Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.
First impressions of the Nikon Coolpix S3000 are good, and the price is keen, but delve deeper and you notice a few drawbacks.
We liked:
This is a very smart and slim camera, and feels so light in the pocket that we kept mistaking it for our phone.
As a cheap, well-made point and clicker, it delivers good results, and there are some handy features thrown, such as vibration reduction, motion detection and a bewildering range of portrait modes.
That wide, 4x zoom lens is also very handy when shooting groups or landscapes.
We disliked:
While the 12MP sensor delivers large and detailed images, the metering system gets confused more often than we'd like, with a tendency to overexpose in sunlight.
The layout of the camera isn't immediately obvious and it's easy to miss key settings like exposure compensation and the aforementioned portrait modes.
Verdict:
The Nikon Coolpix S3000 is a nice little camera but not a massive step-up from the S220.
Its usability and image performance issues, while hardly deal breakers, mean that it's probably wiser to save up another £20 and get the Nikon Coolpix S4000, with HD video and touchscreen controls.
Or just get the Canon PowerShot A490, which remains the overall better camera, despite the Nikon's wide lens and bigger sensor.
