Nikon Coolpix S31 review

The 1/2.9in sensor is smaller than the 1/2.3in sensors used in most other compact cameras, and image quality was closer to that of a mobile phone than a dedicated camera. Details were pixel-sharp in the centre of frames but a little soft towards the edges, with chromatic aberrations giving halos of discolouration around high-contrast lines. Noise gave photos a slightly scruffy quality, and took a heavy toll in low light.

Details are a little scruffy – a tell-tale sign of noise – but high-contrast lines are nice and sharp here

Focus is sharper in the centre than at the edges, but it’s not a bad effort

This indoor shot with the flash suppressed reveals a lot of noise, although it’s not so noticeable after resizing to smaller dimensions

Ultimately, though, image quality was usually good enough for online sharing. The times when it failed were more often down to some odd exposure decisions rather than inherent limitations of the hardware. In most indoor shots the camera sensibly raised the ISO speed to 800 to minimise blur. However, on other occasions it used ISO 400 and shutter speeds as slow as half a second, resulting in heavy blur. We then switched the flash from Suppressed to Auto to minimise blur and noise, but the camera was sometimes reluctant to use the flash in gloomy conditions.

Flash-lit exposures are well judged – this is better than what we’d expect from a phone’s LED flash

However, for this shot (taken by our three-year-old tester) the camera hasn’t bothered to use the flash. The resulting ISO 800 sensitivity has produced a lot of noise

It would be easy to dismiss the S31 on account of its basic image quality and limited functions. However, we can’t think of a better camera at this price for primary school-aged children. The small sensor and lack of optical stabilisation means it misses out on an award, but it meets its target users’ needs well and is more than the sum of its parts.