Nikon Coolpix S7c Review
Review Date: November 24th 2006
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Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using
the 7M Fine mode, which gives an average image size of around
1.5-2Mb.
Noise
There are 6 ISO settings available on the Nikon Coolpix S7c
which you can select at any time if the camera is in the normal
shooting mode. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise
levels for each ISO setting. There is virtually no discernible
noise at the slowest settings of ISO 50 and 100, and ISO 200
isn't too bad at all. ISO 400 has more obvious noise but is
still quite usable. ISO 800 is significantly more noisy and
blurred but is fine if you are only making small sized prints.
The fastest setting of ISO 1600 is extremely noisy and best
avoided if possible.
High Sensitivity Mode
The Nikon Coolpix S7c has a new High Sensitivity scene mode
which promises to reduce blurry images, particularly of moving
subjects indoors, by raising the ISO speed to a maximum of
1600 and therefore allowing for a faster shutter speed. This
mode allows you to handhold the camera without using the flash
and get more natural results, whilst at the same time freezing
subject movement more successfully. There are some obvious
drawbacks with this special mode, notably a significant increase
in noise and graininess as shown below. You also need to select
the mode and therefore have some idea about when it is applicable
to your subject. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise
levels.
Sharpening
Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality
50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening
applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are a little
soft at the default sharpening setting and benefit from some
further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. Unfortunately
you can't change the in-camera sharpening level.
File Quality
The Nikon Coolpix S7c has 2 different image quality settings
available, with High being the highest quality option. Here
are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various
options, with the file size shown in brackets.
Chromatic Aberrations
The Nikon Coolpix S7c handled chromatic aberrations well
during the review, with limited purple fringing present around
the edges of objects in certain high-contrast situations,
particularly in the corners of the photograph. The test images
also revealed that the S7c is not very sharp in the corners
at the 35mm wide-angle lens setting, as also shown in the
examples below.
Macro
The Nikon Coolpix S7c offers a Macro setting that allows
you to focus on a subject that is 4cms away from the camera
when the lens is set to tele-photo. The first image shows
how close you can get to the subject (in this case a compact
flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.
Flash
The flash settings on the Nikon Coolpix S7c are Auto, Auto
with Red-eye Reduction, Flash Cancel, Anytime Flash and Slow
Sync. These shots of a magnolia coloured wall were taken at
a distance of 1.5m. As you can see, there is notable vignetting
at the wide-angle lens setting.
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Auto Flash - Telephoto (105mm) |
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And here are some shots of yours truly. As you can see, both
the Flash On setting and the Red-Eye Reduction option caused
a tiny amount of red-eye.
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Flash On (100% Crop) |
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Flash - Red-Eye Reduction (100%
Crop) |
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Night Shot
The Nikon Coolpix S7c's maximum shutter speed is just 2 seconds,
which is not good news if you're seriously interested in night
photography. Also you can't set the aperture or ISO speed
in this scene mode, and the S7c always seems to set a large
aperture and fast ISO speed to get the fastest shutter speed
possible, which isn't well suited to landscape photos. The
shot below was taken in the Night Landscape mode using a shutter
speed of 0.5 seconds at f/5 at ISO 400. I've included a 100%
crop of the image to show what the quality is like (pretty
terrible!).
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Night Shot (100% Crop) |
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D-Lighting
D-Lighting lightens under-exposed parts of the image whilst
ensuring that correctly exposed parts remain the same (and
are not also lightened). This basically balances the shadows
and highlights in a high-contrast image, for example a scene
that includes deep black shadows and a bright white sky. D-Lighting
is selected by pressing the One Touch Portrait button when
an image is played back, so it is applied after the image
has been recorded. The Nikon Coolpix S7c processes a copy
of the image (which takes around 10 seconds) so that some
areas of the photograph are lightened and some are left as
they are. Here are some examples which show the effects of
using the D-Lighting feature, showing that it works well,
although there is extra noise in the images that have had
D-Lighting applied to them.
Electronic Vibration Reduction
The Nikon Coolpix S7c has an Electronic Vibration Reduction
mode, which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter
speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, I took a
handheld shot of the same subject with the ISO speed set to
50. The first shot was taken with Electronic Vibration Reduction
turned off, the second with it turned on. Here is a 100% crop
of the image to show the results. As you can see, with Electronic
Vibration Reduction turned on, the images are sharper than
with this feature turned off, although it's still not perfect.
This feature does seem to make a difference and could mean
capturing a successful, sharp shot or missing the opportunity
altogether.
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Electronic Vibration Reduction On
(100% crop) |
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| 1/5th sec, f5, 105mm |
1/5th sec, f5, 105mm |
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Overall Image Quality
The Nikon Coolpix S7c produced images of above average quality
during the review period. The 7 megapixel images were a little
soft straight out of the camera at the default sharpening
setting and ideally require some further sharpening in an
application like Adobe Photoshop. The Nikon Coolpix S7c dealt
well with chromatic aberrations, with limited purple fringing
appearing only in high contrast situations and at the edge
of the frame. Macro performance is about average, allowing
you to focus as close as 4cms away from the subject. The built-in
flash worked well indoors, with a tiny amount of red-eye and
slight under-exposure. The night photograph was a weak point,
with the maximum shutter speed of 2 seconds ruling out most
photography after dark. The D-Lighting feature works very
well with the right images, balancing out the shadow and highlight
areas nicely, although at the expense of introducing extra
noise. The Nikon Coolpix S7c handled noise well. The 1/2.5
inch, 7 megapixel sensor used in the Nikon Coolpix S7c produces
noise-free images at ISO 50 and ISO 100, with ISO 200 and
400 looking fine and even ISO 800 proving quite usable for
smaller prints. The new Electronic Vibration Reduction mode
allows you to take sharper photos at slower shutter speeds
than normal, although it isn't quite as effective as a true
optical-based system. The lens is perhaps the weak-point of
this camera, displaying noticeable vignetting and softness
at the 35mm wide-angle setting (which isn't really that wide).
 PhotographyBLOG
is a member of the DIWA
organisation. Our test results for the Nikon Coolpix S7c have
been submitted to DIWA
for comparison with test results for different samples of
the same camera model supplied by other DIWA
member sites.
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