The Nikon Coolpix SQ catches
the eye because of its unusual square design, and the way the
lens and flash section rotates 120° towards the front and
90° towards the back.
The Coolpix SQ is covered in a metal alloy on all sides and is perfectly
square, measuring 82 x 82 x 25.5 mm (3.2 x 3.2 x 1 in.)
zoom
lens and the flash, the right side the Mode Dial,
the On/Off switch and the shutter release.
The Mode Dial has 5 positions:
Auto: Point and shoot
mode.
Scene Modes: offers
15 scene modes (see the Characteristics section of the
review).
Manual Mode: allows
control over focus, white balance, burst mode, metering.
Movie Mode: captures
movies with sound up to 40 seconds in length.
Setup: is to configure
the Coolpix SQ.
The Coolpix SQ has no optical viewfinder and instead provides a 1.5
inch transflective LCD monitor with 117,600 pixels that remains quite
visible, even in direct sunlight. All the other controls of the Coolpix
SQ are arranged around 3 sides of the monitor:
Starts the playback mode, even
when the Coolpix SQ is turned off if the button is held
in for more than 2 seconds.
In Playback, the wide angle
side of the zoom control can be used to show thumbnails
( an index) of the photos that are on the camera.
While also in Playback, the
telephoto side magnifies an image displayed on the screen
(up to 6X).
The Multi selector is next, positioned to the right of the
monitor. The Multi selector not only serves to navigate the CoolPix
SQ's menus, it is also used to select the focus point, and to
move around an image that has been magnified on the monitor.
Last, three other buttons are aligned under the monitor:
overlays a 2-option menu on the monitor from which
the Macro mode (minimum focus distance of 4cm/1.6 in.) or
the Self-timer (3 or 10 seconds) can be selected.
In Playback, the same button serves to delete
unwanted images or sound recordings.
The second button controls both the Exposure
Compensation and the Flash modes. The exposure
compensation overlay menu is displayed when the button
is held down and either the Up or Down arrows
of the Multi selector are pressed. Exposures can
be compensated over ±2EV in 0.3EV increments.
Flash modes are displayed by simply pressing
the button. Four flash modes are offered: Auto, Auto
with Red-eye Reduction, Flash Cancel (forced off),
and Anytime Flash (fill-flash).
In Playback this button serves to select
the photos that will be transferred automatically to the
computer. Pictures are marked for transfer either one at
a time while displayed on the screen, or selected when
thumbnails are shown.
The third button calls up the menu that
corresponds to the mode selected with the Mode Dial.
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Introduction
