Nikon Coolpix S6300 Digital Camera Review

Speed and Timing

For a cheap compact, the Coolpix S6300 has a surprisingly high number of continuous shooting modes. In fact, there are a total of seven. Only two are traditional full-resolution burst modes, and these come in the usual high and low varieties. Continuous High records up to 7 shots at about 6 frames per second, while Low captures up to 6 images at roughly 1.9fps. Those low shot limits indicate a tiny buffer, and when you're shooting 7 shots at 6 fps... yep, that means you don't get more than about one second of shooting. In other words, your timing had better be great if you want to capture that one precious moment. In general, we found the stated burst speeds to be accurate, though in our test trials the Continuous H mode rate wavered anywhere between 5.5fps and 6fps.

Less traditional continuous modes include two reduced resolution modes that shoot at up to 120 or 60fps, respectively. Also present is Multi-shot 16, which takes 16 exposures and arranges them in a 4x4 grid in a single photo, sort of like a film strip. Further oddballs include BSS (Best Shot Selector), which takes up to 10 shots and chooses the sharpest one, and pre-shooting cache, which starts shooting when the shutter release button is only half-pressed.

Self-timer options are extremely limited, with only 2 and 10-second choices available.

Focus Speed

Focus is good in bright light—not the fastest we've seen, even in this class, but good enough—though in low light it becomes quite unreliable. Not only will it frequently fail to find focus (producing a red focus box on the screen), it will also often claim to have found focus when it clearly hasn't. Both failures are troubling, but the latter is a real disappointment.