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Nikon Coolpix S6

First Impressions Review

Previous: Page 2

Physical Tour

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Design / Layout
June 13, 2006 By Emily Raymond
2 Comments
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Viewfinder (0.0)
There is hardly any spare space on the Nikon Coolpix S6, so the optical viewfinder has been replaced by a 3-inch LCD monitor. The huge screen has good resolution, with 230,000 pixels, and a smooth view because of its fast refresh rate. There is one drawback to it, though: it only has a 97 percent field of view while recording, so the finished product will have some extra edges that weren’t seen before.
 
LCD Screen (8.75)
The entire left portion of the Nikon S6 is covered with a 3-inch LCD screen that has a 170-degree viewing angle. This is a half-inch larger than the screen on the Nikon Coolpix S5, which has the same resolution. The view on the S6’s LCD is good both vertically and horizontally, so users can snap shots over head or off the hip. Its 230,000 pixels of resolution look good, and the quick refresh rate keeps subjects smooth instead of blurry. Five steps of brightness, available in the setup menu, let users view the low-temperature polysilicon TFT LCD can be viewed in bright sunlight. Viewing options are also available there: users can show info, hide it, and as add framing grids. The S6’s LCD screen isn’t the best viewfinder out there, as it gets only 97 percent coverage of the recorded field. However, the playback mode shows 100 percent of the recorded image. Overall, the huge LCD screen is one of the best features on the Nikon Coolpix S6.
 
Flash (5.75)
The flash on the Nikon S6 is quite weak, although the burning in subjects’ retinas may indicate otherwise. It reaches from 1-8 ft 6 inches at the widest focal length and from 1-4 ft 7 inches in the most telephoto focal length. Powerful when close up, it’s completely ineffective beyond 8.5 ft.  
 
Flash modes available on the rotary dial include Auto, Auto with Red Eye, Off, On, and Slow Sync. The burst mode and some scene modes, such as Museum, also deactivate it.  One-touch portrait mode automatically sets it to fire with red-eye, which fires three distinct flashes before sending out the last strobe to capture the picture, and activates the camera’s digital red-eye fix. Neither of these works well, though.
 
The flash looks stronger on the left side of the frame and casts a circular light that leaves the corners dim. While low quality, it’s hard to avoid.
The S6’s highest ISO sensitivity is 400 and the widest aperture is f/3.0 – and users can’t manually select the shutter speeds. With these limitations, there’s hardly any good way to get natural light in the picture – making the flash necessary in low light.
 
Zoom Lens (6.5)
The Nikon Coolpix S6 has the same 3X optical zoom lens as the S5. It measures from 5.8-17.4 mm, which is equivalent to a 35-105 mm zoom in the 35 mm format. This lens is constructed from 12 elements in 10 groups. The Nikkor lens’ widest aperture is f/3.0, which is just a step smaller than what most compact models now offer. When the camera is zoomed in to the telephoto range, the maximum aperture shrinks to f/5.4.
 
Zooming itself takes some serious effort. The zoom switch on the S6 is the smallest I’ve ever seen on a digital camera. Not even Kate Moss has fingers skinny enough to comfortably move that thing. If users can jam their fingernails into the switch and get it to zoom, there is minimal motor noise and about 6 focal lengths available throughout the 3x range. This is average for a lens of its size. When zooming, the S6 shows a bar across the top of the screen that displays a ‘W’ for wide on the left and a ‘T’ for telephoto on the right. A line divides the bar, designating where optical zoom stops and digital zoom begins, but is closer to the ‘T’—though, on most cameras, the ‘T’ is located just above the line instead of all the way to the right. After hitting the line, users must push the control again to enter the realm of the digital zoom. Unfortunately, it looks somewhat legit to use the 4x digital zoom. This is too bad, as it will only ruin perfectly good pictures!
 
In the macro mode, the S6 had trouble focusing even when more than 1.6 inches away. It broadcast the message "Initializing lens cannot focus!" but would be fine after moving further away or zooming out. The other problem with the lens is its location. The left fingers wrap around the camera and, often, onto the lens itself. The lens isn’t all bad, though: it showed hardly any barrel distortion and remained nicely protected within the camera body at all times.

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Nikon Coolpix S6
First Impressions Review
2 Comments
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Previous: Page 2

Physical Tour

Previous: Page 4

Design / Layout