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S$560
Product Summary
7.2
out of 10View score
The bad: Lack of a built-in browser prevents you from being able to access most free public Wi-Fi access points
The bottom line: While it takes good pictures and it's nice to be able to access private Wi-Fi access points, the lack of a browser keeps this camera from rising to the next level.
Read full review of the Nikon Coolpix S50c »
Average User Rating
CNET Asia Review
Performance
To Nikon's credit, the S50c's wireless functioned flawlessly when we used it with a wireless router. Set up was simple, and fairly quick, on the camera. After we sent our first picture e-mail, we got an e-mail from CoolPix Connect 2 that prompted us to complete our registration at Nikon's Web site, where we input the camera's key (found in the wireless portion of the setup menu) and we were ready to go.
In our lab tests, the S50c turned in sluggish results. It took 3.9 seconds to start up and capture its first JPEG. Subsequent JPEGs took 2.4 seconds between shots with the flash turned off and 2.5 seconds between shots with the flash turned on. Shutter lag measured 0.9 second in our high-contrast test, which mimics bright shooting conditions, and 2.1 seconds in our low-contrast test, which mimics dim shooting conditions. In continuous shooting mode, we were able to capture 7.2-megapixel JPEGs at an average of 1.39 frames per second, or VGA-sized JPEGs at an average of 1.68 fps.
| Typical continuous-shooting speed (frames per second) (Longer bars indicate better performance) |
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| Shooting speed (Shorter bars indicate better performance) |
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Image Quality
Image quality was good, but not outstanding, for an ultra-compact. Colours were generally accurate and the camera's automatic white balance system did a decent job of neutralising colours under incandescent lighting, though our test shots retained a very slight yellowish cast.
Of course, some people prefer this, since it retains a hint that you weren't shooting in daylight. The camera's tungsten and fluorescent settings did a good job with their respective light sources, and the manual white balance turned in the most neutral results of all. Images from the S50c weren't the sharpest we've seen, but they still have plenty of fine details and we were pleased to find only very minor coloured fringing.
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At the camera's lowest sensitivity of ISO we saw almost no noise, but at ISO 200 noise crept in slightly, manifesting as tiny white specks, but it was only really viewable on monitors and not in prints. At ISO 400, noise grew and included some larger off-colour speckles. While Nikon's noise reduction algorithms smooth it out some, it still has a minor appearance in some prints.
At ISO 800, noise obscures a large amount of finer detail when viewing on monitors and a significant amount of shadow detail is lost, though smaller prints should still be passable.
Overall, the S50c is a very nice ultracompact camera, though its wireless capabilities could be more useful. Since Nikon offers the S50, which is basically the exact same camera without the wireless, you're probably better off saving some money and opting for that, unless you think you'll get a really big kick out of uploading images through your home wireless router.
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