Using the same design as the 2megapixel 2500, the 3500's split-body design is rather tricky to use. The section housing the lens swivels around an axis that's mounted inside the outer frame of the body.

This makes it difficult to rotate the lens section without putting your fingers over the flash and lens, despite the little rubber grip. This design also makes it feel awkward in the hand.

Swivel-lens aside, the camera is fairly simple to operate. A mode button allows you to switch between review, shooting and off modes, while the shooting mode is accessed through a separate onscreen menu by pressing the dedicated button under the 1.5in LCD. There are 12 scene modes including portrait, party/indoor, beach/snow, landscape and sunset.

The 3x optical/4x digital zoom is very smooth and is operated using a spring-loaded swivel control mounted on top of the unit. In macro mode, which allows you to get as close as 4cm from your subject, the Coolpix 3500 produced very detailed shots.

A little definition was lost in the corners of some images but overall the camera produced sharp, well-rendered pictures, coping well with cellophane and transparent objects and rendering tricky textures accurately.

Colour rendition was good on the whole, but the red tulips in some of our shots looked very purple and, when we took some of the blue out of the midtones in a photo editing package, the reds became far more realistic and green leaves and yellow tulips more vibrant.

DETAILS
Price: £349.99 (£297.86 ex VAT)
Contact: Nikon 0800 230 220
www.nikon.com