Nikon Coolpix S10 review

The Coolpix S10 uses an unusual split-body design, allowing you to rotate the section with the lens separately from the main body.

As it swings through 270 degrees, it's ideal for taking shots above your head, or very close to the ground, since you can still see exactly where the lens is pointing.

The design isn't revolutionary - Nikon has made several similar cameras in the past. But unlike its ancestors, which only had 4x optical zooms, the S10 crams a huge 10x zoom lens into a body that measures just 113 x 37 x 74mm when the two sections are aligned. A 2.5in LCD takes centre stage on the rear, and has a high resolution so it's easy to see whether your shot is in focus or not. Even outdoors on a sunny day, the screen is just about bright enough, despite its reflective glossy finish.

Simple but effective

There aren't too many buttons, which makes the S10 easy to use. Click the Mode button and you can then use the 4-way joystick to choose shooting, movie, scene or voice recording modes. When you choose scene, the Menu button produces a list of 14 possibilities, including portrait, landscape, sports and night view. If you're feeling adventurous, you can also shoot a panorama or use the EV compensation mode to manually brighten or darken a scene.

On the lens portion of the body are two more buttons. The lower activates a face detection mode (which doesn't work too well) in shooting mode, and in playback mode enables 'D-lighting'. This brightens dark portions of images, and does a decent job. The VR button enables Vibration Reduction, which means you can take shots without a flash in low light, with a much reduced chance of them being blurry. It works well, even when you're zooming right in on your subject. Another blur-eliminating feature is the Best Shot Selector, which takes a series of up to ten photos as you keep your finger on the shutter, and only stores the sharpest one.

We do have a couple of gripes. When you're using maximum zoom, the S10 occasionally struggles to focus. And if you like to take control of your photography, the S10 lacks advanced features such as aperture and shutter priority modes; there are no metering modes to choose between, and no live histogram to check tone quality.

A clear picture

Start scrutinising the actual photos, and the Nikon stops losing and starts winning. It may only have a 6-megapixel sensor, but outdoor photos are stunning. Images are free from noise, super-sharp even at the corners, and with realistic - if muted - colours. Hold it steady, and it's capable of great close-ups using the zoom, too. Macro ability is excellent, allowing you to get within a few centimetres of an object. When shooting indoors, we only saw noise in the photos when light levels were very low. The flash tended to be too focused, leading to a darkening at the corners of images. Movies, though, are of good quality, and play smoothly at 640 x 480 pixels. Their length is only limited by the size of your SD memory card.

The superb continuous mode takes one photo per second until your memory card is full. Finally, an orientation sensor means that any shots you take in portrait (with the camera held sideways) are automatically rotated - one less job to do when you upload the images into the Picture Project 1.7 software. The included battery should last for around 300 shots before you'll need to pop it into the charger, and spares are readily available.

For £189, the S10 is great value. Not only does it take excellent photos in the majority of situations, but it's easy to use and much smaller than other cameras with a 10x zoom.

Author: Jim Martin