Nikon Coolpix S700 Digital Camera Review

Auto Mode (6.0)
There is no true Auto mode on this digital camera. There is a set of Scene modes that truncate menus and are mostly automated. The other mode is more of a Program mode because it allows control over white balance, ISO, exposure compensation, and other parameters and remembers those settings.

Movie Mode (6.75)
The Nikon Coolpix S700 isn’t a camcorder. It isn’t a hybrid digital camera either. It has a Movie mode but it isn’t very impressive. It records videos at 640 x 480 and 320 x 240-pixel resolution. The top resolution only shoots 30 fps, while the QVGA has 30 and 15 fps choices. There is also a 160 x 120-pixel movie mode that records choppy footage.

There are two interesting options in the Movie mode: time-lapse and stop-motion movies. The time-lapse movies allow users to snap a still image every 30 seconds or 1, 5, 10, 30, or 60 minutes and then string them together to make a movie. The stop-motion mode allows users to snap still images at their own pace and even provides a translucent overlay so the clay or whatever subject can be perfectly adjusted. This is a cool feature and very fun to play with.

There aren’t many other options in the Movie mode menu. The autofocus can be changed from single to full-time and the electronic vibration reduction can be turned on and off. The image stabilization is disabled as is the camera’s 3x optical zoom lens. 2x digital zoom is available – just enough to make subjects a little fuzzy.

The S700 has an odd quirk in its Movie mode: it takes a moment for the video to begin, and the audio ends about a half-second before the video ends. That is annoying. There are also a few performance issues, like its inability to shoot decent video in low light, outlined in the Testing/Performance section.

Movies can be reviewed in the Playback mode but they cannot be edited and even the volume cannot be adjusted. Once again, the Nikon S700’s Movie mode isn’t anything special.

Drive / Burst Mode (6.5)
The Nikon Coolpix S700’s Burst mode is tucked into the Recording menu. It has a decent amount of options: single, continuous, BSS (best shot selector), multi-shot 16, and interval timer shooting. The single drive is the default, of course. It takes about 3 seconds in between shots. The continuous drive is the real Burst mode: it can take three pictures in 3.9 seconds. This isn’t that fast – especially when compared to similar digital cameras that can snap 2 fps – but is speedier than most functions on the S700. The BSS mode takes 10 pictures but saves only one; the camera automatically selects the sharpest image. The Multi-shot mode takes a small picture every second and stitches the 16 shots into a 5-megapixel quilt. The interval timer takes a picture every 30 seconds or every 1, 5, 10, 30, or 60 minutes.

The self-timer shoots out an orange beam to indicate the 3 or 10-second delay before snapping a picture. This function can be set by pushing the left side of the multi-selector.