Nikon Coolpix S4

Opinion: OK, the S4 for the price with the 10x zoom 6mp, & large 2.5 screen is a super value if you want to take long distances. I was in Africa in Sept 2006 on several game safaris and many of my "daytime" photos came out better than my friend's SLR, who had to lug the whole camera bag & lenses, etc. The downside is dusk/dawn type shots, even with the settings - although using photoshop afterwords brought serverl dark shots to life. It was very difficult to hold still for a slow shutter without geting some blurring. But, in all fairness, I did not take a tripod. I also like to take surfing photos after sessions here in California. It fits under my car seat, but I bought the S4 to put in my pocket or on belt strap for camping, hiking and general outdoor exploring. I LOVE the concealed lens and pivit ability. The menu is fairly easy to read with its written and illustrated icons. And the SD chip with AA batteries goes with my 2 other cameras.

Opinion: Construction: Good. v.good plastic, the camera is well designed, the not good thing is a piece of plastic added as a lens cover - it looks not professional and very cheap.
Features: For every day using is a perfect camera. Big choice of Scene modes combinated with other [rather poor] manual settings. THe camera have a really poor Manual.
Image quality: I was suprised, good colors, good sharpness, good image resolution, v.good macro mode ; bad noise on images <200ISO and problem with focusing in dark.
Easy of use: I didnt seen camera witch is so simple in use as a nikon coolpix s4, menu is very clear, switching on it with joystick is no problem. THe fastest camera I ever used to use.
VAlue for money: i dont know how to compare it ..because i live in Poland and here I have different values.

Opinion: this my second camera from nikon. First was 8700 and I really like that. I have owned my S4 for two weeks. It takes great pictures if you can manage through menus. Zoom and image size good for me.

Opinion: We just took our new S4 to Bali and were very impressed with it. The 10x zoom is great we didn't have a problem a getting clear pictures at full zoom under daylight conditions. Having the zoom internal to the camera is real plus if your traveling for long periods of time and dirt, dust and sand can't be avoided. The camera was affordable at $326.
It has a fast power up to first shot time. Shutter lag was not an issue and autofocus is faster than any camera we has so far. (cp 4500, minolta X20). Battery life with energizer rechagables was very good. (one set last for about 2 days of normal picture taking) Using AA's for this camera is a great plus. Thanks nikon for putting this affordable camera on the market and not using special batteries. The barn door camera lens is nice, nothing hanging by a string and we never forget to close it.

Opinion: Good Camera
Strengths: You can do with it all what u think you can do with it.

Summary: Everything is great, the auto mode is great, and the camera's mind of it's own is able to do things in good way, u don't have to think about so manythings to work out a good picture,

The scenes are more than great, i have a young daughter,she moves all time suddenly,i do the Macro mode to shoot her,fast shutter time, and inredible result with 10X zoom that you always get it focused,with very beautiful Quality,and it works in very poor light and able to focus using this little red lamp.

Other scenes are just superb,You simply love holding it, it doesn't feel bad holding it...you gonna love holding it and feel confidence of it in your hands.

the only problem i had is that i wasnt able at all to have a good night shot with 10X zoom,as i have to hold still the camera for about two seconds.

But the pictures at night are awesome, and you gonna love them.

Nikon...thank you

Opinion: This is my 3rd Nikon swivel digicam. I really liked my old CP990 and CP995, the swivel being extremely useful for a wide variety of shots. I also use a Canon G5 which has a screen that swivels, but it is not as easy or enjoyable to use as a real swivel. I've also got a Canon 10D and a few Minolta X series point-and-shooters.

So after a week of usage, here are my impressions of the S4:

-- Great to get back to a real swivel digicam. Once you've had a swivel you can't really go back.

-- Good battery life, AA compatibility a big plus for me.

-- Great price, I paid $325 total.

-- Excellent macro shots.

-- Good image quality. Not "great" quality but I didn't expect great from a $325 point-and-shoot.

-- Good colors, not overboosted like the Canon G5.

-- Very little purple fringing. Just about right sharpness. Very little noise compared to my old Nikon CP990/995.

-- Quick and reliable auto focus, doesn't hunt around as much as the Canon G5.

-- I like the sensor that tells the photo you just took was blurry, and asks you if you want to delete it. It also gives a shake warning prior to the shot.

-- Menus are easy to navigate.

-- 10X zoom is nice and works well in sunlight.

-- Big LCD is nice, makes framing shots easy and wows people when the see photos on it.

-- Built-in memory allows you to take some shots without a SD card (doesn't come with one!).

-- Movie function is easy and works pretty well. I didn't buy it to take movies, so 15fps is fine if I want a small movie clip for the web etc.

Overall:

I'm torn on this one, I really want to like the CP S4. It takes some nice shots, the swivel is so useful, and the price is great (remember paying $1000 for the old CP swivels?). But, it's not perfect, there are some pretty major faults, most notable being the hat switch and the lack of a place to grip the camera. Tough call, I'm keeping it because the price was so low and it fills a niche in my selection of cameras.

Opinion: I have had the CP S4 for two days now and am very satisfied with the picture quality and its general operation.

There are four things that bother me, three are small items which are:

When you use Portrait Verticle Orentation the flash comes from the bottom of the camera and gives a weird effect.

The second is you can not help getting finger prints on the monitor.

The third is you have to go to the menu in order to adjust exposure to make the picture brighter or darker, there is a free space on the right of the toggle switch, I wonder why they did not put it there.

The fourth and most disturbing is you can not see the image on the monitor on a sunny day. Here in Spain it is almost always sunny.

Nikon blew it when they left out the view finder.

It is because of this reason that I am sorry that I bought the camera and am going to put it up for sale at a loss.

Heere in Spain there is no such thing as returning foto equipment once you have left the store.

Opinion: Let's make it clear: I do not own S4. Yet I spent a couple of hours playing with it in shops and taking indoor pictures. Here are my findings.

The good:

1. A lens cap is superb.
2. Images at ISO400 are much better than in the Canon Ixus range (less noisy).

The bad:

1. The microphone is ill placed on top of the non-lens section and if you are shooting from above your head and the LCD section is tilted towards you, then the mike is actually facing backwards, to the detriment of the recorded sound! The mike should have rather been placed on the lens section.

2. LCD is highly reflective (almost like a mirror), which hinders visibility in bright sunlight.

3. LCD has too few pixels.

4. The multi-function joystick is a hit & miss disaster.

5. 15fps video was adequate 4-5 years ago, not now. Shame on you Nikon!

6. Since there is no OIS (optical image stabilization), the 10x zoom is useless, unless you have a tripod.

7. Flash is weak and causes a magenta cast on photos.

What a pity! Such a beatiful and ingenious concept ruined by a few serious design flaws. I will wait for S5.

Opinion: I was attracted to the S4 due to the swivel design and the 10x zoom. THis will be my 3rd Nikon and will be an additional camera to the household. We already have a Sony and Canon. The 10x zoom gives clear and bright pictures if you can stabilize yourself while taking pictures. It's too bad that vibration reduction option is only for capturing movies. I don't have a problem with the LCD in bright sun, unlike the other reviewers here. I find that pictures have a wee bit more noise than my Canon A80, but about on par with my Sony S60. The templates included in the scene modes are really helpful. The face priority in portrait scene setting really does work!