Nikon P500

Nikon P500 is Nikon's Small Sensor Superzoom digital camera originally introduced on February of 2011. It houses a 12 MegaPixel, BSI-CMOS 1/2.3" sized sensor and has a max resolution of 4000 x 3000.

Nikon introduced the fresher Nikon P510 (Read Full Comparison) to update this model.

The P500 is positioned #149 out of 244 in Small Sensor Superzoom cameras and over all #747 out of 1465 for digital cameras in our list. You should try our Advanced camera filter to see camera ratings based on your personalized factors.

The following is a diagram of multiple factors used in the rating system.

The Nikon P500 comes with a history of related digital cameras. Down below, you can take a look at all older and latest models along with main specs.

You can check the P500 from several angles in the gallery here.

Below is a collection of benefits and drawbacks of the Nikon P500 based on aspects that are generally considered essential in a digital camera.

The Nikon P500 houses the Expeed C2 processor. The sensor spec on the Nikon P500 is 6.17mm x 4.55mm (1/2.3"). The 28 mm² sensor is able to capture 4000 x 3000 pixels and aspect ratios of 4:3 and 16:9. The camera has got Image Stabilization (Sensor-shift). In body stabilization is preferable than digital stabilization since the latter may cause cropping.

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The BSI-CMOS sensor boasts 12 megapixels and delivers a standard ISO range of 160 to 3200. Sadly, RAW photos are not saved which means that the user has less margin for error.

The image below displays the P500's sensor dimensions compared to other popular sizes. The P500 sensor comes with a crop factor of 5.8 and is displayed in green.

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To get a sense of specific aspect ratios, you should refer to the graphic below.

Nikon P500 has a weight of 1.09 lbs (494g or 17.43 ounces) and features outer measurements of 116mm x 84mm x 103mm (4.6" x 3.3" x 4.1"). The weight of typical Small Sensor Superzoom camera is 387g and the Nikon P500 is weightier in comparison with other rivals.

Photography Glossary

The following is a photo of the Nikon P500 beside a softdrink so you can have a sense of its scale.

The top view here will illustrate the button design on the P500.

The P500 features a built-in lens and it has a focal range of 23-810mm giving it a 35.2 x zoom which is perfect and would enable you to zoom right in.

At the widest 23mm, it provides an aperture of f3.4 making it rather slow and not the best in low light situations and you may find it difficult to capture good bokeh. You will likely also need to raise the ISO which causes noisy images. With the tele end, 810mm is brilliant zoom and comes with f5.7 which is quite slow and you will need to use slower shutter speeds.

The P500 has the following connectivity:

• USB Yes
• HDMI Yes

Digital cameras which include NFC and Bluetooth support are able to be used wirelessly via smartphones. You can copy images and in some cases adjust camera settings with no need to connect physically to the camera.

Many applications even give a Liveview and hit the shutter if you are not near the camera. If the camera includes a HDMI out, it can easily be attached to an external display. Most cameras will allow you to recharge the battery pack with the USB port.

The max video resolution on the Nikon P500 is 1920 x 1080 and it can shoot in MPEG-4 and H.264 file format. 1080p resolution will provide a decent balance in video quality versus file sizes but 1080p is not going to give you much room to downsample. The camera does not have a mic and headphone port which means you have little control over your sound. It is perhaps a better idea to get a different camera in case you require better sound in your videos.

There is no environment sealing for the Nikon P500 so you need to be careful in rainy and dusty situations.

The Nikon P500 is equipped with a 3" tilting display supporting a resolution of 921k dots.

Sadly the display isn't a touch screen.

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The View Finder specs regarding Nikon P500 are the following:

• ViewFinder Electronic

In those bright outdoor situations which make the camera displays washed out and tough to view, viewfinders will be rather useful.

Nikon P500 is able to shoot continuously at 1.0 fps. The highest shutter speed is 1/1500 sec.

Nikon P500 has got only in-built flash with missing external flash support.

Nikon P500 has got just Contrast Based Auto Focus and lacks Phase Detect Auto Focus. Phase Detection focusing is a lot quicker and accurate in comparison with Contrast Based focusing. The camera supports Face detection making it valuable for people photography.

It supports 9 focus points to select from. It also comes with Tracking Auto Focus for moving subjects. Nikon P500 comes with manual focusing when needed in low light situations or you want to have more exact control on focusing.

The battery pack (EN-EL5) for the Nikon P500 is built to last for 220 photos as per the CIPA standards which is less compared with its competition. The usual Small Sensor Superzoom camera battery life is 316. Fujifilm HS35EXR has got the maximum (600) battery life in this range of cameras.

Following is a listing of Small Sensor Superzoom cameras having the best battery life:

ModelVisualizeBattery LifeRAWNFCBluetooth

Fujifilm HS35EXR
P500 vs Fujifilm HS35EXR600 yesnono

Nikon B500
P500 vs B500600 nonoyes

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Nikon L840
P500 vs L840590 noyesno

Panasonic FZ200
P500 vs FZ200540 yesnono

Leica V-Lux 4
P500 vs V-Lux 4540 yesnono

The following illustration provides a outline of the Nikon P500 for specific types of photography. To look at more, have a look at the specific section below.

The Nikon P500 receives a score of 34 which is lousy, meaning that it is not very good to use for portrait photos. Shooting portrait photos leans heavily to sensor dimensions, RAW support along with the option to work with off-camera flash.

With a moderate points total of 50, the Nikon P500 is fairly suited to use in street photography. A decent street photography camera has a perfect balance of image quality plus portability.

A lousy sports photography points tally of 36 indicates the Nikon P500 is not very good for photographing sports. A camera must have very good focusing and shutter speeds for sports photography.

Weight is extremely critical when picking a travel camera. All round, the Nikon P500 gets a moderate 47 as a travelling camera which is relatively appropriate to take with you on your vacations.

If you're looking to buy a camera for landscape photos, the biggest aspect is going to be image quality. The Nikon P500 and it's lousy grade of 39 for a landscape camera is not very good amongst its competition.

A camera for vlogging really should posses a articulating screen, mic input and preferably IBIS. Taking everything in to account, the Nikon P500 is not very good as a vlog camera as it delivers a lousy score of 27.

If you are interested in replacements to the P500, below is a selection of the highest ranked cameras that fall within the category of Small Sensor Superzoom.

The diagram here provides you an overview of the P500 compared to it's highest scoring rivals listed earlier.

Following are several cameras you may consider as alternative options. To read a thorough comparison, click the "compare" link.