Skip to navigation

Nikon Coolpix S620 review

in Digital cameras

Verdict

Ticks every feature box, but that isn't enough to make us want it.

Review Date: 17 Jun 2009

Reviewed By: David Fearon

Price when reviewed: £209 (£240 inc VAT)

Buy it now for: £135
(see more store prices)

Overall Rating
4 stars out of 6

Features & Design
5 stars out of 6

Value for Money
3 stars out of 6

Image Quality
5 stars out of 6

At the other end of the scale from the L19, the S620 is one of Nikon's fully loaded high-end compacts. It isn't as petite as the more expensive Canons, though, and while it's narrower and shorter than the Coolpix S220, it's also a fair amount thicker at 24mm.

As with the S220, it doesn't have quite the heft of some of the other high-end competition either: the casing feels thinner, but not to the point of frailty. And the features list is dripping with all current mod cons, including 12.2 megapixels, optical image stabilisation, an ultra-high ISO 6400 mode, 4x zoom and 28mm wide-angle setting. The 2.7in screen fills most of the back of the camera, and the S620 starts up astonishingly fast too: the lens rockets out of the body in around half a second.

Unfortunately, the rear controls are small, fiddly and, worse still, feel flimsy. Passing it around with the Canon Ixus 100 IS, most people preferred the Canon.

Image quality in outdoor shots was disappointing, with the cheaper Coolpix S220 giving noticeably sharper results with better detail. In particular, the lens of the S620 was very soft at full wide-angle, blurring the smaller twigs and branches in trees into a bit of an indistinct mess.

Low-light performance was very good, with impressively low levels of noise at ISO 1600 making it one of the few cameras in this test we'd really consider practical at high ISO. For everyday use, though, the S620 misses the mark.

Author: David Fearon

Best Prices

Price comparison powered by Reevoo

£135
Subscribe to PC Pro magazine. We'll give you 3 issues for £1 plus a free gift - click here

From around the web

Be the first to comment this article

You need to Login or Register to comment.

(optional)

Latest Digital cameras Reviews
Sony Alpha NEX-7 review

Sony Alpha NEX-7

Category: Digital cameras
Rating: 4 out of 6
Price: £1,129
Canon PowerShot S100 review

Canon PowerShot S100

Category: Digital cameras
Rating: 5 out of 6
Price: £383
Nikon Coolpix S9100 review

Nikon Coolpix S9100

Category: Digital cameras
Rating: 6 out of 6
Price: £180
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ150 review

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ150

Category: Digital cameras
Rating: 6 out of 6
Price: £319
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3 review

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3

Category: Digital cameras
Rating: 5 out of 6
Price: £450
Compare reviews: Digital cameras

advertisement

More From PC Pro
Internet Explorer 9 Resources
Latest News Stories Subscribe to our RSS Feeds
Latest Blog Posts Subscribe to our RSS Feeds
Latest Features

advertisement

Sponsored Links
 
 
SEARCH
SIGN UP

Your email:

Your password:

remember me

advertisement


Hitwise Top 10 Website 2010
 
 

PCPro-Computing in the Real World Printed from www.pcpro.co.uk

Register to receive our regular email newsletter at http://www.pcpro.co.uk/registration.

The newsletter contains links to our latest PC news, product reviews, features and how-to guides, plus special offers and competitions.