blue arrow" button puts the camera in Play mode. The 4-way selector is for navigating menus and selecting pictures. In record mode pressing it "Up" selects the desired flash mode. Pressing it "Left" activates the 10-sec selftimer. Pressing it "Down" enables the macro focus mode. Pressing it "Right" to adjust exposure compensation. The center OK button accepts menu selections and enables image D-Lighting in playback.

The interface connector is a combination device used to connect either the USB 1.1 cable for downloading images to the host computer or connect the Audio-Video Out cable to a TV set. The video signal is selectable for NTSC or PAL.

The Coolpix 5900 is equipped with 14MB of internal memory and a SD memory card slot, no card is supplied with the camera. Images and movies can be copied from internal memory to SD card or vice-versa. We recommend the purchase of at least a 256MB (or larger) SD card or your picture taking will be quite limited.

The camera can be powered by the supplied Nikon EN-EL5 rechargeable li-ion battery pack or with an optional Duracell CP-1 disposable lithium battery. The EN-EL5 will power the camera for up to 270 frames, a CP-1 is good for about 310 frames.

An optional power adapter allows the camera to be powered from an A/C wall outlet.

The optional Nikon WP-CP4 waterproof housing allows you to take a Coolpix 5900 or 5900 camera underwater safely to a depth of 130 feet. The housing can also be used to make the Coolpix 5900/5900 an all-weather camera, safe from water, sand or dust.