Nikon’s Impressive S710 Point and Shoot

Gear, nikon s710

23 Aug, 2008 by New York Herald in Gear

The new Nikon S710 (Sept release) is packed with features but you can hardly blame us for noticing the megapixel count first. A whopping 14.5 megapixels will make you stand out of the point and shoot crowd. At $380, we’d place this a notch below hybrid cameras such as the recently announced Nikon P6000 and the near classic Canon G-9, both of which cost $499. The Nikon S710 is expensive as a pure everyday point and shoot, but for that popular category of slim, easy-to-use cameras, it’s aiming to be nothing less than best in class. Costing $100 more than the previous Nikon S610 which features 10 megapixels, it better be.

Besides the 14.5 megapixels, the Nikon S710 also features a generous 3″ LCD display, 3.6x zoom wide-angle glass lens, a stainless steel body, various anti-shake technology, and an ISO of up to 12,800 for shooting in low light. Don’t get too excited about that crazy ISO number. First the Nikon S710 reduces the image to 3 megapixels. Secondly, well, let’s say we’re a bit skeptical. If they’re able to knock out low-noise photos at ISO 1,600 or 3,200 we’d be satisfied.

There are a number of scene modes to choose from, including Close-up, Portrait, Landscape, Backlight, Night Portrait, and Night Landscape. We also appreciate its in-camera red-eye fix and its “Face-Priority” auto focus system, which can detect and stay focused on up to 12 faces in one photo. This is a competitive category, and $380 is quite steep, but the Nikon S710 packs a wallop. We recommend the red. Due in storms in September.

Key Competitor: Sony Cybershot DSC-W300, featuring 13.6 megapixels and a rare optical viewfinder, along with its 2.7″ LCD screen. Originally priced at $349, now on sale for $319.99, the Cybershot DSC-W300 is a tempting alternative.