Nikon Coolpix S6300 - Digital Camera Review

Coolpix S6300

Manufacture: Nikon 

MSRP: $199.99

Release Date: 

January 31, 2012 - US

February 16, 2012 - UK

Colors: Black, Blue, Red, Silver  

*** Pics taken with the camera can be seen in the photo slide show at the bottom of the review. ***

What’s in the Box?

- Camera 

- Strap 

- Rechargeable Li-ion battery 

- Charging AC adaptor 

- USB Cable 

- Audio Video Cable 

- Software CD-ROMs 

- User Manual 

- Warranty 

 

Stuff in the box: (Strap, Battery, USB Charging adapter, Video cable, USB Cable)
  

Paper work and discs 

Camera Selling Points: 

-  10x Optical Zoom 

-  Compact Design 

- 16.0 Mega Pixels 

- CMOS Sensor (it will take better low-lit pictures) 

- 1080p Full-HD video recording 

- 180 to 360 degrees Panoramas 

Peacock @ the Bronx Zoo NY

The Good: 

- It packs a lot in a small package

- 1050mAh battery so far works pretty well for me. 

- The 10x optical zoom works pretty good 

- 1080p video recording works pretty good 

The Bad: 

- Color Appears to change (could just be my color blindness…?)

- Taking Macro photos is really a hit or a miss. This is a shame because I love taking super up close pictures 

- The camera doesn’t always remember your settings. (This can be annoying) 

- The USB / HDMI port is on the bottom of the camera. In my opinion it should have been on the side for easy access, and so you can charge the camera standing up.

- Last and probably my most important gripe with this camera is that there is no completely manual mode. 

The Review: 

Panorama example 

***Camera / Features ***

On a spec sheet the camera fairs pretty good against its rivals with 16MP, 1080p, 3D pictures, Panoramic pictures, CMOS sensor, HDR, 10x Optical Zoom, etc…. So there must be a “but” somewhere right? To answer that question, yes there is. First of all my 4 year old Canon PowerShot 7MP camera has a completely manual mode but the new Nikon doesn’t… I find that to be a serious issue, yes I know they want the make things as simple as possible but, I find the camera loses longevity because of this. The Nikon also seems to have issues with macro images, which wasn’t a problem for my previous Canon 7MP camera which is a shame because I love to take close up pictures. It also seems to have a focusing problem (I don’t know maybe it just my unit)….  [I have Contacted Nikon and, sent them my camera and they sent me another one which now, it seem to focus better. It must have for the most part been an issue with the senor on my unit.]   

***Image Quality***

Outdoor image quality is sharp and for the most part keeps natural colors. In brightly lighted areas the images tend to be a little overexposed but I normally correct this by always keeping the exposure always at - -.03. Night / Evening shots are not the best I have seen out there but the definitely are not the worst. Without the tripod they tend to be blurry and lack detail. With the tripod and a lower ISO setting you will get a much better picture.  

***Video Quality***

For a digital camera of this caliber the Nikon fairs pretty good in the video recording category. Video in day light comes out pretty sharp. The focusing is a little slow but it still gets the job done. 

~More video tests~ 

Test 2 

Test 3 

Test 4

Test 5 

My Recommendation:

I recommend this camera for the person who likes to have a camera with them all the time that don’t want to settle for the mediocre quality of a cell phone camera. This camera takes really good pictures in a bunch of different situations.  As a basic point and shoot you can’t go wrong with this camera, especially with all the features that come with this package. 

Features: 4

Image Quality: 4

Video Quality: 3.5

Value: 4 

Average Rating: 4 

Score 

19.5/25 

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