Labs

Nikon is usually pretty good at designing low-cost cameras, but the Coolpix S9 doesn't have much going for it. It's a good-looking camera and at 20mm front-to-back, one of the slimmest on test. It managed to display exceptional colour accuracy in most of our tests, but skin tones under the flash were a little pasty and highlights in sunlit scenes took on a yellow tint.

Sadly, all of our test shots were spoilt by poor detail. Photos looked slightly out of focus when viewed at 100% magnification and noise was sometimes visible, even at the lowest ISO 64 setting. A red-eye removal function processes images after shooting, but it produced unnatural results. Battery life is poor at 190 shots per charge; 3.5 seconds to switch on and take a shot and three seconds between subsequent shots are below average too. It's easy to use, but the face detection feature isn't very effective and only works for focus and not exposure.