  Context. We present a photometric and astrometric catalog of 187963 stars
located in the field around the old super-metal-rich Galactic open cluster NGC
6253. The total field-of-view covered by the catalog is 34' x 33'. In this
field, we provide CCD BVRI photometry. For a smaller region close to the
cluster's center, we also provide near-infrared JHK photometry. Aims. We
analyze the properties of NGC 6253 by using our new photometric data and
astrometric membership. Methods. In June 2004, we targeted the cluster during a
10 day multi-site campaign, which involved the MPG/ESO 2.2m telescope with its
wide-field imager and the Anglo-Australian 3.9m telescope, equipped with the
IRIS2 near-infrared imager. Archival CCD images of NGC 6253 were used to derive
relative proper motions and to calculate the cluster membership probabilities.
Results. We have refined the cluster's fundamental parameters, deriving
(V_0-M_v)=11.15, E(B - V)=0.15, E(V - I)=0.25, E(V - J)=0.50, and E(V -
H)=0.55. The color excess ratios obtained using both the optical and near
infrared colors indicate a normal reddening law in the direction of NGC 6253.
The age of NGC 6253 at 3.5 Gyr, determined from our best-fitting isochrone
appears to be slightly older than the previous estimates. Finally, we estimated
the binary fraction among the cluster members to be \sim20%-30% and identified
11 blue straggler candidates.
