Nikon S50

Consumers dare not tread carelessly while buying an ultra-compact camera, for apart from style most fail in performance. Nikon S50 is a classic example of a feature packed product that just fails to make the mark. Let’s see how.

Design
Nikon is known to dish out one of the sleekest pieces in town in the ultra-compact category. The CoolPix S50 is no different. Enveloped in an impeccably elegant finish, it makes for one of the coolest gadgets in what I call the fairly affordable range. Although, the form factor is far from conventional, after a while you will know where to find what.

The camera comes in a brushed silver metal front and a shiny black back panel with piano finish. At 88 x 51 x 22 mm, the camera is sleek enough, and easily hides in your jeans’ pocket without much ado. And trust me when I say you won’t feel the bulk or the weight while carrying it. Heck, it weighs a comfortable 165g.

The power button, placed on top of the camera is one of the most responsive I have come across in recent times, although you might find your finger hitting it off accidentally while clicking pictures. This happened to me, however, after a dozen times I stopped being as careless.

Also placed on top are the anti-shake and the portrait/D-lighting (we’ll get to this later) buttons. This increases the usability of the camera, as you can simply activate this function by accessing these buttons. Great!!

A largish screen flanks the back panel, a great relief from the tiny ones we have reviewed in the recent past. The zoom button makes for the top most portion beside the screen and below it, at a safe distance, you will find the Mode and Playback buttons. Navigational keys are in the form of a jog dial for easy movement across all the menus, sub menus, and is equally useful while reviewing the pictures taken in playback mode.

The jog dial is extremely smooth, and running through pictures will be a pleasure using it. The smoothness of the dial is also one of its major downside. This you will realize when you try to use the dial as a D-pad — you will often find yourself turning the dial while all you want is to click up or down or sideways. Can’t say if this would stay true for people with extremely stable hands.

The menu button and the delete key are right beside each other at the bottom. Below the camera will give access to the battery compartment, which also houses the memory card. The multi-connector and the threaded tripod mount hole is placed right beside the battery compartment.