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S600 |
Nikon Coolpix S600 Review |
Review
Date: March 24, 2008 |
Category: Point-and-Shoot
HANDLING & FEEL
The Nikon Coolpix S600 is an ultra-compact and light digital camera with an all-metal body that feels solid and well-built. It is quite attractive and is slim enough
to slip into a jeans pocket or small fashion handbag. Measuring 88.5 x 53 x 22.5
mm (3.5 x 2.1 x 0.9 in.), it is exactly the size of a credit card, only 22.5 mm thicker.
The Nikon S600 does not have a handgrip (or even "finger grip") and can sometimes be slippery, so the use of the wrist strap is a good idea.
I like the large rectangular shutter release button and the cool Rotary Multi Selector. Be forewarned that the other controls are on the small side. I have no problems using them but you might want to do a hands-on check if you have large hands and fingers. For example, the OK button in the middle of the Rotary Multi Selector requires finger tip operation. Thankfully, instead of pressing the OK button, you can press the RIGHT ARROW in many cases, which is much easier.
Nikon claims a startup time of only 0.7 sec. That's fast! Press the Power ON button and the lens extends about 18mm and the image appears on the LCD screen -- all in less than 1 sec on my stopwatch.
Shot to shot time
is about 2.2 sec. (I took 7 shots in approx.
15 sec.) There is no practical shutter
lag. Autofocus is very fast in good lighting conditions though it can sometimes
take about 2 sec. in low-light; it is however precise,
so you do lock focus.
| STYLE |
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Colours: overall slate black with chrome accents (I believe a silver model is also available in some countries) |
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Looks: fashionable, stylish |
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| FEEL |
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Well designed, comfortable enough to hold |
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Controls on the small side |
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| DIMENSIONS &
WEIGHT |
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Ultra Compact: fits in a Jeans pocket or small fashion purse |
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Dimensions: Approx. 88.5 x 53 x 22.5
mm (3.5 x 2.1 x 0.9 in.) excluding projections |
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Weight: Approx. 130 g (4.4 oz.) without
battery and SD memory card |
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Takes 1 Li-ion battery EN-EL10 3.7V
740mAh |
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| SPEED OF OPERATION |
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Startup speed with lens extending
about 18 mm (0.75 in.) and LCD turning
on in less than 1 sec. Camera ready to take pictures in about 2 sec. |
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Shot to shot time about 2.2 sec. |
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No practical shutter lag. |
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The Terminal compartment is on the top right side
of the camera (viewed from the back) with a small
rubber "door".
Controls
The top of the camera has (from right to left)
the large rectangular Shutter Release Button and the recessed Power ON/OFF button. The 3 holes are for the built-in microphone and the 5 holes to the far left are for the speaker.
Back View & Virtual Mode Dial
All other controls are found on the back of the
camera, to
the right of the large 2.7-in. (230K dots)
LCD screen. I appreciate that the camera designer took pains to leave a clear area for where your thumb rests.
There is no Mode Dial but the Mode button together with the Rotary multi selector serve that purpose. Press the Mode button to bring up a virtual Mode Dial on screen, then use the Rotary multi selector to select an option: Shooting mode, High Sensitivity, Scene mode, Voice recording, Movie and Set up.
You can record 10 min. movie clips (with sound) @ 640x480
at 30fps until the memory card is full. You have a choice of
Single AF (focus locks once movie recording
starts) or Full-time AF (camera continuously adjusts
focus during movie recording, so focusing
sound will also get recorded).
If you just
want to view your pics without turning the camera
on (i.e. extending the lens), simply press and hold the Playback button
for about 3 sec. and Playback will start without
the lens extending; when you're done, press the
Power button to turn the camera off.
When in Playback mode, the Delete button will
delete the displayed picture; to Delete All, you
need to access the Menu.
On the bottom far left of the camera is the hard plastic tripod socket. On the bottom right side is the Battery
/ SD Card Compartment. There is a small latch
to secure the battery from falling when the door
is opened. Whether you will be able to change
battery and card while the camera is mounted on
a tripod will depend on the type tripod you use.
LCD & Menus
The Nikon S600 has no viewfinder but has a large 2.7 in. LCD monitor that is bright with 230,000 dots and with a
fast enough refresh rate for a smooth display.
It has an anti-glare coating that helps in bright sunlight and a wide viewing angle.
You can manually adjust the LCD monitor's brightness
in SETUP [5 levels, with Level 3 considered normal brightness].
When in Shooting mode, you can quickly boost the LCD brightness ("Monitor brightness Boost" feature) to the maximum Level 5 by simply holding the Playback button down for about 2 sec. This is quite handy when it's very sunny outdoors and you need a brighter monitor to fight the glare.
The LCD monitor gains up well in low-light (but not in extreme low-light) to make it possible to see and compose in somewhat dark conditions. There
is an effective AF-assist Illuminator to help
achieve focus in low-light.
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SHOOTING MODE
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SETUP MODE
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MOVIE MODE
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VOICE RECORDING MODE
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SCENE MODE
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HIGH SENSITIVITY MODE
- ISO 100-2000 |
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SHOOTING MENU 1 of 2
- Image mode
- White balance
- Metering
- Continuous
- ISO sensitivity |
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SHOOTING MENU 2 of 2
- Color options
- AF area mode
- Autofocus mode |
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SHOOTING MENU ICONS
- All 8 Shooting Menu options summarized on a single
page of icons
- ? Help (Tele
button) will display a short help description |
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IMAGE MODE 1 of 2
- 10M*: High (3648*)
- 10M: Normal (3648)
- 7M: Normal (3072)
- 5M: Normal (2592)
- 3M: Normal (2048) |
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IMAGE MODE 2 of 2
- PC screen (1024)
- TV screen (640) |
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WHITE BALANCE 1 of 2
- Auto
- Preset manual
- Daylight
- Incandescent
- Fluorescent |
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WHITE BALANCE 2 of 2
- Cloudy
- Flash
- You can immediately see the effect on the LCD screen |
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METERING
- Matrix
- Center-weighted |
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CONTINUOUS
- Single
- Continuous
- BSS |
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ISO 1 of 2
- Auto (100-800)
- 100
- 200
- 400
- 800 |
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ISO 2 of 2
- 1600
- 3200
- Note: Hi-ISO (available from the Virtual Mode Dial) limits ISO to 2000 |
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COLOR OPTIONS 1 of 2
- Standard color
- Vivid color
- Black-and-white
- Sepia
- Cyanotype |
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COLOR OPTIONS 2 of 2
- Pastel |
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AF AREA MODE
- Face priority: focuses on up to 5 faces
- Auto: leave it to the camera to select
an AF area to focus on
- Manual: select from 99 AF areas
- Center: camera always focuses on center
AF area |
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AF AREA MODE - 99 FOCUS AREAS
- When Manual AF area mode is selected,
pressing the MENU/OK button allows you to
position the Af area at one of 99 possible
positions on screen
- Note that the area of the screen outside
the four marked corners (i.e. edges of screen)
cannot be selected |
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AF MODE
- Single AF
- Full-time AF |
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SHUTTER SPEED & APERTURE
- Note that the Sshutter Speed and Aperture are displayed only when you half-press the shutter release button |
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PROGRAM AUTO
- Clockwise from top left: Programmed Auto
Shooting mode, Macro ON, Flash OFF,
VR, Image mode 10M*, space left for 771 images, ISO 400, Self-timer 2 sec., Vivid color, Preset WB |
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SETUP 1 of 3
- Menus
- Welcome screen
- Date
- Monitor settings
- Date imprint |
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SETUP 2 of 3
- Vibration reduction: turn this ON to enable
image stabilization; choose OFF when camera
is placed on a tripod
- AF assist: AF-assist lamp lights to enable
focus lock in poor lighting
- Digital zoom
- Sound settings
- Auto off |
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SETUP 3 of 3
- Format card
- Language
- Video mode
- Reset all
- Firmware version |
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SETUP MENU ICONS
- All 15 Menu options summarized on a single
page of icons
- Note: on all Menu screens, ? Help (Tele
button) will display a short help description |
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MENUS
- Text
- Icons |
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WELCOME SCREEN
- None
- COOLPIX
- Select an image |
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MONITOR SETTINGS
- Photo info
- Brightness |
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PHOTO INFO
- Show info
- Auto info
- Hide info |
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DATE IMPRINT 1 of 2
- Off
- Date
- Date and time |
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DATE IMPRINT 2 of 2
- Date is permanently imprinted on picture |
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VIBRATION REDUCTION
- On
- Off |
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SOUND SETTINGS
- Button sound
- Shutter sound |
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AUTO OFF
- 30 sec.
- 1 min.
- 5 min.
- 30 min. |
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LANGUAGE
- 23 different languages
- Czech, Danish, German, English, Spanish, Greek, French, Indonesian, Italian, Hungarian, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Finnish, Swedish, Turkish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai |
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FIRMWARE VERSION
- Ver. 1.0 |
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MOVIE MENU
- Movie options
- Auto-focus mode (focus sound will be recorded) |
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MOVIE MENU ICONS
- Movie options
- Auto-focus mode (focus sound will be recorded) |
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MOVIE OPTIONS
- TV Movie 640 [640x480 @ 30fps]
- Small size 320 [320x240 @ 30fps]
- 10 min. clips |
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MOVIE
- Movie Mode, FLash Off, VR On, TV Movie 640 [640x480 @ 30fps], 10 min. clips, Auto ISO |
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VOICE RECORDING
- Max. rec. time depends on the capacity of the memory card used
- Press shutter release button to start/stop recording |
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SCENE MODES 1 of 3
- Active child
- Portrait
- Landscape
- Sports
- Night portrait |
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SCENE MODES 2 of 3
- Party/indoor
- Beach/snow
- Sunset
- Dusk/dawn
- Night landscape |
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SCENE MODES 3 of 3
- Close up
- Museum
- Copy
- Back light |
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SCENE MODES ICONS
- 14 Scene Modes summarized on a single
page of icons |
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PLAYBACK MENU 1 of 2
- D-Lighting
- Print set
- Slide show (movies excepted)
- Delete
- Protect |
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PLAYBACK MENU 2 of 2
- Rotate image
- Small pic.
- Copy |
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PLAYBACK MENU ICONS
- All 8 options summarized on a single
page of icons |
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D-LIGHTING
- Enhances contrast and brightness in dark
areas |
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HELP
- Toggle the Zoom control to T to bring
up Help whenever a ? is displayed on screen |
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PLAYBACK
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FLASH
- Auto
- Auto with red-eye reduction
- Flash off
- Forced flash (Fill-in flash)
- Slow sync (flash used to illuminate foreground, slow shutter speed used to expose dim background) |
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EXPOSURE COMPENSATION
- Press Exp. Comp. (Right Arrow) and rotate
Rotary multi selector to select a value
- +/- 2 EV in 0.3EV increments
- The effect is seen on screen |
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MACRO
- On
- Off |
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SELF-TIMER
- Off
- 10 s
- 2 s |
The Nikon Coolpix S600 is an attractive
and easy-to-use point-and-shoot digital camera. Its compact form and flush design makes it easy to carry in a trousers pocket, available at any moment to capture a photo. Careful attention to design and intuitive operation make the Coolpix S600 a fun digital camera to use.
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