Nikon Coolpix S5 Digital Camera Review

 

Model Design / Appearance (8.25)

The Nikon Coolpix S5 is one of the best-looking digital cameras out there. Its body is constructed of metal and is shaped into a wave design that is not only more comfortable to hold than the traditional box-shape, but looks pretty swanky too. The sleek Coolpix comes in a silver-colored body that is plain but looks sophisticated with its chrome highlights. The camera is slim and designed to be stashed in a pocket, which makes it look great and transport well – but is a downer for the controls. As stated before, this model has one of the smallest zoom controls out there. Its other buttons are quite cramped onto the skinny body. Still, the appearance is sexy and stylish.

Size / Portability (8.75)

This digital camera was made to be portable, with its 0.8-inch thick profile and 3.7 x 2.3-inch measurements. The slimness and the wave design make it easy to slide into a pocket, and its weight of 4.8 oz (unloaded) makes it feel like it’s just a part of users’ legs. The durable metal body can handle the life of a transient camera that always travels in pockets and cramped quarters. Adding to the S5’s portability is the eyelet on the right side that allows for attachment of the included wrist strap.

 

Handling Ability (5.0)

The S5 is made more for looks than for function. It’s like Nikon’s poster child, Kate Moss, who looks skinny and good but is probably not entirely functional. That’s why she’s on posters and not sweating on a track. Similarly, the Coolpix S5 isn’t made for major manual functionality – designers probably assumed that its target audience wouldn’t want to press any buttons except the shutter release and maybe one-touch portrait control. Thus, they crammed buttons into a corner and enlarged the LCD screen to 2.5 inches. The buttons are small, which makes handling interesting. The zoom switch is so small and hard to grip, so that’s another drawback. Worst of all, the left fingers easily get in the way of the lens. There are still a few aids to handling though: the wave design is slightly easier to handle rather than the boxy shape of most slim pocket cameras. The S5 also has a thumb divot on the back with bumps to improve grip. While these features are a start, tiny controls and cramped positioning show that Nikon still hasn’t completely grasped the comfy handling concept. 

The designers of the Nikon S5 clearly had style and portability at the forefront of their plans and control button handling as an afterthought. This model looks great, but its buttons are cramped and tiny for the most part. The zoom control is ridiculously small and difficult to push one way or the other. The power button may need to be pushed with a needle head because of its small size. The shutter release button is recessed and harder to push than on most models. Despite the cramped space and small size, the S5 does include a big rotary dial like the one on the Canon PowerShot S80 and the Nikon Coolpix S6: it can be pushed like a multi-selector or rotated like a dial. Thus, it can navigate through menus and breeze through pictures quickly and easily.

 
Menu (7.0)

The Nikon Coolpix S5 has a fairly new menu system that boasts a new color scheme and a larger icon size than those on previous Coolpix cameras. The rotary dial also improves navigation through the menus. The menus are displayed on a white background with gray text and a yellow box that highlights the current selection. There are arrows to show which way to scroll and a Help function to explain settings. There are no tabs or folders to organize menu options, but some menu options lead to other menus. The following menu is from the still image recording mode.

 

 

The Nikon S5 does offer some live previews in the exposure compensation, color options, and white balance settings. In the scene modes, the menu is shortened to allow changes to image size and exposure compensation along with the scene mode selection. The following is the menu that appears in the playback mode.

 

 

The setup menu is accessible from the other menus. It is also not organized into neat folders, but does let users know what page of options they are on: 2/4, for example. There is also a scroll bar on the right side of the display screen that shows approximately where users are located in the grand scheme of scrolling. Still, this method of organization isn’t exactly as neat as other menu systems on digital cameras.

 

 

Menus can appear in text or as icons, although the icon setting looks crowded and confusing. This preference can be changed in the setup menu. Overall, the menu system itself isn’t ideal because of its lengthy menus and lack of organization into tabs or folders. However, users can still get around pretty quickly with the rotary dial.

 

The Nikon Coolpix S5 is built to snap shots on the fly. Its automatic modes and ease of use features, along with its portable body, make it a great candidate for casual users. The S5 has a one-touch portrait button that accesses all of Nikon’s unique portraiture technology: face-priority auto focus, D-lighting compensation, and red-eye fix. This is much easier than on previous Coolpix cameras, where each feature was buried in a different menu. The camera also has one-touch auto and playback modes and even a Help option in the menu system. The Nikon S5 looks  – and is – simple to use.

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