Nikon Coolpix S4 review

The large, brightness-adjustable, 110,000-pixel LCD provides only 97 per cent of the actual field of view when composing images and 100 per cent during picture review. The screen was usable outdoors under all but the brightest conditions, and it offered an acceptable view indoors under dim illumination. We saw some ghosting, however.

Shooting speed in seconds
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Shutter lag (typical)

Time to first shot

Typical shot-to-shot time

Casio Exilim Pro EX-P600

0.3

2.7

1.8

HP Photosmart R717

0.3

3.2

2.0

Casio Exilim EX-Z110

0.6

1.7

1.8

Sanyo Xacti VPC-E6

0.7

2.0

2.3

Nikon Coolpix S4

0.8

2.5

2.8

Olympus FE-120

1.3

4.9

2.6

Image quality
The Nikon Coolpix S4's overall image quality was good for a compact 6-megapixel camera. It produced even exposures and was not easily deluded by backlighting, whether or not we were using the D-lighting option. Digital cameras inevitably show blown highlights, but the S4 did better than most in this department, rendering detail in shadows and fluffy clouds within the same photograph. Chromatic aberrations were worst at the extreme telephoto end of the scale; cyan fringing was the most notable problem.

Unfortunately, the Nikon Coolpix S4 produced photos with visibly noisy shadow areas at settings as low as ISO 50. The camera lacks built-in noise reduction

The combination of preflash and in-camera red-eye scavenging did a virtually perfect job, despite the flash's proximity to the lens. Our flash shots of humans showed white catchlights in the eyes and no trace of red pupils.

Edited by Lori Grunin
Additional editing by Nick Hide