Review: Nikon Coolpix L820

Good valueBig zoom optionSharp results usuallyEasy to usePlastic appearanceNo optical viewfinder or EVFNo raw shootingIf you're going to bother bringing out a non-interchangeable lens compact camera these days, you'd better provide ample reasons for someone to buy it instead of simply relying on their smartphone as a one-size-fits-all solution. Big zoom compacts also known as bridge cameras, superzooms or ultra zooms, are currently where it's at - in that these are cameras that are actually still selling in significant numbers.
With our review sample fashioned in a high gloss maroon finish, Nikon's budget superzoom Coolpix L820 certainly attempts to stand out from the handset-wielding hordes.
And that's before we've even taken into account the fact that this relatively compact, mini DSLR-styled model finds room to squeeze in an impressive 30x optical reach, supported by lens-shift image stabilisation. This is a step up from the 26x reach of the Nikon L810.
check updated price on amazon OK so next to the 42x optical zoom of Nikon's P520, which was launched at the same time earlier this year and sits above it in the range, the whopping 50x zoom of Sony's HX300, and other bridge models, the focal range equivalent to 22.5-675mm in 35mm terms appears almost modest. A maximum lens aperture of f/3 also reads as nothing particularly special.
And yet, despite the fact that it shoehorns four AA batteries into its innards to provide power instead of a lithium ion rechargeable cell - lasting up to 320 shots according to CIPA standards - this Nikon doesn't immediately seem the cheap and cheerful product that a budget price tag of £220 / AU$275 / US$280 might suggest. Current online prices shave a good chunk off that full asking price too, making the Nikon L820 seem even more of a bargain for the specification on offer.
The headline features of the Nikon L820, while not earth-shattering, aren't too shabby either: a 16-megapixel effective resolution from a back-illuminated 16.79 million pixel CMOS sensor, 8fps continuous shooting, 3-inch fixed LCD offering an impressive 920k dots resolution plus 97% frame coverage in lieu of any alternative optical or electronic viewfinder.
Added to this, the optical zoom is supported by lens-shift vibration reduction, and the Nikon L820's macro option can get as close as 1cm from your subject. Full HD 1920 x 1080 pixels video recording at a frame rate of 30fps is included as standard.
There's stereo audio too, courtesy of twin microphones situated either side of the hump housing the pop-up flash. An HDMI output port nestles alongside a USB port, under a side flap. Though a USB cable is provided in the box, the HDMI lead is an extra expense.
This camera also misses out on latest must-have features such as integrated Wi-Fi - though it is compatible with Eye-Fi X2 variety cards - and it omits touchscreen control, too.
check updated price on amazon Likewise there's no raw file format shooting option, no location mapping GPS, no tilting LCD monitor and no hotshoe-come-accessory port. Still, there is a Smarties-like range of body colours to distract us, since the Nikon L820 comes in blue, maroon, plum or the far more sensible black.
JPEG still images and MPEG4 video clips are written to all varieties of SD media, or there's a small 65MB internal memory capacity to fall back on straight out of the box.
Coupled with that backlit sensor, the Nikon L820's low light capabilities are enhanced by a light sensitivity range that is extendable from the core ISO 125-1600 to ISO 3200 when using Auto mode.
This feels like very much a beginner's bridge camera, in that it's basically pick it up, point and shoot, eyes fixed on the rear LCD panel. But luckily that is reflected in the price and the pitch. It may look like a DSLR at first glance, but the control layout is much closer to that of your compact pocket camera, even if the shape suggests otherwise. This isn't about manual control, but rather the camera giving your photography a (modest) helping hand.

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Review: Nikon Coolpix S6500

Nikon's Coolpix S6500 combines Wi-Fi connectivity with a 12x optical zoom lens and a 16 million pixel sensor, all of which enable it to both compete against and complement a smartphone camera.

The 16 million pixel back illuminated CMOS sensor of the Coolpix S6500 is significantly larger than a typical smartphone sensor. The larger surface area and back illuminated sensor technology should enable the Nikon S6500 to produce better images than the smaller smartphone sensor, particularly in low light.

Another key feature of the Nikon Coolpix S6500 is its 4.5-54mm f/3.1-6.5 lens with 12x optical zoom. This is the equivalent to a 25-300mm lens on a camera with a full frame sensor. To reduce camera shake, especially when used at the longest extension of the zoom, the lens is fitted with Nikon's Vibration Reduction technology.

The third key feature of the camera is its Wi-Fi connectivity, which enables the Coolpix S6500 to be connected to a smart device such as a phone or tablet. Once connected, you can share images to the device or use the device as a remote viewfinder and control, which is ideal for taking self portrait or wildlife images.

Images taken using the Nikon Coolpix S6500 are saved as JPEG files, and there's a variety of different scene modes to choose from, to make sure images are correctly exposed.

Because the Nikon Coolpix S6500 is a consumer-level compact camera, it doesn't have any manual exposure modes. However, the brightness of the exposure can be adjusted using the camera's exposure compensation feature, and it is possible to select an ISO sensitivity from between ISO 125 and ISO 1600. When using the auto ISO mode, the camera can also automatically select ISO 3200.

Images are composed using the 3 inch 460k dot TFT LCD rear screen, which is an acceptable resolution for a camera of this level. In use the screen is good. It has a good level of contrast and pleasing colours, and its anti-reflective coating works well. Only in extremely bright sunlight does it become a little more difficult to see the screen.

There are five different levels of screen brightness, and we found that increasing the brightness from level three to five helps you to see the image on the screen a little better on a bright day.

The Nikon Coolpix S6500 has a full price of £229.99 / US$219.95 / AU$289, putting it at the same price point as the Canon IXUS 255 HS.

The Nikon Coolpix S6500 has a stylish plastic body, that feels solid and well built. The camera is a nice size, small enough to fit in a trouser pocket, yet large enough that's the placement of buttons doesn't feel cramped.

The button arrangement of the camera is fairly straightforward and should be familiar to anyone that has used a compact camera before. On the rear is the standard arrangement of buttons placed around a directional control pad, with a direct video record button on the top right of the rear of the camera.

After pressing the power button, the Nikon S6500 takes just over second to switch on before you can take an image. The Live View screen is fairly comprehensive, displaying such details as the current shooting mode, ISO sensitivity, battery life and the shutter speed and aperture setting.

With little in the way of manual control, you're restricted to having the camera set to either an automatic mode or one of 19 scene modes. In addition there is an automatic scene selector which detects the scene being photographed and changes the settings accordingly.

In the standard automatic modes there are a number of changes that can be made to the exposure and shooting settings, including the flash mode used or ability to switch the macro focusing mode on or off. You can also set a self timer of either two seconds or 10 seconds.

The camera's main menu is extremely simple in terms of both design and layout. The large icons and text make the on-screen menu items easy to read, and there are enough settings that can be changed to satisfy the needs of most compact camera users.

Connecting the Nikon S6500 to a smart device using the camera's Wi-Fi connectivity is fairly simple. Simply go to the Wi-Fi settings in the utility menu and turn the Wi-Fi on. This can only be done if the camera's battery is almost fully charged. Otherwise the Wi-Fi option is disabled, because it can drain battery life.

To connect the Nikon S6500 to a phone or tablet, you must first download Nikon's Wireless Mobile Utility application to your smart device from either the Apple Store or Google Play Store. Connecting the camera to the device is simply a case of finding the camera on the Wi-Fi settings of the phone and tablet and then opening the app.

With the camera connected, you can now use the device to either remotely take photos or view the contents of the Nikon S6500's memory card.

Once familiar with connecting the Nikon S6500 to a smartphone or tablet, it is extremely straightforward to transfer images between the camera and device, making it possible to share images taken with the camera while on the move.

Most users will use the Nikon Coolpix S6500 in its Matrix (evaluative) metering mode. In most situations the evaluative metering mode produces exposures that are a little too bright. This also causes colours to look a little washed out.

Adjusting the exposure compensation to reduce the brightness of images by -0.7EV produces better results, with darker shadow areas, which in turn results in a better level of contrast and slightly more saturated colours. We would also recommend that most photographers switch to the vivid image style to really add some punch to their images.

With the exposure compensation set to -0.7 EV, the evaluative metering works very well in a variety of situations. Whether in macro mode, shooting a landscape on a sunny day or exposing a very dull woodland scene, the metering produced a pleasing exposure. For more awkward scenes, spot and centre-weighted metering are also available.

In its default colour setting the Nikon S6500 produces good, realistic, colours, though they perhaps lack a little saturation that makes them really stand out. The automatic white balance setting does a reasonable job, though as is common with other cameras it can remove slightly too much of any dominant colour.

Compared to the the AWB setting, using the Sunlight white balance setting on a bright summer's day produces images with more vivid greens and blues. Similarly, using AWB in a woodland scene removes some of the green colour. Of course this is what the AWB setting is designed to do, so in this regard it works well.

But to get the best possible colours from the camera we would always advise using the default white balance settings rather than the automatic option. The Nikon Coolpix S6500 has five of these settings, as well as a manual white balance control.

At the lowest ISO 160 sensitivity there is very little noise visible. However, the lack of very fine detail and textures indicates that some luminance noise reduction has taken place. With a resolution of 16 million pixels, those who print their images should be fairly pleased, with the results up to around A4 (US letter) in the size. Beyond this size, close inspection reveals the lack of detail.

The effect of the noise reduction system gets stronger as the sensitivity increases. At ISO 400 some luminance noise becomes visible along the edges of objects in the image. This is typical of in-camera noise reduction, where the noise reduction algorithm tries to preserve sharpness by applying a weaker noise reduction effect along edges of objects in the image.

At the maximum sensitivity of ISO 3200 there is quite a significant loss of detail, noise reduction, as well as some signs of JPEG artefacts.

What is very impressive is that throughout the entire ISO sensitivity range of the Nikon Coolpix S6500 there is virtually no colour noise. The only evidence of colour noise that we could see was the smallest hint of a slight purple bruising in the shadow areas of a selection of images taken in a dark woodland.

There is also no chromatic aberration, although on a few high contrast edges there was a slight hint of purple. This provides evidence that any purple fringing is being reduced in-camera.

The 25-300mm lens of the Nikon Coolpix S6500 is good, and images are almost as sharp at the edges as they are in the centre, particularly when the lens is used at its shortest focal length.

With only the merest hint of curvilinear distortion at either end of the zoom range, it is obvious that any distortion is corrected in-camera.

The lens focuses at a good speed, particularly in bright sunlight. However, when focusing in more subdued light the speed is moderate, without ever being snappy. In macro mode the focusing is slower, presumably to ensure that at these very close distances the focusing is as accurate as possible.

There is a range of different focusing modes available, each enabling you to set different AF areas. These modes including Face Priority, Target Finding AF, Centre AF area, as well as manual AF selection.

However, the most useful AF mode is Subject Tracking, which quickly enables you to select a subject to focus on with the subject tracked should it or the camera move. Again, there is enough variety in the AF modes to satisfy the needs of most compact camera photographers.

When shooting full resolution images, it can take around two seconds to save the photo and get the camera ready to take the next shot. In Continuous High shooting mode the Nikon S6500 can take seven images at speed of 10fps, with the camera then taking around six seconds before it can be used again. A lower 2fps rate is also available.

If you want really high speed images then it is possible to shoot at 120fps, but at a much reduced 640 x 480 pixel VGA resolution, and 60fps is possible at 1 million pixel resolution.

Video is captured at Full HD 1080p resolution at 30fps, with sound recorded in stereo. The quality of the video itself was quite good, though fast panning shots did suffer a little from slanting verticals.

Also, the lens seemed to have some trouble focusing when we tried to zoom in while recording. At wide focal lengths it was alright, and slowly found focus once zooming had stopped, but at longer focal lengths all of the footage was out of focus.

Although the sleek design of the Nikon Coolpix S6500 may be what causes many to pick it up off the shop shelf, it has many other attractive features. The 12x optical zoom lens works well, focusing quickly and retaining sharpness at its edges. The in-camera processing also ensures that images are free from chromatic aberration and curvilinear distortion.

The camera also handles well. It is easy to use with a clear menu layout, and the Wi-Fi connectivity is equally straightforward and easy to use.

On the whole images are bright and colours are good, especially if you reduce the exposure slightly. However, the noise reduction is a little heavy, particularly at lower ISO sensitivities. We would like to have seen more detail, particularly at ISO 160. That said, there is very little in the way of colour noise at any ISO sensitivity, and Nikon should be applauded for this.

With compact camera sales on the decline, due to the dominance of smartphone cameras, the compact camera market is now an extremely competitive arena. Nikon's Coolpix S6500 will compete with the likes of the Canon IXUS (Canon PowerShot ELPH in the US) range, which will provide it some tough competition.

When the size and zoom range of the Nikon S6500 is combined with Wi-Fi connectivity, it makes for a great travel zoom camera.

The exposure metering tended to overexpose slightly, and the noise reduction is also a little strong, particularly at low sensitivities.

With a current street price of around £150 / US$170 / AU$215, the Nikon Coolpix S6500 is good value for money for those photographers who understand the advantages of a compact camera over a smartphone camera.

The Wi-Fi functionality and 12x optical zoom lens make it an ideal companion to take with you on your travels. However, more advanced photographers may be a little frustrated by the lack of manual exposure control.

First reviewed July 4 2013

View the original article here

Review: Nikon Coolpix S6500

Nikon's Coolpix S6500 combines Wi-Fi connectivity with a 12x optical zoom lens and a 16 million pixel sensor, all of which enable it to both compete against and complement a smartphone camera.

The 16 million pixel back illuminated CMOS sensor of the Coolpix S6500 is significantly larger than a typical smartphone sensor. The larger surface area and back illuminated sensor technology should enable the Nikon S6500 to produce better images than the smaller smartphone sensor, particularly in low light.

Another key feature of the Nikon Coolpix S6500 is its 4.5-54mm f/3.1-6.5 lens with 12x optical zoom. This is the equivalent to a 25-300mm lens on a camera with a full frame sensor. To reduce camera shake, especially when used at the longest extension of the zoom, the lens is fitted with Nikon's Vibration Reduction technology.

The third key feature of the camera is its Wi-Fi connectivity, which enables the Coolpix S6500 to be connected to a smart device such as a phone or tablet. Once connected, you can share images to the device or use the device as a remote viewfinder and control, which is ideal for taking self portrait or wildlife images.

Images taken using the Nikon Coolpix S6500 are saved as JPEG files, and there's a variety of different scene modes to choose from, to make sure images are correctly exposed.

Because the Nikon Coolpix S6500 is a consumer-level compact camera, it doesn't have any manual exposure modes. However, the brightness of the exposure can be adjusted using the camera's exposure compensation feature, and it is possible to select an ISO sensitivity from between ISO 125 and ISO 1600. When using the auto ISO mode, the camera can also automatically select ISO 3200.

Images are composed using the 3 inch 460k dot TFT LCD rear screen, which is an acceptable resolution for a camera of this level. In use the screen is good. It has a good level of contrast and pleasing colours, and its anti-reflective coating works well. Only in extremely bright sunlight does it become a little more difficult to see the screen.

There are five different levels of screen brightness, and we found that increasing the brightness from level three to five helps you to see the image on the screen a little better on a bright day.

The Nikon Coolpix S6500 has a full price of £229.99 / US$219.95 / AU$289, putting it at the same price point as the Canon IXUS 255 HS.

The Nikon Coolpix S6500 has a stylish plastic body, that feels solid and well built. The camera is a nice size, small enough to fit in a trouser pocket, yet large enough that's the placement of buttons doesn't feel cramped.

The button arrangement of the camera is fairly straightforward and should be familiar to anyone that has used a compact camera before. On the rear is the standard arrangement of buttons placed around a directional control pad, with a direct video record button on the top right of the rear of the camera.

After pressing the power button, the Nikon S6500 takes just over second to switch on before you can take an image. The Live View screen is fairly comprehensive, displaying such details as the current shooting mode, ISO sensitivity, battery life and the shutter speed and aperture setting.

With little in the way of manual control, you're restricted to having the camera set to either an automatic mode or one of 19 scene modes. In addition there is an automatic scene selector which detects the scene being photographed and changes the settings accordingly.

In the standard automatic modes there are a number of changes that can be made to the exposure and shooting settings, including the flash mode used or ability to switch the macro focusing mode on or off. You can also set a self timer of either two seconds or 10 seconds.

The camera's main menu is extremely simple in terms of both design and layout. The large icons and text make the on-screen menu items easy to read, and there are enough settings that can be changed to satisfy the needs of most compact camera users.

Connecting the Nikon S6500 to a smart device using the camera's Wi-Fi connectivity is fairly simple. Simply go to the Wi-Fi settings in the utility menu and turn the Wi-Fi on. This can only be done if the camera's battery is almost fully charged. Otherwise the Wi-Fi option is disabled, because it can drain battery life.

To connect the Nikon S6500 to a phone or tablet, you must first download Nikon's Wireless Mobile Utility application to your smart device from either the Apple Store or Google Play Store. Connecting the camera to the device is simply a case of finding the camera on the Wi-Fi settings of the phone and tablet and then opening the app.

With the camera connected, you can now use the device to either remotely take photos or view the contents of the Nikon S6500's memory card.

Once familiar with connecting the Nikon S6500 to a smartphone or tablet, it is extremely straightforward to transfer images between the camera and device, making it possible to share images taken with the camera while on the move.

Most users will use the Nikon Coolpix S6500 in its Matrix (evaluative) metering mode. In most situations the evaluative metering mode produces exposures that are a little too bright. This also causes colours to look a little washed out.

Adjusting the exposure compensation to reduce the brightness of images by -0.7EV produces better results, with darker shadow areas, which in turn results in a better level of contrast and slightly more saturated colours. We would also recommend that most photographers switch to the vivid image style to really add some punch to their images.

With the exposure compensation set to -0.7 EV, the evaluative metering works very well in a variety of situations. Whether in macro mode, shooting a landscape on a sunny day or exposing a very dull woodland scene, the metering produced a pleasing exposure. For more awkward scenes, spot and centre-weighted metering are also available.

In its default colour setting the Nikon S6500 produces good, realistic, colours, though they perhaps lack a little saturation that makes them really stand out. The automatic white balance setting does a reasonable job, though as is common with other cameras it can remove slightly too much of any dominant colour.

Compared to the the AWB setting, using the Sunlight white balance setting on a bright summer's day produces images with more vivid greens and blues. Similarly, using AWB in a woodland scene removes some of the green colour. Of course this is what the AWB setting is designed to do, so in this regard it works well.

But to get the best possible colours from the camera we would always advise using the default white balance settings rather than the automatic option. The Nikon Coolpix S6500 has five of these settings, as well as a manual white balance control.

At the lowest ISO 160 sensitivity there is very little noise visible. However, the lack of very fine detail and textures indicates that some luminance noise reduction has taken place. With a resolution of 16 million pixels, those who print their images should be fairly pleased, with the results up to around A4 (US letter) in the size. Beyond this size, close inspection reveals the lack of detail.

The effect of the noise reduction system gets stronger as the sensitivity increases. At ISO 400 some luminance noise becomes visible along the edges of objects in the image. This is typical of in-camera noise reduction, where the noise reduction algorithm tries to preserve sharpness by applying a weaker noise reduction effect along edges of objects in the image.

At the maximum sensitivity of ISO 3200 there is quite a significant loss of detail, noise reduction, as well as some signs of JPEG artefacts.

What is very impressive is that throughout the entire ISO sensitivity range of the Nikon Coolpix S6500 there is virtually no colour noise. The only evidence of colour noise that we could see was the smallest hint of a slight purple bruising in the shadow areas of a selection of images taken in a dark woodland.

There is also no chromatic aberration, although on a few high contrast edges there was a slight hint of purple. This provides evidence that any purple fringing is being reduced in-camera.

The 25-300mm lens of the Nikon Coolpix S6500 is good, and images are almost as sharp at the edges as they are in the centre, particularly when the lens is used at its shortest focal length.

With only the merest hint of curvilinear distortion at either end of the zoom range, it is obvious that any distortion is corrected in-camera.

The lens focuses at a good speed, particularly in bright sunlight. However, when focusing in more subdued light the speed is moderate, without ever being snappy. In macro mode the focusing is slower, presumably to ensure that at these very close distances the focusing is as accurate as possible.

There is a range of different focusing modes available, each enabling you to set different AF areas. These modes including Face Priority, Target Finding AF, Centre AF area, as well as manual AF selection.

However, the most useful AF mode is Subject Tracking, which quickly enables you to select a subject to focus on with the subject tracked should it or the camera move. Again, there is enough variety in the AF modes to satisfy the needs of most compact camera photographers.

When shooting full resolution images, it can take around two seconds to save the photo and get the camera ready to take the next shot. In Continuous High shooting mode the Nikon S6500 can take seven images at speed of 10fps, with the camera then taking around six seconds before it can be used again. A lower 2fps rate is also available.

If you want really high speed images then it is possible to shoot at 120fps, but at a much reduced 640 x 480 pixel VGA resolution, and 60fps is possible at 1 million pixel resolution.

Video is captured at Full HD 1080p resolution at 30fps, with sound recorded in stereo. The quality of the video itself was quite good, though fast panning shots did suffer a little from slanting verticals.

Also, the lens seemed to have some trouble focusing when we tried to zoom in while recording. At wide focal lengths it was alright, and slowly found focus once zooming had stopped, but at longer focal lengths all of the footage was out of focus.

Although the sleek design of the Nikon Coolpix S6500 may be what causes many to pick it up off the shop shelf, it has many other attractive features. The 12x optical zoom lens works well, focusing quickly and retaining sharpness at its edges. The in-camera processing also ensures that images are free from chromatic aberration and curvilinear distortion.

The camera also handles well. It is easy to use with a clear menu layout, and the Wi-Fi connectivity is equally straightforward and easy to use.

On the whole images are bright and colours are good, especially if you reduce the exposure slightly. However, the noise reduction is a little heavy, particularly at lower ISO sensitivities. We would like to have seen more detail, particularly at ISO 160. That said, there is very little in the way of colour noise at any ISO sensitivity, and Nikon should be applauded for this.

With compact camera sales on the decline, due to the dominance of smartphone cameras, the compact camera market is now an extremely competitive arena. Nikon's Coolpix S6500 will compete with the likes of the Canon IXUS (Canon PowerShot ELPH in the US) range, which will provide it some tough competition.

When the size and zoom range of the Nikon S6500 is combined with Wi-Fi connectivity, it makes for a great travel zoom camera.

The exposure metering tended to overexpose slightly, and the noise reduction is also a little strong, particularly at low sensitivities.

With a current street price of around £150 / US$170 / AU$215, the Nikon Coolpix S6500 is good value for money for those photographers who understand the advantages of a compact camera over a smartphone camera.

The Wi-Fi functionality and 12x optical zoom lens make it an ideal companion to take with you on your travels. However, more advanced photographers may be a little frustrated by the lack of manual exposure control.

First reviewed July 4 2013

View the original article here

Review: Nikon Coolpix S9500

The Nikon Coolpix S9500 replaces the Nikon Coolpix S9300 at the top of the brand's Style range of digital compact cameras, and is designed for beginners and casual users. As is to be expected from a camera in this range, Nikon is providing a device filled with all the frills and thrills (3D, GPS, Wi-Fi, subject-tracking autofocus) but lacks the kind of controls that advanced users may want.

The 22x optical zoom is a fair bit longer than the 18x zoom of its predecessor, and its range of 25mm to super-telephoto 550mm (35mm equivalent) is both wider and longer than you will find on most compact cameras at this price point and size.

The 18.1 million pixel 1/2.3 inch sensor uses some of the latest CMOS technology, including back-illumination, which promises to enable the camera to reach high ISO values at this resolution without getting too noisy.

With ISO settings going up to 3200, images should be detailed and the camera usable in low light. As a compact sold on style, there is a large range of quite specific scene modes, plus a few extras for the bargain. However, there's no possibility of shooting in a raw file format or having direct control over shutter speed and aperture.

There is a full 1080p video mode, and a high-speed shooting capability of 7.5fps for five consecutive shots. To accompany these capabilities, the Nikon Coolpix S9500 has a 640k-dot OLED screen and comes with a variety of focus modes, including face detection.

The compact camera also features an Expeed C2 processor and inbuilt Wi-Fi, offering instant image sharing options.

In terms of competition, the camera sits alongside the Canon PowerShot SX20 IS, Panasonic TZ40, Fujifilm FinePix F900 EXR and Olympus VR-370.

It wouldn't be a Style camera without a range of colours, and the Nikon S9500 is available in one of four colour options, including our test model of 1960s-chic brown metal. They are all priced at £299.99 / AU$374.95 / US$349.95.

If you're after a cheaper option, the Nikon S9500's little brother, the Nikon S9400, costs £249.99 / AU$349 / US$299.95 and comes without built-in GPS or Wi-Fi, with a reduced 18x zoom range.

In the hand, the Nikon S9500's all-metal body feels substantial without leaving you in any doubt that it is a camera you're meant to have fun with. Next to the shutter button and zoom lever on top of the camera there is a dial for switching between main camera modes. Increasingly rare on modern compact cameras, this is a welcome tactile feature in a world of menus and sub-menus.

Most of the controls are on the back of the camera, with a metallic rotating dial for scrolling through settings and images that doubles as a four-way pad. All of the buttons on the back are very well positioned in relation to each other, with the play, delete and menu buttons having a slight cutaway at one edge to enable you to run your thumb around the scrolling dial.

The camera is ready to shoot within two seconds of you switching it on. In addition to auto mode, there are four standard scene modes on the mode dial as well as a scene mode auto selector, an effects mode (for in-camera black and white, selective colouring and so on) and a Scene mode that provides access to a further 16 scene modes such as Fireworks Display, Museum and Pet Portrait.

There's a nice variety of scenes, but you might need to consult the manual to figure out what they do. Fireworks Display, for instance, will hold the shutter open for four seconds.

The panorama shooting function works by having you line up the first shot, and then on-screen instructions will tell you to pan the camera around in one sweeping motion to capture the rest of the shots. The Nikon S9500 will then stitch the shots together automatically in-camera - provided of course you are able to hold the camera steady enough for that one sweeping motion.

With no fully manual mode, it's fair to say that the Nikon S9500 is a primarily automatic experience. Though white balance and exposure compensation can be adjusted, there is no way to adjust shutter speed and aperture. ISO sensitivity is adjusted through menu navigation.

It would perhaps have been nice to see a dedicated button for making quick changes to everyday settings, as has been the trend recently in some more advanced compacts.

Although the main mode dial on top of the camera is a welcome escape from menu navigation, there is the slight sense that Nikon has tried to pack quite a lot onto it, confusing its purpose slightly. Once you've cracked the menu system it is a breeze, but perhaps a touchscreen would have made things more intuitive to users new to Coolpix cameras, especially those stepping up from a smartphone.

The traditional four-way pad doubles effectively as a scroll wheel, though unless you are familiar with the camera's way of doing things it can be tricky to know whether to scroll left or click left, requiring some time to get to know the quirks of the interface.

That said, the dedicated one-press-to-record video button is nicely placed, and the way of accessing scene modes and effects via the main dial on the top of the camera is very easy to use once you've sussed it out.

If the camera's built-in GPS and electronic compass is turned on, geolocation metadata will be added onto your images. This can be especially fun for holidays - roam freely, then view your photos on a map when you return. You can also view it along with normal image previews on the back of the camera.

As well as a range of Instagram-style filters to apply to your images in-camera, there is a 3D Photography function, which you use by taking one photograph, moving the camera to one side, then lining the semi-transparent images up on the screen until they match. It's intuitive to shoot, but of course you will need a 3D TV or computer monitor to view the results.

Movie recording is very straightforward. If you pause the recording and then resume, the camera will produce one seamless video file. The side of the camera has an HDMI port that can output 480p, 720p, and 1080i video.

As with its predecessor, the memory card/battery compartment on the bottom and the HDMI/AV port on the top-right side of the camera both feel strong and secure.

The Nikon wireless utility works on Android and iOS devices, enabling remote control of the camera and giving you the ability to browse and import photos over the camera's built-in Wi-Fi. However, you will need a smartphone or tablet to do this, since there appears to be no in-camera direct publishing capabilities.

Once you have installed the Nikon wireless utility app on your smartphone or tablet, simply turn on Wi-Fi through the camera's settings and then connect to the camera. You will then be able to browse photos that reside on the camera, or enable live shooting mode via your smart device's screen .

Though the Wi-Fi tool works well, the Nikon S9500 lacks NFC (near-field communications) technology present in competitors such as the Panasonic TZ40.

Because your phone can't be connected to two Wi-Fi networks at once, if you want to upload photos via Wi-Fi internet (rather than 3G/4G) you will need to first transfer the images from the camera to the smartphone or tablet, then switch back to your regular Wi-Fi network for internet access to put the images on Facebook or Twitter.

There is a ridge on the front and a rubber grip on the back, enough to enable you to shoot comfortably one-handed.

Autofocus points can be set across the field, to the image centre, or manually with the four-way pad. In keeping with the Nikon S9500's promise to be able to track even fast moving subjects at sporting events, there is a motion tracking AF mode and face detection.

Combined with the sports scene mode, which takes up to five pictures at a rate of 7.5fps, the camera is quite capable of getting action shots if you can get the setup just right. Although five shots at 7.5fps is quite a short space of time, you will still have to be quite good at timing your shots.

The retouch menu enables you to to add any of the filters after the image has been shot, though you can apply them before shooting using the Effects mode.

Exposure compensation can be changed by pressing right on the main scroll pad in any scene mode, although it is called 'Brightness' in Auto mode.

The flash charge indicator doubles as a charge LED, because the default way of charging the Nikon S9500's battery is via the camera. If you want a battery charger (in order to charge one battery while using another in the camera) you will need to buy this separately.

The results of our labs tests for image quality and resolution, and sample images from the Nikon S9500, are all on the following pages.

The Nikon S9500 has a large 3-inch screen of approximately 614k dots, which is significantly lower than its 912k-dot predecessor. However it is an OLED screen instead of an LCD, which helps towards a longer battery life and produces an image viewable even in bright daylight. Reflections are present, but the vibrant OLED does a good job of punching through.

For a pocketable compact camera, the Nikon S9500 crams in an impressive zoom range equivalent to 25-550 mm on a 35mm camera. The image stabilisation is very good, enabling clean shots (combined with high ISO) at the telephoto end of the zoom range. The images were kept blur-free and retained detail too, even in low light.

In single-shot mode, it's possible to take an image (including focusing time) with just a two second interval. Matrix metering was usually spot-on, but during our tests there were a couple of situations where the camera seemed to struggle for no clear reason.

Automatic white balance was generally very good, with the camera judging correctly in a number of difficult scenarios such as street lighting, indoor fluorescent lighting and patches of springtime orange sunlight.

There were no visible signs of fringing, distortion or vignetting, so it seems Nikon has done a good job of keeping the optics under control, given the size of the zoom range and the troubles that often come along with that.

Filters applied in-camera are all quite sensible and contemporary, if you're into that sort of thing. Black and white images look lovely on the high-contrast OLED screen, and the Nikon S9500 has the option to store two copies of each image you shoot: for example one in black and white and one in standard colour.

Macro focusing mode works well, though the camera did have some trouble staying focused on flowers blowing in the wind, as if there is a slight delay between the camera deciding on a point of focus and it actually taking the shot.

Generally speaking, the images are vibrant and sharp and display a decent range of shadows and highlights up to the quality you would expect of a decent CMOS sensor in 2013.

A good update to the existing Style range of Coolpix cameras, the Nikon S9500 brings the shooting features we are starting to expect of a digital compact, including HD video, outstanding image stabilisation and Wi-Fi capabilities. The range of feature-rich scene modes makes the system quite versatile.

Priced at £299.99 / AU$374.95 / US$349.95, this compact is cheaper than most cameras that rival it in terms of zoom range and feature set. But if the Nikon S9500 is still too pricey or large for your pocket, this camera has a little brother, the Nikon S9400.

This camera is a good option for someone looking for a pocketable camera with all the bells and whistles that Nikon can muster for this size and price.

The Nikon S9500 offers great image stabilisation on a long zoom range for a camera of this size. It looks good, feels nice, and is versatile and compact with a bright screen. There are lots of scene modes to get creative with, and most of the features you could hope for in a camera at this price point.

Considering this camera's zoom range and sensor capabilities, it's disappointing not to have the option of more manual control - even if the options were buried a little.

In summary, this is a great camera for those already familiar with the Coolpix range of compacts and looking for something that brings those 2013 spices to the table with a solid CMOS sensor.

The Nikon S9500 is not the camera for professional photographers looking for a pocketable carry-around camera, though, and the lack of manual controls and raw file format capture are enough to drive you to other products. But it does come in red.

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Review: Nikon Coolpix S5200

An update to the touchscreen-enabled Nikon Coolpix S4300, the Nikon Coolpix S5200 is a slimline compact camera, available in five colours with a 16 million pixel backlit CMOS sensor, 6x optical zoom lens with a 35mm equivalent of 26-156mm and 3-inch LCD screen.

Nikon has opted not to include a touchscreen on this model, which is priced at £165/US$179.95 (around AU$241), sitting comfortably in the mid range area of the market alongside the likes of the Canon IXUS 140 and the Panasonic SZ9.

With a pleasing weight once the battery is inserted, the Nikon S5200 fits easily into the hand and most of the buttons are easily accessible with a thumb, although some of the lower ones are a little tricky to reach when using the camera one-handed.

All of the controls apart from the shutter release are situated on the back of the S5200, with the majority of the space being taken up by the 3-inch LCD screen. This is not a camera that feels cheap or flimsy - the casing feels sturdy, well built and durable. It's also compact enough to fit easily in a pocket, enabling quick and easy shooting on the go.

Offering four shooting modes - Auto, Scene (with 20 modes available within), Special Effects and Smart Portrait - the Nikon S5200 is limited in its manual controls. Sensitivity, exposure compensation and white balance are adjustable in Auto mode, but there are no options to change shutter speed or aperture.

There are, however, a variety of in-camera editing options available, including Glamour Retouch as well as the Special Effects mode, which has a range of digital filters including two toy camera modes, high contrast and a number of selective colour options.

Video recording gives the choice of capturing footage from Full HD 1080p down to VGA, with single and full time autofocus modes as well as a wind noise reduction feature.

On the whole, the options adjusting the shooting parameters are limited - in Smart Portrait, for example, exposure compensation is the only adjustable element from the options on the four-way control pad.

The menu accessed via the button under this pad enables skin softening settings, smile timer and blink proof modes to be activated, but sensitivity and white balance are unadjustable.

Smart Portrait mode works reasonably well, taking several photos and then picking the best shot. It also uses the indicator light on the front of the camera, which flashes when you're smiling enough - a useful addition if you're using it to take self portraits.

One of the charms of the Nikon Coolpix S5200 is the option to charge the battery in-camera, which means not having to worry about losing the charger cradle, as well as being able to charge when the camera is plugged into any computer. This makes it an ideal camera to take travelling, since it requires very little paraphernalia and the lead is compatible with a range of plugs and devices.

Nikon has added five new Glamour Retouch modes to the S5200, bringing the total available up to eight. They range from the useful Whiten Eyes to the slightly disturbing Small Face and Big Eyes.

These effects can't be applied to photos that are taken in Smart Portrait mode, which seems unusual because they're obviously going to be most useful for portraits of people. It's a nice set of options to have but the edits can be a little clumsy and aren't likely to replace even the most basic of editing software available off the camera.

Marketed with easy to use inbuilt Wi-Fi technology, in reality it was a little tricky and time consuming to get the Nikon Coolpix S5200 to connect to our wireless internet, for ultimately little reward. The in-camera help is non existent for this feature, so make sure you have your manual to hand if you try it.

You can connect the camera to a smartphone or tablet (once a free app has been downloaded) and then take photos with the camera via the smartphone, enabling it to act as a remote. The photos are then stored in the app as well as in the camera, so you can upload them straight to social media sites if you wish. If you don't have a smartphone or tablet then you're out of luck, since this feature doesn't work with laptops or computers.

Although remote shooting is an neat function in theory, but it's difficult to think of a situation in reality where you would need to use it regularly enough with a compact camera to deal with the faff to set it up. It'd be great to see an option for emailing/uploading directly from the camera - as you can from the Samsung Galaxy Camera - and the ability to connect to computers as well as smartphones.

Existing users of Nikon cameras will be at home with the menu structure - much of which is easy to navigate and is fairly intuitive. There are some features that are perhaps located in an odd place on the menu structure, such as the info display options, which are buried deep within the settings menu. Overall though the Nikon S5200 is fairly simple to use, and it shouldn't take long to become comfortable with it.

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