Nikon Coolpix S10

Reviewed January 2007

Image Quality

While this camera's basic characteristics are similar to those of the S4 — a 6-megapixel CCD, a 10X optical zoom and a 2.5-inch LCD monitor — the S10 adds some important improvements: a monitor with twice the resolution, and an optical stabilization system called VR for Vibration Reduction.

The VR stabilization system is very effective. It makes it possible to obtain sharp images with the camera handheld when the zoom is at its maximum magnification, and with shutter speeds that are less than what would normally be necessary to ensure a shake-free image.

The Nikkor zoom has a focal length equivalent to a 38 to 380 mm in 35 mm, a range that offers a great deal of freedom when framing a shot, and which allows closing in on a small section of a subject and excluding other parts.

As with many other long zooms, wide angle shots reveal a slightly soft image sharpness. Past the widest angle setting of the zoom, however, sharpness increases and remains consistent right through to the telephoto end.

Some photos captured with the wide angle end of the zoom also exhibit some barrel distortion when the subject is relatively close, and when there are vertical elements imaged near the edges of the frame (doors, walls, etc). This phenomenon is most noticeable with macro shots, but as part of the zoom range can be used, it is possible to avoid the widest angle. At other focal lengths, no particular distortion is visible, and it is only when the zoom is at the maximum telephoto that a slight chromatic aberration can sometimes be observed in images.

The Coolpix S10's Matrix metering is very reliable, and delivers excellent exposures under a wide variety of lighting and conditions. The Matrix system divides the scene to be photographed into 256 segments, and then compares the results to database of compositions to produce the most appropriate camera settings to capture the image.

Similarly, the S10 reproduces colours faithfully and avoids any excessive over-saturation. This is particularly valuable with portraits as skin tones are usually perfectly reproduced. Worth noting, the Coolpix S10 is even equipped with a face recognition system that is activated with the One-Touch Portrait button, ensuring that the camera focuses accurately on the subject of the portrait.

Still, under relatively low light, and even with the help of the AF Assist lamp, the Coolpix S10's autofocus can be a bit slow, or even have difficulty in focusing.

From 50 to 100 ISO, any noise recorded in the image is very limited and can only be found in shadows. At 200 ISO, noise starts to become visible in areas of solid colour, even when the image is captured under good light. At 400 and 800 ISO, noise is readily visible, limiting the usefulness of the higher sensitivities.

With flash photography, the default settings of the S10 allow the camera to capture reasonably well-lit images as long as the subject is not too distant. Boosting the effectiveness of the flash to allow for more distant subjects to be well-lit, however, is best achieved by increasing flash exposure compensation, as allowing sensitivity to increase will lead to noisier photos.

As with some other Nikon compact cameras, the Coolpix S10 only offers a choice of compression level at the highest image size, when the camera is set to 6M*.

Still, this image quality applies a compression in the range of 8:1, a compression level that is traditionally associated with an average compression, designed to offer a compromise between image quality and file size. While that level of compression engenders a slight loss in the finer details of images, it still retains a reasonably good overall sharpness, and avoids the loss of colour nuances. Nevertheless, it is regrettable that the image quality choices that used to be a standard on older Nikon cameras are no longer offered.