Nikon Coolpix S8000 Review
Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 14 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 5.5Mb.
The Nikon Coolpix S8000 produced images of above average quality during the review period. The 1/2.33 inch, 14 megapixel sensor used in the S8000 produces noise-free images at ISO 100 and 200, with ISO 400 also looking good, although there's some grain at 100% magnification and slight loss of saturation. ISO 800 shows some quite obvious noise and softening of fine detail, and ISO 16000 is even noisier, although still OK for small prints and web images. The fastest setting of ISO 3200 seems to have been included just to look good on the list of specifications. The S8000 handled chromatic aberrations quite well, with some purple fringing effects appearing in high contrast situations. The built-in flash worked well indoors, with no red-eye and good exposure. The night photograph was OK, with the maximum shutter speed of 5 seconds limiting what you can achieve after dark. The Vibration Reduction system works very well when hand-holding the camera in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto end of the zoom range. Macro performance is excellent, allowing you to focus as close as 1cm away from the subject. The images were soft straight out of the S8000 and ideally require some further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, as you can't change the in-camera setting.
Noise
There are 6 ISO settings available on the Nikon Coolpix S8000. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting.
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ISO 100 (100% Crop) |
ISO 200 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 400 (100% Crop) |
ISO 800 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 1600 (100% Crop) |
ISO 3200 (100% Crop) |
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Focal Range
The Nikon Coolpix S8000's 10x zoom lens offers a very versatile focal range, as demonstrated by the examples below.
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30mm |
300mm |
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File Quality
The Nikon Coolpix S8000 has 2 different image quality settings available, with Fine 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.
| 14M Fine (4.5Mb) (100% Crop) | 14M Normal (2.6Mb) (100% Crop) |
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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 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.
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Original (100% Crop) |
Sharpened (100% Crop) |
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Chromatic Aberrations
The Nikon Coolpix S8000 handled chromatic aberrations fairly well during the review, with some purple fringing present around the edges of objects in certain high-contrast situations, as shown in the examples below.
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Example 1 (100% Crop) |
Example 2 (100% Crop) |
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Macro
The Nikon Coolpix S8000 offers a Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is 1cm away from the camera when the lens is set to wide-angle. 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.
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Macro Shot |
100% Crop |
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Flash
The flash settings on the Nikon Coolpix S8000 are Auto, Auto/Red-eye Reduction, Off, On and Slow Sync./Red-eye Reduction. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.
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Forced Off - Wide Angle (30mm) |
Forced On - Wide Angle (30mm) |
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Forced Off - Telephoto (300mm) |
Forced On - Telephoto (300mm) |
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And here are some portrait shots. As you can see, neither the On or the Auto/Red-eye Reduction settings caused any red-eye.
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On |
On (100% Crop) |
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Auto/Red-eye Reduction |
Auto/Red-eye Reduction (100% Crop) |
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Night
The Nikon Coolpix S8000's maximum shutter speed is 5 seconds, which is not great news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 5 seconds at ISO 100. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.
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Night Shot |
Night Shot (100% Crop) |
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Vibration Reduction
The Nikon Coolpix S8000 has an anti-shake mechanism, which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the same settings. The first shot was taken with anti shake turned off, the second with it turned on. Here are some 100% crops of the images to show the results. As you can see, with anti shake turned on, the images are much sharper than with anti shake turned off. This feature really does seem to make a difference and could mean capturing a successful, sharp shot or missing the opportunity altogether.
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Shutter Speed / Focal Length |
Anti Shake Off (100% Crop) |
Anti Shake On (100% Crop) |
| 1/13th sec / 30mm | |
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| 1/8th sec / 300mm | |
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Sample Images
This is a selection of sample images from the Nikon Coolpix S8000 camera, which were all taken using the 14 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.
Sample Movie & Video
This is a sample movie at the quality setting of 1280x720 at 30 frames per second. Please note that this 15 second movie is 16Mb in size.
As of February 2025, we are no longer providing full size sample images or videos for download.
Please contact us if you have any feedback on our new policy.
Product Images
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Front of the Camera |
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Isometric View |
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Isometric View |
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Pop-up Flash |
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Rear of the Camera |
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Rear of the Camera / Image Displayed |
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Rear of the Camera / Turned On |
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Rear of the Camera / Main Menu |
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Top of the Camera |
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Bottom of the Camera |
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Side of the Camera |
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Side of the Camera |
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Front of the Camera |
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Front of the Camera |
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Memory Card Slot |
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Battery Compartment |
Conclusion
The Nikon Coolpix S8000 is a solid entry into the travel zoom market, and easily one of the slimmest and more attractive models currently available. On paper it's also one of the quickest too, but only if you ignore the inexplicable 3 second delay after the S8000 is powered on and can accept the reduced 3 megapixel resolution to achieve the headline-grabbing 3fps burst shooting.
Nikon are pushing the speed of the S8000, and it certainly doesn't disappoint in this regard. Focusing is on a par with most entry-level DSLRs, quickly locking onto the subject without too many misses. The S8000 also bursts into life very quickly, although it's best to leave the camera turned on to avoid that puzzling 3 second "freeze". Other standout features include the versatile 10x optical zoom, excellent high-resolution LCD screen and the 720p video mode, although the inability to use the optical zoom during recording is infuriating.
Image quality is only above average, with the 14 megapixel sensor delivering acceptable results in terms of noise from ISO 100-400, although it becomes all too apparent at ISO 800, with the faster settings of 1600 and especially 3200 not really worth using. Chromatic aberrations are also visible in high contrast images and pictures are soft straight out of the camera with no ability to sharpen them. On the upside the 1cm macro mode is an excellent feature, as is the built-in anti-shake system, and although it takes a few seconds to warm-up, the pop-up flash is very handy.
Although it gets a lot of things right, the Nikon Coolpix S8000 also gets some important things wrong - most notably the 3 second operational delay on startup, lack of zoom in movie mode, below par continuous shooting at full resolution, and 14 megapixels on such a small sensor resulting in less than stellar photos. The S8000 represents a decent first stab at what is quickly becoming a hotly contested camera category, but market-leaders Panasonic don't need to worry too much just yet...
| Ratings (out of 5) | |
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| Design | 4 |
| Features | 3.5 |
| Ease-of-use | 3.5 |
| Image quality | 3.5 |
| Value for money | 4 |
Specifications
3264 x 2448(8M)
2592 x 1944(5M)
2048 x 1536(3M)
1024 x 768(PC)
640 x 480(VGA)
4224 x 2376(16:9)
SDHC
Not compatible with Multi Media Cards (MMC).
50 cm (1 ft. 8 in.) to infinity (∞), Macro mode: 1 cm (0.4 in.) to infinity (∞)
(supplied)
EH-62F AC Adapter (optional)
(optional)
Based on CIPA industry standard for measuring life of camera batteries. Measured at 23°C (73°F); zoom adjusted with each shot, built-in flash fired with every other shot, image mode set to Normal.
Width: 4.1 in. (103.0mm)
Depth: 1.1 in. (27.3mm)
excluding projections. Method of noting dimensions and weight is in accordance with CIPA DCG-005-2009 guideline.
with battery and SD memory card
- Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL12
- Charging AC Adapter EH-68P
- USB Cable UC-E6
- Audio Video Cable EG-CP14
- Strap AN-CP19
- Software Suite CD-ROM
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