Review of the Nikon Coolpix S610 Digital Camera -- A Great Camera for Anyone!

Author's Rating:

Pros: very easy to use, quite an affordable camera, huge 3 inch display screen, extremely stylish

Cons: none that should affect the purchase

The Bottom Line: 
The Nikon S610 presents a stylish digital camera with a giant LCD screen that is not only easy to use, but presents great images as the end result.  Highly Recommended.

Author's Review
The Nikon CoolPix S610 is an impressive installment in the line of cameras from Nikon.  It has features that are similar to other cameras that the company has produced, but as with most innovations, this is one that seeks to be even more stylish and user friendly than its predecessors.  I purchased this one from Best Buy, giving it away as a Christmas gift, but in the past week I have put the camera through extensive use, as I haven’t been home, and have been using this one as the major photo taker.  It’s performed brilliantly, and has made me quite happy that I bought the camera in the first place, as it does everything I had hoped it would do (and more).


The Nikon CoolPix S610 

 The first impression of this Nikon is that it is pretty darn stylish.  It has a compact feel to the camera, a sleek black coloring to the frame, and a nice wide lens that picks up nearly everything in the room.  One of the main selling points is quite obvious, as on the flip side of the camera is a very impressive 3 inch view screen that is probably the highlight of the camera.   It takes up most of the back side, and when you are viewing your potential photograph, the image is presented in an extremely vivid and bright presentation that puts a number of other cameras to shame.  I have used a few of the CoolPix cameras in the past, and while I have come away pretty happy with their use, this one has to be the best one in the line that I have seen. 

Specs for the Nikon CoolPix S610 Digital Camera

In addition to the great 3 inch display screen on the S610, it also has a nice 4x optical zoom on a wide angle lens that really lets the user get closer to their images.  The camera itself is also a 10-megapixel device that not only presents a vivid image on the display screen, but gives extremely nice pictures when you download them to your computer.  The nice zoom lens also makes it very versatile while in use, and gives you some great coloring to work with when taking pictures.  Not having to worry about the shot when you point-and-click takes a lot of that stress out of the camera use.  The camera also has a number of features that are common for the Nikon line now, which includes the optical VR image stabilization, scene auto selector, active child mode, smile shutter, red-eye fixes, and 16 different scene modes to get the ideal picture in any event.

Using the Nikon CoolPix S610:

The ease of use for the Nikon S610 is very favorable, with the simplicity of being able to just set up the camera, turn it on, and take a picture.  It may take a few moments to get the battery and memory card ready at the first start-up, but after that everything becomes a breeze.  One of the stand out features, is that there is basically no time between turning on the camera and being able to take a picture.  As soon as you press the “on” button, the camera focuses and you can take the picture.  This makes it neat, because you don’t have to really have the camera at the ready to take a picture; instead you just have to be able to turn it on quickly and press the top right button to take a picture.  The camera thinks for itself in that regard, allowing you to capture the best possible image in your current setting, and giving the user a lot of freedom when it comes to preparing for an image.  This is a great feature, but there is also a somewhat disheartening follow up to that, in that it takes a few seconds between images to get the camera up and ready again. 


Once you have taken the first picture, the camera seems to think for a little bit, and then prepares itself to be used again.  I would have to say that this time ranges from about 3 to 4 seconds total, and while it doesn’t seem like that long on paper, it can be an eternity if you are trying to go shot-to-shot in a very limited amount of time.  To counter that downside to the camera, the vibration reduction feature, the face detection software that helps taking pictures of people, and the automatic scene mode really helps with the decision process of “how” to take a picture.  All in all, the S610 is a very easy camera to use, and while it has a number of functions you can experiment when you have become an expert with the camera, it can really be a great one to have around.

Final Thoughts on the Nikon CoolPix S610

Already knowing what to expect from a CoolPix camera, I must admit that I went into using this one with a good understanding of its functionality.  The S610 did not disappoint me overall, and though it does have the slow shot-to-shot time, everything else about this camera has turned out to be a positive in my opinion.  Aesthetically, this camera is really nice to look at, and when it is put to the test, it keeps coming back with crisp and clear images; whether they are of people, landscapes, or just outside on the beach.  The camera sports that spectacular 3 inch LCD screen, and it does so on a very small frame that compacts a lot of great uses into a small space.  Because of the big screen, even the most amateur of photographers will figure out quite easily how to center an object or get the perfect picture from a group outing.  The camera does well in sunlight as well as in a dark room, and presents high quality photographs in all of those instances.   I think that this could be a great camera to have on vacations, and that it could be a great camera for the money.  This model on cost around $250, and was purchased with a 1 year protection at Best Buy.  It has been performing brilliantly for a couple of months now, and I have enjoyed all of the times that I have put it to use.

Final Recommendation on the Nikon CoolPix S610

The Nikon S610 is a highly recommended digital camera that performs well in all settings, and presents crisp clear images both on the computer and on color prints.  It is a great camera for someone that travels because of its portable size, but it is also a great beginner digital camera for a new user.  Its ease of use makes it a camera that could be highly recommended for anyone as a gift or purchase.