At first glance, the question of the more "masculine" or "feminine" of buyers has quickly resolved and therefore also probably likely the new Coolpix S6600 offer a very small size (a. 57.1 x 96.9 x 27.2 mm ) go down well with the ladies. A first highlight is the folding and tilting 6.7cm (2.7 inch) small TFT LCD monitor with anti-reflection coating and five-level brightness adjustment. In fact, it can be seen all good on the display even in bright sunshine. Nikon has thought and solves the problem of disturbing probably otherwise soon unfolded screen through a 180 ° rotation and the subsequent recycling in the designated recess. In general, the display must not be turned back after the camera. So Nikon offers something for everyone who needs it, an effective protection against Verkratzer. Otherwise, the potential buyers expected the usual picture in the arrangement of the keys. HDMI and A / V OUT, to the usual SD card and the device for the tripod. But as always, very annoying and completely unnecessary: the nonstandard mini-USB port. The connections of the own smartphone, or other manufacturer of the camera will not function. Nikon gets because of this noise in the lust for power a point deduction. Otherwise, the S6600 remains extremely attractive.
Menu navigation:
The menu is simple and clearly laid out, also because for the most part no manual changes are possible. What remains is the Scene Auto Selector, potrait (here Nikon offers 18 preset patterns), Blur (High Key, POP, selective color, Extra Rich colors, etc.), automatic and smart Portait. Here the S6600 detects faces and opens the shutter automatically when it detects a smile. The strength of Smiles is thereby not distinguished. Continuous shooting in the H-Series produce up to 7 images at a frame rate of 10 frames per second. The focus area selection provides the known features such as face detection, manual with 99 focus areas, center, subject tracking and target detection AF. Unfortunately Nikon has a total overlook something Sony and other manufacturers such as Samsung have introduced quite some time - the very practical explanation texts for the individual settings. Thus, even the novice users better understand the relationships and also you can learn an awful lot by about the features that you would never try otherwise unaided well.
Quite a contrast nonsense is the gesture control. For this you have in the Automatic (optionally "Portrait" and "Night Portrait") rotate the monitor in the same direction as the lens, so that then open four options in the screen corners. In the middle is a palm pictured and as soon as they recognize their own hands, you can now move the visible circle in one of the four corners. I say it in simple terms: a tedious and watching other people very stupid and sometimes embarrassing acting affair. Often it does not work - an example: the circle moves to the upper right (photo shoot), zooming instead (bottom right) enabled. An improvement provides a further in distance from the camera. Nevertheless it takes for the S6600 the right place in the face, otherwise, has the matter. I would suggest: If you want to go it alone / in pairs / threes / a portrait, then probably everyone will have the courage to press a passing person to politely question the camera in the hand. Done.
It just remains ultimately the desperate struggle in the field of compact cameras for attention. Each manufacturer verschucht here to push with elbows to the surface to push the other with their feet down and so to win the buyers themselves. And so, the gesture control remains only a nice gimmick in daylight.
Image Quality:
The 1 / 2.3 "small CMOS sensor with 16 megapixels and optical 12x zoom range from the equivalent of 25 to 350 mm and has an optical image stabilizer. What is disturbing and was dissolved in the price range a lot better, is the noise performance even at A3 size in lit rooms and the lack of detail in daylight. From ISO 800 the fun is over, the resolution falls in the basement and some will have been expecting after more of his S6600. But ultimately, this model is only available for customer designed, who simply want to pull the trigger. contrast, very convincing is the already mentioned focal length range, as this appeared always very practical. What I also find disturbing the permanent blur in the image reproduction of photos, taken with other cameras. But the only in passing.
Film & Wi-Fi:
Pretty much standard is the Full HD video mode including zoom option (thankfully quiet) and then the direct view to the Wi-Fi. This allows the images transmitted kabelos on a smartphone or tablet and can be loaded from there directly to the Internet. If you want to turn it around, its own smartphone can remotely control the camera. Also a nice gimmick in between for boredom.
Conclusion:
Overall, the Nikon Coolpix S6600 is an entry level model in the low range segment scores by the 1 / 2.3 "small CMOS sensor, the optical 12x zoom and compact size. The battery capacity is enough for about 275 shots and less than 25 minutes in full HD mode. The image quality is mediocre, the blur is simply too hard and failed even snapshots are recommended only due to the inertia of the S6600. to look in front of a potential purchase for a healthy alternative, would certainly highly recommended.
