Mobility Digest Review: Nikon COOLPIX S570 Camera

Geeks has got many refurbished cameras for sale, and they’ve sent me a fairly decent one over for review, the Nikon Coolpix S570.  It’s from Nikon so from the start you pretty much know it’s going to be a quality product, they’re a very well known company. The camera is a pocket camera, very small but yet it’s full of features that most anyone will appreciate.

Author: Kristofer Brozio

Vendor: Geeks.com

Price: $89.99

Overall Rating: 4/5

Nikon COOLPIX S570 12MP 5x Optical/4x Digital Zoom HD Camera

Stay in style, this Nikon COOLPIX S570 digital camera makes it easy!

This Nikon COOLPIX digital camera features 12 Megapixels for stunning prints as large as 16 x 20-inches! Relive moments and view your pictures on the large and bright 2.7-inch TFT LCD display.

The 5x wide-angle optical zoom-NIKKOR glass lens lets you zoom in on all the action. With the COOLPIX S570 you can make movies with sound with great image quality!

Capturing stunning images is a no-brainer. Its Subject Tracking feature will track a moving subject to ensure sharp focus. The camera will automatically track your subject – even if they, temporarily, move out of the frame! The Scene Auto Selector automatically recognizes the scene in your picture and adjusts the camera setting!

With high ISO 3200 you can capture fast moving images with ease. Record movies at up to 30 fps as this camera supports AVI Motion JPEG file format. Playback movies on your TV for all to enjoy! This camera features 47 MB internal memory and can be easily expanded via the SD and SDHC memory card slot.

General Features:
– Sleek black design
– 12 MP Effective pixels
– 2.7-inch TFT LCD display with anti-glare coating and brightness adjustment
– Image Sensor: CCD
– Sensor Size: 1/2.3-inch
– Total Pixels: 12.39 million (approximate)
– 5x wide-angle optical zoom-NIKKOR glass lens
– 4x Digital zoom
– Video output NTSC/PAL
– Vibration Reduction
– Internal Memory: 47 MB
– Storage Media: Secure Digital (SD)/Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC)
– Image Stabilization: Hybrid – Combination lens shift VR and digital processing
– Battery: Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL10 (3.7V 1050 mAh 3.9 Wh)
– Tripod socket

4-way VR Image Stabilization System:
– Electronic VR Image Stabilization minimizes the effect of camera shake
– Motion Detection automatically detects moving subjects and adjusts shutter speed and the ISO setting to compensate for camera shake and subject movement
– High ISO up to 3200 capability helps give you sharper results when shooting in low light or capturing fast-moving subjects. ISO 3200 is available at full resolution
– Nikon’s original Best Shot Selector (BSS) automatically takes up to 10 shots while the shutter is pressed and saves the sharpest image

Nikon’s Smart Portrait System:
– New Skin Softening smoothes skin tone at three different levels for optimal portraits.
– Smile Timer, Blink Proof and Blink Warning makes sure you’ll always catch the decisive moment when your subject smiles and Blink Proof function shoots two pictures and automatically saves the one in which the subject’s eyes remain open. Blink Warning, when activated alerts you that the subject may have blinked and allows you to retake the photo.
– In-Camera Red-Eye Fix automatically fixes, while shooting, most instances of red-eye in the camera. You may never see red-eye again!
– Face-Priority AF Nikon’s face-finding technology automatically focuses on up to 12 faces.
– D-Lighting rescues dark or backlit images by improving brightness and detail where needed.

Movie Features:
– Movie file format: AVI Motion JPEG compliant
– Audio: Mono (WAV)
– Standard TV: 640 x 480 / 30 fps
– Small Size: 320 x 240 / 30 fps

Focus Range:
– Wide: Approx. 1 ft. 6 in. (45 cm.) to infinity
– Telephoto: Approx. 2 ft. 4 in. (70 cm.) to infinity
– Macro close-up mode: Approx. 1.2 in. (3 cm.) to infinity

Image Size:
– 4000 x 3000 (12M)
– 3264 x 2448 (8M)
– 2592 x 1944 (5M)
– 2048 x 1536 (3M)
– 1024 x 768 (PC)
– 640 x 480 (TV)
– 3968 x 2232 (16:9)

ISO Sensitivity:
– 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200
– Auto (auto gain ISO 80-1600)
– Fixed range auto (ISO 80-400, 80-800)

Unit Dimensions: 2.4 x 3.8x 0.8-inches (H x W x D, approximate)

What’s in the Box?

The Coolpix is refurbished so it comes in a plain white box:

When you open up the box you’ll find plenty. Inside is a charger, power cable, battery, manuals, CDs, USB cable and an A/V cable.

Here’s the A/V Cable and battery and charger. The battery is tiny, but the charger is rather large.

The Coolpix I got for review is black in color. On the front you’ll see the sensor, flash and the lens of course.

On the back you’ll find a very large LCD screen, it takes up most of the camera really. There you’ll find four buttons for scene, play, menu and trash or delete. There’s also a directional pad that has buttons as well and a button in the center for OK.

On the top is the shutter button with the zoom slider around it and the power button.

On the bottom is the tripod hole and battery compartment where the SD card also goes.

On the right side is the wrist strap attachment and the UBS port.

Impressions / Review:

Well let me start with the things I don’t like about this camera.

The first thing is the Coolpix is slow at processing pictures, we’re talking at least 5 seconds before you can take the next picture. I turned off the image preview and that didn’t do anything to shorten the time.

The next issue is the lack of optical viewfinder, not that big of a deal really. I’ve come to find that most cameras these days don’t have them, it’s sad but it’s become a common thing with cameras.

The next issue is with the zoom knob, it’s really touchy, it takes quite a bit to get accustomed to honestly. I found that just pressing it gently makes it zoom in or out farther than I wanted to.

The LCD screen is nice and big but it’s not quite clear, it’s sort of fuzzy honestly. Most LCD displays show a decent representation of the picture being taken and the one that was took. The LCD here looks quite a bit different than the actual picture.

So that’s the main issues I’ve got with the camera. The Coolpix comes with a rechargeable battery that lasts a long time, I got a few hundred pictures on one charge. I was surprised as it’s a very small battery and from my experience they’re not that great usually.

One thing I do very much like about this camera is the ability to turn off the digital zoom. I don’t like digital zoom at all so I’m happy to see the ability to turn it off so it’s not used.

The shutter button works two ways, one is press halfway down and let the camera focus or just press the button to take a quick picture.

The picture quality is very good as well. The camera though doesn’t care for black object, you have to really try and find the correct angle to get a decent picture. Here’s some samples of various objects:

There’s not a lot in terms of menus but here they are. Rather simple but the main functions are represented.

Finally here is the viewfinder itself:

Conclusion:

Yes there are some small issues with the camera but I like it a lot. It’s simple to use and it actually takes good pictures. I just wish it would process them faster, and I would like the LCD to be of better quality.

Pros:
+Decent picture quality
+Nicely made camera
+Ability to turn of digital zoom
+Very good battery life

Cons:
-Rather slow at processing
-No optical viewfinder
-LCD screen is fuzzy
-Zoom is a bit touchy