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| S640 |
The megapixel race for point-and-shoot cameras was bound to turn a corner, with cameramakers jamming in just about as many megapixels, as big a sensor and as mega a zoom as they could in those petite little designs. These days, all of this is a given, and it takes some extra special innovation to make cameras really stand out. Nikon’s launched a slew of new cameras — the COOLPIX S1000pj, the S70 and the S640 — that are out to pretty much do that and we check them out.
The COOLPIX S1000pj is the biggest headline-grabber from this list. On paper, it seems ready to impress with its 12.1-megapixel 1/2.3-in sensor and a 5x optically stabilised zoom, which starts at a very respectable 28mm. Pretty run-of-the-mill in the sea of compacts, right? That’s where the ‘pj’ — for projector comes in.
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| S1000PJ WITH REMOTE |
Yes, the S1000pj actually has a pico-projector built into its compact frame. Intended to immediately be able to share what you’ve shot to a small crowd, the projector can thrown an image up to 40in on a flat surface 2m away at 640 x 480-pixel (VGA) resolution.
I called it out to be a gimmicky addition earlier, but the moment you start using it, it’s a lot more fun than you might imagine. It demands a darkened room, because at 10 lumen brightness, it’s a great deal less bright than low-end projectors which output at typically 600 to 800 lumens. As a result, the projected image and video becomes rather dim if you move the camera more than a couple of metres away from your projection surface.
But the idea’s so novel that as the first camera with this feature, it’s easy to overlook the limitations in the face of such an example of miniaturisation and innovation. And despite the additional projector module, the S1000pj is only 23mm thick and weighs 155gm without memory card and battery.
And yes, to complete the package, it comes with a remote for you to control your slide shows etc.
When you tire of projecting your vacation images on every conceivable flat surface — believe me, that happens a lot with mini projectors — you’ll notice the obvious omissions. No HD-video recording, fast becoming a norm in compacts. But this camera has its use elsewhere and you’d be well advised to pick it up only if you have to have the latest — the nifty projector in this case.
The COOLPIX S70, on the other hand, has its bag of tricks on quite the other end — a big 3.5-in Clear Color OLED display stamps the rear of the new S70, doing away totally with external buttons and controls. In place is the capacitive anti-glare coated touchscreen with Touch Shutter and Autofocus, which will allow shooters to touch the LCD in order for the camera to adjust the Shutter Speed or focus on a particular point.
And much like the iPhone’s display, the touch-panel is multi-touch capable, meaning that it can detect multiple fingers touching the screen at once. This allows for gestures such as “pinching” the screen to control zooming in or out, and switching between images with a swipe of the finger.
Also, in a first for a Nikon Coolpix camera, the S70 also offers a high-definition 720p, 30 frames-per-second movie mode, although there’s no high-definition video connectivity on the camera body. The lens includes true optical image stabilisation, and offers focal lengths ranging from a generous 28mm equivalent wide angle to a 140mm equivalent telephoto.
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| S70 |
As with the S1000pj, you could do better than the S70 in terms of image quality and pure low-light performance with cheaper cameras, but the amazing list of Scene modes and the excellent touch function should be kept in mind, and are a sign of the things to come.
The last on the list is the ordinary-by-comparison COOLPIX S640, geared more towards fulfiling the needs of the performance-hungry shooter who’s looking for more than just a nice little suite of Scene modes. Nikon’s claiming a start-up time of 0.7 seconds as well as shorter autofocus and shutter lag times, comparable to Nikon’s entry level dSLRs.
That’s a big step up for its point-and-shoot lines, which have typically been average performers in these departments. You also get optical image stabilisation, subject tracking and sensor sensitivity up to ISO 6,400 at full resolution, and should you care, the camera comes in the usual bevy of colours — calm black, velour red, precious pink and pearl white! If it is image quality and pure performance is what you’re after, the S640 makes for an updated modern point of shoot from the Nikon stable.
Quick Specs
RATINGS:
• S1000pj: 7/10 lS70: 7/10 lS640: 8/10
PRICES
• S1000pj: Rs 28,950 lS70: Rs 21,950 lS640: Rs 19,950
• URL:
http://www.nikon.co.in/
Perfect read
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Some relief for bookworms looking to get their latest e-book fix. The Amazon Kindle 2 is finally launching in India! Excellent for those journeys, and thin enough to slice cheese, so literally no weight at all to carry those four novels you absolutely have to finish! And if you’re a serious reader — bookmarks and notes and all, the bookmarking and highlighting systems are vastly improved, as has the on-board dictionary.
• URL: http:// amazon.com/kindle
• Price: To be announced
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In a world of complex devices, here’s to simplicity. If you crave a number keypad to go with your laptop, try the Elecom’s USB-powered numeric touch keypad. All you do is plug it into your machine, tap your fingers on the board and watch the numbers appear in your calculator application.
That’s bound to get boring soon enough, so this can also be used as a secondary trackpad, and what’s more, it supports a variety of multi-gesture functions (zoom in/out, shift up/down, etc) a la those fancier Apple MacBook touchpads.
• URL: http://www.geekstuff4u.com/elecom-numeric-touch-keypad.html
• Price: $72