Nikon Coolpix S6

Front
The front of the S5/S6 is flat brushed aluminum with a smooth texture, curving slightly to the back. This design choice, while subtle, is nice because it avoids creating any right angles on the camera. Along the left side of the camera – from the user’s perspective – it says “ZOOM NIKKOR ED 5.8-17.4mm 1:3.0 – 5.4” in black.

On the top right is a small round focusing light. Next to the focusing light is a circular cut-out in the metal, banded by chrome, for the lens. The lens cover automatically slides shut when the camera is powered off and then slides open quickly when it powers on. Below the lens on the left are raised white letters with the name of the product. Above the product name, right next to the lens, is the small rectangular flash in an oval cut-out. Aside from the Nikon logo in black on the right side of the front of the camera, the rest of the face plate is blank silver.

Back
The back of the cameras are dominated by the large LCD screens – the 2.5-inch in the S5’s case and the 3-inch on the S6. On the right side of the camera, there’s a small wedge-shaped indentation that serves as a thumb rest. To the left of the thumb rest is a rounded rectangular playback button; below that is a mode button and below that are a menu button and a trash button adjacent to each other. Dominating the bottom right is the jog dial, which Nikon calls a Rotary Multi Selector.

Left
The left side of the camera is slightly raised glossy chrome, bulging a bit more in the S6’s case to accommodate the WiFi antenna. The left side of the S6 is also branded with the WiFi logo.

Right
The right side of the S5/S6 is smooth polished chrome with a raised chrome lug nut in the middle.

Top
On the left side of the top of the S5/S6 is a long oval button, which is the camera’s new “One-Touch Portrait” button. This button accesses a new feature which combines Face-Priority AF and In-Camera Red-Eye fix to help optimize portraits.

The top of the camera slopes back to the middle as part of the wave design. In the middle is a speaker, which is a series of four dots on the S5 and four ovals on the S6. On the right side of the S5/S6’s top in chrome are a small indented on/off button, a shutter button and an indented switch for zooming.

Bottom
The bottom of the camera has a sliding door on the right side for the optional SD memory card and battery and a tripod mount.

Intro	Page 2 of 10		Components
Nikon Coolpix S5 and S6 First Impressions Review Navigation
Intro	Physical Tour	Components	Design / Layout
Modes	Control Options	Image Parameters	Connectivity / Extras
Overall Impressions	Conclusion