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Nikon CoolPix S4 Review conclusion |
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S4 Coolpix - Page 3/8
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Friday 28th October 2005
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Written by Dennis Hissink
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| Nikon Coolpix S4 Pre-set Scenes |
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Nikon Coolpix S4 PictBridge |
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| Nikon Coolpix S4 Pre-set Scenes |
Nikon Coolpix S4 PictBridge support |
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The main switch contains a scene selector in the center. This setting hides a large number of pre-set subjects, a voice recording and four so-called assist settings. At first this offer seems over the top but when you look into it, you will immediately recognise awkward situations in which you are still dying to make that perfect shot. But you don't always remember the correct settings for exposure and/or flash. The settings of the Nikon Coolpix S4 are automatically optimised on the basis of the selected subject. Very useful; it ensures a friendly use without requiring the knowledge of all sorts of exposure techniques. Software is gradually playing a bigger role in the Nikon digital camera. For example the composing-assistant. A useful tool to make a specific composition using some kind of template which is rendered on the monitor. It comes in really handy when making portraits of one person or more who are not positioned in the center of the image. Place the subject inside the template and the camera will only focus on the template. No excuse for focal mistakes anymore! The other subjects supported by the composing-assistant are landscape, sports and night portrait.
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Sometimes you would almost forget, but PictBridge support has become a worldwide standard in a short period of time. The Nikon Coolpix S4 digital camera too supports PictBridge. This extremely functional standard enables direct printing from the camera on a PictBridge compatible printer. Nowadays printers almost all support PictBridge. Connecting the Coolpix S4 camera to such a printer creates your own personal full photo lab. So it is possible to shoot photos with the Coolpix camera, connect it and print straight away, without the need for a computer or notebook. When the activated camera is connected to a printer a special PictBridge startup screen appears. Six photos in miniature sizes show up and through the multi-selector a choice can be made as to which image you want to print or you're allowed to select a few. You can select a single picture to be printed out or you can select to print a whole series of photos. Besides that you are able to decide the size of the print. There are many types of very compact printers (Direct printers) in the market, but also standard sized printers will make a fine combination together with the Nikon Coolpix S4. |
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| Lens cover |
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Secure Digital Card |
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10x optical zoom |
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| Nikon S4 Lens cover |
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Nikon S4 Secure Digital Memory Card |
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Nikon S4 10x optical zoom |
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Nikon invented the perfect solution to prevent the lens cover from getting lost. The lens cover can be opened and shut, while still attached to the camera. If you don't appreciate this solution or simply don't like the looks of it, you can plainly remove the lens cover. To be able to do that you have to open the cover, pull a little, turn the hinge, and pull the lens cover up and it will be removed. This offers a creative solution and in my opinion it's a better one than having a lens cover dangling on a cord.
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The internal memory of a mere 13.5MB is insufficient for taking a nice amount of images. The memory compartment is situated on the side of the Coolpix S4 camera. Slide the cover to the pointed out direction, open the compartment and insert the memory card the right way until a clear click is heard. It's important you remember to deactivate the camera before inserting or removing the card, at the time the red indicator is on. If you don't deactivate the camera first it might harm the stored data.
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The zoom button is found on top of the camera. The Coolpix S4 offers 10x optical zoom and 4x digital zoom reaching a total zoom range of 40x. Of course digital zoom stands for less quality but by the time you use this zoom you've already used the 10x optical zoom. At maximum zoom the zoom button has to be kept in T-mode for about two seconds to activate the digital zoom. A yellow coloured zoom indication appears that turns white again when the digital zoom is deactivated by zooming out again.
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| Camera Play mode |
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Capturing moving images |
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Play on T.V. |
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| Nikon S4 Play mode |
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Nikon S4 Video function |
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Nikon S4 Play on Television |
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When the camera is set to record mode, the pictures last captured can be directly viewed through the quick play button. Pushing the multi-selector to the right or down makes you look at the pictures in sequence and in the order they were captured in. Pressing the multi-selector to the left or up you will see the pictures appear last first. The photos get built up from a low resolution which means you can quickly scroll through them or you can wait until the image is built to the full resolution for the most beautiful reproduction.
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Besides photographing still images the Nikon S4 is also capable of capturing moving images. This video function is activated by the main switch. The S4 camera features four different video clip functions and captures movies (apart from interval movies) with sound and a frame rate of 15 frames per second. This is rather feeble; we'd expect at least 30fps. The resolution of the movies is 640x480 pixels. The Nikon S4 offers an electronic Vibration Reduction (VR) that corrects jitter while shooting a movie. This function is automatically disabled when making an interval movie.
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The Coolpix camera is standard delivered with an audio/video cable. It enables you to directly connect the camera onto a television and show the captured images on a large size screen. Sharing your special moments with family and friends on different occasions is a matter of taking the camera with you and connecting it as mentioned. The menu of the camera, the set-up menu lets you select between NTSC and PAL, after which you are ready to start the slide show.
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| USB interface |
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Recording sound |
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Buy Nikon Coolpix S4 |
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| Nikon S4 USB interface |
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Nikon S4 Audio support |
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Nikon S4 Check for lowest price |
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The side of the S4 carries a USB interface. This port enables connecting to a printer or a notebook. The Nikon Coolpix S4 has to be deactivated, start the computer and connect the delivered Nikon UC-E6 USB cable. The camera can now be connected directly onto the computer. It is not possible to connect the camera on a so-called USB-hub or through a keyboard equipped with a free USB interface. If however you use the SanDisk Ultra II SD Plus memory card, you may insert this card directly into a free USP port on the computer or the notebook and besides that it is also possible to use a card reader.
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Besides recording video clips and capturing still images the Coolpix S4 is also capable of recording sound. A small microphone is hiding on top of the camera. Minimum recording time is 10 seconds. During sound recording the monitor is deactivated. The internal memory is able to store some 29 minutes of sound. It's also possible to record a voice memo or to add a spoken comment to a captured and stored picture. The maximum recording time for a voice memo linked to a photo is around 20 seconds. A voice memo can take as much time as 5 hours, depending on the storage capacity of the Secure Digital memory card.
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You can support this website by buying the Nikon Coolpix S4 digital camera by one of our affiliated web shops. These recommended online camera stores offer you the best up-to-date retail prices today! You are also able to check out the user opinions from our readers or post your own userreview. So go out there and check for the lowest price and buy your own Nikon Coolpix S4 digital camera.
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Nikon CoolPix S4 |
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| Editor's conclusion: |
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| "The Nikon Coolpix S4 is a most pleasant camera to work with. The functional tilting lens offers a lot of freedom for capturing images from almost any angle. Personally I regret the Coolpix S4 camera not having more extensive possibilities like shutter priority and aperture priority. My wish probably stands from the memory I have of the 4500 and 996 models. The target group the Nikon S4 is aiming at will welcome this camera as a user-friendly digital camera. A small compact design with 10x optical zoom and a high resolution of 6 Megapixel offer the user high quality, a lot of freedom and what's more important, more user's convenience and easy. The built-in software that takes care of enhancing the composition or correcting the red eyes in-the-camera is especially functional. The Nikon Coolpix S4 has its own character and is, despite using an old concept, unique in today's digital camera market." |
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| Nikon Coolpix S4 unique in today's digital camera market |
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| < previous page - Nikon Coolpix S4 |
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