14. Exposure: Choose Your Scene

The S4 is primarily a "full auto" camera; that's its normal operating mode, though it does give you access to a few adjustments, including sensitivity. The basic sensitivity is ISO 50, and that can be increased up to ISO 400. For most users, ISO AUTO mode, which automatically varies the sensitivity between ISO 50 and 200, will definitely be the best choice. Metering is always matrix-type, but there's an exposure correction function. For white balance you have a wide selection of options, including metered (manual) balance.

The scene mode is especially complete, so amateurs will find several options for getting good results in many different situations. There are some very complete functions, such as automatic face detection and a Scene Assist mode. Like the other Coolpix models, the S4 has a best shot selection (BSS) mode. When enabled, it takes several shots in a row and automatically chooses the sharpest to keep. It also has AE-BSS for automatic selection of the best-exposed image from a series of shots.

Flash

The built-in flash has the standard functions one would expect, including red-eye reduction and slow synch. Its range is limited, though, to only between 16" (40 cm) and 10' (3 m). The small size means that the lens and the flash are relatively close, which isn't deal, so the S4 isn't particularly well-suited for intensive flash use.

Shooting And Saving

The shooting modes naturally include a "burst" mode, but the S4 doesn't perform all that well in that area, offering barely more than one image per second. On the other hand, the S4 has an Interval Timer Shooting function that lets you take a timed series of shots.

Quite logically, images are recorded in JPEG format exclusively (with video in QuickTime format). Note that video recording has several interesting options, including electronic stabilization and the possibility of continuous focus adjustment. For photos, you have a choice of two quality levels: maximum definition and reduced definition. In maximum quality, the files generally take up no more than 2.5 MB on the SD card.