Nikon Coolpix S230

Review Index – (updated 15 August’09)

DPInterface
“Unfortunately, Nikon did cut a few corners with this budget touchscreen camera. For starters, Nikon probably thought the market of the S230 would just be the ‘snap happy’ crowd, and so, the camera doesn’t show much information on-screen. The camera also has below average battery life and lack of any sort of image stabilization. The movie audio sync issue that’s been ever-present on Nikon’s modern cameras is here too.”

PCMag
“Fun as the camera’s features are, you should probably take a pass on the Nikon Coolpix S230 based on little more than its utterly disappointing image quality. Distortion was very heavy at both the lens’ widest angle and telephoto positions. At the telephoto position, pincushion distortion warps the image inward; at the widest angle, barrel distortion bubbles the image.”
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Buy-n-Shoot
“Nikon’s Best Shot Selector (BSS) technology automatically shoots a series of images and saves the one with the sharpest focus, which is a useful feature to rely on when at full zoom or for those with unsteady hands who often find their images are blurred.”
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DigitalCameraReview
“Did the S230 deliver the basic image quality and fun-factor we were looking for? With a few reservations, I’d say it did. In good light, it captured some nice images. Colors are slightly saturated, but not to an extreme.”

InfoSync
“We don’t know what mind-altering substance the Nikon Coolpix S230 was on, but it produced one of the most unimpressive image performances we’ve seen to date. Aside from chronic fringing, we found most images to be plagued by wretched color splotches in certain areas and the surrounding borders to be out of focus.”
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Steves Digicams
“What really makes the Nikon Coolpix S230 stand out is the large 3-inch touch LCD screen on the back. Complimenting the screen is the new Expeed image processor, auto scene select mode, and Nikon’s smart portrait system. With a MSRP of US$229.95, this is a very stylish and easy to use ultra-compact camera.”

Trusted Reviews
“The Nikon CoolPix S230 is attractively designed, and it is certainly well made, but the trendy touch-screen interface can’t hide the fact that this is actually a very average camera. It suffers from slow performance, a very limited range of features including lacklustre zoom range and surprisingly poor lens quality, especially considering its relatively high price.”
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GoodGearGuide
“Another interesting feature on the Nikon CoolPix S230 is BSS (Best Shot Selector), a function that shoots sequential frames and then saves the one with the sharpest focus. Other goodies include face detection, nine ISO settings (including ISO 2000), an Intelligent Automation mode, 16 scene modes, four movie modes and a photo retouching tool — not bad for a $379 camera.”
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CNET.co.uk
“If you’re very critical of photo quality or need something very fast, this probably isn’t the camera for you. But, if you’re looking for a camera to keep with you at all times for snapshots, the S230 is a worthy contender.”
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