Nikon Coolpix S6

Reviewed May 2006

Introduction

The Nikon Coolpix S6 is dressed in a sand-textured metallic black body, highlighted by rich-looking chrome sides. The camera is flat on the back, but has a slight wave on the front to accommodate the internal 3X zoom.

The large 3.0-inch 230,000 pixel TFT LCD monitor of the S6 completely dominates the back of the camera, leaving only approximately 2.5 cm (1 inch) of space for the external controls, and a narrow thumb rest.

The other external controls are positioned on top of the Coolpix S6's thin top, starting with a tiny zoom control on the right, one of 3 controls on a chromed pod.

As is commonly the case, the zoom control not only controls the optical and digital zoom of the S6, but also serves to zoom into a part of an image in Playback (up to 10X), or to display captured photos as thumbnails — an index view — presenting either 4, 9, 16 or 25 images per screen.

In addition, the T side of the zoom control also serves to display short explanations for any of the options in the camera's menu options, or descriptions for each of the shooting modes.

Next is the 2-stage shutter release, an elongated button that barely protrudes above the camera's surface, and which locks both exposure and focus (AE/AF Lock) when pressed gently and maintained at mid-course. A small LED that glows green comes next, indicating that the camera is On, while the flush-mounted power switch is last on the pod.

The other control on top of the S6 is the one-touch portrait button , which is a direct access to the camera's face-priority AF, a Nikon feature that allows the camera to automatically detect a face, where ever it is in the frame, and focus on it. Moreover, the system applies "advanced red-eye reduction," which recognizes and eliminates the red-eye effect in the image.

In playback, the button serves to apply D-Lighting, , an in-camera process that corrects improperly exposed shots by brightening the darker areas of the image, potentially bringing out details.

Two rectangular buttons flank the small thumb rest at the top right of the S6's back:

	toggles back and forth between the capture modes and the playback mode. Furthermore, the button can be used to turn on the camera directly into the playback mode if held pressed for more than 3 seconds.
	is the Mode button providing access to the shooting modes or to the playback modes:

Pressing the Mode button displays a virtual dial on the monitor. The dial is controlled using the Rotary Multi selector (see further), which when spun also spins the on-screen Mode Dial. With the S6 set to the capture mode, a total of 9 positions are accessible.

The shooting modes start with the Auto mode, a fully automatic mode that still offers the user control over photographic settings such as exposure compensation, white balance, and sensitivity.

The next four positions on the Mode dial are dedicated to 4 Assisted Scene modes that provide assistance in the form of outlines or frames that appear as overlays on the monitor to help ensure that the subject is correctly positioned:

	Portrait Assist: uses a wide aperture to soften background details and produces a better result if the zoom is used. The framing assistance for the Portrait mode is in the form of various outlines for one or two people that can be used to position subjects in the frame and which provide focus zones for the camera.
	Landscape Assist: provides guidelines to align distant landscapes, or architecture, or groups of people posing in front of a subject on either the right or left.
	Sports Assist: offers three modes: Sports, which captures images at a rate of 2.2 frames per second until the camera displays an hourglass icon indicating that it is saving images. Sports Spectator, which works just like the Sports mode described above, but which limits the focus range of the camera to a distance of 4.5 m (15 ft) to infinity to minimize shutter lag. Sport Composite, which captures sixteen 400 x 300-pixel shots in about 2 seconds and stores them in a single 1600 x 1200-pixel frame.
	Night Portrait Assist: serves to capture portraits against dimly lit backgrounds or at night. The flash is set to red-eye reduction, and noise reduction is used. The frame assist functions are similar to those of the Portrait mode.

The next position on the dial is for the Voice Recording mode:

Voice Recording: allows the S6 to be used as a digital voice recorder, with a maximum recording time that is only limited by the space available on the memory card, or by the charge of the battery.

And the Movie mode:

Six movie capture modes are available with the Coolpix S6: TV Movie 640: captures a 640 x 480 pixel movie at 30 frames per second, with sound. Small Size 320: captures a 320 x 240 pixel movie at 15 frames per second, with sound. Small Size 320: captures a 320 x 240 pixel movie at 15 frames per second, with sound. Pictmotion 320: captures a 60-second, 320 x 240 pixel movie at 15 frames per second. Smaller Movie 160: captures a 160 x 120 pixel movie at 15 frames per second, with sound. Time Lapse Movie: captures up to 1800 images at a 640 x 480 frame size and at a selected time interval (30 seconds, 1, 5, 10, 30 or 60 minutes), which are then joined into a silent movie up to 60 seconds long. The length of movie recording depends on the capacity of the memory card in use. Focus can be AF-S (Autofocus Single), which locks the focus at the first frame, or AF-C (Autofocus Continuous), which adjusts the focus as the subjects move. White balance and zoom position are set at the first frame, but the exposure is adjusted as the recording progresses, and a 2X digital zoom is available.

The last position of the capture mode's Mode Dial is for the Wireless connection mode of the S6:

Wireless: makes it possible to connect the camera to a wireless network (IEEE 802.11b/g), or to a computer. For more information see the Characteristics section of the review.

As noted above, with the Coolpix S6 set to the Playback mode, the button displays a virtual dial of the playback modes:

Starts the standard Playback mode to review photos and movies.

Two other rectangular buttons follow, this time arranged side by side:

	Calls up the menu that is associated with the mode in use (Auto, Scene, Movie, or Playback).
	Presents a short menu superimposed on the monitor which offers th5e option of deleting the image currently under review.

The Rotary Multi selector is the last external control. The control can be used as a standard 4-direction control, but also can be rotated, to make selections, or even navigate menus and photos.

As with a number of other Nikon cameras, the control features an OK button at its centre. The button serves not only to confirm selections made in the menus, but to start the transfer of images to a computer when the S6 is connected through its Cool-Station cradle.

In addition, 3 of the 4 directions that can be selected with the Rotary Multi selector serve to access other functions when the camera is set to a capture mode:

	The up direction serves to choose the Flash Mode: Auto, Auto with Red-eye Reduction, Forced Off, Forced On, or Slow Synch.
	The left direction starts the 10 or 3 second Self-timer.
	Pressing the Multi selector down places the S6 into Macro Mode, making it possible for the lens to focus on a subject that is 4 cm (1.6 in.) from the front element of the lens.