Nikon CoolPix 'Style' and 'Life' series hands-on

What, it wouldn't be a camera convention without Nikon (and everyone else, for that matter) showing off a basket of new point-and-shoots. We knew what the company was bringing -- selections from its "Style" and "Life" series, as well as the P100 superzoom we covered earlier this week -- and now we've gotten our hands on the L22, S4000, L110, and S8000. There isn't much to say, frankly -- a collection of pocket shooters of various feature sets and various price ranges to cater to various demographics and psychographics. Still, we know you need to get that "fix" when it comes to pictures of gadgets, so let's get on with it, shall we?

Nikon L22, S4000, L110, and S8000 hands-on

[Commodorksixtyfork Posted Feb 23rd 2010 6:40PM]

Yes indeed, let's get it on.

[Gregorian Posted Feb 23rd 2010 6:51PM]

So it's not called "Style by Jason Wu"?

[spsfinest Posted Feb 23rd 2010 10:48PM]

@Gregorian

Wrong company.

[Gregorian Posted Feb 23rd 2010 10:55PM]

@spsfinest
Same camera though, pretty much.

[yulebellow Posted Feb 23rd 2010 6:52PM]

Everyone but Canon and Pentax

[paul34 Posted Feb 23rd 2010 6:59PM]

Engadget - article idea. Ultra sub compact (or whatever the VERY small/thin cameras are called) shootout/mega comparison. Seems like a lot of camera review sites don't really pay attention to this category.

Yes, image quality is always a tradeoff, but sometimes a tiny camera makes for a nice portrait snapper while you can keep your bigger camera for more serious/planned photography.

[chadw Posted Feb 23rd 2010 7:02PM]

It seems like there is an awful lot of white-noise in the point-and-shoot market these days. Is there really that much of a demand to necessitate hundreds of model variations across dozens of brands? It seems like this is a CE category that could use a little "thinning out."

[SWA Posted Feb 23rd 2010 8:50PM]

chadw makes an excellent point. Isn't there something to be said for old maxim, "Hit 'em where they ain't"? As opposed to rolling out so many me-too, me-three, me-four products?

Nikon has had a bunch of snappy-looking, low-end point 'n' shoots over the past three or four years. There was nothing wrong with their appearance. Their problem was that they earned fair-to-poor reviews from pro reviewers and consumers alike. Nikon would do well to forget about sexy styling and pay more attention to fundamentals and differentiation.

How about keeping the pixel count moderate, taming overaggressive noise reduction, speeding up in-camera processing, making the camera itself, buttons and legends big enough for a grown man to operate and see comfortably? How about including an optical viewfinder and full manual controls?

These are ways Nikon or any camera maker could make their models stand out from the me-too crowd, and maybe win some sales away from competitors.

[aubreyq Posted Feb 23rd 2010 9:29PM]

These Coolpixes have gotten pretty boring. Well, truth be told, most digicams have.

[ndrwme Posted Feb 23rd 2010 11:18PM]

@aubreyq Nikon seems to be exceptionally good at DSLRs but exceptionally bad and P&Ss.

[pika2000 Posted Feb 24th 2010 4:28AM]

Nikon compact P&S have been quite boring in the past couple of years. All they do is adding megapixel. At least Sony and Fuji are experimenting with techniques to allow less noise at low light, and Canon is doing it with a larger sensor on the S90. Nikon? They put a projector. For a compact P&S, even Panasonic and Samsung are becoming more interesting than Nikon.