The Nikon Coolpix S620 is an ultra-slim, compact Point and Shoot digital camera offering 12.2 MP of resolution and a 4x wide-angle zoom lens. This particular model in the Coolpix line may be of particular interest to those who are looking for a camera that’s ready to shoot at a moment’s notice since it sports a start-up time of only 0.7 seconds along with a quick response time when actually snapping 
a shot. Here’s a brief rundown of some of the camera’s most noted specifications.
Nikon Coolpix S620 Specification Highlights:
- 12.2 megapixels (MP)
- 4x Zoom-NIKKOR lens
- 1/2.33-in. CCD image sensor
- 45 MB internal memory, supports SD/SDHC memory cards for additional storage
- Lens Shift Vibration Reduction (VR)
- ISO Sensitivity: minimum 100, maximum 6400
- 2.7 inch TFT LCD with anti-reflection
- Rechargeable Li-ion battery EN-EL 12 (included with camera) – battery life of approximately 250 shots
As mentioned before, one point where the Coolpix S620 excels is in its fast start-up and response time. If you’ve ever been frustrated due to losing “the perfect shot” while waiting for your digital camera to respond to your commands, you’ll certainly appreciate this feature. Nikon promises a start-up time of 0.7 seconds, and while I didn’t pull out my stopwatch and make repeated trials, I can say that the S620 start-up seemed virtually instantaneous.
The Coolpix S620 also offers a higher maximum ISO setting of 6400. Before you stop reading and rush out to buy the camera because of this feature alone, be wary of the limitations. With most subject matter, extremely high ISO settings are going to introduce a lot of noise and/or loss of detail, no matter what digital camera you use and the Coolpix S620 is no different. In particular (and probably because of the S620’s built-in noise reduction algorithms), watch out for detail loss at these higher ISO settings with this model. Nevertheless, just having the option to choose these higher settings is a big plus.
The Smart Portrait System is one of many automated features found in the Coolpix S620. While I have had some mixed results with these functions, overall I am impressed with the camera’s ability to recognize faces, wait for the subject to smile, and capture a blink-free image. You’ll probably have to practice a bit to get a true feel for these capabilities, but you should be able to obtain some very decent results the first time you try them out.
Continue on to page 2 for the remainder of our review of the Nikon Coolpix S620.