Nikon Coolpix S4

Performance
The Nikon Coolpix S4's performance results were pretty average. It took 2.5 seconds to awake from its slumber and capture an initial shot. Thereafter, it could snap images every 2.8 seconds, slowing to a lethargic 5.6 seconds with the flash. The camera maintains a continuous-shooting speed of 1.1fps, whether at full resolution or at a low resolution of 640 x 480 pixels. However, at full resolution, the S4 could grab just six shots before its buffer filled, while shooting a virtually unlimited number of frames at low resolution. We snapped 66 photos in 60 seconds before shutter-finger fatigue set in.

Shutter lag was middling at 0.8 second under high-contrast lighting, and the red focus-assist light helped this Nikon maintain a similar pace under more challenging low-contrast conditions: We clocked a lag time of 0.9 second.

The large, brightness-adjustable, 110,000-pixel LCD provides only 97 percent of the actual field of view when composing images and 100 percent during picture review. The screen was usable outdoors under all but the brightest conditions, and it offered an acceptable view indoors under dim illumination. We saw some ghosting, however.

Image Quality

	Unfortunately, the Nikon Coolpix S4 produced some of the noisier photos we've seen lately, with visibly noisy shadow areas at settings as low as ISO 50. The camera lacks built-in noise reduction.

The Nikon Coolpix S4's overall image quality was good for a compact 6-megapixel camera. It produced even exposures and was not easily deluded by backlighting, whether or not we were using the D-lighting option. Digital cameras inevitably show blown highlights, but the S4 did better than most in this department, rendering detail in shadows and fluffy clouds within the same photograph. Chromatic aberrations were worst at the extreme telephoto end of the scale; cyan fringing was the most notable problem.

The combination of preflash and in-camera red-eye scavenging did a virtually perfect job, despite the flash's proximity to the lens. Our flash shots of humans showed white catchlights in the eyes and no trace of red pupils.

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