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Nikon 12 Megapixels Coolpix S3000 Review by CNET With Rating 6.2/10

2010-04-13 01:31 | S3000 Sales Ranking: #18 | Tag:  Nikon  CNET  Rating  Coolpix  Megapixels  | Source
Average Camera Review Rating [5 reviews]
On February 2 2010, Nikon have added four new Coolpix S-Series cameras to their lineup - the Nikon Coolpix S3000, Nikon Coolpix S4000, Nikon Coolpix S6000 and Nikon Coolpix S8000.

Successor to the S220, the Coolpix S3000 features a 12 Megapixels sensor with a 4x optical zoom lens at 27mm wide angle. The S3000 comes with a 2.7-inch LCD on which to frame and review images and movies. The camera supports ISO 3200 and a 4-way VR Image stabilization System. The COOLPIX S3000 is currently selling at around $130 and in a choice of vibrant colors, including plum, champagne silver, black, orange, green and blue. Here is the summary of a latest review by CNET UK, giving the camera a rating of 6.2 out of 10:

"Unfortunately, the S3000 just feels like a rehash of countless other Coolpix compact cameras. There's nothing new here apart from the styling and perhaps a couple of pieces of technology that may or may not make a difference to your pictures. The picture quality itself is alright, but only just. Considering the S3000 is a budget camera, the lens is quite sharp, but it's the processing that's the problem, as it so often is with small sensors. Even at ISO 80, finer textures, like grass or brickwork, begin to get smoothed over as the camera tries to decide what's noise and what's detail. You won't notice this in ordinary-sized prints, but you will if you blow them up to A4 size or larger. The colours are good, but the S3000 tends to overexpose when shooting into the light. Also, the autofocus system doesn't always work well with objects close to the camera -- you need to switch to the centre-spot focus mode to be sure of getting sharp results.

Nikon's 'smart portrait' options are technically interesting, but don't necessarily make people shots any easier to achieve. The 'smile timer' only fires the shutter when your subject smiles, and the 'blink-proof' feature tells you if your subject's eyes were closed when the shutter fired. You might wonder whether it isn't simpler to just take a picture in the normal way, check it quickly on the LCD display and shoot it again if you need to. These features are okay when they work, but also add an extra layer of complication. The same applies to the focus-tracking feature, which can follow a subject around the frame, but can take a moment or two to lock on initially. It can also lose contact if your subject turns or moves too quickly. You only get electronic 'vibration reduction' with this camera, too -- not optical stabilisation.

The Nikon Coolpix S3000 is a good little camera for the money. It's small, smart and practical, and the 4x wide-angle zoom is handy. But, technically, it's so similar to what's gone before that it's hard to get excited about. If your current camera's a few years old, it's worth a look, but, if you only bought one last year or the year before, the S3000 has nothing new to offer."

Nikon Coolpix S3000 Sample Photos on Flickr



Nikon Coolpix S3000 Camera Reviews Roundup

TrustedReviews: "The S3000's overall performance is somewhat uninspiring, but about average for a camera in this price category. It appears to start up in just under two seconds, but in fact it's nearer four seconds before it's ready to take a picture. In single-shot mode its shot-to-shot time is approximately 2.5 seconds, which isn't too bad, while in continuous mode it can manage a shot every 1.3 seconds, although there is no audi..." - Jul 31 2010 More »
TechRadar: "First impressions of the Nikon Coolpix S3000 are good, and the price is keen, but delve deeper and you notice a few drawbacks.We liked: This is a very smart and slim camera, and feels so light in the pocket that we kept mistaking it for our phone. As a cheap, well-made point and clicker, it delivers good results, and there are some handy features thrown, such as vibration reduction, motion detection and a..." - Jul 23 2010 More »
ePhotoZine: "The S3000 is a reasonably responsive camera which focuses quickly, especially when the face detection system is active. In low light conditions the orange AF assist light does a sterling job of helping the AF system to lock on as quickly as it can. The exposure system seems to cope pretty well with a wide variety of scenes, including ones of high contrast, although occasionally detail will be lost quite easily..." - Jul 13 2010 More »
CameraLabs: "The Nikon COOPIX S3000 is a quality point-and-shoot compact that will appeal to those who want a capable camera that offers some control over exposure (in the form of manual ISO sensitivity settings) but are more concerned about getting good quality pictures at an affordable price. To summarise its strengths, it takes excellent photos in good lighting conditions, has a very useable 4x optical zoom range with respect..." - May 30 2010 More »


Nikon Coolpix S3000 Camera Recent User Reviews

Worst purchase ever!!!!, Fatima - Aug 29 2010
I got one of these as my "party cam" to take around with me everywhere. The image quality is HORRIBLE unless you have a lot of light. Useless. I had a Canon Elph (5 MP) and Exilim (8 MP) before this one and both were WAY better. I wish I didn't cheap out and buy this useless camera. Instead, I should have spent a little bit more on a Canon....


Great litle camera for the price; perfect for my 10 yr old., N. Haraisa "Vegasmom" - Aug 23 2010
Has lots of features for a small camera. Not a lot of zoom ability, but there's some. Perfect camera for my daughter's use. Its a lot at first to figure out, but she loves it, and most of the time just uses it in auto mode. Nikon's Auto settings are really good, even for a small camera. But she's learned how to alter her flash and scene settings, and practices around the house in dif...


CoolPix, Grammy "Grammy" - Aug 22 2010
Had five similar Sony Cybershots prior to this purchase. The Cypershot is good, but the fifth one I purchased never made one good picture and I ditched it after a couple of months. I am a real estate appraiser and depend on my camera for good quiality pictures. I love the Cool Pix. It is easy to operate and takes excellent pictures....


all that glitters ain't gold, Renee Parker - Aug 21 2010
I bought this affordable camera to upgrade from my 10+ year old 5mp Canon P&S. I'm an artist who uses my camera mostly to take pictures of my work to sell online. My Canon had served me well, but I figured it was time to upgrade to a higher mp for the sake of image quality. I researched several cameras in the price range, then stumbled onto this one. It had some great reviews,...


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