Introduction
The Nikon Coolpix S4300 is some extent and shoot digital compact digital camera. It has a 16 megapixel sensor, 6x optical zoom, 720p films and a 3 inch LCD touch-screen. Designed for the pleased snappers, the S4300 has straightforward to make use of performance and is available in a wide range of engaging colors. Priced at £99.99 / $169.95, the Nikon Coolpix S4300 is obtainable in purple, black, silver and white.
Ease of Use
Slotting properly in to the line-up of new digital compact cameras from Nikon is the Coolpix S4300. It is a slim, color coded, straightforward to make use of mannequin that appears like it can enchantment to the pleased snapping technology in addition to households searching for one thing cheerful to maintain the youngsters wanting on the digital camera when on vacation.
The entrance of the Nikon Coolpix S4300 includes a 6x optical zoom lens that begins at 26mm and stops at 156mm. At both aspect of the lens barrel is the slim flash and AF emitter. To the uninitiated, the AF emitter is that purple mild that shines simply earlier than an image is taken. It can solely do it when the sunshine circumstances are darkish as a result of the digital camera’s focusing system must see distinction to concentrate on. The sunshine supplies it with out affecting your sight too a lot. The Nikon Coolpix S4300’s physique is barely 20.8mm thick which is nice for slipping right into a pocket for fast level and capturing.
On the highest, the digital camera has two buttons. The small energy button is sunk into the physique and has a small ring of sunshine round it so you do not by chance use that and switch the digital camera off as an alternative. The bigger shutter launch button has a small colored circle on high so as to add to the colour-coding and the zoom rocker wrapped round.
Because of the touch-screen that options prominently on the again of the Nikon Coolpix S430, it has made different buttons redundant. Due to this fact, there’s solely three accessible for direct video recording, switching to playback and switching again to capturing. In all equity, all three buttons could possibly be put onto the display as nicely to permit both a much bigger digital camera or a smaller physique. Though the playback button will lead on to reviewing photographs even with the digital camera powered down. That would not be doable if the button was on the display.
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| Entrance | Rear |
The contact display is laid out with a standard sense strategy. The underside of the display options 4 buttons that may be tapped to drill into additional options. If the display is left alone for a brief whereas, the buttons will disappear and a small show button will seem. It is a bit like going into standby mode. Tapping the show button will carry the buttons and shoot data again on the display and all of it reverts to regular. Leaving it additional will flip the display off earlier than the Nikon Coolpix S4300 assumes you forgot to swap it off and powers itself down.
Alongside the underside are the flash choices, self-timer, macro and publicity compensation. Within the center is a drop down tab button for the principle menu. This permits for additional manipulation of the digital camera’s capabilities. Decision, ISO, White-balance and drive modes are all right here alongside video choices, sound controls and a touch-screen menu. The yellow spanner sits alone in a inexperienced menu as a beacon that it does one thing extra. It goes into the Set-up menu which is the core space of the digital camera’s controls. In right here you’ll be able to change and edit easy procedures such because the welcome display all the way in which to extra in-depth choices reminiscent of movement detection or firmware updates.
Urgent the inexperienced digital camera button subsequent to the display will do two issues: In playback it can take you again to the capturing display and in capturing mode it can open up the artistic menu. In right here you get to decide on the mode that the digital camera will shoot in. There’s Auto, Scenes, Particular Results or Good Portrait to select from. None of those options are something that we have not seen on a compact digital camera earlier than. The Particular Results tab has options reminiscent of Delicate, Sepia, Excessive or Low distinction and Selective Color. The latter means that you can select a color that you want to hold within the image whereas the digital camera drains the remaining away.
The construct high quality of the Nikon Coolpix S430 is what you’d anticipate from a digital camera at this worth level. It is okay however do not anticipate technological advances. And even that a lot steel. The again part of the digital camera is plastic, as is the tripod bush. The battery door is a straightforward flip out and spring open sort. There is not any lock on it however as with all digital camera that holds its personal battery, it has an inner lock to retain the battery when the door is opened.
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| Entrance | Prime |
The reminiscence card bay sits subsequent to the battery and the S4300 will settle for SD playing cards as much as and together with SDXC. There’s additionally an inner reminiscence which is able to maintain round 8 photos on the highest high quality. The lens is a regular Nikon lens. There aren’t any particular components to cut back flare, ghosting or chromatic aberration. The check outcomes will probably be fascinating to see how the digital camera copes with that.
Nikon have tried to make the menu system as straightforward to make use of as doable and it is a truthful go. Other than the Scene button which is not a part of the touch-screen UI and the foremost capturing choices on the principle display, all of the menu choices are crammed into the principle button on the backside. The downside you might have is should you’re new to both images or Nikon as a firm. They use icons to find out what every button does and so they’re not all the time labelled to make them apparent. It is necessary due to the market place of the digital camera being aimed toward is rookies or novices. There are some that are merely widespread sense however choices such because the Pores and skin Softening is a smiley face in a sq. head with stars in two of the corners. The extent of softening is displayed beneath as an alternative of the identify of the mode which might assist extra.
The ability button could possibly be unresponsive in order that you do not by chance flip the Nikon Coolpix S4300 off when taking an image. We simply discovered it annoying. What makes us suppose that it is not on a delay is that the playback button does the identical factor. It could possibly be for the identical motive but it surely’s an uncomfortably very long time that you must wait. Nonetheless, from begin as much as taking an image, the digital camera manages it in 2.6 seconds. In steady mode, the digital camera took 10 photos within the ten second timeframe averaging 1fps (body per second). The primary three photographs begin off quick however as the buffer fills, the digital camera slows down.
You possibly can see the photos you have already taken by urgent the Playback button beneath the capturing button subsequent to the display. It is recognised by the blue arrow in a sq. which has been the common playback icon for many years. Photos will be reviewed with out switching the digital camera on by holding down the Playback button till it involves life. This avoids the lens being out and getting scratched whereas it isn’t in use. You possibly can edit your photos in digital camera should you’re not too adept at Photoshop or you do not personal a pc.
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| Reminiscence Card Slot | Battery Compartment |
Within the menu display whereas in Playback, press the button that has an image of a sq. with a brush on it and you’ll open up the Retouch menu. There are eight choices together with Fast Retouch (does a basic total retouch of the image), D-Lighting (boosts mild in shadows and caps burn out within the highlights to provide a extra balanced publicity. The display will break up to point out a earlier than and after impact), Stretch, Perspective management (to compensate for perspective distortion. It tries to appropriate it as a lot as doable), Filter Results (Color choices, Delicate focus; much like a candy spot, Selective Color, Cross Display screen, Fish Eye, Miniature Impact and Portray), Glamour Retouch for portraits, Small Image (resizing) and Rotate.
On high of the Playback display is a drop down tab that has a star on it. This can be a score menu so you’ll be able to price every image when it comes to significance or favourites. You possibly can then seek for photos with a sure score.
Accompanying the Nikon Coolpix S4300 within the field is a Fast Begin Information, CD which has the total guide. Notably, there would not seem like an image viewer included on the software program. Usually Nikon will embody ViewNX. It is fascinating that they’ve left it out on the S4300. The charger comes away from the cable which is a USB. This implies you’ll be able to cost the digital camera from the pc if you wish to. This feature will be turned off within the Most important Menu though we will not consider a motive why you’d need to. It is helpful for travelling photographers who will not should take the charging unit round with them, simply plug the digital camera into a pc at an web cafe, add your photos and cost the digital camera when you do.
Picture High quality
All the pattern photographs on this Evaluation had been taken utilizing the 16 megapixel Excessive JPEG setting, which supplies a median picture measurement of round 6Mb.
Picture high quality on the Nikon Coolpix S4300 is a little bit of a combined bag. On the one hand, the photos we took had been sharp and vibrant with out an excessive amount of saturation. The exposures are usually good even when they do not appear to be it on the display. Nonetheless, then again, the digital camera has a comparatively low dynamic vary that means that highlights are likely to burn out with a view to retain shadow. Or shadows go black to take care of highlights reminiscent of sky. Noise can be a large concern on the Nikon.
Noise
In our noise check, we discovered that ISO 80 produces nice photos which are clean, detailed and noise free. Being a low ISO setting, it is uncommon that you will get to make use of it on a regular basis until you additionally incorporate flash in low mild conditions. In truth, you could possibly get away with knocking it as much as ISO 100 should you wished to as a result of the outcomes are nonetheless good. It improves publicity by round 1/3 of a cease. Picture high quality begins failing even at ISO 200 which is an actual disgrace. Wanting on the photos at a standard viewing distance, you’ll be able to’t see a change however at full magnification, salt and pepper noise has began to point out itself and annoy the darker areas of the photographs.
ISO 400 sees noise begin to get aggressive and infect mid-tones leaving yellowy orange blobs behind. Edge definition nonetheless is not too dangerous at this stage although. These issues progressively worsen all through the levels till ISO 1600 the place large purple blobs of color stain the image. It seems to be like a 3 yr previous has painted on the {photograph}. Edges begin to break up at this stage too. In a determined bid to retain picture high quality, the ISO 3200 setting reduces it is picture measurement. By doing this, it makes use of much less pixels which generate much less warmth and reduces a sure sort of noise. It is one much less factor for the noise discount software program to combat. Color has additionally been drained from the image to attempt to cut back the quantity of color noise within the image. Sadly all the picture then has to undergo.
Focal Vary
The Nikon Coolpix S4300’s 6x zoom lens affords a flexible focal vary, as demonstrated by the examples under.
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File High quality
The Nikon Coolpix S4300 has 2 totally different picture high quality settings accessible, with Excessive being the very best high quality possibility. Listed here are some 100% crops which present the standard of the varied choices, with the file measurement proven in brackets.
| 16M Excessive (6.54Mb) (100% Crop) | 16M Regular (3.62Mb) (100% Crop) |
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Sharpening
As we mentioned earlier than the photographs produced are sharp and once we added a primary sharpening to them in Adobe Photoshop CS4 it made little distinction. Actually, though we did see a small distinction, you will not have to do it usually.
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Chromatic Aberrations
The lenses used on the S4300 are commonplace Nikon lenses designed for the digital compact cameras. They haven’t any ED glass or chroma defeating know-how. Regardless of this, we solely discovered small traces of chromatic aberration. We needed to look fairly onerous and it is solely noticeable within the edges of the body.
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Macro
The Nikon Coolpix S4300 has a macro shut focusing vary of 5cm on the widest setting. Centre body sharpness is nice though the image does begin to get fuzzy in the direction of the sides. That is to be anticipated although, so it is no main detriment to the digital camera.
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Flash
The flash on the S4300 works nice with the digital camera. With the flash turned off, we could not discover any traces of vignetting and when turning it on, there was little modified when it comes to publicity. The flash leaves a balanced blanket of sunshine over the entire picture which is simply what is critical.
We did discover traces of red-eye in our checks however we’re happy that the red-eye discount system managed to thwart it.
Night time
For the most effective evening shot outcomes, use a tripod and shoot at ISO 80. In our check, we discovered that taking pictures like this prevented digital camera shake and gave the most effective image high quality. In the event you had been to make use of the evening scene mode, the ISO ramps up and the picture high quality drops. That is to not say photos are good in Auto. Actually, noise remains to be an issue even at ISO 80 however that is most likely all the way down to the longer publicity.
D-Lighting
Whereas the Nikon Coolpix S4300 would not supply the Energetic D-lighting performance of the producer’s DSLRs, it does supply D-lighting as a post-capture possibility. The examples under exhibit what a distinction it will possibly make when capturing a high-contrast scene.
| D-Lighting On | |
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Pattern Photos
This can be a choice of pattern photographs from the Nikon Coolpix S4300 digital camera, which had been all taken utilizing the 16 megapixel Excessive JPEG setting. The thumbnails under hyperlink to the full-sized variations, which haven’t been altered in any means.
Pattern Film & Video
This can be a pattern film on the high quality setting of 1280×720 at 30 frames per second. Please notice that this 29 second film is 111Mb in measurement.
Product Photos
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Entrance of the Digital camera |
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Entrance of the Digital camera / Lens Prolonged |
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Isometric View |
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Isometric View |
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Rear of the Digital camera |
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Rear of the Digital camera / Picture Displayed |
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Rear of the Digital camera / Turned On |
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Rear of the Digital camera / Filter Results Menu |
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Rear of the Digital camera / Most important Menu |
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Rear of the Digital camera / Setup Menu |
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Rear of the Digital camera / Capturing Menu |
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Prime of the Digital camera |
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Aspect of the Digital camera |
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Aspect of the Digital camera |
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Entrance of the Digital camera |
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Entrance of the Digital camera |
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Reminiscence Card Slot |
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Battery Compartment |
Conclusion
The Nikon Coolpix S4300 is a straightforward level and shoot digital camera that does what it is required to do. It information events for households and would not break the financial institution doing it. It seems to be good sufficient and the person interface is simple sufficient to know. The touchscreen is not as responsive as we would like however we’re used to sensible telephones today. We discovered the easiest way to get probably the most out of the display is to make use of a pointy ended implement reminiscent of a touch-screen pen or a finger nail. Aside from that, the S4300 is kind of nicely constructed with out successful any awards. Primarily, it will do its job however do not be lackadaisical when taking care of it. The plastic components aren’t as shock absorbent as a steel physique.
We’re intrigued by the dearth of ViewNX on the CD software program. It seems to be as if Nikon might have been performing some analysis and came upon that individuals utilizing this sort of digital camera will not view photos on a pc. In that case it is wasted software program. Nikon do not depart stuff out on function so it absolutely wasn’t a mistake.
Picture high quality on the Nikon Coolpix S4300 is slightly up and down. Colors are recorded nicely and publicity is fairly good. Dynamic vary is not excellent however the digital camera does have D-Lighting within the modifying part of playback. It appears higher at pulling element out of shadows so it could be greatest to reveal for the lighter areas and use D-Lighting to compensate the shadows after. Noise is an actual downside on the S4300. In our managed mild checks, we discovered that noise began to get annoying at round ISO 400 though it is truly current sooner than that. We have not seen noise assault fairly so onerous shortly so it was a little bit of a shock to search out this on a Nikon.
The price of the Nikon Coolpix S4300 is slightly below £100 / $160. That is not a nasty worth for what you get when it comes to zoom and physique measurement. The price and usefulness of the USB charging will make it a super possibility for a youthful particular person going to College or travelling on a spot yr. It can additionally curiosity households happening vacation, particularly the bigger reminiscence card possibility and Eye-fi importing.
In the event you want an inexpensive digital camera with an honest zoom that appears good have a take into consideration the place you may use the Nikon Coolpix S4300. This digital camera wants loads of mild to provide you good photos. Will you be on vacation within the sunshine, on nights out the place you may use flash? If that’s the case then the S4300 will definitely match the invoice.
| Rankings (out of 5) | |
|---|---|
| Design | 3.5 |
| Options | 3.5 |
| Ease-of-use | 4 |
| Picture high quality | 3.5 |
| Worth for cash | 4.5 |
Evaluation Roundup
Opinions of the Nikon Coolpix S4300 from across the net.
The Nikon Coolpix S4300 is a style-driven 16MP compact that sits throughout the center of the expansive Nikon Coolpix vary and retails for round £100. Given the low worth and the ever-present styling it’s tempting to imagine that the S4300 is simply one other middle-of-the-road pocket compact. Nearer inspection, nonetheless, reveals an eye catching function set that would make cameras costing twice as a lot blush.
Learn the total overview »
At first look the S4300 seems a lot the identical as many different S-range Coolpix members: a slim, good-looking physique, mixed with a minimal styling and accessible in a alternative of finishes. Additional exploration, nonetheless, reveals a powerful set of specs that would not be amiss on fashions twice its worth
Learn the total overview »
The Nikon Coolpix S4300 is a good alternative for anybody who needs at hand over the duty of selecting the most effective settings for any shot to the digital camera. If you would like to show your self extra about images by studying the controls over time, you would possibly discover it limiting.
Learn the total overview »
Specs
| Product identify | COOLPIX S4300 |
| Sort | Compact digital digital camera |
| Efficient pixels | 16.0 million |
| Picture sensor | 1/2.3-in. sort CCD; approx. 16.44 million whole pixels |
| Lens | 6x optical zoom, NIKKOR lens |
| Focal size | 4.6-27.6mm (angle of view equal to that of 26-156 mm lens in 35mm [135] format) |
| f/-number | f/3.5-6.5 |
| Building | 5 components in 5 teams |
| Digital zoom | As much as 4x (angle of view equal to that of approx. 624 mm lens in 35mm [135] format) |
| Vibration discount | Lens shift |
| Autofocus (AF) | Distinction-detect AF |
| Focus vary (from lens) | [W]: Approx. 50 cm (1 ft 8 in.) to infinity, [T]: Approx. 1.0m (3 ft 4 in.) to infinity Macro mode: Approx. 5 cm (2 in.) (wide-angle place) to infinity |
| Focus-area choice | Face precedence, auto (9-area automated choice), heart, guide (focus space will be chosen utilizing the contact panel), topic monitoring |
| Monitor | 7.5-cm (3-in.), approx. 460k-dot, TFT LCD (contact panel) with antireflection coating and 5-level brightness adjustment |
| Body protection (capturing mode) | Approx. 98% horizontal and 98% vertical (in comparison with precise image) |
| Body protection (playback mode) | Approx. 100% horizontal and 100% vertical (in comparison with precise image) |
| Media | Inside reminiscence (approx. 74 MB), SD/SDHC/SDXC reminiscence card |
| File system | DCF, Exif 2.3, and DPOF compliant |
| File codecs | Nonetheless photos: JPEG Sound recordsdata (Voice Memo): WAV Motion pictures: AVI (Movement-JPEG compliant) |
| Picture measurement (pixels) | 16M (Excessive) [4608 x 3456(fine)] 16M [4608 x 3456] 8M [3264 x 2448] 4M [2272 x 1704] 2M [1600 x 1200] VGA [640 x 480] 16:9 [4608 x 2592] |
| Capturing Modes | Auto, Scene (Scene auto selector, Portrait, Panorama, Sports activities, Night time portrait, Occasion/indoor, Seashore, Snow, Sundown, Nightfall/daybreak, Night time panorama, Shut-up, Meals, Museum, Fireworks present, Black and white copy, Draw, Backlighting, Panorama help, Pet portrait), Particular results, Good portrait |
| Steady Capturing | Single (default setting), Steady (As much as 6 photos at about 1.3 fps), BSS (Greatest Shot Selector), Multi-shot 16 |
| Film | HD 720p (default setting): 1280 x 720/approx. 30 fps, VGA: 640 x 480/approx. 30 fps, QVGA: 320 x 240/approx. 30 fps |
| ISO sensitivity (Commonplace output sensitivity) | ISO 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200 Auto (auto achieve from ISO 80 to 1600) Fastened vary auto (ISO 80 to 400, 80 to 800) |
| Metering | 256-segment matrix, center-weighted (digital zoom lower than 2x), spot (digital zoom 2x or extra) |
| Publicity management | Programmed auto publicity with movement detection and publicity compensation (-2.0 to +2.0 EV in steps of 1/3 EV) |
| Shutter | Mechanical and charge-coupled digital shutter |
| Pace | 1/2000-1 s 4 s (Fireworks present scene mode) |
| Aperture | Electronically-controlled ND filter (-3.3 AV) choice |
| Vary | 2 steps (f/3.5 and f/11.5 [W]) |
| Self-timer | Could be chosen from 10 s and a pair of s |
| Vary (approx.) (ISO sensitivity: Auto) | [W]: 0.5 to 4.5 m (1 ft 8 in. to 14 ft) [T]: 0.5 to 2.4 m (1 ft 8 in. to 7 ft 10 in.) |
| Flash management | TTL auto flash with monitor preflashes |
| Interface | Hello-Pace USB |
| Information Switch Protocol | MTP, PTP |
| Video output | Could be chosen from NTSC and PAL |
| I/O terminal | Audio/video (A/V) output; digital I/O (USB) |
| Supported languages | Arabic, Chinese language (Simplified and Conventional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (European and Brazilian), Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese |
| Energy sources | One Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL19 (included) AC Adapter EH-62G (accessible individually) |
| Charging time | Approx. 2 hours and half-hour (when utilizing Charging AC Adapter EH-69P and when no cost stays) |
| Battery life (EN-EL19) | Nonetheless photos*: Approx. 180 pictures Motion pictures: Approx. 1 h 15 min (HD 720p (1280×720)). (Every film is restricted to a file measurement of two GB and a film size of 29 minutes, even when there’s enough free area on the reminiscence card for longer recording.) * Until in any other case said, all figures are for a digital camera with a fully-charged Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL19 operated at an ambient temperature of 25°C (77°F). |
| Tripod socket | 1/4 (ISO 1222) |
| Dimensions (W x H x D) | Approx. 95.5 x 58.9 x 20.8 mm (3.8 x 2.4 x 0.9 in.) (excluding projections) |
| Weight | Approx. 139 g (5.0 oz) (together with battery and SD reminiscence card) |
| Temperature | 0°C to 40°C (32°F to 104°F) |
| Humidity | Lower than 85% (no condensation) |
| Provided equipment | Digital camera Strap, Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL19 (with battery case), Stylus TP-1, Charging AC Adapter EH-69P, USB Cable UC-E6, Audio Video Cable EG-CP14, ViewNX 2 Installer CD, Reference Guide CD |
| Optionally available equipment | Battery Charger MH-66, AC Adapter EH-62G |
