Announced in August, the Coolpix S10 is the latest incarnation of Nikon's 'twisting body' camera design that can be traced all the way back to the original Coolpix 900 in 1998, though - like the S4 before it - this one manages to squeeze in a big 10x optical zoom. Design tweaks aside, the S10's biggest enhancement over its predecessor is the inclusion of CCD-shift image stabilization (or Vibration Reduction, 'VR' as Nikon calls it), pretty much an essential for a camera with a zoom this big. The maximum ISO has also been boosted to 800 and there are a couple of interesting new features. The big zoom market is a crowded one, and truly compact models such as this have rarely impressed when compared to their bulkier 'SLR-like' cousins. Let's find out if the Coolpix S10 has what it takes to offer the ultimate 'pocket' super zoom, starting as ever with the headline features:
Headline features
6.0million effective pixels
10x optical zoom (38-380mm equiv.)
Swivel lens design
Image-sensor shift VR
Wide viewing angle 2.5" TFT screen
Two-mode VR (Vibration Reduction) system (lens-shift)
BSS (Best Shot Selector) identifies and saves the sharpest image automatically from up to ten sequential shots
Exposure BSS mode
4cm macro
Face-priority AF
In-camera red-eye removal & 'D-Lighting'
15 Scene modes
Pictmotion function
16MB internal memory + SD card storage... [read more]