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Auto Mode (6.0)
The Auto mode on the Coolpix S4 controls both aperture and shutter speed. The user can either manually set ISO and white balance, or put them into Auto and let the camera do the work. Manual control options are a good thing, of course, but the Coolpix S4 should have an Auto setting that truly automates everything – one that doesn't require the user to remember to set ISO and white balance to automatic – especially since there are no manual exposure options.
Movie Mode (4.5)
The Coolpix S4 records movies at either 640 x 480, 320 x 240, or 160 x 120 pixels, but at only 15 frames per second. 640 x 480 is the standard resolution for video, but 15 frames per second is about half the standard frame rate. The Coolpix S4's video looks choppy, and will disappoint those users for whom video capability is important. The lens can't be zoomed while video is being shot, though 2x of digital zoom is available. The camera's microphone picks up the noise of the focusing motor during shooting, so the video mode offers an option to focus immediately before the shot starts and freeze the focus until the shot is over.
The Coolpix S4 offers time-lapse video at 640 x 480 resolution. Like the intervalometer setting, the time-lapse video control will take images at intervals from 30 seconds to 1 hour.
Drive / Burst Mode (5.0)
According to Nikon, the Coolpix S4 clunks along at 1.3 frames per second in burst mode. That's not fast enough for action sequences. Users who want a shot of their kid blowing out candles on a cake need to get the first shot right, because the candles will be out by the time the S4 snags that second frame. This is a general drawback of compacts and ultra zoom cameras. The Coolpix S4's speed is comparable to its competitors’.
The Coolpix S4 has the Sport composite feature, which takes 16 frames in a little over two seconds. The frames are awfully small, but getting a sequence at close to 8 frames per second is fun. It's important to keep in mind that shooting 16 full-size images in two seconds is a feature of cameras that cost $3,500 and up.
Playback Mode (6.5)
The Coolpix S4's playback mode includes functions for viewing, printing, and editing images. The playback is compromised by the low-resolution LCD. Playback can magnify images up to 10x, which can give a pretty good idea of focus, but for sharing, the LCD image is not going to be impressive for friends or subjects.
The slide show option is particularly bare-bones – each image is shown for 3 seconds. The first frames of movies are shown as if they were still photos, but the motion videos are not shown. Resized copies of images are also not shown. Competing cameras offer options for varying transitions between images, changing the amount of time images are displayed, and selecting which images are displayed.
It's possible to crop images on the Coolpix S4. The user simply zooms in on a portion of the image, scrolls around to frame the cropped shot, and presses the shutter release. The cropped images are saved at whichever of the camera's standard sizes they can support, down to 160 x 120 pixels.
The Coolpix S4 offers “D-Lighting,” an automated feature that adjusts brightness and contrast. It works on underexposed and backlit images, though since it works on the Coolpix S4's saved JPEGs, it can degrade image quality significantly. D-Lighting does not offer any controls – the user presses the button and then takes or leaves the result. D-Lighting creates a corrected copy of the image, leaving the original intact.
The Coolpix S4 is PictBridge and DPOF-compatible, allowing the user to make prints without downloading images to a computer. With PictBridge, the Coolpix S4 connects directly with a printer. With DPOF, the print order is downloaded to a commercial photo lab. It offers options to create a print order of multiple images, to set the number of copies to make of each image, and the size of prints to make.
Custom Image Presets (8.0)
The custom presets on the Coolpix S4 act as the core of the user-friendly interface, and offer “Assist” options that superimpose silhouettes on the LCD to indicate where to place subjects in the frame.
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Portrait
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Emphasizes person in the foreground; flash set to red-eye reduction; autofocus is set for center of the frame, but can be set to “Face-priority,” which detects faces and focuses on them, even if they're off-center
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Landscape
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For scenic shots; camera focuses at infinity
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Sports
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Sets exposure to stop action; turns off flash, macro focus and self-timer, allows bursts at 1.3 frames per second
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Night Portrait
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Uses flash to light portrait with red-eye reduction, uses long exposure to maintain detail in background, runs noise-reduction routine on images
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Party/Indoor
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Flash and a longer exposure to get people in focus, but also to pick up background details
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Beach/Snow
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Adjusts exposure so that people are well-exposed, even against very light backgrounds
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Sunset
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Preserves red and orange colors of sunsets or sunrises
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Dusk/Dawn
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Preserves pink and purple tones of dim light before sunrise or after sunset; turns off flash; turns on noise reduction; takes long exposures
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Night Landscape
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Long exposures; flash turned off; focus locked at infinity
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Close up
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Focus as close as 1.6 inches, depending on zoom setting; flash set to auto; flash will be very uneven closer than 16 inches
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Museum
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Shuts off flash, for places where flash is not allowed; turns on BSS (Best Shot Selector) so Coolpix S4 will choose the sharpest image
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Fireworks Show
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Timed exposure with focus locked at infinity
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Copy
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Takes pictures of documents with black type on a white background; Nikon says it doesn't handle color well; doesn't automatically activate macro range
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Back light
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When light comes from behind the subject, this setting uses flash to balance exposure on the subject's face
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Panorama Assist
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Use to take pictures to join with panorama-stitching software
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“Assist” modes are available for Portrait, Landscape, Sports, and Night Portrait.
For Portrait mode, the choices for assistance include Face-priority AF, a system that can find human faces and focus on them; the regular portrait mode, which assumes the subject is centered; and then five modes that superimpose outlines of figures on the screen, with which the user should line up subjects. The five setups are: portrait left and portrait right, with the subject to one side or the other; portrait close-up, with the subject's head in the top half of the frame; Portrait couple, with two outlines, for two people; and Portrait figure, for a vertical shot of one person. Night Portrait mode offers the same five setups, but not Face-priority AF.
The Landscape mode's assist features include superimposed outlines as well. There's a general one that shows a horizon line and a mountain range; one for architecture that shows a grid, to guide users who want to keep the lines straight; and Group right and Group left, for shots of people in front of a landscape.
 Sports assist doesn't include superimposed outlines, but it offers “Sport composite,” which takes a burst of 16 images in a bit more than 2 seconds, and arranges them in four rows of four shots each, to create a single 2 megapixel image. Though each frame is small, that's an impressive burst.
In general, the assist features can be useful, but are a bit goofy. The outlines work, but for many uses, being able to select a specific autofocus site would do the same thing, and would be more flexible. The outlines may be easier for camera-phobic users, which would make sense this camera is aimed at the point-and-shoot market.
On the other hand, the face-priority autofocus works impressively. In a little casual use, it found a face right along the left side of the frame and focused accurately, with the lens zoomed to a moderate telephoto setting.
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