hbj200's Full Review: Nikon COOLPIX S1 Digital Camera
Nikon is the last of the Japanese digital camera makers to come out with a ultra-slim (less than 0.8 inches thin) digital camera, and Nikon has apparently taken many a page from its competitors' playbooks and come out with a deliciously good camera.
Before I continue with my review, let me point out that there's a jet black version available which simply looks much better than this silver version. If possible, I recommend you get the black S1. You'll surely impress everyone on your block.
Despite being a small and light -- and pocketable -- camera, the S1 takes surprisingly good pictures. Of course, it's unreasonable to expect the kind of quality you can get on a Nikon D70 SLR or Coolpix 8800 "bridge" camera, because these latter models are bigger and therefore have a larger lens (very important for great optical quality) and a larger sensor (important for better color accuracy and lower noise), but I can say that the S1 has the best picture quality in its class, even bettering the great models from Canon (SD400, SD500, etc.) In normal lighting, S1's pictures are sharp and very accurate in color. This latter is very important for getting eye-pleasing photos. Even indoors, the S1 does a decent job; since the lack of light always makes photography difficult, the S1 is better than most. BTW, when indoors, using a camera's built-in flash always results in harsh-looking pictures where the background is dark and ugly. Instead, try mounting the camera on a tripod -- the S1 has a tripod mount -- and taking a picture without the flash. The picture you get will be much more pleasing to the eye.
In short, the S1 is a trustworthy performer when it comes to picture quality -- once again, with the necessary caveat that you don't compare this with a D70 d-SLR. I've seen thousands and thousands of digital images, on screen and on paper, and I'm pretty impressed with the S1's image quality. I simply don't think you'll find another ultra-slim camera that can take better pictures than this.
Nikon has put in a lot of effort -- and marketing -- in creating in-camera software editing, such as in-camera red-eye reduction and the new D-lighting (which lightens up dark shadows and darkens blown highlights). Both of these are done during playback.
What amazes me is Nikon's exclusive "face-priority" autofocus (AF) mode when shooting: it can automatically identify the faces in a picture and focus and expose on the closest or centerist face. This is truly AMAZING and works very well -- provided the lighting is not too shabby, or the facial skin tone not too dark. This works especially well in restaurants. You know the drill: you gather your friends at the dining table for a picture, and lo and behold, all too often the camera focuses on the white table cloth in the background or that giant Coors neon sign in the back instead of your faces. Nikon S1's face-priority comes to rescue. The only caveat is indoors, it doesn't seem to work as well as outdoors when lighting is aplenty.
The S1 does not have an optical viewfinder, so for framing you rely on the 2.5" LCD screen. The screen is bright and covers 97% of the shooting frame, but its 110,000 pixel resolution is only average. This pales in comparison the 230,000 pixel count on the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T7's 2.5" LCD. The Sony's LCD is also brighter, but the Nikon S1's is not shabby at all and compares favorably to the LCD on most ultra-compact cameras.
What else can I say? You get 3x optical zoom (equivalent to 35mm-105mm focal range in 35mm format), a LiIon battery that's about average in performance (the king in this department is the Casio Exilim EX-Z55/Z57 series), and a cradle which you need in order to transfer pictures. (I myself use a USB card reader that takes the SD card.) Speaking of this, the Nikon S1 kit does not come with an SD card, but the camera itself has 12MB of internal memory, which isn't a lot at all.
Supposedly the "S" in S1 stands for style, and Nikon has definitely created a very stylish and very desirable ultra-slim digital camera -- especially in the black-body version. But great looks are not the only thing the new S1 has; its picture quality is simply the best in its increasingly crowded class. Finally, you can impress your friends and speed-dating dates with a camera that not only looks good and goes into your pocket, but flatters your subjects as well.
Finally, some quick advice: 1) be sure to hold the camera very steady when pressing the shutter; fuzzy pictures from handshaking is the No. 1 complaint with these tiny cameras; 2) don't let your left hand block the lens; 3) protect the huge LCD screen well; 4) there's a new model called "S2" that's coming out which you might want to investigate before deciding (I think the S1 looks much better).
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 380 This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Easy Enough for Anyone to Use
5-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality 13 x 17-inch prints 3x optical zoom with Zoom-Nikkor lens; 2.5-inch LCD display Exclusive Nik...More at Amazon Marketplace
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