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After schlepping around a 35mm kit with two Nikon camera bodies, several lenses, and a full sized Bogen tripod for many years, I’ve come to appreciate small, easily pocketable cameras like the Nikon Coolpix S8000. When our test unit arrived, I was immediately impressed and after two weeks of carrying the camera with me just about everywhere I went, my initial impressions haven’t changed. The little black S8000 (the camera is also available in silver, red and brown) is about the size of an Altoids tin and provides a nice balance of usability, simplicity and snappy performance

For a camera that fits easily into your jacket pocket, the Nikon CoolPix S8000 offers an extremely broad (10x) 30-300mm equivalent zoom range coupled with 14.2 megapixels of resolving power, and a bright, 921,000-dot 3″ LCD. Along with sharp, richly-toned still images, the CoolPix S8000 can also capture HD 720p video clips with stereo sound at 30 frames-per-second in lengths up to 1.5 hours long.

It looks extremely smart with its curved metal body, and the 3in screen has a 921,000-dot resolution, giving an incredibly sharp picture and crisp menus. The navigation pad doubles as a wheel, making it quick to browse and adjust menu options. There are no manual exposure or focus controls, though, and the available options are standard fare for a point-and-shoot camera.

Also in the mix are a Smart Portrait mode optimized for single or group portraits–it lets you tweak skin-softening filters, a smile-triggered shutter, and a blink detector–as well as a motion-tracking mode that locks in on a moving object and keeps it in focus. That’s it for the shooting modes; you don’t get any manual aperture or shutter controls. The automation tends to do a very good job, though.

At first glance the diminutive auto-exposure only S8000 looks pretty much like every other ultra-compact digicam out there. On closer inspection this little unit seems rather elegant. It’s unobtrusive, understated (at least the black version) and eminently pocketable. The S8000 is truly compact, measuring 2.3×4.1×1.1 inches and weighing in (with battery and memory media) at just 6.5 ounces.

To ensure sharp, usable pictures under any and all lighting conditions, the Nikon CoolPix S8000 features a 4-way VR optical image stabilization system , the ability to boost ISO ratings up to 3200, a Motion Detection function that automatically adjusts the camera’s shutter speed and ISO rating to compensate for fast-moving subjects, and Nikon’s Best Shot Selector (BSS) that quickly captures 10 exposures and automatically edits and saves the sharpest of the batch.

Performance was mostly excellent, taking just 1.3 seconds to switch on and shoot, and 1.6 seconds between shots. Continuous mode was nothing special at 0.9fps, but a Sport Continuous option captured 3-megapixel frames at 3.5fps, using a fast shutter speed to eliminate motion blur. Flash photography was slow, though, with gaps of up to 12 seconds between shots.

The menu system and controls are not so complicated, so you won’t have problems with them. The menu system is divided into three tabs, such as Setup, Movie and Shooting. Due to the high resolution screen menus look sharp and they are easy to read. Also the model is enabled with straightforward controls. It includes a record button used for movies, shooting mode button which is labeled as “Scene,” OK button, four-way control pad/wheel as well as Delete and Menu buttons.

In PCWorld Labs imaging tests, the Coolpix S8000 led our latest pocket megazoom test group in lack of distortion, and it was among the leaders for exposure quality and sharpness. Color accuracy and video quality were only mediocre, however, and as a result the Coolpix S8000 posted an overall imaging score of Good.

In my hands-on tests, the Coolpix S8000 had the best macro mode of any of the cameras in our latest roundup. I was just about able to touch the lens to a subject and still get a crisp, well-focused photo without the autofocus searching in and out.

The robustly built metal-alloy/polycarbonate body has good dust/weather/moisture seals and feels comfortingly solid. Even though the S8000 is very thin and has smooth surfaces, it is fairly stable in the hands thanks to the nicely placed wrist strap and contoured thumb rest.

Not only does the Coolpix S8000 slip easily into a standard shirt pocket or a small purse, but it carries nicely when gripped loosely in the palm of the hand with the wrist strap looped around the right hand. Areas vulnerable to loss/breakage include the plastic cover of the battery and memory media compartment (which must be locked/unlocked via a tiny slider by the user) and the soft plastic flap over the USB port.

The S8000’s user interface is logical and uncomplicated; all buttons are fairly small, but they are clearly marked, sensibly placed and easily accessed. Operation is very basic and all exposure options are minor variations on the auto exposure theme. There is no mode dial because shooters only have four options – Auto mode, Scene mode, Smart Portrait, and Movie mode. In place of the standard compass switch, the S8000 features what is essentially a rotary jog dial (which Nikon calls the rotary multi-controller) for super fast menu scrolling and back and forth saved image comparison.

You can correct exposure problems easily within the camera itself thanks to Nikon’s D-Lighting feature, which you employ during image playback. Rather than attempting to correct backlit or underexposed images while you’re capturing them, you reprocess images with D-Lighting after you shoot, creating a modified copy of your photo while retaining the original shot.

Build quality and manual shortcomings aside, the Nikon Coolpix S8000 is the easiest-to-use pocket megazoom in our latest test field. It takes almost no effort from the user to capture great images, which casual snapshooters will love.

Nikon Coolpix S8000 – Key Features :

The following are some of the key features you’ll discover in this Nikon Coolpix S8000 Digital Camera:

1.14.2 megapixels for stunning prints as large as 20 x 30 inches

2.10x wide-angle optical Zoom-NIKKOR ED glass lens; 3.0-inch VGA (921k-dot) Clear Color Display

3.720p HD movie recording at 30fps; HDMI output

4.Creative Slider creates pictures, in camera, by simply adjusting brightness, vividness and color hue

5.4-way VR Image Stabilization System; Smart Portrait System

It wasn’t all bad, though. 720p videos looked and sounded great, despite the lack of access to the optical zoom. Automatic exposures were well judged and colours were rich and lifelike. When viewed on the camera’s screen or when resized to fit a PC monitor, photos looked superb. However, cameras that cost just a little more offer better image quality and controls. The S8000’s screen and smart design aren’t enough to compensate.

Here’s a breakdown of the S8000’s shooting modes:

• Auto: Point-and-shoot mode with limited user input. In Auto mode (which is actually closer to Program mode) the camera selects the aperture and shutter speed, but allows users to control sensitivity (ISO), white balance, color/saturation, and exposure compensation.
• Scene mode: Scene Auto Selector (which automatically selects the most appropriate Scene mode for the shooting situation), Portrait, Landscape, Night Portrait, Party/Indoor, Beach/Snow, Sunset, Dusk/Dawn, Night Landscape, Close-Up, Food, Museum, Fireworks Show, Copy, Backlight, and Panorama Assist.
• Smart Portrait mode: Specialized portrait mode that automatically turns on the Skin Softening function to smooth out skin texture and minimize blemishes. The Smart Portrait mode also activates the Smile timer (tripping the shutter when the priority subject smiles), Nikon’s Blink Proof function which automatically captures two sequential exposures and then saves the one in which the subject’s eyes are open, and Subject Tracking in which the camera locks focus on and automatically tracks the movement of the primary subject to assure sharp focus and rapid response when the “decisive moment” occurs. Subject Tracking continues to function even if the subject briefly exits the frame.
• Movie: The camera records HD video at a maximum resolution of 1280×720 at 30 fps) with stereo sound.

The info display provides all the information the camera’s target audience is likely to need, but in review mode this information remains on the screen for approximately five seconds before allowing the image to be seen without the info overlay – defeating the nifty rotary jog dial’s ability to compare saved images by jogging back and forth between them. The LCD gains up (automatically increases brightness) in dim lighting and can be adjusted to the individual shooter’s preferences. Some earlier “S” models featured LCDs that were so shiny that they behaved like mirrors, making them essentially useless in bright outdoor lighting – the S8000 shows marked improvement over its predecessors with a very good anti-glare/anti-reflection coating.

1.Nikon Coolpix S8000 14.2 MP Digital Camera – Black : Lowest Price:$254.00.

2.Nikon Coolpix S8000 14.2MP Digital Camera – RED : Lowest Price:$269.95.

3.Nikon Coolpix S8000 14 MP Digital Camera – Silver : Lowest Price:$255.00.

4.Nikon Coolpix S8000 14.2 MP Digital Camera – Bronze : Lowest Price:$269.95.

In fact, the Nikon Coolpix S8000 can be considered as a strange camera as it is hard to understand the target user of the device.

Resources :expertreviews.co.uk,washingtonpost.com,digitalcamerareview.com,world-wide-posts.com,techreviews.net