Nikon Coolpix S6500 review

Stylish compact with Wi-Fi connectivity

Nikon Coolpix S6500 review
The Nikon Coolpix S6500 review

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Nikon Coolpix S6500 review

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Taken at ISO 3200, this woodland image shows very little colour noise, and only shows luminance noise along the edges. However, the image is almost completely devoid of any texture due to the harsh noise reduction at this high sensitivity.

Nikon Coolpix S6500 review

Taken at 0EV

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Nikon Coolpix S6500 review

Taken at 0.7EV

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Nikon Coolpix S6500 review

Taken at 0EV

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Nikon Coolpix S6500 review

Taken at 0.7EV

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The Nikon Coolpix S6500 tends to produce very bright images in its Matrix metering mode. We found that in almost all situations it was better to leave the exposure compensation set to -0.7EV.

Nikon Coolpix S6500 review

Taken with 25mm zoom

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Nikon Coolpix S6500 review

Taken with 300mm zoom

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The 25-300mm equivalent zoom range was ideal for a range of subjects, from very wide landscapes to picking out details.

Nikon Coolpix S6500 review

With Auto white balance

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Nikon Coolpix S6500 review

With Overcast white balance

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Generally we found the Auto White Balance setting to be too strong when removing colour casts. This resulted in some images with very washed out, cold colours. This was particularly the case when shooting in woodland. Here the overcast white balance setting produced a much more realistic white balance.

Nikon Coolpix S6500 review

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In macro mode it is possible to create images with a reasonably shallow depth of field, as shown here. This image also shows that even at ISO 400 the luminance noise reduction removes a lot of textured detail, with the petals of the flower looking like an oil painting.

Nikon Coolpix S6500 review

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The lens of the Nikon Coolpix S6500 is very good in regards to edge detail. Here there is very minimal loss of detail towards the the edges of the scene.

Nikon Coolpix S6500 review

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The Nikon S6500's macro mode does enable some fine details, such as the hairs on the stems of these flowers, to be seen. However, again, on larger surfaces the noise reduction removes a lot of the texture detail.

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