The Nikon Coolpix is a 12 megapixel digital camera with a wide angle 5x optical zoom lens. The focal length of the lens is equivalent to 28 - 140mm in 35mm format. Other features include standard definition movies, image stabilisation and a 2.7 inch LCD screen.

Aside from these features the Coolpix S640 is a fairly typical point and shoot camera. One area where Nikon has added a few extras is within the portrait system. Here the Coolpix can give a softer look to skin, automatically fix red eye, take a photo if it detects someone is smiling, take two pictures to try and avoid catching anyone blinking and also issue a blink warning if it detects someone is blinking.

• Self Timer: 2 or 10 seconds
• Macro focusing: 2cm
• Smile Shutter: Automatically takes a photo when someone is smiling
• D Lighting: Enhance a photo by adjusting the lighting
• Colour Options: Vivid, Black and White, Sepia, Cyanotype

The LCD monitor is 2.7 inches in size. The screen is made up of around 230,000 dots.

The flash modes are: auto, red eye reduction, on, off and slow sync.

There are a number of preset scene modes. These are: Portrait, Landscape, Food, Sports, Night Portrait, Party/Indoor, Beach/Snow, Sunset, Dusk/Dawn, Night Landscape, Close-up, Panorama Assist, Museum, Fireworks Show, Copy, and Back Light.

You can shoot TV quality movies with a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels. The top recording speed is 30 frames per second. Sound can be recorded and optical zoom can be applied before shooting starts.

Among the more advanced features are:

• ISO: Automatic, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400
• Exposure Compensation: +/- 2 in 0.3 steps
• White Balance: Auto, Manual, Daylight, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Cloudy, Flash
• Metering: Centre weighted and multi point
• Continuous shooting
• Best shot selector
• Multi Shot 16 - Builds 16 mini images into a single image

All the necessary cables and software are supplied to attach the Nikon Coolpix S640 to a computer.

Description:	12 megapixels and a 5x optical zoom lens
Ease of Use:	9
Features:	8
Colour:	7
Macro:	8
Indoors:	8
Value for Money:	8
Style:	9
Movie Mode:	8
Image Quality:	8
Build Quality:	8
Total:	81
Verdict:	This is a fairly standard pocket camera. Picture quality is good, although I did find one or two issues. I like the look, design and feel of the camera. Sometimes it is hard to give either strong reasons why a camera should be bought ahead of others or why it should be avoided. I think this is the case with the Coolpix S640.
Review Date:	November 2009
Related Pages:	Nikon Coolpix S640 Specification Nikon Coolpix S640 Sample Images Nikon Coolpix S640 Features
Comparisons:	Nikon Coolpix S640 vs Panasonic Lumix DMC FX60

	GBP 172
	GBP 174.99
Click a flag for prices from other countries:

Camera	Rating
Panasonic DMC FX60	86
Canon IXUS 120 IS	86
Sony DSC TX1	86
Canon IXUS 110 IS	86
Canon IXUS 100 IS	86
Panasonic DMC FS62	85
Samsung ST550	85
Nikon Coolpix S570	85

Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information on this site, please make sure you double check the feature set and specification at the point of purchase.

Nikon Coolpix S640