Great little Camera; easy to take great pictures

I purchased the Nikon Coolpix s550 a few days before a vacation trip, so did not have time to read the manual. It takes great pictures. I tried a few of moving objects at a distance just for fun and they come out very clear. I highly recommend this camera.

I read several reviews and found many of them very helpful. I do not think the "ISO noise" is valid for a regular joe photographer also battery loading difficulty is not valid battery loads easy and charges quickly.

This is a great little camera, the battery lasts a long time between charges & with a 4 gig SD (add separately) it holds a buttload of pictures. I like it & in fact it fits so well in my pocket I have taken it with me the last few days of a trade show - got some pics I would not have gotten with a bulkier camera because I would not have wanted to lug a big camera.
V

Smart, Durable, Stylish, and Easy to Use

This camera is great! It is well worth the price. It's so easy and fun to use. The picture menus are so intuitive and easy to catch on. The camera automatically adjusts depending on the lighting and the flash is very powerful. After taking a few pictures at night, I wondered if I could take a picture in the dark and to my surprise this baby didn't let me down. I turned off all the lights and took a picture and everything came out clear. Only downside is that you can't tell what the camera is focusing on until after the picture has been taken. A lot of the features are automatic and do not require a lot of thinking from the user. It has a blink feature that tells you when someone blinks. When in smile mode, the camera automatically snaps when the subject smiles (perfect for capturing hard to catch baby pics.) Just be careful, because it will snap a picture a soon as it recognizes a smile so I wouldn't use it on a group photo. Oh and the zoom is superb! The pictures come out clear  more

Don't buy this camera if you want clear, sharp photos.

I purchased this camera to take on vacation because 1) it was small and light weight, 2) it had a 5x optical zoom, and 3) it had a high ISO option that should allow it to take photos in less than perfect light.
I found that yes, it was small and light weight; yes, it would zoom in closer than my old camera; but no, it did not take better photos in less than perfect light.

NONE of the photos taken with this camera are as clear and sharp as those I took with my old Kodak point-and-shoot. Maybe I just got a lemon, but I could not get a clear, sharp photo with this camera no matter what I tried. They all looked something like an impressionistic painting -- not what I was going for. Can I return it?

The Camera I waited for!

Pros: Tiny, light, has lots of features, but easy enough for my mother to use.
Cons: No rechargeing cradle (yet?)

"I've been using digital camera's since many years ago when Apple made a ginormous creation that was just the most awesome thing ever. I've passed for years (about 12 of them now) on buying a digital camera as I have a very nice SLR 35mm, and wanted a camera with high quality, good durability, but be tiny, light and offer me a lot of the macro's I enjoy on my SLR.
Nikon has created (at last!) the camera that meets my demands. Additionally, it is idiot-proof (turn on, push button, camera will handle everything else in basic mode), has built-in red-eye reduction, blink indicator (yes it tells you if your subject blinked!), a respectable LiIon battery, and besides its 50-some meg of on board memory, it has a SDIO slot for memory cards. For those who don't chase technology like others of us, SDIO is a newer-faster version of SD-card. SDIO is backward compatible with SD, mini-sd  more

Small but good

I bought this camera to use as an inexpensive back up to my Nikon D80. It
is pocket sized and is 10MP, same as the $1,000 D80. The only two criticisms I have are that it doesn't shoot in RAW (not important to most folks) and it is difficult to see the viewing screen if you're wearing polarized glasses. Other than that, I love it. Simple to use and really handy. You can't beat the price for Nikon quality! We used it indoors at the Johnson Space Center and got great results with the flash. We took it on our boat while doing some salt water fishing (that's where I don't take the D80) and got the same great results! Image stabilization was a big plus on a rocking boat. Rechargeable battery lasts quite a long time. I'm glad I bought it.

So easy.

I absolutely love this camera. It is my first (personal) digital camera. I got the plum as pictured above. It's absolutely beautiful!!! It is so sleek and small. It could fit in your pocket. It's very easy to use. The controls are simple and straight forward.

The camera takes great pictures. I especially love the "macro mode", which allows you take pics as close as 3.9" from your object. The zoom is great as well. The color is great. Pics are very very clear. I've only had it a few days, so I haven't really tested how long the battery lasts. My mom loved mine so much, she got her own.

I am very please with this purchase.

Not quite up to par

The camera is small, light, highly portable and easy to use. It takes nice pictures under good lighting situations, and particularly outdoor situations. However, I've found a few issues with it:

1. ISO noise seems excessive. The noise at ISO levels 400+ is really among the worst I have seen, even for a point and shoot. As a result, it's really not my first (or second) choice for low lighting (often indoor) shots without using a flash. It works well enough with a flash, but so do most cameras. Trying to take non-flash pictures indoors with this camera is a chore because of the high level of noise at even moderate ISO settings.

2. Odd juxtapositions in the design. For example, the camera cannot both date stamp and use its electronic vibration reduction function at once -- that's a very odd trade-off, and smacks of some very odd engineering decision.

3. Limited on-screen information. While shooting it will at least provide your aperture and shutter speed, but it doesn't on playback,  more

A great little camera

I bought this to replace my Lumix DMC-LZ7 (horrible) which replaced a Sony DSC-W55 (great camera). I wanted something with a decent zoom, that was small. This camera has not disappointed. It is sturdy, weighs nothing, tiny, and fast. It starts fast, and there is very little lag between shots. Picture quality is excellent. I would agree with the comment about the battery door, it can be difficult to close. The macro modes are a little hard to find too, but then I haven't read the manual yet..

a detailed and helpful review

this camera is the best camera i have ever owned. i love it, but i do feel the picture does not do it justice. the blue nikon s550 is not dark blue like in the picture. it is more sapphire. i love the color. i think it is better than the dark blue of the one in the picture. it is gorgeous. the camera is easy to use. it has a 5X optical zoom, but is also has a 4X digital zoom. that means the picture you are taking is 20X closer than without a zoom. the camera does terrific close-ups, has clear shots, and has awesome color options. you can change the color of your shots to black-and-white, sepia, cyanotype, vivid color, and standard color. it shoots unlimited video (it will film until your card is full). the camera without a card holds about 30 pictures! the camera feels sturdy but is very sleek. the black version is more of a gray-black, so i find the blue or plum much prettier, but i like colors. the camera warns you before the battery is dead. it warns you with enough  more