I bought nikon coolpix s6900 about 2 weeks ago and I asolutely fell in love with it. I bought black coloured.
The body of camera was absolutely gorgeous and Coolpix S6900 is billed as the ultimate compact selfie camera. The 16 megapixel Nikon S6900 features a vari-angle LCD screen, two shutter-release buttons and a built-in camera stand, while Gesture Control makes it possible to shoot photos and movies at the wave of a hand.
D750 DSLR – and not to be confused with the earlier S9600 – the Coolpix S6900 is a 16 effective megapixel back-illuminated CMOS sensor-incorporating compact coupled with a 12x optical zoom. The point-and-shooter features the relative novelty of a flip-down stand to enable ‘selfies’ when resting the camera on a tabletop, or other suitably flat surface. Despite that, the S6900 remains a portably slim model for one that additionally includes a flip-out and swivel vari-angle LCD screen. This can be fully rotated to enable viewing by the subject stood in front of the lens.
As one might have expected from a camera via which Nikon is trying to court the self-portrait obsessive, the camera comes with phone and tablet compatible Wi-Fi and NFC connectivity options on board, plus is priced at a reasonable sounding £199 as far as the UK goes. The S6900 is also unusual amongst compacts for the fact that the camera features not one but two shutter release buttons – one on the top plate as normal, with a second on the faceplate, situated just left of the lens as you’re looking at it. It transpires that there are actually three methods of firing off a still, since the 3-inch, 460K-dot resolution LCD here is also a touch screen, meaning that a shot can be captured with a tap of the display. This feature appears a tad sensitive, as we found it all too easy to accidentally fire off a shot simply when in the process of handling the camera and a finger brushing the screen.
The light sensitivity range on the S6900 is as modest as we’d expect from a sub £200 snapshot with bog standard 1/2.3-inch sensor, in stretching from ISO125 to 6400 equivalent. With Expeed C2 processor on board, power comes courtesy of the standard rechargeable lithium ion battery, replenished with the aid of USB lead. This is either hooked up to an available USB port on your computer, or to the USB equipped mains plug, which also enables the charging of battery in-camera.
Nikon Coolpix S6900
Front of the Nikon Coolpix S6900
It’s quickly apparent upon picking up and playing with the S6900 that this is an auto-everything shooter, but with enough gimmicks attached as described above to attempt to hook the casual observer. The 12x optical zoom shoehorned into its slim chassis is undoubtedly very useful for either fledgling or seasoned photographers, even if we did notice some obvious softness in the corners of frame of pictures captured at maximum wide-angle setting: here the equivalent of 25mm in 35mm film terms. Still, with focal length running up to 300mm at the telephoto end, the S6900 is very much as a jack-of-all-trades option offering a wide ranging of framing choices straight out of the pocket. The zoom lens is supported by lens shift stabilization.
So let’s more closely examine the features and functions of the camera itself. From the front, apart from the aforementioned secondary shutter release button, the black liveried camera appears almost conventional. We get a large and prominent lens taking centre stage, offering an aperture range that runs from a not especially bright, but OK for its class f/3.3 to f/6.3 at maximum telephoto end. We also get a thin sliver of a window housing the built-in flash, plus a self-timer/AF assist window top right of the lens itself. Despite the budget price the camera is not without style. It looks the part in spite of its affordability, the matt black finish lending it a more serious air than most point and shoots possess. Build wise, the camera also feels reassuringly solid in the palm in spite of its unassuming proportions and price. Official dimensions are 99.4x58x27.9mm and the camera weighs just 181g with battery and optional memory card inserted. There is also a small 30MB internal capacity out of the box ( and 20GB of Nikon Cloud Storage space online) .
The top plate layout of the S6900 is also very familiar, with a narrow but relatively long and clearly marked on/off button sitting between a dedicated Wi-Fi activation button and then the largest control of the lot: the shutter release button encircled by a lever for operating the spring-loaded zoom, which offers up a raised and rough-ended front lip to provide a point of purchase for the forefinger. Just to the right of the shutter release button we find a dedicated record control for Full HD 1920x1080 pixels video with stereo sound ( allowing the use of the optical zoom) . Like the power button this latter control is inset into the top plate to avoid accidental operation; you have to press down fully with a fingernail to activate this Full HD recording function.
Nikon Coolpix S6900
Rear of the Nikon Coolpix S6900
The Nikon is quick to respond too – for the most part at least. Press down on the power button and the lens rapidly extends to maximum wideangle setting from its formerly retracted position, the rear LCD twitching into life a mere blink-of-an-eye later. So within two seconds or so the user can be squeezing down on the shutter release in anticipation of capturing the first shot. Contrast detection AF is impressively quick for a pocket compact too, locking onto target in a fraction of a second. Writing time is a little slower however; with full resolution 16MP JPEG images committed to removable SD memory card in around four to five seconds while the screen displays a preview of the just captured image.
The back of the camera is given over entirely to the LCD screen. Given that the market for the ?12000 model is probably the smartphone user who will be used to a touch display as the prime means of altering settings, it’s no surprise that the top plate controls are the only physical buttons on the S6900. Perhaps because of the fact that screen size is smaller than the average smartphone at 3-inches, Nikon has thoughtfully provided large on-screen buttons within its touch display menus too.
The initial user interface is simply presented. There are buttons left and right of screen upon power up that quickly disappear from view, leaving just a square ‘display’ icon bottom right of screen via which to recall them, and so the image before your lens filling the full frame. Tap anywhere else on the screen and you end up automatically capturing an image via touch shutter control.