Nikon Coolpix S4

Reviewed October 2005

Characteristics

The S4's Nikkor zoom lens is composed of 12 elements in 9 groups. The zoom has a focal length of 6.3 to 63mm, the 35mm equivalent of a 38 to 380mm lens, and its apertures start at f3.5 and close down to f13.6. These apertures are combined with a shutter speed range that covers from 2 seconds to 1/1000 second. The lens is protected by a hinged lens cap that clips onto the lens trim. The lens cover opens like a door and can be moved back so that it is flat against the lens barrel. This design avoids having a tether, and should prevent the cap from getting lost.

With the Coolpix S4, images can be recorded using any one of four image sizes. However, only two compression ratios are available at the highest image resolution, all others offering a single ratio:

The Coolpix S4 is fully automatic, and the exposure metering is done using Nikon's TTL Matrix metering system that evaluates 256 segments of the frame to establish the exposure. There is no other metering pattern offered.

Overall, most settings are under the camera's control, particularly when the Scene modes are in use. Then, the menu is limited to an access to the setup options, the selection for image size and compression and of course, the access to the other Scene modes (see the Ergonomics section of the review for a list of the Scene modes offered).

With the Auto Shooting Mode, however, a few user-selectable functions can be chosen in the Recording menu:

• Setup: provides access to the Setup menu. (See the Interface and Software section of the review for more detail.)
• Image Mode: select the image resolution and quality (see above).
• White Balance provides 7 settings: Auto, White Balance Preset (to set the white balance under ambient light conditions), Daylight, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Cloudy, and Flash.
• Exposure Compensation: allows increasing or decreasing the brightness of the exposure over ±2 EV in 1/3 EV increments.

• Continuous:
  • Single: captures one image each time the shutter release is pressed.
  • Continuous: captures up to 8 images at 1.3 frames per second and at the 6M* image size and quality until the buffer is full.
  • Multi-Shot 16: captures sixteen 704 x 528 pixel images at approximately 1.3 frames per second and stores them contiguously into a single 2816 x 2112 pixel image (6M Normal).
  • Interval Timer Shooting: allows capturing images at a preset interval of 30 seconds, 1, 5, 10, 30 or 60 minutes, while either retaining the exposure parameters if desired for up to 1800 images, or until the memory card is full.
• BSS (Best Shot Selector) provides three options:
  • BSS Off.
  • BSS On: the camera captures up to 10 images while the shutter release is pressed, but only records the sharpest image — based on contrast — of those that were captured.
  • AE Exposure BSS: works as above, but offers the choice to record:
    • Highlight BSS: the picture with the smallest area of overexposure.
    • Shadow BSS: the picture with the smallest area of underexposure.
    • Histogram BSS: the image with the least over- or underexposure.
• Sensitivity decides the CCD sensitivity, and is only available with the Auto Shooting mode: 50, 100, 200, 400 ISO or Auto, which lets the camera choose the appropriate sensitivity between 50 and 200 ISO).
• Colour Options: Standard (default), Vivid (increases saturation), Black and White, Sepia (brown tone image), Cyanotype (blue tone image).

The other shooting mode of the Coolpix S4 is the Movie Mode, and its menu consists of 4 options:

• Setup: access to the setup options.
• Movie Options decides the type of movie to be recorded: TV Movie 640, Small Size 320, Smaller Size 160, or Time-Lapse Movie (see the Ergonomics section of the review for more details).
• Auto Focus Mode: Single (S-AF) or continuous (C-AF).
• Electronic VR: an electronic Vibration Reduction system that smoothes out camera shake electronically. (Not available for time-lapse movie mode.)

• Setup: as with the capture menu, this first option provides an access to the basic camera configuration menu. (See the Interface and Software section of the review for more details).
• Print Set: serves to select photos for printing on PictBridge compatible or DPOF-compatible devices.

• Slide Show: presents images in sequence, each staying on screen for 3 seconds. The slide show can be looped if desired, and the Multi selector can be used to skip to the next image or fast-forward the show.
• Delete: to erase one or all images in memory or those previously tagged for erasure.
• Protect: to prevent images from being accidentally deleted.
• Transfer Marking: to mark photos for automatic transfer when the camera is connected to a computer running Nikon's software.

• Small Pic is to create a small size copy of an image in any of three sizes: 640 x 480, 320 x 240, or 160 x 120 pixels.
• Copy: to copy all, or selected images from the internal memory to a memory card, or vice versa.

Three other functions are available when the Coolpix S4 is in Playback mode. First, a 20-second sound bite can be added to an image by pressing the shutter release while the image is displayed full-screen, and the recorded sound is played back the same way. Second, if the image has been magnified on the screen using the zoom control, the magnified section can be saved a new, smaller-size image. Third, as noted in the Ergonomics section of the review, the Multi selector can be pressed in (OK) to call up the D-Lighting function which serves to electronically brighten up the darker image areas.

Out of the box, the Coolpix S4 comes with a standard 13.5 MB of internal memory, and a memory card slot for SD memory cards. On the camera's right side, covered by a rigid spring-loaded plastic door is located the SD card slot, from which a card can be ejected by pressing on its edge.

The chart below provides the approximate number of photos that can be recorded using the internal memory, and an optional 1 GB SD card. Worth noting, however, the S4 only displays 999 when more than 1000 images can be stored on the card:

An AC adapter (EH-62B) is available as an option for the Coolpix S4. The adapter is inserted in the battery compartment, and its wire is let out through a small flexible plastic cover on the right side of the camera, allowing the compartment's door to be shut.

There is only a single external connection for the Coolpix S4, and it is located directly above the SD memory card compartment on the right side of the camera. The jack serves for both USB connection and AV Out, depending on the cable used, and both cables are included with the camera.

Similarly, the Video Out signal can be set to be either NTSC or PAL in the Setup menu (see the Interface and Software section of the review for more details on the content of the Setup menu).