Nikon Coolpix S4150 Digital Camera Review

Features
Handling
Performance
Verdict
Specification


Nikon Coolpix S4150 Lens Extended

The Nikon Coolpix S4150 was released in August 2011 alongside the S6150. It is available for £108.99 in five colours: violet, bronze, black, silver and red.

Nikon Coolpix S4150 Front

Nikon Coolpix S4150 Features

The S4150 features a 14 megapixel sensor and a 5x optical zoom lens which is a 35mm equivalent of 26 - 130mm. On the rear of the camera is a 3 inch touch screen allowing you to control the camera and select your point of focus.

To make picture taking easy Scene Auto Selector selects the optimum Scene mode for popular photographic situations and the user is also able to choose from 19 scene modes. Subject Tracking AF keeps the camera focused on a subject even when it is moving.

The camera has a number of ways to help you take the sharpest pictures possible. Lens-shift Vibration Reduction helps reduce the effect of camera shake and high ISO (up to 3200) reduces the risk of blurred images with fast-moving subjects or in low-light. Motion detection compensates for camera and subject movement, with Best Shot Selector (BSS) automatically selects the sharpest of up to 10 sequential shots.

There is also a range of features which are suitable for taking people pictures. Smile Timer takes a picture when your subject smiles and Blink Proof alerts you when someone has closed their eyes. Skin softening will adjust uneven skins tones, with in-camera Red-eye Fix correcting false eye colour caused by the flash.

The S4150 has a retouch menu which enables you to edit and enhance images in the camera. Filter effects available include Selective Colour, which converts your image to monochrome then adds a splash of colour to an area of your choice and Cross Screen, which adds a starry effect to bright objects.

Videos are recorded in 720p HD with stereo sound. Optical zoom is also available during recording. To view your videos the camera has a built-in HDMI connector for output to a HDTV.


Nikon Coolpix S4150 Top

Key Features

• 14 megapixel CCD image sensor
• 5x optical zoom lens (35mm equivalent: 26-130mm)
• 3 inch 460K-dot touch screen
• 720p HD movie recording with stereo sound
• Electronic VR (Vibration Reduction)
• ISO 80 - 3200
• Motion detection
• Best Shot Selector (BSS)
• Smart portrait system
• Smile Timer
• Blink Proof
• Skin softening
• In-camera Red-eye Fix
• Scene Auto Selector
• 19 scene modes
• Subject Tracking AF
• Retouch Menu
• Available in a range of exciting colours

Nikon Coolpix S4150 Screen

Nikon Coolpix S4150 Handling

The S4150 has a very small body, ideal for carrying around in your pocket. The 3 inch LCD touch screen is used to control most of the settings on the camera and is responsive. Even with the touch screen there are still five buttons, including on/off, shutter, movie, scene and playback buttons. On the rear of the camera is a small ridge for your right thumb to grip it. The camera menus are easy to navigate with a large amount of settings available at the touch of the button via the touch screen, such as ISO, white-balance, self-timer amongst others. Some of the writing which indicates what the buttons are for has worn away quickly during testing.

The camera is ready to take pictures within a couple of seconds of switching on and is quick to focus. The battery has a CIPA rating of 190, which is fairly low, so if you take a lot of pictures when out shooting for a day you may like to consider carrying a spare. In continuous shooting mode the camera is capable of shooting full sized 14 megapixel images at 0.9 fps.


Nikon Coolpix S4150 Battery

Nikon Coolpix S4150 Performance

The S4150 is able to take well exposed images with good colour reproduction. Detail is OK in the centre of the images but round the edges and corners they look blurry. With a minimum focusing distance of 10cm it is difficult to get close enough to take really detailed macro images. More pictures can be seen in the Equipment Database.

Nikon Coolpix S4150 Lens test images

Wide-angle | 1/320 sec | f/3.2 | 4.6 mm | ISO 80 High-Res	Full optical zoom | 1/200 sec | f/6.5 | 23.0 mm | ISO 80 High-Res
Digital zoom | 1/60 sec | f/6.5 | 92.0 mm | ISO 80 High-Res	Macro | 1/13 sec | f/3.2 | 4.6 mm | ISO 80 High-Res

There isn't any issue with noise at ISO 80 and ISO 100 but there is a little more noise at ISO 200, with a sharp image still produced. At ISO 400 images are a touch softer. Noise has a big impact on image quality at ISO 800, ISO 1600 and ISO 3200, with these settings best used when shooting images that are to be resized for web use.

Nikon Coolpix S4150 ISO test images

ISO 80 | 1/4 sec | f/5.8 | 13.5 mm High-Res	ISO 100 | 1/5 sec | f/5.8 | 13.5 mm High-Res	ISO 200 | 1/10 sec | f/5.8 | 13.5 mm High-Res	ISO 400 | 1/20 sec | f/5.8 | 13.5 mm High-Res
ISO 800 | 1/30 sec | f/5.8 | 13.5 mm High-Res	ISO 1600 | 1/80 sec | f/5.8 | 13.5 mm High-Res	ISO 3200 | 1/160 sec | f/5.8 | 13.5 mm High-Res

Landscape mode creates images with excellent blues and greens. You can change the amount of colour in images, from vivid to black and white, examples of which can be seen lower down. Portraits have excellent skin tones, with just a hint of red-eye.

Nikon Coolpix S4150 Scene modes

Landscape | 1/500 sec | f/3.2 | 4.6 mm | ISO 80 High-Res	Landscape with building | 1/1000 sec | f/3.9 | 6.7 mm | ISO 80 High-Res
Portrait | 1/60 sec | f/5.3 | 11.6 mm | ISO 200 High-Res	Food | 0.4 sec | f/5.3 | 11.6 mm | ISO 400 High-Res
Landscape - vivid | 1/500 sec | f/3.2 | 4.6 mm | ISO 80 High-Res	Landscape - black and white | 1/500 sec | f/3.2 | 4.6 mm | ISO 80 High-Res

Under our incandescent lights the AWB presets gives an orange cast to the image, with the incandescent preset taking the better shot. It is the other way round under the fluorescent lights, with the AWB taking the best image, with an orange cast when shooting with the fluorescent preset.

Nikon Coolpix S4150 White-balance test images

AWB preset - incandescent lighting | 1/10 sec | f/3.9 | 6.7 mm | ISO 100 High-Res	Incandescent preset - incandescent lighting | 1/10 sec | f/3.9 | 6.7 mm | ISO 100 High-Res
AWB preset - fluorescent lighting | 1/4 sec | f/3.9 | 6.7 mm | ISO 100 High-Res	Fluorescent preset - fluorescent lighting | 1/4 sec | f/3.9 | 6.7 mm | ISO 100 High-Res

Although no filter effects can be added when shooting, during playback you can enter the Retouch Menu, where you can add filters such as selective colour, soft focus, miniature and many more. Examples of some of these are below. Other options available are Glamour Retouch, D-Lighting, Stretch, Perspective Control and more.

Nikon Coolpix S4150 Digital filters

Black and white | 0.3 sec | f/4.2 | 7.7 mm | ISO 80 High-Res	Cross-screen | 0.3 sec | f/4.2 | 7.7 mm | ISO 80 High-Res	Fisheye | 0.3 sec | f/4.2 | 7.7 mm | ISO 80 High-Res
Selective colour | 0.3 sec | f/4.2 | 7.7 mm | ISO 80 High-Res	Cyanotype | 0.3 sec | f/4.2 | 7.7 mm | ISO 80 High-Res	Sepia | 0.3 sec | f/4.2 | 7.7 mm | ISO 80 High-Res

Video Mode

Below is a a video shot at 720p. The camera records with stereo sound and also allows the use of optical zoom during recording, an example of which can be seen on the ePHOTOzine Youtube page.

Value For Money

The Nikon Coolpix S4150 is available for £108.99. There is a huge range of cameras available with a similar specification (5x optical zoom, 14 megapixel sensor) to choose from, such as: Olympus VG-130, Nikon Coolpix S3100, Pentax Optio S1, Fujifilm FinePix Z90, Canon PowerShot A3200 IS and Samsung SH100.

Nikon Coolpix S4150 Verdict

In comparison with the recently reviewed Coolpix S6150 and considering they are available for a very similar price (as of 30th November 2011) there is little reason to suggest buying this model. The S4150 is smaller but the S6150 is only slighter bigger and has much better image quality, more megapixels and more optical zoom. The S4150 can take a good picture but will suit those who prefer to share images on social networking sites rather than printing their images in a large format.

Nikon Coolpix S4150 Pros

Extremely compact
Keenly priced
Good colour reproduction
Responsive touch-screen
Available in a range of colours

Nikon Coolpix S4150 Cons

10cm minimum focus distance for macro shots
CIPA rating for battery is fairly low
Noise significant from ISO 400 upwards

FEATURES
HANDLING
PERFORMANCE
VALUE FOR MONEY
OVERALL

Nikon Coolpix S4150 Specifications

Manufacturer	Nikon
Lens
	Max Aperture	f/3.2 - f/5.6
	35mm equivalent	26mm - 130mm
	Optical Zoom	5x
Image Sensor
	CCD pixels	14Mp (Megapixels)
	Pixels (W)	4320
	Pixels (H)	3240
	Sensor Type	CCD
	Sensor Size	1/2.3 inch
	Sensor Size (width)	6.16mm
	Sensor Size (height)	4.62mm
	Aspect Ratio	4:3 16:9
LCD Monitor
	LCD Monitor	3in
	Screen resolution	460,000 dots
	Touch Screen	Yes
Focusing
	Min Focus	10cm
	Focusing modes	Autofocus Manual Face Detection Centre
Exposure Control
	Shutter speeds shortest	1/2000sec
	Shutter speeds longest	4sec
	Exp modes	Program Scene modes A
	Metering	Centre-weighted M
	ISO sensitivity	80 - 3200
	White balance	Auto Manual Outdoors/Daylight Cloudy Incandescent Fluorescent Flash
	Exposure Comp	+/-2
Shooting Options
	Continuous shooting	0.7fps
Video
	Movie mode	Yes
	Video Resolution	1280x720 720p
	Video FPS	30
	Stereo Sound	No
	Optical Zoom with Video	Yes
Other Features
	Image Stabilisation	Yes
Interface
	HDMI	No
	USB	USB 2
	Wi-Fi	No
Storage
	Card Type	SD SDHC SDXC
	File Type	JPG
Power Source
	Battery Type	EN-EL19
	CIPA Rating	190
Box Contents
	Box Contents	Camera strap AN-CP19 Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL19 Charging AC Adapter EH-69P USB Cable UC-E6 Audio Video Cable EG-CP14 Stylus TP-1 ViewNX 2 CD-ROM
Dimensions
	Weight	128g
	Width	95mm
	Height	56.8mm
	Depth	19.9mm

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