Nikon Coolpix S6500 Wi-Fi Digital Camera with 12x Zoom (Silver)

I bought this camera to have one I could slide in a shirt pocket. I have a D90 Nikon and just didn't want to lug it with me on a trip I was taking. I like Nikon quality and this camera had all the features id expect from a good camera. The 12x zoom is one of the features that i was wanting. Since returning from my trip and using the camera i can say i picked the right one. The quality of pics are outstanding, the ease of use, the compactness makes this a very nice camera to have handy. I take it with me now everywhere i go. I grab for it now instead of my phone, although my phone takes nice pics it doesn't have the zoom ability that the S6500 has and that is mostly the plus for this little camera. I gave it a five star because it roamed across Europe with me for a week and never missed a beat. I got a good one. Thanks Amazon! Your prices are the best too.

I bought the Nikon COOLPIX S6500 for a recently completed trip to Europe. It performed exactly as I expected. I have a Canon EOS Rebel but didn't want to lug around that big of a camera since this was a bus tour of multiple countries and I want to travel as light as possible. I kept the camera in my pocket and discovered if you put a couple heavy-duty rubber bands on it it's easy to grab and won't slide out of your pocket. (That also helps foil Europe's ever-present pick pockets...) Other reviews have noted that they were annoyed because after every shot the Quick Effects screen precludes a quick second picture. If you SLIGHTLY depress the trigger button when the Quick Effects screen appears it will disappear just as quickly, enabling a relatively fast second shot. My only issue with the camera was the relatively short battery life, but that's solved by having a second/backup battery. Now, if I can just remember to carry the backup battery with me -- rather than leaving it on the bus as I did on three occasions -- I would have had no issues at all. But that problem certainly wasn't the camera/batteries fault. It's an excellent lightweight travel camera that takes amazingly good pictures.

Good Value in a very Small Handy Point and Shoot Compared to other cameras, the Sony WX-350 delivers in a few remarkable areas: very small size and light weight, and extremely good battery life. That will be enough to please many, although in all other respects the WX-350 is just average. In terms of shooting performance, the Fuji F850 and the Panasonic ZS-15 are noticeably faster, while the similarly sized Nikon S6500 is the slow-poke of the bunch. As is common with small digital cameras, the lenses are not particularly bright. The Sony starts out at f/3.5, closing down to f6.5 at full zoom. The ZS-15 goes from f/3.3 - f5.9, the Nikon from f/3.1-6.5, and the Fuji from f/3.5-5.3. As primarily a still camera, the Fuji is my pick of the litter, particularly when shooting in its "M" mode, or 8 meg mode, which allows the EXR processor to do its thing. For video, though, its battery life isn't good enough to be of much cold weather field use, as is the case with the Nikon S6500. The Fuji also has the most visible, enjoyable LCD, the Panasonic having the weakest, which the only thing that I could consider a flaw of sorts with the ZS-15. Still, the Panasonic focuses faster than the WX-350, is better in low light (none of these cameras are great in that regard), and the Panasonic has the full PASM set of controls to work with. Though the Panasonic's battery life is not superb for video (260 CIPA still shot rating) by dimming the LCD as much as possible and going with higher capacity (1200 mAH vs. 895 mAH OEM) aftermarket batteries, I've been able to squeeze out over an hour and fifteen minutes of video capture between battery changes. While the WX-350 delivers on lightness, low-bulk, and very impressive battery life, the rest of the camera is just wonderfully adequate, and not good enough to best the Fuji F850EXR as a 20x travel zoom, nor good enough to beat the older Panasonic 16x ZS-15 in terms of speedy shooting performance, video, or general still image quality. What of the Nikon COOLPIX S6500? Well, for the money ($100 or so as of this writing), it is an excellent value. It is very small, easy to use, and sells for about half of the similar form-factor longer-zoom WX-350 Sony, with a better LCD. While its shooting performance is not blazing fast, its battery life is adequate for stills but not for video. With good optical stabilization and a very useable 12x zoom range, it is the type of camera that you can take anywhere without much bulk or weight. It isn't class-leading, by any means, but it also doesn't have a class-leading price, either. For the dollar in a handy little point and shoot, it is quite a satisfying and fun little camera. Copyright 2014 by Randy Wakeman. All Rights Reserved.

I purchased this camera from previous familiarity and satisfaction with Nikon products. After recently deciding how useful one of these small cameras would be for my work purposes I decided to buy one of the Coolpix cameras. This in itself is quite a chore as Nikon seems to have endless models of this camera. I decided to get a fairly inexpensive one since it was going to be used a lot out in the field. This one was available through Beach Camera for a great deal on a refurbished model. The camera looks and performs like new, in fact I have been using this camera now for about two months and the battery charge is still nearly full after 100's of photos. The picture quality turns out quite well also, with the photos being clear. I would recommend this camera for anyone that needs a compact camera that has decent capabilities and takes quality photos and has a very reasonable price tag.

ORIGINAL: This is only my second outing with this camera and I am severely disappointed. It takes pictures fine, but when I click to view my pictures, the camera freezes and the screen goes black. The lenses stays out, and the camera won't respond to anything until I remove the battery and restart it. Don't have my laptop on vacation with me so I'm not even sure if the pictures are being saved yet. Guess I'll be using my phone camera after all. UPDATED: Although I had used my camera before with no issue, and although my memory card works just fine on my fugi waterproof camera, my problem was resolved by replacing the memory card. I have not had another problem since switching the cards. I upgraded the rating from one star to four stars. I am still upset that I had this issue to begin with. Pictures turn out fine. I don't like the fact that the camera prompts me turn off silent mode when I turn on the flash. I do like the color of the camera. Pictures turn out fine, nothing spectacular but does the job.

UPDATE: (Edit 2/2015): The price of this camera has dropped quite a bit since I originally wrote this review when the camera was still new. Given the low price now, my review might come across as overly critical. I still like and use this camera. My main critique had to do with the misleading WI-FI feature. It seems to be (partly thanks to reviews like this one) that this is more well known now. I think that this camera at the current price is a very good deal for what you do get. If you want a camera with true Wi-FI it is going to cost you, but there are some nice ones around now such as the Samsung Galaxy's. (end of update) If you want to buy this for the wi-fi feature, dont bother, or at least make sure that you understand what this feature really is. I wanted a wi-fi capable camera. I saw this one and was drawn to it's name. The word "wi-fi" is prominent right there in it's name, appearing even before the word "camera". Nikon COOLPIX S6500 Wi-Fi Digital Camera. That's why I was disappointed to learn what that really means (or rather doesn't mean). No you can't use this "wi-fi" camera to shoot pics and upload them to the net, cloud storage, social media or anything like that at all. You cannot connect this wi-fi camera to your home network or any network, let alone the internet. What Nikon means when they say "wi-fi camera" is that it connects to your smart phone and then you can transfer pics to it wirelessly. In a sense that sounds something like a Bluetooth connection, but If I wanted a camera with blue-tooth I would have shopped for a camera with blue-tooth. What this does is turn into a "hot-spot" that you connect your smartphone to just as you would browse for routers or hot-spots and connect to them. You just connect to your camera instead. This is how it is supposed to work in theory any way, but I have yet to be able to actually connect my Motorola Droid 3 to the wi-fi camera. If that sounds like a wi-fi camera to you, then you might not be dissapointed (or if you don't care about having a real "wi-fi camera." I'm not reviewing the rest of the camera since that is done well enough by others here and on the photography sites. Yes, it's small, cute, stylish looking (I chose the orange color which is quite nice) and takes great pics especially given it's size and price. I want this review to strictly highlight the wi-fi issue. Another thing to be aware of is that it is very small and might even feel awkward for some, so I'd suggest a hand-on at a brick and mortar store before purchase. Yes it deserves more than 3 stars on the camera itself and I am partly to blame for not thoroughly vetting this before ordering (the low price-point had a lot to do with that and admittedly that in itself should had tipped me off. I feel though the harsh deduction is justified given the labeling "Wi-Fi Camera" and lack of clear information on just what that actually means.

This camera is the best point and shoot made and I was disappointed that Nikon discontinued it. Fortunately it is still available on Amazon. I have had three of these cameras and all were stolen. The newer versions of this camera just don't hold up to this one. Images are phenomenally detailed and clear. In movie mode, the images are crystal clear, even in the night time street scenes and the sound quality is surprisingly good. To give you an example; I have shot pictures of the moon(in zoom mode) with this camera and was surprised to find the photo sharp and so detailed that every crater on the moon was photographed in terrific detail. I find that this is a camera I cannot do without. For the money, you just can't beat it, really ! I have this year's model and it is just not as good; it just isn't. I intend to buy a second, as a backup. I can't let this go by while they are still available. By the way, originally, when it was new, in stores, I had paid nearly 250 dollars.

A really good camera works great everything is in good condition