Featuring a 3-inch resistive touchscreen, the S4000 has a lot going for it in terms of its general aesthetic. Its smooth, sleek facade definitely helps the attractiveness factor, and perhaps hides a few of its internal flaws.
Nikon Coolpix S4000
(Credit: Nikon)
Also on the exterior is a 27mm wide-angle lens that hits 4x optical zoom, with an aperture range of f/3.2-5.9. There's a small flash positioned next to the Nikon logo, as well as an AF assist light at the top right of the front panel. The teeny tiny shutter button is surrounded by a zoom rocker and alongside it, the power button is flush with the camera body. Our test unit was a splendid fuchsia, but it also comes in a glossy black finish. Further inside, a 12-megapixel CCD sensor captures images in aspect ratios of 4:3 (in a range of megapixel sizes) and 16:9 (just the one image size).
Given the modus operandi of this camera, one would expect the number of physical buttons to be few and far between, and that's mostly what you get with the S4000. At the back there are just two physical silver buttons, one for selecting the scene mode and switching into playback mode. The S4000 uses SD/SDHC cards and a Lithium-ion battery that slots in underneath the body in the same compartment. Like most of its 2010 Coolpix range, the S4000 doesn't have a dedicated battery charger. Instead, the battery is charged by plugging in the power adapter to the camera itself, in the same AV-out port shared for USB access. It's a precarious way to charge a battery because the camera needs to be placed on a smooth surface that won't damage the lens element or the touchscreen, and it can't stand on its base as this is where the power cord is located.
You can touch this
Moving on to the touchscreen itself is always an interesting proposition. In our experience with touchscreen cameras, more often than not they are oversold and under-deliver on their premise. Unfortunately, the S4000 is no different in this regard. The interface is relatively straightforward, with the main controls accessible via selecting items on the screen to adjust shooting options (ISO, macro, white balance and so on) and there is even a touch shutter option, where double tapping the screen will automatically take an image.
However, the screen is a little temperamental when it comes to recognising touch commands and often decides to ignore selections altogether. Using a fingernail or something with a bit more resistance than a finger seems to help matters slightly.
All that said, compared to the Panasonic Lumix FP3, another camera with a similar touchscreen interface, the S4000 offers a much more logical way of integrating this sort of menu structure. The Panasonic makes use of a confusing array of physical buttons down the side that are required to make the touchscreen bring up menu items.
Performance
The S4000 starts in 1.2 seconds and takes its first shot without flash in 2.1 seconds from start up. Shutter lag in adequate lighting measures 0.6 second. Using the touch shutter option to take an image is much slower as shutter lag measures 1.8 seconds.
Continuous shooting is particularly slow, with the S4000 only taking one shot every two seconds. There are other modes for burst shooting, one called Best Shot Selector (BSS) and one called Multi Shot 16. In BSS, the S4000 shoots 10 frames and saves the one that is the sharpest. Multi Shot shoots 16 frames at low resolution in rapid succession, then stitches them together as below.
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