By Alexandra Savvides on 24 November 2009

The S640 boasts dSLR-like responsiveness and good pictures but is let down by its price and lack of competitive features like HD video.

Editor’s rating:7.8

• Good: Quick autofocus • Wide-angle lens • 5x optical zoom
• Bad: Quick to start-up but takes a few seconds to actually initialise • No HD video • Noisy above ISO 400
• Specs: Digital compact • 12.2 megapixels • 5 x • Secure Digital Card, Secure Digital High Capacity • See more specifications
• RRP: AU$499.00 • Where to buy? $255 to $480 at 6 stores

Photo gallery: Nikon Coolpix S640

Design

Featuring a flat front panel and a boxy countenance, the S640 doesn’t scream anything in particular when you take it out of the box. There are no dangerous curves, no odd protrusions or quirky exterior additions. It’s a lightweight, pocket-sized camera that houses a 5x optical zoom, with a wide-angle 28mm lens. It weighs 110g without a battery or memory card which is very light indeed, and it certainly feels dainty as it sits in your hand.

Around the back are standard controls, including a scroll wheel that also acts as a four-way directional pad for choosing shooting options, a playback button and a mode button to switch between shooting modes. By pressing the mode button a whole world of opportunities opens up — full automatic is the first one, followed by scene modes which cover the standard portrait/sports/flowers/food options, and then comes Smart Portrait. Blemishes be gone, with the skin softening effect provided in this mode. Next up comes subject tracking, and finally movie mode (though not HD, unfortunately).

The back of the S640 features the standard Nikon controls. (Credit: Nikon)

Inside is a 12.2-megapixel sensor and the highest sensitivity is ISO 6400. Given the poor track record of previous compact cameras which claim to be able to deliver images at this high level, we won’t be holding our breath in regards to the quality of the images at the aforementioned sensitivity. The 2.7-inch screen completes the noteworthy specifications.

The S640 uses SD or SDHC memory cards which slot in alongside the battery at the base of the camera. There’s also a tripod mount located underneath as well.

In terms of where the S640 sits in regards to its competitors, we decided to test it head-to-head with the Editors’ Choice-winning Canon IXUS 120 IS, a camera that retails for the same price (AU$499) and has a similar feature set, as well as being similarly sized.

Have YOU accidentally deleted PHOTOS from your CAMERA?

These days, it’s EASY for your photographs to go missing.

Press a couple of wrong keys on your camera – and they’re ALL gone. Or connect the memory card to your PC and press the DELETE key. Whoops!

But HOW do you RECOVER those DELETED PHOTOGRAPHS?

Thankfully, your photographs are NOT gone forever. There IS a secret method of recovering them. And it’s all down to a clever little program called…

Memory Card Photo Recovery.

Just connect your memory card to your PC, then run Memory Card Photo Recovery. Watch as the program scans to find your deleted photographs – and then recovers them, ALL WITHIN FIVE MINUTES.

Memory Card Photo Recovery is GUARANTEED to recover your images.

Click Here To Find Out More