Nikon Coolpix S4 Digital Camera Review

Nikon Coolpix S4

Digital Camera Review

Dec 16, 2005 - By Patrick Singleton
1.5 Nikon returned to the pivoting-lens design of its Coolpix 900 series for their latest ultra zoom camera, the 6 megapixel Coolpix S4. Built around a 6.3 to 63mm lens (equivalent to a 38-380mm zoom on a 35mm camera) and a 1/2.5-inch imaging chip, the 4.4 x 2.7 x 1.4-inch S4 offers shooting versatility in a portable package. While many ultra zoom cameras strive to imitate the styling of DSLRs, the design of 10x optical zoom Nikon Coolpix S4 suggests that it is really more of a compact point-and-shoot at heart. Available online for about $320, the price of the S4 places it in the company of higher-end point-and-shoots.
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Nikon Coolpix S4


Connectivity
Software (6.5)
Nikon's PictureProject 1.5 ships with the Coolpix S4. The software has tools for organizing, editing, and printing images, as well as emailing them and sharing them via the web. PictureProject links with “InTouch,” a web-based photo album sharing system.

The software's editing tools include brightness, sharpening, color saturation, a desktop version of the Coolpix S4's “D-Lighting” function, rotation, cropping, and  red-eye reduction. Oddly, it does not have a hue or color balance adjustment.
 
PictureProject's design function creates layouts of photos in a variety of formats. The software has a logical, attractive interface, though too much screen space is taken up by inefficient layout of tools. In general, third-party products, like Adobe Photoshop Elements, offer equally attractive interfaces and much more powerful tools.
 
Jacks, Ports, Plugs (7.0)
The Coolpix S4 has a USB jack, which doubles as an analog video output, compatible with either PAL or NTSC. The S4 can also accept an external power supply via its battery compartment. It does not offer external flash sync or remote control.

Direct Print Options (6.0)
The Coolpix S4 is compatible with DPOF and PictBridge. It's possible to create print orders on the S4 that specify which images to print, how many copies of each, and what the print size should be.
 
Battery (7.0)
The Coolpix S4 accepts 2 AA batteries, in alkaline, NiMH, oxy-nickel, or lithium. We used the camera with NiMH batteries, and found that it had a shorter battery life than competing cameras.

Memory (4.0)
The Coolpix S4 has about 13.5 megabytes of internal memory available for image storage. The internal memory is large enough to hold a handful of several large images, or more scaled-down images as a digital “brag-book.” Users will probably want to purchase additional memory; the Coolpix S4 also accepts SD memory cards, a very popular and compact memory format.

Other Features (7.0)
Image Data - The Coolpix S4 can superimpose the shooting date and time on the image, in addition to writing EXIF data.
 
Blur Warning – A shaking hand icon will pop-up on the screen, indicating that the image will be blurred.  
 
Best-Shot-Selector - The Best-Shot-Selector chooses the sharpest – or best-exposed – image from among up to 10 images in a burst. Nikon recommends the system for situations when camera shake might be a problem.
 
Red-Eye Reduction - In addition to a conventional red-eye reduction pre-flash, the Coolpix S4 performs digital red-eye reduction as it processes images to memory.

Self-timer - The Coolpix S4 self-timer offers a 10-second delay.
Image Parameters Page 9 of 13 Overall Impressions
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