Nikon COOLPIX S3000 12.0 MP Digital Camera - Black

The Nikon Coolpix S3000 is designed to be an affordable, stylish and fun camera, so it's hardly fair to expect cutting-edge technology. Even so, its basic specs are very similar to those of countless other compact cameras on the market, and it's such a modest improvement over the outgoing Coolpix S220 that its release really just seems like a routine marketing exercise

Nikon's made the Coolpix S3000 'fun and easy' in a bid to let you capture great pictures without having to waste time with options and menus. It's the successor to the popular Coolpix S220 and part of Nikon's new compact-camera range for spring 2010. For around £100, you get a slim and stylish camera with a 12-megapixel resolution and a 4x wide-angle zoom.

The S3000 looks good. It comes in a choice of seven different colours (silver, pink, green, black, blue, red and orange), and it's just 19mm thick, which makes it really easy to carry around. The shiny metal finish on the front makes it look more expensive than it actually is, while, around the back, it has a smooth, elegant, matte black finish and larger buttons than usual, as part of Nikon's plan to make it easy to use.

There are five modes, toggled by a button on the back of the camera. The auto mode gives you some manual control over the camera's settings. The 'scene' mode lets you select scene modes manually, or you can leave the camera to do it automatically. There are also 'smart portrait', 'subject-tracking' and movie modes.

The 4x wide-angle zoom offers the kind of scope you don't always get with cameras of this size and price. Also, the USB charging system is handy -- you can charge the battery using the supplied mains adaptor, or by plugging the camera into a powered USB port on a computer.


The picture quality itself is alright, but only just. Considering the S3000 is a budget camera, the lens is quite sharp, but it's the processing that's the problem, as it so often is with small sensors. Even at ISO 80, finer textures, like grass or brickwork, begin to get smoothed over as the camera tries to decide what's noise and what's detail. You won't notice this in ordinary-sized prints, but you will if you blow them up to A4 size or larger.

The colours are good, but the S3000 tends to overexpose when shooting into the light. Also, the autofocus system doesn't always work well with objects close to the camera -- you need to switch to the centre-spot focus mode to be sure of getting sharp results.

Nikon's 'smart portrait' options are technically interesting, but don't necessarily make people shots any easier to achieve. The 'smile timer' only fires the shutter when your subject smiles, and the 'blink-proof' feature tells you if your subject's eyes were closed when the shutter fired. You might wonder whether it isn't simpler to just take a picture in the normal way, check it quickly on the LCD display and shoot it again if you need to. These features are okay when they work, but also add an extra layer of complication.

The same applies to the focus-tracking feature, which can follow a subject around the frame, but can take a moment or two to lock on initially. It can also lose contact if your subject turns or moves too quickly. You only get electronic 'vibration reduction' with this camera, too -- not optical stabilisation.

Conclusion
The Nikon Coolpix S3000 is a good little camera for the money. It's small, smart and practical, and the 4x wide-angle zoom is handy.

I purchased the Nikon S3000 after reviewing similar models in its class i.e. The canon ixus 105s , pentax etc and although they all boasted far more functions than the Nikon S3000 they did not get the same reviews for ease of use and photo quality. I had recently sold my Fujifilm finepix Z20 which was also a fine camera and thought i would see for myself what the Nikon was like. Well 2 months have passed and it has been put through its paces over the Xmas season and recent birthdays. It is by far the best camera for dark scenery shots with an impressive 3000 iso rating with virtually no grain effect in any of the pictures, 4x optical zoom, Wide screen photos. I also like the "Did someone blink " feature which is easily disabled. The red eye reduction really does work well in nearly all lighting , and the built in LCD screen is very sharp too. The thing that is most impressive is the battery life , so far i have not charged it since buying it and it is only just showing the battery is low. Other benefits include the SDHC feature and snazzy colors available and the slim compactness of it. The only thing i would critise and it is a very minor thing is the zoom button can be fiddly to use and the button feels very cheap and flimsy. So my score for this camera 8.5 out of 10.

I wanted a small digital camera for everyday photography as I already have a Nikon SLR camera. In particular, I bought it for my summer holiday and just for days out. Just as I wanted, it is very small (3 1/2 inches by about 2 1/2 inches with a width of 3/4 of an inch. I also bought this one as I saw it in Jessops last year at £130, but since the S3100 came out, I found it for £65.

I like how small is is, the range of colours the Coolpix cameras come in with; some special packages which include a matching case. The picture quality is quite good (mine is on an ISO of 1600 at the moment)
I dislike the fact there is no display button to put on and take off the text around the edge of photos, although you can change that setting completely to on/off, I would rather have the setting on, but be able to hide them just just for a second to view the whole photo like the Lumix camera I have.
It is a good camera, but not as good quality images as my Lumix, but then again that was a very expensive digital camera, so I guess you get what you pay for.

I originally went to Jessops to look at the Coolpix range last year, and at the time they had the S3000, S4000 and a lower priced Coolpix, this was the middle priced one, and I preferred it, however the S4000 has a larger screen, and is also touch screen to make room for a huge 3 inch screen on this tiny camera which is brilliant.

This is great for now, but I may get a new, higher priced, better quality one at the end of the year or early 2012.

I bought this camera to replace my Nikon S210 (the lens broke after considerable service). I had been pleased with my old camera and wanted something similar. This is a lovely neat compact, which was dead easy to use (although I suppose that's because I'm familiar with the Nikon style). I got it straight out of the box and started using it, no problems. First indications are that the pictures are great, easy focus, sharp images. Easy charging, easy transfer of pics to computer. The camera is slim and neat, fits into a fabulous little bag from Gizmo gadgets which only cost 2.99. I got the camera manufacturer refurbished at almost half price from Cardiff Camera Centre with a years guarantee. Altogether I am thrilled!! I am a mostly point-and-shoot photgrapher, so I'm not after intricate detail, but this looks to be a great acquisition. I am sure it will also prove to be good with the more advanced features too, having a quick look at the manual. Recommended very much.

This product is better than I expected, slim, light and stylish. The zoom is really good and the pictures are very clear. Also the new design of how the battery is charged is better than older models.
Overall very good value for money.