Nikon Coolpix S1 Review

AUTO record mode screen display. The Zoom indicator displays briefly whenever the Zoom is operated. The "5M*" icon indicates the image resolution is 5-megapixels at Fine quality. Flash is set to Auto and will fire when needed and there's 188 pictures remaining at the current image resolution.

When you half-press the shutter release the autofocus is locked and the exposure is calculated and set. If autofocus was successful the AF dot icon is blue-green, if it fails it is red and blinks.

AUTO record menu:

Image Quality/Size - (5M*) High 2592x1944, (5M) Normal 2592x1944, (3M) Normal 2048x1536, (PC) 1024x768 or (TV) 640x480

White Balance - Auto, Manual preset, Daylight, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Cloudy, Shady or Speedlight

Exp Comp - Override metering +/- 2.0 EV in 0.3 steps

Continuous - Shooting mode: Single frame, Continuous, Multi-Shot 16, Interval shooting

BSS - Best Shot Selector

Sensitivity - ISO 50, 100, 200, 400 or Auto (ISO 50-200)

Color Options - Standard, Vivid, Black-and-white, Sepia, Cyanotype

If the Menu option is set to "icon" then this is what your menu will look like.

Pressing the 4-way selector "up" changes flash modes, "right" enables self-timer and "down" to enable macro focus mode. You set these options via onscreen popups as shown above.

Scene mode options include: Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Night Portrait, Party, Beach/Snow, Sunset, Dusk/Dawn, Night Landscape, Close Up, Museum, Fireworks, Copy, Back Light, Panorama assist, Underwater, Voice Recording, Image size/quality and Sound Recording.

The Macro closeup focus mode covers from 1.6 in. (4 cm) to infinity and the flash throttles down nicely for closeup work.

The Coolpix S1 can also be turned into a simple voice recorder.

Some of the portrait scene modes have onscreen framing guides to help you properly position your subject for the desired effect.

Whenever you are making a menu selection you can press the Help button (telephoto zoom) to display a brief explanation of the mode or option.

Each of the other specific scene modes on the Mode Dial; Portrait, Landscape, Sports and Night Portrait, have their own sub-menus of further choices.

One of the unique Portrait modes is Face Priority AF, as you can see from the frame above it can identify the "face" in the frame and properly focuses on it.

Movie mode options:

TV Movie - Color 640 x 480 pixels, 15fps

Small size - Color 320 x 240 pixels, 15fps

Smaller size - Color 160 x 120 pixels, 15fps

Time-lapse - Captures images at intervals of 30s, 1m, 5m, 10m, 30m, 1h (up to 1,800 images). Combines all images into a continuous movie.

Autofocus mode - Single or Continuous AF

Movie Storage Capacity