Nikon Coolpix S710 (black)
The Nikon Coolpix S710 wants to be the camera you take with you while your digital SLR stays homeIt offers a robust set of manual controls, a high-resolution 14.5-megapixel sensor, a 28mm wide-angle lens, and sensitivity that goes up to ISO 3,200 at full resolution and ISO 12,800 at 3 megapixelsHowever, it lacks the speed dSLR users--and even many snapshooters--are used toIf you're used to shooting fast, the S710's performance comes up shortOtherwise, it's a respectable high-end point-and-shoot that is a good option for those looking for lots of shooting flexibility in a pocket camera
The 6.5-ounce S710 is a compact 3.6 inches wide by 2.3 inches high by 1 inch thick, barely sliding under the line for our definition of ultracompactUp front is an optically stabilized, reasonably wide 3.6X f2.8-5.6 28-101mm lensThe design is boxier than I'm used to seeing from Nikon, but still very attractive, and it's available in the company's graphite black, deep red, and brilliant silver
In order to fit the 3-inch LCD on the back, Nikon had to keep the controls and the space between them to a minimumThe buttons are raised enough to make them easy to press and there's a directional pad/scroll wheel serving double dutyThe directional pad controls flash, macro mode, timer, and exposure compensationThe scroll wheel acts in conjunction with a virtual Mode dial called up when you press the Mode button, and lets you quickly navigate shooting and setup menus, adjust ISO, shutter speed, and aperture, and flip through photos in Playback modeThe Menu button below the wheel opens up mode-specific shooting options, while the Setup menu is located on the Mode dial--an old-fashioned touch for such a modern camera
The S710 offers Program, shutter-priority, aperture-priority, and manual modes, which Nikon previously only included on its Coolpix P-series cameras and dSLRsIn manual you can select shutter speed, aperture, and ISO onscreen without diving into a menu system, while the Menu system provides options for white balance (including a preset manual), metering, drive modes, color options, and autofocus and AF area modesThere is no manual focus, but there is a manual AF area mode
Of course, being a snapshot camera, it has a regular Auto mode in addition to its Scene mode with 11 scenes to choose from; a Scene auto selector that picks the most appropriate Scene mode depending on what you're shooting; high-speed continuous shooting at 3 megapixels; and Smile mode that continues shooting pictures when it detects smilesBecause of all these options, the camera is best suited for someone either already comfortable making adjustments, beginners looking to experiment, or a household with mixed user types, as the camera is flexibleAnyone looking for a simple pocket camera will likely find the array of choices confusing and a waste of money
The Nikon Coolpix S710 does take some nice photos; sharpness and detail were particularly good at ISO 100However, like many point-and-shoots, the lens tends to be sharp in the center and distorted around the edges, which results in softness on the sides and exacerbates the tendency for purple fringing in those areasAuto white-balance was typically warm, but was fine in generalColor quality was fine, too, but photos were occasionally underexposed(I was able to correct this using Nikon's D-Lighting feature in Playback mode.) Softness kicks in at ISO 200, but detail remains pretty good through ISO 400, so even in lower-light situations the S710 will produce some usable shotsBy ISO 800, though, noise gets bad enough that it actually changes the color of photos, and it gets worse as you increase sensitivityThe ISO 12,800 setting will capture an image, but there's so much noise that I don't even know that you could use the photos at a small size on the WebYou could, however, consider it an artistic effect to play around with in low-light conditions
None of the 14-megapixel cameras we've tested have been particularly fast performersIt is after all a fair amount of data that has to be stored to the SD/SDHC card memoryBut the Nikon is slow all aroundIts shutter lag in bright conditions is 0.6 and 0.8 in dim lighting--longer than we like, but not far from the competitionIts time to first shot is a lengthy 3.7 seconds, which then draws out to a full 4 seconds from shot to shotLuckily, that's so long that adding flash onto it only pushes the time to 4.1 secondsAt least burst speed is average at 1.1 frames per second
The S710 does have a basic movie-capture mode up to a 640x480 resolutionThe quality is OK, but it's disappointing to not find a 720p HD video option and, more importantly, that the optical zoom doesn't work while recording.