Introduction

Ease of Use

Even more packed with technology than its predecessor, the new Coolpix S9900 looks like it would be more at home in Nikon's Performance range. However, the P series of Nikon cameras are for keen enthusiasts and as such, don't really offer much in the way of easy modes for the point and shooters. The S9900 still offers the Easy Auto mode, albeit buried somewhat n the menu system.

The S9900 bears an uncanny resemblance to the higher specification models in terms of shape and design. Weighing nearly 300g, it's a heavy block of metal and plastic which holds a 30x optical zoom inside the bulge at the front. The lenses contain ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements to reduce chromatic aberrations and the focal length works out at an eye bulging 25-750mm in 35mm terms.

We hear you asking “What about camera shake?” Well, the S9900 has been fitted with a 5-axis Hybrid VR system. This type of Vibration Reduction of combining electronic and optical image stabilisers isn't new but using 5 ways of stabilising the image is on a camera at this designation.

Front of the Nikon Coolpix S9900

Once the light has gone through the lens, it burns onto a back-illuminated 16 megapixel CMOS sensor. In the past, some Nikon compacts have suffered with low light and high noise problems, so hopefully, this sensor that is lower in resolution than previous models will react better. The back-illuminated technology will also help by allowing more light onto each photosite, but our noise test will give the definite answer.

No expense has been spared on the screen incorporating a 921,000 dot RGBW TFT LCD screen which can even be used in direct sunlight. One big upgrade over the previous S9700 model is that the screen is now a vari-angle model, which is perfect for shooting movies, over the heads of a crowd and of course for those all-important selfies.

As we mentioned earlier, the S9900 sits on the Style side of the fence, but it's also very close to the Performance series. Because of this intimacy with both ranges, the S9900 has a mixture of lazy modes and performance enhancing features. On the top plate, you'll find the power switch and shutter release with a small finger-operated switch that operates that massive zoom range.

Rear of the Nikon Coolpix S9900

Situated to the left of the shutter release on the shoulder of the Nikon Coolpix S9900 is a Shooting Mode dial. It has the usual easy to use modes, such as Auto, Scenes, Smart portrait and Short Movie, but also holds the manual PASM modes. New to the S9900 is a dedicated command dial, which in conjunction with the rear navigation wheel makes it easier than ever to use the manual shooting modes.

On the opposite side to the Command dial is a pop-up flash that sits very high when opened via the dedicated switch. That's great for avoiding red-eye. However, it uses so many different joints to collapse down into the unit – which you have to do manually – it's like trying to get a cat into a bath; it's possible, but you'll have to wrestle a bit. The top of the camera also holds the WiFi and GPS unit above the lens.

The GPS button on the left flank of the S9900 displays a map of the World and allows you to not only log your photo's locations, but also track where you're going. Fantastic for travellers and that's exactly who the S9900 is aimed at, especially as it now utilises GPS/GLONASS/QZSS satellite tracking to provide highly accurate longitude and latitude data.

Top of the Nikon Coolpix S9900

The S9900 also offers built-in wi-fi and NFC connectivity, with the former accessed via a button on the rear of the camera, and the latter simply by tapping the S9900 against another NFC-enabled device. The wi-fi options are a little basic - you can only connect or upload to a smart device - but they do at least make it easier to share your photos.

The main menu system changes depending on the shooting mode that you're currently in. It has the usual layout of three sections with the primary menus tabbed down the left side. The centre section shows what each tab can offer, while the right side shows the current setting for that option. Pressing right drills into the menu and allows you to make any changes. The colour scheme is light grey on the centre section with dark grey surround and a yellow highlighter. Those colours may not sound appealing, but they work nicely and the menu is very easy to see and use. The five tabs on the left are for the mode you're currently in, Video modes, WiFi, GPS and the Set-up menu.

Start up time from the off position to being switched on, focused and a photo taken is 1.8sec which is a good performance. There are two continuous shooting modes; High and Low. The first is a burst mode that rapidly fires off five high resolution pictures in just over half a second. It works out at roughly 8fps (frames per second). Slightly higher than the 6.9fps on the Nikon website, so that's pretty good. You do have to allow for human error, though, so keep an open mind. It takes a total of 10 seconds to download the pictures as well.

In Low mode, the camera takes pictures at a much slower rate. We got 16 pictures in eight seconds before the camera stopped to download. That's roughly 2fps and it took the camera up to 43 seconds to download and be ready to shoot again. This was going through the Nikon EXPEED C2 processor and writing onto a Class 4 Micro SD card in an adapter. The speed of the card will affect the write speed, so you may see a slight increase with a faster variation in.

The Nikon Coolpix S9900 In-hand

In playback, the pictures will be displayed full size with some basic information that will disappear after a few seconds. Should you take a photo that you wish you'd added a digital effect to, you can press OK at this stage and add it on after. The added bonus is that the S9900 saves that as a separate file on the memory card, preserving the original. The layout of the Playback menu is the same as when you're shooting. However, there's a slight variation in the inclusion of the Mode tab.

The Playback modes are usually in a separate menu which is accessed via the Playback button. On the Nikon Coolpix S9900, doing that takes you back to the shooting screen. The Video menu has been replaced with the full Playback menu which allows you to amend the pictures with some basic editing via the Quick retouch, D-Lighting, Red-eye correction or Glamour retouch options. There's also provision to amend the print order, create a slide-show to thrill your family and friends of your travelling adventures.

In the box you'll find a rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL12, Charging AC Adapter EH-71P4, USB Cable UC-E21, and a Camera Strap. Battery life is around 300 shots, pretty good for this class of camera, although we don't like the fact that you can now only charge the battery in-camera.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this review were taken using the 16 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 5.5Mb.

The Nikon Coolpix S9900 produced images of good quality during the review period. Images are noise free at ISO 125-400, with limited noise and colour desaturation starting to appear at ISO 800. ISO 1600 exhibits quite visible noise, smearing of fine detail and colour desaturation, and the fastest settings of ISO 3200 and especially 6400 are even noisier and best avoided altogether.

The Nikon Coolpix S9900 dealt quite well with chromatic aberrations, with purple fringing effects appearing only in high contrast situations. The built-in flash worked well indoors, with no red-eye and adequate exposure. The night photograph was fine, with the maximum shutter speed of 8 seconds not limiting too much what you can capture after-dark. Image stabilisation is a feature that 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 a little soft straight out of the camera at the default sharpening setting and ideally require further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, or you can change the in-camera setting if you don't like the default results.

Noise

There are 7 ISO settings available on the Nikon Coolpix S9900. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting.

ISO 125 (100% Crop)	ISO 200 (100% Crop)
ISO 400 (100% Crop)	ISO 800 (100% Crop)
ISO 1600 (100% Crop)	ISO 3200 (100% Crop)
ISO 6400 (100% Crop)

Focal Range

The Nikon Coolpix S9900's 30x zoom lens offers a very versatile focal range, as demonstrated by the examples below.

25mm	750mm

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.

Original (100% Crop)	Sharpened (100% Crop)

File Quality

The Nikon Coolpix S9900 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.

16M Fine (5.3Mb) (100% Crop)	16M Normal (3.00Mb) (100% Crop)

Chromatic Aberrations

The Nikon Coolpix S9900 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.

Chromatic Aberrations 1 (100% Crop)	Chromatic Aberrations 2 (100% Crop)

Macro

The Nikon Coolpix S9900 offers a Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is just 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.

Macro	Macro (100% Crop)

Flash

The flash settings on the Nikon Coolpix S9900 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.

Forced Off - Wide Angle (25mm)	Forced On - Wide Angle (25mm)
Forced Off - Telephoto (750mm)	Forced On - Telephoto (750mm)

And here are some portrait shots. As you can see, neither the On or the Auto/Red-eye Reduction settings caused any significant red-eye.

On	On (100% Crop)
Auto/Red-eye Reduction	Auto/Red-eye Reduction (100% Crop)

Night

The Nikon Coolpix S9900's maximum shutter speed is 8 seconds when ISO sensitivity is fixed at ISO 125 or 200 in the S, A, or M modes, which is good news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 8 seconds at ISO 125.

Night	Night (100% Crop)

Sample Images

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

Front of the Nikon Coolpix S9900

Front of the Nikon Coolpix S9900

Front of the Nikon Coolpix S9900 / Pop-up Flash

Side of the Nikon Coolpix S9900

Side of the Nikon Coolpix S9900

Side of the Nikon Coolpix S9900

Side of the Nikon Coolpix S9900

Rear of the Nikon Coolpix S9900

Rear of the Nikon Coolpix S9900

Rear of the Nikon Coolpix S9900 / Image Displayed

Rear of the Nikon Coolpix S9900 / Turned On

Rear of the Nikon Coolpix S9900 / Main Menu

Rear of the Nikon Coolpix S9900 / Wi-fi Menu

Rear of the Nikon Coolpix S9900 / Tilting LCD Screen

Rear of the Nikon Coolpix S9900 / Tilting LCD Screen

Top of the Nikon Coolpix S9900

Bottom of the Nikon Coolpix S9900

Side of the Nikon Coolpix S9900

Side of the Nikon Coolpix S9900

Front of the Nikon Coolpix S9900

Front of the Nikon Coolpix S9900

Memory Card Slot

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

The addition of the versatile vari-angle screen, a dedicated command dial, enhanced GPS tracking and NFC connectivity make the new Coolpix S9900 Nikon's best travel-zoom camera yet, although it doesn't make any great strides forwards in terms of image quality or general performance. Presumably because it's still positioned in the Style range of Coolpix cameras, rather than the Performance segment, the S9900 doesn't offer RAW shooting, the wi-fi connectivity options are limited to sharing your images rather than controlling the camera, and there's no viewfinder or touch-screen operation, but otherwise the Nikon Coolpix S9900 is a well-appointed travel-zoom that suits a wide range of experience levels, from point-and-shooters to more advanced users, and it's crucially a little bit cheaper than its main rivals too.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4.5
Features	4.5
Ease-of-use	4
Image quality	4
Value for money	4

Main Rivals

Listed below are some of the rivals of the Nikon Coolpix S9900.

Specifications

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