The interface of the Coolpix
S10 is simple and clear. Information, when displayed, is organized
on the periphery of the image, which avoids any interference
with framing shots. Short menus for some of the functions
controlled by the Multi-Selector are superimposed on the monitor,
making it quick to change settings.
Similarly, the Coolpix S10's menus are very legible. Moreover,
the interface offers help on any of the menu options when
the zoom control is pressed to the
side, which displays short contextual explanations about the
currently highlighted option. Whatever the menu, the first
option displayed is an access to the Setup menu, and
the basic settings it controls:
Shooting Menu/Play Menu: returns to the previous
menu, either shooting or playback.
Menus: decides whether menus are presented in text
format, or icon format, which fits on a single screen.
Welcome Screen serves to choose the image displayed
when the camera is turned on:
Disable Welcome
Nikon's Coolpix logo
An animation of the Coolpix logo
An image already stored in memory.
Date: serves to set the date and time on the Coolpix
S10. A sub-option, Time Zone, serves to select a
Home and Travel destination time zone and turn on or off
Daylight Savings time.
Monitor Settings controls how and what information
is superimposed on the monitor:
Photo Info decides the level of information
displayed:
Show Info shows some of the current camera
settings constantly.
Auto Info shows some of the camera settings
for 5 seconds, then clears the screen.
Hide Info only shows the capture mode in
use.
Framing Grid displays a composition grid
constantly as well as the current camera settings
for 5 seconds.
Brightness: allows adjusting the brightness
of the monitor over 5 steps.
Date Imprint: serves to set whether the date and
time at which the image was captured is permanently superimposed
on the image. The options available are: Off (default),
Date, Date and Time, and Date Counter, which shows the number
of days between the shot date and a pre-set date.
AF Assist: controls the functioning of the AF
assist lamp, which comes on when the ambient light is insufficient
for the AF system to operate reliably (Auto or Off).
Sound Settings controls the sounds produced by
the camera for:
Button Sound
Shutter Sound
Start-up Sound
Record Orientation: (Auto or Off). Set to the default,
Auto, the orientation of the camera is recorded along with
the image, allowing the camera or a computer running Nikon's
software to display the image the right way up in playback.
Auto Off serves to set the length of time after
which the camera will enter sleep mode when it is On but
unused: 30 seconds (default), 1, 5 or 30 minutesor
Off.
Format Memory/Format Card(depends on whether
a memory card is in use or not): serves to format a
memory card or the internal memory.
Language decides the interface language: Czech,
Danish, German, English, Spanish, French, Indonesian, Italian,
Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Finnish,
Swedish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese,
Korean, Thai.
Interface contains three sub-options:
USB serves to set the USB protocol: PTP, to
connect to a PictBridge compatible printer; or Mass
Storage, to connect to a computer.
Video Mode Serves to set the AV out signal:
NTSC or PAL.
Auto Transfer: On or Off. The default is On,
which marks all images for automatic transfer when the
camera is connected to a computer running Nikon's software
and the
button is pressed.
Reset: restores all the camera settings to their
default values.
Firmware Version displays the version number of
the firmware currently running the camera. (In the case
of the camera tested here, version 1.0.)
The Coolpix S10 is retailed with two printed manuals: a short
reference manual which provides a quick way of getting started
with the camera, and a more in-depth manual that explains
in detail, and clearly, the functions of the S10 and its modes.
Software
Two CDs are supplied with the Coolpix S10 in North America.
One contains PictureProject 1.7 and its Reference
Manual in PDF (Adobe Acrobat) format, in a variety of
languages.
Picture Project presents images as a film strip at
the top of the viewing window, with the currently selected
image in a larger size below, while the right side of the
program's window displays all the capture parameters for the
selected image.
The left side of the program's window is reserved for tools
to import images into the program, be it from folders on a
hard disk, or a memory card in a reader, or even from the
camera when it is connected to the computer.
Picture Project has a limited number of image editing tools,
but with it some image editing is possible for brightness,
colour and sharpness, and all changes are immediately visible
on screen.
In addition, images can be converted to black and white or
sepia and the red-eye effect can be eliminated, and the D-Lighting
process found on the camera can be applied to images with
shadow areas that are too dark.
As it does on the camera, the D-Lighting
process brings out detail from the shadow areas of an image
without affecting those areas that are correctly exposed.
Panorama Maker 3.5 is also supplied to assemble series
of images captured with the Panorama Assist mode, making it
possible to create a single nearly seamless panoramic image
from the series.
Finally, QuickTime 7 is also supplied to view the
movies captured with the Coolpix S10.
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Interface & Software
side, which displays short contextual explanations about the
currently highlighted option. Whatever the menu, the first
option displayed is an access to the Setup menu, and
the basic settings it controls:
button is pressed.
