Form factor. Zoom. (nice as you can: Zoom 10x optical + 4x digital on the shot. Bring it up on the viewer and zoom 10x more on the screen. So you can view a subject 400x its normal view in seconds. pretty neat!) Build quality is pretty good. Uses common AA batteries and SD memory card, no proprietary money wasters here. Smallest of the megazooms with a fully enclosed lens mechanism, that's a BIG deal for reliability.
Reliable although I think the joystick may have wear issues- I sure hope it didn't work this poorly out of the box.

THAT DARN JOYSTICK. Rarely does what you want it to.
Confusing menus.
Bad image quality, blurs on deep zoom every time in all but the brightest daylight.
Viewfinder/screen useless in daylight. (did Nikon actually test a prototype of this in the real world?)
Lack of manual features. like focus- tho this has not been as bad as I feared as the auto focus actually works exceptionally well.
Fragile lens cover.

Frustrating camera, a shame because the form factor seems like such a great idea- packing the depth necessary for big zoom into a package that allows it to swivel flat, at the time of its release it was so much smaller than any other mega zoom.
I bought Pelican's smallest watertight case for it (actually has a Nikon sticker on it, tho not made for this camera) from ebay for about $10. Remove the lens cap (mine had a broken hinge already, with the case I don't need it) and strap and cut a few bits of rubber from the case and it's a snug fit and near bulletproof.
It's just a PITA to get a good shot with this thing. I live near a channel where boats often traverse from the ocean to a bay to dock, the other day a fine vessel goes by I wanted to capture and in the three minutes it took to pass I could not get a good photo.
The self time interface is just silly. No adjustment on the timer (10 sec) and on every shot you've got to reselect it. That is unforgivable as it wouldn't have cost Nikon a dime extra to make it more flexible. You need it because there is no image stabilization. You've also got to deal with that fiddly joystick to bring it up.
Is this a horrible camera? No. Some of its results are spectacular. It's pretty well made. (well worth the $50 - yes, $50- I paid for it on ebay, in mint condition except for the aforementioned lens cap) but it's just amazingly frustrating to use. It seems to function better as a whip-it-out and point it at something close camera than set-it-up and take a long quality shot camera, and I guess the lack of manual controls reflect that intent. However my Konica Minolta z10 never gets a bad shot. The Nikon S4, 1 in 3 are usable, less in low light or long zoom where they are always blurred, and even tho it also lacks IS, the z10 doesn't have that problem as often.
I think Nikon got the brilliant concept and by the time it got to finished product failed somewhat in execution. Pity as holding it in your hands it seems like electronic bling-bling, quality, solid and substantial. If I'd paid top dollar for it I'd be pretty disappointed. I've rarely seen a product with such propensity to just flat tick me off using it.

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Konica Minolta Z5 & Z10-GREAT cameras!
Canon Powershot A520
Contax i4r (different class)
+ others, all and the Nikon bought cheap at thrift stores and ebay.

excellent picture clarity, great zoom, many different modes, stellar macro abilities(this thing is great for REALLY close up shots), face priority for portraits, digital zoom actually works quite well, anti vibration is okay.

No shutter delay settings...This camera does not like action shots, where you have to pan the camera with subject,

Well I have to echo the first review in saying that outdoors in bright conditions this camera is hard to use....But you can still manage if you have some patience. I have taken some amazing shots with this camera, and will continue to do so, until I get my dslr. Haven't figured out which one yet. Anyway, I have found this camera to be more than good enough for all around photography. Great zoom, easy to use and the rotating lens has helped me get a few pics that I wouldn't have normally gotten.

Customer Service

I have never had any problems with this camera the whole time I have owned it. 3 yrs and counting!!!

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