Nikon Coolpix S710

With its S710, Nikon cross what, for digital compacts at least, is a very symbolic barrier: 14 Megapixels.

Although many people had written off the headline-chasing days of the pixel wars over, the end of 2008 has seen a rush towards 14, and even 15 Megapixel compacts.

Indeed, some compacts are beginning to boast heftier sensors than SLRs, leading us to wonder whether or not the exponential increases in sensor resolution on what are traditionally entry-level cameras is really necessary?

Handling

When you unpack the Coolpix S710, you're faced with a comfortable, if fairly bulky frame, which looks out of place next to the svelte shape of Canon's latest Ixus models.

Available In either gray or dark red, the case is in stainless steel, and, despite the hefty shape of the camera, feels rather lightweight.

A screen on the back only displays 230, 000 pixels, which doesn't provide enough detail given it measures three inches from corner to corner.

When you're focusing shots using the LCD, images are reasonably fluid in good light, but less useful as light levels drop; the display tends to jump in burst mode.

An anti-glare coating on the screen cuts down on reflections making it easier to use in bright sunlight.

Despite all the space devoted to the screen, the controls are still well laid out, and the scroll wheel makes flipping through different options.

The menus are reasonably clear and it only takes a few minutes of using the camera to work them out.

A few automatic features are included, including face recognition, smile detection and automatic red-eye correction, as well as a manual mode. 

The S170's powerful 3.6 x optical zoom sports both a 28 mm wide angle lens and a smaller telephoto that goes as far as 101 mm.

It's a shame that the macro mode doesn't work any closer than 10 cm, though. 

As you can see on the right, you can combine the optical zoom with a digital zoom to get really up close to objects by cropping out detail from your photo by using all of those Megapixels.

This isn't a fast camera, though: you'll need to wait nearly three second for it to switch on and four in between two shots if you're using the S710 at its highest resolution. 

It seems that the software inside just can't handle the huge number of pixels.

The autofocus performs a lot better, and finds the subject in under a second on most occasions.

It wouldn't be fair on Nikon to not mention the amazing burst mode, which flies along at twelve frames per second, although it does cause the camera to hang for around fifteen seconds afterwards as it records all of those shots onto the memory card.


Image Quality

Well, it seems that having a 14.5 Megapixel sensor really is an advantage when it comes to the quality of your photos.

The S710 manages speeds that push the limit of what a digital compact is capable of, and reach the dizzy heights of 12800 ISO as long as you are prepared to fall to 3 Megapixels.

Up to 800 ISO, chromatic aberration is under control, and prints at slower speed look fine on A4 paper.

Above that, blurriness becomes more of a problem, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Nevertheless, the quality is still nothing on that of the Fujifilm F100fd or the Sony W300, which both deliver great results at very high ISO numbers.

By using lower resolutions, it's also possible to take shots at 6400 and even 12800 ISO, which are just about acceptable for printing on 4 x 6'' stock.

There's no noise or distortion--but no details, either.

Rather surprisingly, the white balance went from very cold to very warm across the film speed range, as you can see here.


Rather surprisingly, the white balance went from very cold to very warm across the film speed range, as you can see here.

The lens itself is classic Nikon stuff: crystal clear in the center with a little light blurring around the edges of the frame.

Distortion is under control, and when purple fringing does occur, it isn't much of a blight.

Unfortunately, there's been little innovation on the video front, with no sign of HD, just plain old 640 x 480 with no optical zoom.

Sound quality is acceptable and, while the optical stabilization is acceptable, it works a lot less well than on some of the S710's direct competitors, like the Canon Ixus 980 IS.