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Nikon Coolpix S4 - Easy Camera Review
by Richard Baguley
The $300 Nikon Coolpix S4 is a throwback in some ways: Nikon stopped using the pivoting lens design in the late 1990s on its film cameras, but the style is revived in the Coolpix S4. The rest of the camera is new, though: there’s an incredibly long 10x zoom lens, a 6-megapixel image sensor and reasonably sized 2.5-inch LCD screen.
The split body design with pivoting lens has many advantages: for one, you can hold the camera over your head but still see what you’re shooting by angling the LCD screen. And it also keeps the camera thin: despite having an incredibly long 10x zoom lens, the body of the S4 is just 1.4 inches thick and the lens is entirely within this body; none of those fragile telescoping lens mechanisms here. This makes the Nikon S4 one of the most portable ultra-zoom digital cameras on the market.
This slightly larger base also makes it comfortable to hold; you use both hands without thinking about it, which leads to steadier shots. The controls are well placed, but with a few quirks. The four-way controller, for one, is too easy to push in instead of pushing up or down, which leads to you selecting the wrong option on the on-screen menu. But apart from this, the Nikon S4 is an easy camera to use.
There’s no proper manual mode, and the camera doesn’t display information about aperture or shutter speed. This will frustrate the more experienced shooter who wants to at least have some idea how the settings are being used. There is a decent selection of 15 shooting modes, though.
The Coolpix S4 can also shoot movies at a resolution of up to 640 x 480 pixels, but the frame rate maxes out at 15 frames per second. This leads to jerky movement; shoot a football game and it’ll end up looking like a poorly animated cartoon. To make things worse, the long 10x lens isn’t optically stabilized so movies will be even more jittery.
Speaking of cartoons… the images that the S4 captured had grossly oversaturated color similar to cartoons. This might have been acceptable if the images had plenty of detail, but they didn’t; the images were under sharpened and lacked the resolution we’ve seen in other 6-megapixel cameras. Fine details were not distinguishable, and there was a lot of noise in our test images, even with short exposures and low ISO settings. This noise got more pronounced when we bumped the ISO up to its maximum manual setting of 400, but it will be a problem in most shooting situations.
Shutter lag is also a problem: the camera took 2.39 seconds to go from off to ready to take a photo, and had a shutter lag of 0.71 seconds. Both of these figures are too long, and will lead to lost shots. The flash is also a problem; located right next to the lens, it produces a lot of red-eye (although there is a feature to correct this after shooting that works relatively well) and produces high-contrast, unflattering shots. If you are shooting someone with shiny or greasy skin, the flash highlights those unflattering characteristics.
The 2.5-inch LCD screen makes it difficult to judge the images you’ve taken; with just 110k pixels, images look very grainy and seriously unappealing. This is the lowest resolution screen we’ve seen for some time, and it is difficult to judge images effectively on it.
It’s nice to see that Nikon is bringing back the pivoting lens design; it has some big advantages. However, the S4 just isn’t that good of a camera. Sure, you can carry this ultra-zoom camera everywhere you go. But the image quality is terrible, the LCD screen is grainy, and there is no image stabilization or manual control. You could argue that point-and-shoot users don’t need these features, but even the most casual user would be able to spot the problems with this disappointing camera.
| Nikon Coolpix S4- THE BOTTOM LINE.... Rating: 266.35 |
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| Likes |
| – Cool shape and pivoting lens – Well-built and compact – Face-priority focus really works – Autofocus is accurate and handles low light |
| Dislikes |
| – No manual exposure controls – No image stabilization – Lousy LCD – Noisy images – Flash is absurdly close to the lens – Video mode only shoots at 15 frames per second |
Nikon Coolpix S4 Compared to the...
| Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5 Rating:297.12 |
Kodak EasyShare
Z740 Rating:332.27 |
Panasonic Lumix DMC LZ-2
Rating:298.82 |
Fujifilm FinePix S5200 |
Canon PowerShot S2 IS Rating:314.89 |
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| Better | Better | Better | Better | Better |
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-Digitized manual focus control
-Three selectable metering modes -12x optical zoom -30 frame per second movie mode -Manual control over shutter speed -Max aperture of f/2.8 -Long zoom with Anti Shake tech. -Color reproduction accuracy -Resolution/ Sharpness -Faster shutter to shot times (still slow at .46 seconds) -Pop up flash -Adjustable flash control -640x480 at 30 fps -16 MB of included memory -Hot shoe |
-Lower levels of noise in both auto and manual modes
-Electronic Color viewfinder -Adjustable flash levels -Custom Image Preset options -Exceptionally simple and basic structure -Pop up flash directly centered on lens -More accuracy with color reproduction
-Faster shutter to shot times -3 metering mode options -Shutter priority option -Max Aperture setting of f/2.8 -32 MB of internal memory |
-Color reproduction accuracy
-Lower Price -Smaller overall camera body -Mega Optical Image Stabilization -Auto and manual ISO scores -Better shutter to shot reaction -Potential for 30 fps video (lower resolution) -Max Aperture setting of f/2.8 -14 MB of internal memory included |
-Pop up flash
-Electronic color viewfinder -Movie mode has same resolution but better frame rate at 30 fps -Better shot to shot and shutter to shot times -Auto and Manual ISO noise levels were far lower -Start to first shot times -Much larger ISO range up to 1600 ISO -Better usage of CCD for sharpness/ accuracy -Color Reproduction accuracy -Three metering pattern options -6 preset WB settings -f/3.2 max Aperture -Manual Control over shutter speed -16 MB of included mem. -RAW files |
-Zoom may be used in movie mode
-12x optical zoom -Flash has better placement and has a pop-up design -Rotating LCD screen -Color reproduction accuracy -Lower levels of noise in auto ISO mode -Faster start to first shot -Better shot to shot and shutter to shot -Stereo audio recordings during movie clip capture -Electronic color viewfinder -Pop-up flash -30 fps at 640 x 480 movie mode -Manual Focus control -Three metering mode options -6 White Balance settings -Shutter speed range/options -f/2.7 max aperture -16 MB memory card inculded |
| Equal | Equal | Equal | Equal | Equal |
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-Manual White Balance control |
-Less than stellar 13 fps frame rate for movie mode
-EV Comp settings and scale -Direct Print capable -Audio Recording during video capture -10x zoom -No manual focus option -No Image Stabilization -ImageLink Compliant
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-No viewfinder |
-EV Comp. control, scale and setting options -Manual White Balance control -No Image Stabilization -Audio recording abilities when in movie mode -Comparable price range -10x optical zoom |
-ISO scale and settings -EV Compensation scale and setting options -Manual White Balance setting -Direct Print Compliant |
| Worse | Worse | Worse | Worse | Worse |
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-Only 5 preset shooting modes
-Struggling Auto ISO mode -Smaller ISO range -Exceptionally slow start to first shot times -Slow shot to shot times -Mirror based viewfinder is sub-par quality -2 inch, 110 K LCD screen -Bigger overall camera body -High levels of noise in manual ISO mode -Fewer preset shooting modes |
-Lower resolution and sharpness |
-Slower start to first shot times
-Lower res. and sharpness score -5 MP CCD -2.0 inch LCD -6x optical zoom -Low res. on LCD screen -Lower max resolution for movie mode -8 Custom Image Presets -Slower shot to shot times -Slightly smaller ISO scale |
-1.8 inch, 115 K LCD, smaller but better overall resolution -5.1 MP CCD -Less portable camera body due to size and weight -Higher MSRP -Struggling and nearly unusable Manual Focus |
-5.0 MP CCD -1.8 inch LCD screen -Higher price range -Lower res/sharpness scores -Higher levels of noise in manual ISO mode -Larger overall camera body -Preset scene modes are limited -Overly loud zoom |