Nikon Coolpix S52 9 Megapixel Digital Camera - Midnight Black

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and turn off the the synthetic camera sounds from "settings", and you have a very discreet camera that would please James Bond.
The auto focus works well, even without the focus assist lamp.
At first I had a few shots where the focus would not lock.
Then I found that the secret to focusing seems to be holding the camera still. After I discovered that, I had no more focus problems.
I also found that the macro mode continuously focuses. It draws a little more from the battery, but can be useful for faster shooting.
The color saturation is very good, even the auto white balance works, and the image you see is what you capture.
Nikon means good images. I am Happy. Well, almost...
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The time to focus an image can run to 2 seconds or so.
The time to write an image to the SD card can be 3 seconds or more, even with high speed cards. In fact, there does not seem to be any difference in write speed between high speed and regular cards.
Expect to have to concentrate while shooting, which may not be a bad thing after all. Not quite "point and shoot", but "hold down the shutter release half way to focus, then frame and shoot".
It suits me, but I am from the old school of the manual camera.
Another annoyance is that the lens stays open while reviewing pictures, and can easily get smudged by a wandering fingertip.
The power switch is not well defined by touch, and is easily turned on accidentally. I learned to set the display timeout to go to standby mode in 30 seconds to save battery life in case of accidental turn on.
So, if you are patient and can live with a few annoyances, you will have a sleek little camera that goes anywhere and gets the most use.
I really like it after all.

Nikon Coolpix S52 9 Megapixel Digital Camera - Midnight Black

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be able to do them.

The control wheel lets you scroll through your photos when displaying them on the screen for review. It only takes one button to delete a picture. It's also easy to access all the menu functions. Switching between camera mode and video recorder mode is just as easy, and reviewing your pictures via play mode is accomplished with one button as well.

The zoom on this camera is internal as with all S50 and S51 models. That means no waiting for the lense to zoom in and out, and no worries about the mechanical issues with those external lens extension cameras. This is a huge plus for this camera, and helps to maintain the slim profile. It also makes this camera MUCH thinner than some of those super-slim ones when they are turned on and the lenses are sticking out.

There are thinner cameras, but none of them are as affordable and as packed with features as this one.

Picture taking is good, and if you get a faster memory card it will be faster. The Auto settings are good enough for most basic uses. But low light and nighttime situations just don't perform as well with auto. So the short answer is, if you have to shoot in low light, set the ISO manually! There's also a "High ISO" option that seems to work ok, but setting it to 1600 seemed to speed up my shooting time.

For those that want increased digital zoom, I would caution you that that feature is usually a gimmick. The 3X optical zoom is more than enough for point and shoot use and yields clear pictures even at full zoom. Digital zoom just uses software to zoom in to the already captured image, but technically it doesn't zoom at all. So with that in mind, I can live with 3X optical zoom. Always compare cameras to each other with the optical zoom in mind.

This unit also comes in other colors such as green and red. If you must have the newer wireless features, you are going to want to get the Nikon Coolpix S52c 9MP Digital Camera Zoom with Wi-Fi (Vibrant Black), which has a wireless network card inside it and can upload pictures without hooking up to your computer. I've gotten to test this wireless model and it does perform well, but in general I don't think this feature is a critical one for me and I would still choose this basic model.

This is an update to the S50 and S51 versions and adds more megapixels (9M!) so that you can produce prints up to 16X20. Just keep in mind, almost nobody buying this camera is trying to produce prints that large! But more megapixels never hurt anybody. :)

The video recording features are pretty much the same as the S50 and S51 models. The video quality is great, but obviously you have to be somewhat forgiving on the sound quality. The quality of your recordings absolutely depend on your memory card quality and speed. And rest assured, this card is SDHC compatible so choose a nice class 6 card till a faster class hits the consumer market. And also keep in mind that your computer probably isn't SDHC compliant (unless it's very new) so get a set with and SDHC reader included or transfer pics from your camera and not from the card.

Comparing The S52 To The Competition

The body of the camera is nice and thin. When you consider that the lens is internal and does not protrude, this guy is thinner than almost everything out there, including the Casio Exislim.

When choosing between this camera and other options, you need to be aware of a few points. The Sony Cybershot T300 10.1MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom (Black) is a nice camera that also performs well and perhaps has a better responding auto-detection mode for low light situations. But I tested the S52 by setting the ISO manually to 1600. The results were somewhat surprising and produced better quality pictures in low light than Sony's auto setting. Obviously you can also manually set the T300's ISO, but the differences are negligible at that point.

Other things to consider is that you must use Sony's proprietary Memory Pro / Duo, which is more expensive with fewer speed options available. The T300 has a thin body, but the sliding lens cover adds considerable thickness and I personally find it annoying. In addition, the T300 is much more expensive and not even close to the S52 in terms of value.

The Nikon Coolpix S600 10MP Digital Camera with 4x Wide Angle Optical Zoom (Slate Black) has a widescreen capability that may appeal to some and 1 megapixel more for a total of 10. When you add in the greater zoom magnification, that camera is a great option for many people. Just keep in mind that the S600 does have an externally articulating lens, so it's much less compact than the S52 when actually in use. I am just too hooked on this internal lens to use the S600 often.

The only real cons you should be aware of is that your battery will need to be recharged after a few full days of use. That is pretty normal, but it did annoy me at first that I didn't have a spare battery. So get yourself a spare battery and keep it charged. Probably good advice for any camera. The other con is that you have to buy a little case for this camera, which seems like something that should be included.

Review your options with a mind towards the kind of shooting you need to do. Bottom line, get yourself this camera if you want to have a nice camera for everyday general use. This camera is durable, easy to use and loaded with features.

Enjoy.