Kyocera Finecam S4 review

The Finecam S4 is the latest in a growing range of Kyocera cameras. Like the Finecam S3 (see Labs, issue 86, p110), the Finecam S4's major feature is its small size and low weight of just 175g. The S3's resolution of 3.34 megapixels was impressive, but the S4 takes things a step further by offering a four-megapixel output.

Kyocera supplies a 16Mb SD card in the box, which is enough to get you started, but 64Mb is needed to make full use of the four-megapixel output. Also in the box is a flat BP900S lithium ion battery, which is about the size of a stick of chewing gum, plus USB and video cables and bundled Pixelar software.

The battery takes five hours to charge fully, but it does offer good life in general shooting conditions. It's recharged inside the camera using the supplied charger, so no external recharging unit is supplied. Likewise, there's no separate card reader to transfer the images to a PC, although the supplied USB cable does the job well enough. Operating the camera is a piece of cake, but the rear of the unit still offers a sufficient number of controls to suit more advanced users.

There are several features, other than the higher resolution, which distinguish the S4 from its predecessor. For starters, the S4 features a longer 3x optical zoom lens, which measures 7.3-21.9mm (35-105mm lens on a 35mm film camera). This is a popular standard zoom that gives the S4 greater flexibility than the S3. On top of this is a 2x digital zoom, which is usable, thanks to the higher resolution. Focusing is down to 60cm for general use, but go into macro at the widest focal length and you can operate at a reasonable 17cm.

Exposure control consists of a point-and-shoot program AE option, which will be the general default for most situations. But if you want some control over aperture for depth of field effects, there's an aperture priority AE option too. However, be aware that there are only two shooting apertures to select from - f/2.8 and f/9.6 - as measured at the widest focal length.

Shutter speeds are good too, running from a fast-action-freezing 1/2,000th second down to one second. But for capturing movement with some artistic blur, such as a moving river or for photographing in very dark situations, Kyocera offers a long exposure mode that enables a shutter speed of two, four or eight seconds to be selected. This isn't as flexible as the bulb modes found in traditional and more advanced cameras, but it's still not bad for a compact camera.

In addition, both of the AE modes can be adjusted by +/- 2EV. However, setting this up can be tricky, as the characters on the rear 1.5in LCD are difficult to read, although the purple and black colour scheme is easy on the eye. It's worth noting, though, that you can change the colour scheme via the Setup menu if you want to, which is a neat touch.

The Finecam S4 also offers a lot in the metering department, including a multi-area measurement, centre-weighted options and a spot meter, providing plenty of flexibility. Other useful settings include white balance (with several presets and a manual option) and a self-timer, which can be set for a two- or ten-second delay.

All the options are easy to set, thanks to a four-way circular rocker control next to the LCD, with a button conveniently located in the centre for activating the highlighted option.

In addition to the menu controls, there are further controls on the rear for shooting mode, playback or setup, plus an option to turn the LCD display off to save on battery life.