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| Likes |
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– Cool shape and pivoting lens
– Well-built and compact
– Face-priority focus really works
– Autofocus is accurate and handles low light
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| Dislikes |
– No manual exposure controls
– No image stabilization
– Lousy LCD
– Noisy images
– Flash is absurdly close to the lens
– Video mode only shoots at 15 frames per second |
Conclusion
The Coolpix S4 is clearly a snapshooter’s camera, though one with an extended lens. It's not a DSLR replacement – there's no pretense that the S4 is a viable alternative to a Nikon D50 or a Canon Digital Rebel. It lacks the speed, image quality, and control of those cameras, and it doesn't offer the stuff strong ultra zoom cameras can lord over DSLRs: image stabilization and a useful video mode.
The problem is, the S4 doesn't deliver, even as a compact camera. It doesn't compete well with short-zoom compacts on image quality, video quality, or manual control. With very poor noise performance at ISO 200 and 400, and no image stabilization, it's hard to make a case that the 10x zoom lens will serve snapshooters well at all. Even the LCD is a disappointment, with its low resolution.
We'd like to see the S4's innovative features on a more capable camera, but we can't recommend the camera itself.
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