Nikon Coolpix S3

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This probably came in too late since Nikon has already announced its new Coolpix S5 and Coolpix S6. But for those looking for a compact digital camera that's stylish and fashionable, the Coolpix S3 is still worth taking a second look.

Design
Measuring just 89.9 x 57.5 x 19.7mm, the S3 is considered compact. The girth of the shooter is no thicker than a typical leather wallet and small enough to fit into most pockets. However, there's also a high chance for users with larger digits to block the non-extending lens while taking pictures. Its aluminum body weighs 118g (without battery and memory card), making it extremely portable.

The Coolpix S3 comes in four different flavors (Ivory White, Matte Black, Brown Red and Platinum Silver). I found the Ivory White set to be especially attractive, which coincidentally reminded me of the critically acclaimed designs from the Apple iPods.

The Coolpix S3 comes with a 2.5-inch LCD screen and does away with a viewfinder. However, there is no option to remove the image data that blocked parts of our pictures on the screen during playback. The only alternative is to view the shots with the slideshow option which does not allow much flexibility in browsing. The time interval between each slide is predetermined and we weren't able to configure the settings.

In addition to its size and style, the Coolpix S3 proves to be very user-friendly with a gentle learning curve for amateur photographers.

The S3 comes with the standard set of buttons we see on previous iterations. The zoom lever is on the upper right-hand corner. Just below is a four-way controller that navigates the graphics user interface (GUI). There are three predefined shortcuts: A trigger to the left initiates the self-timer menu; hitting up cycles the various flash options; down activates the macro menu. There's still space for one more shortcut on the right, which is left unassigned.

Surrounding the controller are the Menu, Playback and Delete buttons, each serving their assigned purposes. Just above the base of the camera body is a three-way slider for photo capture mode, scene mode selection and video recording. We like the ease of use and simplicity of the layout.

Furthermore, the battery and memory cards are discreetly hidden on the sides and bottom of the camera, together with the slot for the Coolstation--a docking station for integrated and easy downloading of images, and recharging of the battery in the camera.

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