» Nikon Coolpix S4 6MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Zoom

Nikon Coolpix S4 6MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Zoom Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: Avoid like the plague, good when working , broke after 2 holidays
Comment: At first i really liked this camera, it took some really good outdoor pictures on my holiday this year and last, However after very little use and no damage/drops etc. it no longer works.

The camera has a design flaw in which the internal shutter fails to open and therefore photos cant be taken (well a black screen comes out, but that is all) everything else about this camera was ace.

Looking on the internet for a fix, it would appear this is a massive flaw and nikon are failing to recognise the problem. 1000's of broken camera's all with the same problem, some only a few weeks old, some have been repaired for the fault to return a few days later.

Do not buy this camera, it is a problem waiting to happen. I personally will not buy another nikon product as my holiday was spoilt due to this.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Not as good as earlier and later version
Comment: I had earlier version of this camera and i really enjoyed it. I also liked that the battery can be charged in the camera. unfortunately, i have lost it very quickly. Then I bought this one and i was disappointed. quality of the picture is very bad. using 10X zoom is not such a good idea either, as you get horrible handshake. My dad bought himself a newer version of this camera (s10??) and i have used it for a bit and i was satisfied. though this is not a camera to be taking pictures of sport, even it has a special mode: it capturers many pictures in a row, though at the moment of capturing the picture you see black screen, so it is nearly impossible to follow the object. This camera does not really woth its price. and the funky twisting mechanism breaks (that happened with mine). Now i have Nikon s500 and i am very happy with it and it is also much cheaper.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Awful Camera Awful Service
Comment: I purchased this camera less than two years ago for nearly $350. It recently would blur when trying to focus. I'd manually focus the camera, but the autofocus would override it and blur the picture. The camera tries to be too user friendly, and you can't configure any photo settings manually.

The camera would not focus anymore, I sent it away to Nikon to get it repaired, and they wanted $115 to repair the camera.

So I paid almost $200 a year to have a sub-par crappy camera with bad software.

Don't make the same mistake I did. Never buy a Nikon. Ever.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: not worth the price
Comment: i was really excited about this camera. i dabble in photography, but wanted a camera i'd have a little more control over, and would be able to experiment with while taking professional quality shots. this little guy, however, just doesn't cut it. the flash tends to wash everything out, and you have to use it even when there's adequate lighting. also not great for action shots. i've yet to be 100% happy with a shot i've taken with this camera without using some sort of photo editing software. i work mainly in b&w, and the colors are never as crisp as i'd like. if had it to do over again, i'd go with something else.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Stay away from Nikon, lack of customer appreciation
Comment: Bought this camera from Amazon in January 2006. Paid almost $400 for it. Took a few pictures and the quality of the pictures were good. However my usage was very sporadic last year since there weren't too many picture taking moments popping up. Must have taken at the most 200 pictures with this camera.

This year my wife got pregnant and had twins. Tons of picture taking opportunities! However, the camera gave up just before our twins arrived in July 07! The camera would turn on but the screen would just be blank! Called Nikon to find out if I had accidentally changed some settings. They just told me to reset the camera and check if it works. I did so and it didn't fix the problem. When I called Nikon back they told me to just send the camera in for repairs (for which I would be charged). I decided to get on to the web and research this issue a bit since I knew my camera didn't get enough usage for normal wear and tear to spoil it. Not surprisingly, I found that this is not a problem unique to my particular camera. It is a general problem with the Coolpix. People have tried to get this issue addressed by Nikon but without any success. So, they try all kinds of tricks like banging the camera lens at particular angles with a certain amount of force to shake the lens but
not break it! I called Nikon back and registered this issue at their website giving them links to the discussion forums where people were seeing this issue (in case they were unaware!!) I wanted them to
acknowledge that this is a problem at their end and that I shouldn't have to pay for a fix.

But they "politely" refused after repeated email requests.

I decided not to waste any more time with Nikon. I am staying away from the Coolpix and from Nikon in general for their reluctance to own up to their mistakes and take care of their customers. I will also be spreading the word so that the next person doesn't get into the same trouble. I just wish now that I had spent that kind of money only after the Coolpix was tried and tested and the customer reviews were out on it.

I am going and buying a Canon camera based on a recent experience my brother had. His Canon Powershot (bought in 2004) gave some problems recently which he researched and found to be a general problem with Powershots also. However, the difference was that when he called Canon customer service, they asked him to send his camera in and they fixed it for him free of cost! Talk about customer appreciation! All I got from Nikon was a "lemon" and time wasted conversing with them!

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