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Best Prices
Nikon COOLPIX S7 Digital Camera
Nikon Coolpix S7c |
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Natalie Hitchins is news editor of What Digital Camera magazine and a former editor of Digital Photographer. Here she picks the best digital cameras to slip in your pocket or handbag Click to view Top 5 Ultra-Compact Digital Cameras.
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Best Boys' Toy (Nikon S7c) |
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 We all know that boys love their toys and there's no doubt the S7c will have the man in your life salivating over its many high-tech wonders. Handsome on the outside, technologically advanced on the inside, this 7-megapixel beast has got an admirable arsenal of ingenious tools including face detection and WI-FI.
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As well as a distinctive pocket-sized design, the S7c features advanced Nikon technologies and photo-sharing functions. Its 7.1 megapixels and 3x Zoom-Nikkor lens mean sharp, detailed images, while a large and bright 3-inch LCD comes complete with an effective anti-reflection coating that makes it easier to review and share images and movies, particularly in bright sunlight.
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Hidden Extras |
 Vibration reduction (VR) and anti-shake mode detect and correct camera movement so that you get sharper, clearer pictures. High light sensitivity - up to ISO 1600 - offers the power to shoot fast-moving subjects with clarity and delivers more flexible exposure in low-light situations. The S7c also features the Coolpix Connect service, which lets users send images directly from your camera to people listed in an in-built email address list.
With so much packed in to such a diminutive camera, you may think that performance would suffer - but not so. It’s responsive and quick, leading Nigel Atherton of What Digital Camera magazine to conclude, “The S7c performed its duties with aplomb. Quick to start up, little delay between shots, and a set of images that was pretty well flawless in terms of exposure and focusing.”
It’s easy to use too, and menus are simple to navigate with a good number of important functions directly accessible from controls on the camera body. A one-touch portrait button, for example, instantly switches on face detection mode, which enables the camera to recognise human faces and tailor exposure and focusing accordingly. Controls are a good size and well-spaced, but the best bit is a navigational scroll wheel which can be swivelled iPod-style to quickly run through menus and on-screen settings.
Duncan Evans of ephotozine describes the camera as, “Glossy, sleek and attractive, which is exactly what you want in a style camera.” While Cliff Smith writing for Trusted Reviews remarks, “It’s certainly got style, and plenty of it. Like most Nikon cameras, the build quality is impeccable.”
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Flawless Pictures |
 Images are sharp and vibrant, while common nasties such as noise and fringing are well controlled, if not absent altogether, most of the time. With no manual exposure modes, it’s hard to get creative with the S7c, but the camera is more than up to the job of recording occasions and faces - in a range of challenging conditions - with real panache. Mark Goldstein of PhotographyBLOG similarly found the camera’s images to be of “above average quality,” continuing, “The Nikon Coolpix S7c dealt well with chromatic aberrations, with limited purple fringing appearing only in high-contrast situations and at the edge of the frame. The Nikon Coolpix S7c handled noise well. The 1/2.5 inch, 7-megapixel sensor used in the Nikon Coolpix S7c produces noise-free images at ISO 50 and ISO 100, with ISO 200 and 400 looking fine and even ISO 800 proving quite usable for smaller prints.”
Solid, reliable and crammed full of the latest technological must haves; the S7c is a true techie wonder for guys with an eye for quality. Although it doesn’t offer manual shooting controls and is not yet compatible with all Wi-Fi networks, it easily outsmarts its nearest rivals.
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| TYPICAL PRICES - £210-£315/$415-$620 |
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