Nikon Coolpix S6

Likes

- Snazzy new design reinvents the flat slim camera category - Beautiful, large, high-resolution LCD screens - Pictmotion feature is a fairly sophisticated slide show for a small camera - Rotary jog dial helps scroll through images and menus quickly

Dislikes

- Too many menus to access some functions - Carrying extra dock is inconvenient - Indented zoom switch is hard to use - Wireless Printer Adaptor for S6 should be included for free

Conclusion
Just when you thought flat slim cameras were immune to innovation, Nikon has enlivened the category by creating an attractive new pair of slim cams – the Coolpix S5 and S6. The unique wave design of these models – while based on function to accommodate the larger lenses – add some sparkle to the boring old rectangle design that was starting to look dated. Features on these two 6 MP cameras are impressive with Nikon’s suite of automatic functions such as Face Priority AF, In-Camera Red-Eye Fix and D-Lighting. Add in the new Pictmotion slide show feature, which is a pretty sophisticated for a camera like this, and Nikon may have a winner on its hands.

On the downside, these cameras have very limited manual capabilities, tiny buttons and multiple menus for accessing certain features. They’re probably not going to win any photo contests in terms of quality images – we’ll see later in testing in a full review – but 6 megapixels is really all you need to print out a decent quality 8 x 10-inch print. The WiFi feature on the S6 still seems like a bit of a gimmick and it’s annoying that they make you pay an extra $50 for the Wireless Print Adaptor. However, the cameras make up for such deficiencies with their excellent, large, high-resolution screens, which are great for reviewing images or playing a slide show back using Pictmotion. On the whole, their style is impeccable, but testing is needed to see if these cameras have all this and brains too.