Product Description - Slim Nikon Coolpix S1 Digital Camera
From the Manufacturer
Offers 5.1 effective megapixels and a 3x optical zoom-Nikkor ED glass lens for beautiful 16 x 20inch prints. The incredible 2.5 inch LCD makes for easy viewing and image playback. This stunning camera has a compact metal body that's a mere 3/4 inch thick and is shirt pocket small. The included Coolstation dock makes it easy to download images, and Nikon's exclusive in-camera Red-Eye fix, automatically removes most typical instances of red-eye during the picture taking process. The D-Lighting feature automatically lightens overly dark images in playback mode. There's no guesswork, as on-screen help is available for all main menu functions.5.1 Megapixel CCD and 3x Optical Zoom-Nikkor Lens
The Nikon Coolpix S1 combines a 3x optical zoom-Nikkor lens with a 5.1 effective megapixel CCD, which lets the user capture spectacular images at resolutions up to 2592 x 1944 (15MB file) and create amazing 16 x 20 inch prints. The 3x zoom-Nikkor lens offers a 35 to 105 millimeter zoom (35mm equivalent) and provides excellent image quality.
Incredible, Bright 2.5 inch LCD
The oversized and easy-to-see 2.5 inch LCD makes composing your pictures easier, as well as making it more fun to share your pictures while they are still in the camera.
Compact, Slim, Metal Body
The Coolpix S1 has a compact metal body that is a mere 3/4 inch thick. This shirt-pocket-small camera will come along everywhere you go! Its sleek and sexy styling is a delight to use and own.
Nikon Exclusive Face Priority Autofocus
The S1 can distinguish when the subject is a human face and sets the focus accordingly. Now all your portraits will have tack-sharp focus on the subject's face (rather than the wall behind them!).
Nikon Exclusive In-Camera Red-Eye Fix
A hands-free solution for red-eye; this powerful software analyzes the image data and corrects most typical instances of red-eye in less than 3 seconds! The In-Camera Red-Eye Fix feature turns on automatically when the red-eye reduction flash mode is selected.
Nikon Exclusive D-Lighting
The Coolpix S1 incorporates D-Lighting, which automatically compensates for under- and over-exposure due to insufficient flash or excessive back lighting in a picture.
17 Scene Modes, 4 with Scene Assist
Selecting a scene mode automatically sets the camera for the optimum performance in most popular picture-taking situations. Scene assist further aids with composition, exposure and focus. Scene Modes: party/indoor, dawn/dusk, back light, beach/snow, sunset, night landscape, copy, fireworks, close up, panorama, museum, underwater and voice recording. Scene assist modes: night portrait, portrait, landscape, and sports.
Adjustable GUI with Help Button
Choose between the traditional menu item view or the all new ICON view. Press the help button and it will instantly display an explanation for all main menu functions on the LCD.
What's in the Box:
Cool-Station MV-11, li-ion rechargeable battery, AC adapter, USB cable, strap, A/V cable, imaging software, including Nikon PictureProject. Optional accessories include SD cards, camera case, underwater case and more.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
-Gadgester-
Nikon is the last of the Japanese digital camera makers to come out with an ultra-slim (<= 0.8 inches thin) digital camera, and Nikon has apparently taken many a page from its competitors' playbooks and come out with a deliciously good camera.All Nikon Cameras also can find in New Nikon Camera
Before I continue with my review, let me point out that there's a jet black version available (unfortunately not on Amazon yet) which simply looks MUCH better than this silver version. (Remeber, black makes everything look thinner and cooler.) If possible, I recommend you get the black S1. You'll surely impress not only your friends but their grandmas, too.
Despite being a small and light -- and pocketable -- camera, the S1 takes surprisingly good pictures. Of course, it's unreasonable to expect the kind of quality you can get on a Nikon D70 SLR or Coolpix 8800 "bridge" camera, because these latter models are bigger and therefore have a larger lens (very important for great optical quality) and a larger sensor (important for better color accuracy and lower noise), but I can say that the S1 has the best picture quality in its class, even bettering the great models from Canon (SD400, SD500, etc.) In normal lighting, S1's pictures are sharp and very accurate in color. This latter is very important for getting eye-pleasing photos. Even indoors, the S1 does a decent job; since the lack of light always makes photography difficult, the S1 is better than most. BTW, when indoors, using a camera's built-in flash always results in harsh-looking pictures where the background is dark and ugly. Instead, try mounting the camera on a tripod -- the S1 has a tripod mount -- and taking a picture without the flash. The picture you get will be much more pleasing to the eye.
In short, the S1 is a trustworthy performer when it comes to picture quality -- once again, with the necessary caveat that you don't compare this with a D70 d-SLR. I've seen thousands and thousands of digital images, on screen and on paper, and I'm pretty impressed with the S1's image quality. I simply don't think you'll find another ultra-slim camera that can take better pictures than this.
Nikon has put in a lot of effort -- and marketing -- in creating in-camera software editing, such as in-camera red-eye reduction and the new D-lighting (which lightens up dark shadows and darkens blown highlights). Both of these can be done during playback, but the red-eye reduction can also take place during shooting: in other words, after a picture is taken, the S1 checks whether there's a red eye problem. If so, it'll automatically fix it (you can set this option).
What really amazes me is Nikon's exclusive "face-priority" autofocus (AF) mode when shooting: it can automatically identify the faces in a picture and focus and expose on the closest or centerist face. This is truly AMAZING and works very well -- provided the lighting is not too shabby, or the facial skin tone not too dark. This works especially well in restaurants. You know the drill: you gather your friends at the dining table for a picture, and lo and behold, all too often the camera focuses on the white table cloth in the foreground or that giant Coors neon sign in the back instead of your faces. Nikon S1's face-priority comes to the rescue. The only caveat is, indoors, it doesn't seem to work as well as outdoors when lighting is aplenty.
I should also mention the wonders of D-lighting, which I believe is also included in some other Coolpix models. The idea is that after a picture is taken, better lighting effect can be achieved by lightening up shadow (dark) areas and darkening highlight (bright) areas through software post-processing, thus resulting in a better balanced picture. This is what pro photographers do in the darkroom (burning and dodging) or in Photoshop. In fact, every pro picture you see has gone through this process, since almost no picture has teh perfect lighting in its raw film. D-lighting basically lets you do this adjustment in-camera. While it works quite well, my own preference is to turn it off and save the lighting adjustment for later in Photoshop, where I can see a big picture (pun intended) and know exactly which areas need to be fixed. Anyway, for casual photography, D-lighting is a wonderful aid in creating eye-pleasing photos.
The S1 does not have an optical viewfinder, so for framing you rely on the 2.5" LCD screen. The screen is bright and covers 97% of the shooting frame, but its 110,000 pixel resolution is only average. This pales in comparison the 230,000 pixel count on the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T7's 2.5" LCD. The Sony's LCD is also brighter, but the Nikon S1's is not shabby at all and compares favorably to the LCD on most ultra-compact cameras.
One area in which the S1 does lag market share leaders such as Canon and Casio and Sony is shutter lag. You know, every photographer wants instantaneous picture-taking. The latest models from Canon and Casio are super-fast and have negligible shutter lag, meaning when you press the shutter button, the camera takes the picture in less than half a second -- that includes the time for the camera to focus, take a meter reading and open the shutter. The Nikon S1 has a noticeable shutter lag that will disappoint some buyers. This can be a problem when you demand fast response from the camera, such as when you want to capture those Kodak moments of an energetic baby or child. Many people place a lot of emphasis on shutter lag, so this may be a serious problem for them.
There are, however, two solutions. First, you could press the shutter button half-way and hold it there to pre-focus and pre-expose, and when the moment you want arrives, just press the button further down to release the shutter. I'm not saying this to excuse Nikon for not including better shutter lag performance (esp. given the S1's price point), but in general, it's always a good idea to pre-focus, even with a fast digital SLR such as the Canon Digital Rebel XT or Nikon D70. One benefit from pre-focusing is you minimize the handshake when pressing the shutter button, since your finger travels less than from the "up" position. Second solution is use the S1's nice continuous-focus feature which allows you to focus on a moving subject without pressing the shutter button. This continuous-focus (also known as servo AF) feature always keeps the subject in focus, at the expense of battery life and slightly more wear on the focusing motor in the lens.
Conclusion regarding shutter lag: if you absolutely demand as little shutter lag as you can get on an ultracompact camera, consider the Canon SD400 or the Casio EX-Z55/Z57. The Fuji Z1 is reportedly very fast, too, although I haven't played with it yet. If you don't mind shutter lag or are willing to use one or both of the solutions outlined above, then you'll love S1 for its other great features (excellent image quality, big LCD, easy interface, ultra-cool styling). My advice: if you don't know much about shutter lag and its implications, check out the S1 and other cameras in a store and pay attention to the time between pressing the shutter button and hearing the "click" sound characteristic of shutter release. My OWN personal preference is I always pre-focus (solution #1) when I need to minimize shutter lag, whether I'm using the S1 or my beloved Nikon D70 d-SLR. (Of course, if you really want fast shooting speed, you'll need to shell out some serious money for a d-SLR such as the Nikon D70.)
What else can I say? You get 3x optical zoom (equivalent to 35mm-105mm focal range in 35mm format), a LiIon battery that's about average in performance (the king in this department is the Casio Exilim EX-Z55/Z57 series), and a cradle which you need in order to transfer pictures. (I myself use a USB card reader that takes the SD card.) Speaking of this, the Nikon S1 kit does not come with an SD card, but the camera itself has 12MB of internal memory, which isn't a lot at all.
Supposedly the "S" in S1 stands for style, and Nikon has definitely created a very stylish and very desirable ultra-slim digital camera -- especially in the black-body version. But great looks are not the only thing the new S1 has; its picture quality is simply the best in its increasingly crowded class. Finally, you can impress your friends and speed-dating dates with a camera that not only looks good and goes into your pocket, but flatters your subjects as well.
Finally, some quick advice: 1) be sure to hold the camera very steady when pressing the shutter; fuzzy pictures from handshaking is the #1 complaint with these tiny cameras; 2) don't let your left hand block the lens; 3) protect the huge LCD screen well; 4) there's a new model called "S2" that's coming out which you might want to investigate before deciding (I personally find the S1 much better-looking). Other Reviews>>
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar