Nikon Coolpix S4300 review

The S4300 is an ultra-compact point-and-shooter with stylish curves and a touchscreen interface. It’s available in red, black, white and silver, although the latter is more of a champagne finish. It would look perfectly at home nestling in a Prada handbag, but isn’t so overtly feminine as to make it a ladies-only camera.

Touchscreen interfaces on cameras can be hit and miss but this is one of the better examples. Nikon has redesigned its menus from scratch for touchscreen operation, with big icons rather than scrolling lists. Autofocus and metering options are combined into a Touch AF/AE mode, which uses the touchscreen to place the autofocus and metering point pretty much anywhere in the frame (the outer edges aren’t allowed). Power, shutter release, video record/pause, shooting mode and playback have dedicated hardware buttons, and there’s the usual lever for the generous 6x zoom function.

Performance is generally up to scratch, with responsive autofocus and an average of 1.8 seconds between shots in our tests. Continuous mode was passable at 1.1fps, slowing to 0.6fps after eight shots. It was slow to switch on and shoot, though, at 3.6 seconds. When we pressed the shutter button straight after switching on, the camera powered up and then sat there doing nothing rather than taking a photo as soon as it was ready. The meagre 180-shot battery life is another concern, and in-camera charging means it can’t charge one battery while using another.