Nikon Coolpix S · announced February 2011
The Nikon Coolpix S3100: a $140 slim compact, four stars to one reviewer and "don't buy" to another
Sold under one name, the Coolpix S3100, in the sources we read.
In February 2011 Nikon announced a 14-megapixel compact with a 5x zoom and an aluminium body 18.4 millimetres thick for a US suggested price of $139.95. Reviewers liked the body and the price, then disagreed about whether the pictures were usable.
- Launched
- February 2011
- Sensor
- 14 MP CCD
- Lens
- 26–130 mm, 5×
- Card
- SD, SDHC, SDXC
- Battery
- EN-EL19
Nikon Coolpix S3100 specs: sensor, lens, battery, memory card and cable
The Nikon Coolpix S3100 is a 14 MP CCD compact camera with a 26–130 mm (35 mm equivalent) 5× zoom lens, launched in February 2011 at $139.95. It takes SD, SDHC and SDXC cards and runs on the EN-EL19 battery. Sources
Meet the camera
It is a slim box in an aluminium shell: PhotographyBLOG's specification list gives about 93.5 by 57.5 by 18.4 millimetres and 118 grams with battery and card, and a 2.7-inch screen with no viewfinder.1 The same review found no real grip, six raised plastic nodules on the back for the thumb, and a power button so small and recessed that switching on took what it called fingernail-precise operation.1 It came in seven colours: purple, red, black, blue, pink, citrus yellow and silver.16 At the UK launch, PhotographyBLOG reported, Nikon had arranged the range among make-up bags and lipsticks, which the reviewer took as a hint about the intended buyer.1
Prices depended on the source. Nikon's US release gave $139.95 from late February 2011, and Nikon UK's gave £129.99 or €151 with sales from 17 March.56 PhotographyBLOG's review printed $149.95, which we could not match to any Nikon release,1 and Imaging Resource's overview page says about US$180 while describing a touch panel and a plum colour that belong to the S4100, so we trusted its news item instead.75 The reviews quoted UK retail prices of £115 to £119.132
Sources disagree on small details: PhotographyBLOG's specification list gives the aperture as f/3.2 to 6.5 but its introduction says f/3.3 to 5.6, and Pocket-lint's summary says 26 to 110 mm where its text says 26 to 130 mm.13 Imaging Resource's overview and Nikon UK's specification list both give f/3.2 to 6.5 and 26 to 130 mm, so the card shows those.76
Why this one was interesting
It followed what Nikon called Europe's best seller
Nikon UK's release called the S3000 Europe's best-selling camera of 2010, and described the S3100 as its ultra-slim successor with a bigger zoom, a brighter screen and HD movies.6 PhotographyBLOG listed the changes in numbers: 18.4 millimetres deep against 19, a 5x zoom against 4x, 14 megapixels against 12, and 720p video against standard definition.1 Our Coolpix S3000 retrospective covers the camera it replaced.8
A megapixel race the reviewers refused to cheer
Expert Reviews blamed the sensor: too many pixels squeezed onto a 1/2.3-inch chip, it argued, and the processing hides the speckle only by trashing detail. It added that Canon, Fujifilm, Kodak, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax, Samsung and Sony had all launched 14-megapixel entry-level cameras that year.2 Imaging Resource, writing about the 16-megapixel S6100 announced the same day, said it matched recent announcements from Canon, Casio, Fujifilm, Panasonic, Samsung and Sony.5
Built for sharing
Nikon's US release pitched the S3100 and S4100 as cameras for posting photos and videos on social networks, and the company's marketing director described consumers sharing social content at a rapid pace.5 The same release introduced a Pet Portrait mode that recognises a dog or cat's face.5 Nikon kept the formula going: see the S3300 for 16 megapixels and a 6x zoom, and the S3700 for 2015, whose headline addition was Wi-Fi.8
What was lost
The slimness was paid for in stability. The camera has electronic vibration reduction only, plus motion detection and best-shot selection, and PhotographyBLOG wondered how slim is too slim for practical use.1 PhotographyBLOG called the 2.7-inch, 230,000-dot screen modest when the industry average was three inches, and What Digital Camera set its resolution against rivals offering 920,000 dots.14 There is no HDMI output, and the box held only a quick start guide, with the full manual on a CD.1 The battery charges inside the camera, with no separate charger supplied.1
The dark: its weak point
All four reviews found noise, and they drew the line in different places. PhotographyBLOG reported no noise problems in shadows up to ISO 400, a little grain visible at ISO 800, detail more noticeably absent at ISO 1600, and at ISO 3200 "a painterly watercolour look".1 What Digital Camera found low-light performance reasonable up to ISO 400, with noise growing above it and the two top settings losing tone and colour.4 Pocket-lint saw noise across the whole range, with obtrusive processing artefacts and softened detail at higher ISO, though far less noticeable when images were not viewed full size.3
Expert Reviews was harshest. Its tester said bright-light shots at the lowest ISO looked like phone pictures with heavy noise reduction, that by ISO 400 the processing was failing and that ISO 3200 produced "abstract finger-paintings", adding that, after going back through archived test shots for hundreds of cameras, it was tempted to call these the noisiest pictures it had ever seen.2 The tester also found that in low light without flash the camera used shutter speeds as slow as 1/3 second before raising ISO beyond 400, which gave pictures both noisy and blurred.2 PhotographyBLOG's shake problem was similar in daylight: at full zoom it needed three shots for one keeper, and sometimes the self timer.1
The free photographs below let you form a view of your own. Zoomed to 100 per cent, the ISO 1600 night picture of an apartment block shows speckle and smeared, painterly surfaces, which is our reading of one file and not a test.
The last picture is overexposed, so it says little about noise. ISO values are read from each file's own EXIF data.
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The little wins
Quick to wake
PhotographyBLOG reported the camera ready for its first shot in just over a second, which it called impressively swift for the class, and a zoom that ran its full range in two to three seconds.1
Colour you can fix in camera
PhotographyBLOG found default colours muted and recommended the Vivid option, and listed black and white, sepia and an unusual cyanotype among the choices; Pocket-lint also named cyanotype.13 What Digital Camera saw the opposite, saturated colour and warm skin tones.4
Charging from a wall plug
The battery charges inside the camera from a supplied mains adapter and USB cable. PhotographyBLOG called it a simple solution and doubted that anyone would buy a spare battery for a camera at this price, so being unable to charge one while using another hardly mattered.1
HD video, one thumb
The move from standard definition to 720p came with a dedicated record button ringed by a raised plastic surround so it is not pressed by accident. PhotographyBLOG said recording starts instantly; Pocket-lint reported a two to three second delay, a crop top and bottom and no optical zoom during capture.13
How it drew the picture
PhotographyBLOG gave image quality 3 out of 5 on 14-megapixel Fine files of about 4.5 MB, finding sharp centres, corner softness at 26 mm, burnt-out highlights in strong light and purple fringing on high-contrast edges, yet slightly better than it expected from a snapshot camera.1 What Digital Camera's image-quality section said the camera tends to underexpose, especially with the zoom in use, while its verdict paragraph mentions a tendency to overexposed; the two statements conflict and we cannot say which is right.4 The photographs here come from a small group of Commons contributors, mostly in daylight, so they show subject and light more than the camera's range.
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Photos taken with this camera, from Wikimedia Commons, credited under each picture.
Where it let you down
Expert Reviews found the menu sluggish, with settings that must be navigated to and then selected with OK, and an orientation sensor so unreliable that it tagged only a third of portrait shots.2 What Digital Camera called the zoom lever plasticky and loose, the shutter button small and the AV and USB socket awkward, and it found the menu lettering hard to read on a grey background.4 It also reported autofocus that hunts once the zoom is extended.4 PhotographyBLOG added a microphone that sits where a middle finger rests and a screen unusable for low-angle shots, and Pocket-lint found the screen's exposure and contrast go awry when tilted steeply.13
What the reviewers said in 2011 and after
| Outlet | Date | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Expert Reviews | 12 Mar 2011 | A stylish ultra-slim camera at an attractive price, but its headline calls image quality simply appalling; it told readers not to buy it.2 |
| PhotographyBLOG | 21 Mar 2011 | 4 out of 5 stars overall: design 4, features 4, ease of use 4, image quality 3, value 4; one of the slicker budget point-and-shoots, with shake the main complaint.1 |
| Pocket-lint | Page dated 16 Apr 2013 | 3.5 out of 5: better looker than performer, image quality far from decent, still plenty for the price.3 |
| What Digital Camera | Page dated 30 Oct 2014 | One of the better cameras at its price and a bargain for the budget buyer, with picture quality not quite up to standard.4 |
| Imaging Resource | 8 Feb 2011 | Announcement and overview only, with no verdict.57 |
The Pocket-lint and What Digital Camera pages carry later dates than the camera's launch; we cannot tell whether those are original publication dates.
The timeline
- 8 February 2011Nikon Inc. announces the S3100 in the US at $139.95.5
- 9 February 2011Nikon UK issues its release: £129.99 or €151.6
- 28 February 2011The availability date on Imaging Resource's specification table.7
- 12 March 2011Expert Reviews publishes its review.2
- 17 March 2011UK sales start, per Nikon UK's release.6
- 21 March 2011PhotographyBLOG publishes its review.1
Should you buy one now?
Buy one if you want a very thin, simple CCD compact for daylight snapshots, you will keep ISO at 400 or below, and you will brace yourself or use the self timer at full zoom. It launched at $139.95;5 what it sells for now is a question for the sold listings, not for us. Before you bid, check these:
- The battery. It uses an EN-EL19, rated for about 220 shots when new;1 a fresh one is on Amazon ↗.
- The charging kit. The camera charges in the body, and PhotographyBLOG's box list names a charging AC adapter (EH-69P) and a UC-E6 USB cable.1 Check the seller includes both; see our UC-E6 cable page.
- The card. It takes SD, SDHC and SDXC cards, not MultiMediaCards;1 see our memory card guide.
- The power button and screen. The button is small and recessed, and the screen has a limited viewing angle;13 switch it on and check that both work.
- The settings. Try the Vivid colour option, and keep ISO low.1
A year later Nikon's slim S6300 moved to a 10x zoom and a back-illuminated CMOS sensor, and its reviewers split over the pictures; our S6300 review has the details.8 If you are wondering why cameras like this are being hunted down again, we tell that story once, in Pictures that never left the card.
See recent sold prices on eBay ↗Shop on eBay ↗EN-EL19 battery ↗
Sources
- PhotographyBLOG, Nikon Coolpix S3100 review by Gavin Stoker (21 Mar 2011), including its specification list, noise crops, ratings and review roundup
- Expert Reviews, Nikon Coolpix S3100 review by Ben Pitt (12 Mar 2011; reviewed price £119)
- Pocket-lint, Nikon Coolpix S3100 review by William Perceval (page dated 16 Apr 2013; 3.5 out of 5)
- What Digital Camera, Nikon Coolpix S3100 review by Matt Tuffin (page dated 30 Oct 2014)
- Imaging Resource, Nikon S6100, S4100, S3100, L24: Four new Coolpix compacts (8 Feb 2011), with Nikon Inc.'s US press release reproduced in full (US prices and availability)
- PhotographyBLOG, Nikon Coolpix S6100, S4100, S3100 announcement (9 Feb 2011), reproducing Nikon UK's release (UK and euro prices, UK sales date)
- Imaging Resource, Nikon Coolpix S3100 overview and specifications (posted 8 Feb 2011; no lab test on the page, and parts of its text describe the touch-screen S4100)
- Digicam Atlas, our own Nikon Coolpix S3000, S3300, S3700 and S6300 retrospectives (their data files cite the original reviews and Nikon releases)
Sample photographs are credited under each one, all via Wikimedia Commons. Links to eBay and Amazon are affiliate links.