Nikon Coolpix S640 Review

The Nikon Coolpix S640 is a 12 megapixel digital camera. It has a 5x wide angle lens. The Coolpix S640 is small enough to fit into most pockets and is also a lightweight camera. I like the design of the camera. Although the design is quite simple the camera has a touch of elegance about it. Other plus pionts include ease of use and a macro mode that can get you in as close as 2cm from your subject.

Features include image stabilisation, a 2.7 inch LCD screen and a standard definition mode.

This is a well made pocket camera that is very easy to use.

Outdoor 1 (Medium Zoom)
Owing to the time of year this picture was taken and the low angle of the sun it is very difficult for any compact digital camera not to suffer from sun glare. That is what happens here, but not many cameras manage to fare any better than the Coolpix S640. This leads to a loss of detail in the areas where the sun strikes the boats. Aside from that point I really like the sharpness of this photo.

Outdoor 2 (No Zoom)
I found the strength of blue in this photo to be a bit overpowering. The colour of the sky looks unnatural and there is a slight tint to the shot. If you have read any other reviews I have written on the subject of digital cameras with wide angle lenses you will know that sharpness can be lost when the lens is zoomed out. This happens to a degree here, but sharpness levels are above average for a digital camera with a wide angle lens.

Outdoor 3 (Maximum Zoom)
Colour balance is greatly improved in this shot. Sharpness levels are good too. There is just the issue of detail lost from the boats to contend with.

Outdoor 4 (Building)
This is my favourite shot taken by the Coolpix S640. The main reason is this time the colours and lighting are spot on. The shot is also sharply focused with virtually no loss of focus towards the edges.

Outdoor Portrait
In all three of my portrait shots the hair takes on a purple tinge in places. I have no idea why this has happened and I wonder if it is connected to the colour balance issue highlighted in my second outdoor photo. We removed the hair band in case it was a reflection issue, but it did not solve the problem. Other than this problem the colours are about right and focusing works well again.

Indoor Portrait with Flash
In places the flash unit does not generate quite enough light to brighten certain darker areas, like in the hair. Skin colours look good.

Indoor Portrait without Flash
This is a decent effort too. The Coolpix S640 manages to keep noise levels down and bring out a fair amount of detail in the shot.

Colours
As you can see I had one or two issue with colour with this camera. The purple tinge in the hair is not one I have come across before. I am also concerned by the power of blue in the second outdoor scenic shot.

Macro
My macro shot rounds off my tests on a high note. There is plenty of detail and crispness about the shot.

Overall
Overall I am happy, but there are one or two issues that will cause me to mark the camera down for picture quality.

The time taken to take a single photo was 0.22 seconds. This is a fast time all other times were about average. Five photos were timed at 11 seconds. With flash turned on times were 0.51 seconds for a single shot and 20.1 seconds for five.

Looking at the specification Nikon claim the Coolpix S640 has a very fast start up time. Strangely this was an area where I struggled and try as I might I found it slow to start up and take the first photo. In fact I found this to be one of the slower cameras taking 4.97 seconds to capture the first shot.

You can compare this camera to other models by taking a look at the Shutter Lag Comparison Table.

This is a small, neat and tidy camera. It is not flashy in any way and has an understated design that I like. It is available in black, silver, red and pink.

55 x 91 x 20.5mm

110g

Lithium ion. Nikon estimates you should be able to take around 270 shots in between charges.

There are 45mb of storage built in by Nikon. This is enough for around 15 shots. The camera is also compatible with SD and SDHC cards.

Click here to save money on SD cards..

Excellent. As with other Nikon digital cameras the menu system is one of the simplest you are likely to find.

Ease of use - simple design

Slow start up time

Another small unfussy compact camera worth a good look at is the Canon IXUS 120 IS.

The Nikon Coolpix S640 is a solid offering. It looks good and is very straightforward too. There is plenty of choice when it comes to buying a pocket camera, but this camera is a good choice if you think the features it offers are what you are looking for.

Front View

Back View

Top View

Sample Menu

	GBP 174.99
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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