Nikon COOLPIX S3100 14 MP Digital Camera with 5x NIKKOR Wide-Angle Optical Zoom Lens and 2.7-Inch LCD (Silver)

by Nikon

• 14.0-megapixel CCD sensor for superb image quality
• 5x Wide-Angle Optical Zoom-NIKKOR Glass Lens
• 4-way VR Image Stabilization System
• 2.7-inch (230,000-dot) display
• EXPEED C2 for enhanced image quality and processing speed

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 3.7 x 2.3 inches ; 6.4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B004M8SVBG
• Item model number: S3100 Silver
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (244 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,191 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: February 7, 2011

Product Description

Color: Silver

From the Manufacturer

Stay connected, share your life.

Can a camera be your BFF?

Ultra-slim body

Slip this ultra-slim, ultra-light COOLPIX S3100 camera into your pocket and you'll never miss a memorable moment. At an incredibly slender 0.8 inches and just 4.2 ounces, it goes wherever the fun is—the beach, the mall, your best friend's house. It comes in seven attractive colors—silver, black, red, yellow, purple, blue and pink. And you'll love its One-Touch HD Movie function, which enables you to watch the action with family and friends.

Powerful yet fun and easy to use

Can a powerful camera fit in the palm of your hand? Yes, if it's the ultra-light, ultra-thin COOLPIX S3100, engineered with a 14.0-megapixel CCD sensor that assures superb image quality with every shot. This remarkable camera lets you put your creativity to the test, with its 5x wide-angle optical Zoom-NIKKOR glass lens. Its versatile 26-130mm lens ranges wide to capture a sunset over the ocean or zooms in on a windsurfer catching the last ride of the day. Whether you're shooting winter landscapes, portraits of your favorite pet, or can't miss shots of your friends, you'll do it effortlessly with this camera. And you'll love composing images from the vibrant 2.7-inch LCD display that brings still images and HD movies to life, enabling you to capture and share brilliant pictures every time.

Capture and share brilliant pictures

Create images as unique as your imagination.

When you want to get really creative, the COOLPIX S3100 will match the limits of your imagination with a variety of features. There are 19 Scene Modes, including Portrait, Party, Landscape, and Sunset—all of which automatically adjust camera settings to specific scenes. You just point and shoot. Plus, the COOLPIX S3100 comes with our new Pet Mode, a technology that automatically finds and focuses on the face of your dog or cat, then automatically fires the shutter. With functions like Quick Retouch you can give your photos the high quality look you want. And for even more versatility, this camera comes with several filter effects like Soft Focus, Selective Color, Miniature, Cross Screen, and Fisheye.

One Touch HD Movie Recording

When you want to tell a great story, nothing does it like a movie. Whether you're capturing the excitement of a live concert, the heart stopping action of a sporting event, or the casual fun of a family vacation, the COOLPIX S3100 makes it easy to shoot high quality 720p HD movies. It has a simple One-Touch recording capability, so the action will never get away. And, it lets you digitally zoom in on your subjects while recording, so you can pull in tight on your subject whenever you choose. When you're ready for playback, you can do it instantly in-camera or quickly connect to your TV or computer.

Capture superb image quality.

Nikon's reputation as a world leader in digital photography only gets better with the COOLPIX S3100. This easy to use, easy to carry camera is loaded with innovations that assure outstanding images. Our high ISO speeds also mean you can shoot fast moving objects with optimum results.

With our EXPEED C2 processing engine, the COOLPIX S3100 expands your photographic possibilities, adding improved levels of detail, image quality and processing speed. Its four-way Electronic VR Image Stabilization system automatically ensures that your images will be sure and steady. A Motion Detection feature also identifies moving objects in your images and adjusts both shutter speed and ISO to keep them crisp and clear. And you'll love Nikon’s Best Shot Selector, which automatically takes up to ten shots with a single press of the shutter, then selects and saves the sharpest one.

Convenient Features

The COOLPIX S3100 isn't just the most stylish and convenient camera you'll ever own, it's also the smartest. Consider our Smart Portrait System, which includes amazing advantages like our Smile Timer that automatically releases the shutter when your subject smiles, and Face-Priority AF, our latest face-finding technology that detects and focuses on up to 12 faces. Blink Warning tells you when a subject may have blinked—and alerts you to re-take the photo.

Tired of red eyes ruining your portraits? Our in-camera Red-Eye Fix™ automatically corrects for red-eye as you shoot. And our Skin Softening feature assures perfect facial studies by smoothing skin tones. And the COOLPIX S3100's rechargeable Li-ion battery lasts for approximately 220 still shots—so you'll have juice to shoot an entire party. The COOLPIX S3100 is a remarkable blend of simplicity, convenience and advanced imaging features.

What's in the box

• COOLPIX S3100 Digital Camera
• AN-CP19 Strap
• UC-E6 USB Cable
• EG-CP14 Audio/Video Cable
• EN-EL19 Rechargeable Li-ion Battery
• EH-69P AC Adapter/Charger
• Nikon View NX 2 CD-ROM

Product Description

The Coolpix S3100 is the ideal camera for teens that love taking and sharing pictures. It has 14 megapixels and a powerful 5x wide-angle optical Zoom-NIKKOR glass lens for sharp and detailed images. It includes an impressive19 Scene Modes-including Scene Auto Selector-so capturing great images is easy and virtually fail proof.

Teens love to experiment with creativity and the Coolpix S3100 offers plenty of ideas; Pet Mode, Fisheye Lens and Miniature Effect that can be applied to images to make original works of art. Because life is constantly moving, HD (720p) movie recording is a must-have feature for anyone looking to capture and share more fun. Nikon's innovative technology ensures outstanding images and movies for sharing anywhere-in-camera, prints or on the Internet. Offer the camera that helps them stay connected and share their lives.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

326 of 335 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars If you simply want more of your memories caught on film... May 3, 2011

By Valeri

Color Name:Red|Amazon Verified Purchase

this camera is for you. This camera does have some great features, some of which I have not even had time to use yet. The main draw, however, (other than the size) is that it is simple and easy to use. There are tons of point and shoot cameras out there, and there is no use being snobby over which one you buy, because they all do pretty much the same thing. This one is great for the price. You could get a nicer camera, but for 90% of the people in the market for a digital camera, this will do what you need and want it to, and more.

I use mine mainly for snapshots and spontaneous pictures with friends and the like. However, I do enjoy photography, and I have experience with SLR cameras as well (and I own one). Therefore, I also sometimes take artistic shots. This camera does it all unless you are a professional photographer, in which case, you already know you need a different camera.

The size is perfect. This will even fit in small pockets on skinny jeans or whatever. The case I bought with the camera adds some bulk, but the camera is so slim, even the case fits in my pockets comfortably.

I use Amazon Student Prime, so shipping is never a hassle. I can't really comment on other shipping speeds. The package was simple, but the camera box protects the camera with styrofoam and cardboard, and the shipping box used inflated plastic bags to keep the camera box safe. Someone would really have to try to damage the camera to manage it.

Amazon lists plenty of features of this camera, but here is my list:

RECHARGEABLE!
Records HD movies with one button
Big LCD screen on back to help compose pictures in a size you can actually see
19 scenes to choose from to assist in getting a better picture
Pet Focus will find your pet's face and once focused, will shoot the picture
There are several cool filters like selective coloring, a miniature effect and a fisheye effect
Is tiny and lightweight
Comes in cool colors
This camera will even warn you if it thinks someone blinked.

Bottom line: This camera is what you want. I search for weeks or longer before deciding to buy something, and I chose this camera. For a point and shoot, it has everything you need, and so many things you didn't even know you wanted. Unless you don't actually know what you're looking for, you won't regret buying this camera.

76 of 80 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Overall a great camera May 13, 2011

By Westoncito

Color Name:Silver|Amazon Verified Purchase

This camera pretty much rocks for its price. I bought this camera because I was in need of a camera update and the cell phone camera on my G2 wasn't cutting it.

When I took this think out of the box for the first time I was glad to notice that it's small and thin and fits nicely in my pocket. My old camera was much bulkier and I couldn't carry it in my pocket without a strange looking bulge in my pants that made me look like an idiot.

I am not a digital photographer so I bought this camera as more of a point-and-shoot camera. I wanted a camera that I could snap a quick picture that would have lots of details and look pretty nice without too much photo editing. Normally when I take a picture I am wanting a picture of my friends or myself at a certain event or next to a landmark etc... So I wanted a camera that would be simple but still take a sweet picture. I can't tell you how many times I've had people trying to snap a picture for me only to not be able to get my old camera to work right and the picture(s) turn out horribly. Like I want to load a fuzzy blur up onto my Facebook page.

That being said, this camera can also cause difficulties with the technologically retarded. This camera has to achieve a "focus" before it will snap a picture. Sometimes you can push down the button trying to take a picture and the "focus" will be off and it won't even snap a photo at all. For those special individuals, who for some reason are always snapping my photos, this can cause extreme problems with their abilities to be able get the camera to function.

Now you may be asking yourself why I would have rated the camera so high and said that it rocks and then ripping it a new one, but I just wanted to let you know the only problem that I have had with it so far. This camera perhaps is not the easiest camera to use, but if you spend 5 minutes to learn how it works then you will be able to get excellent pictures from it.

The camera's picture taking mode basically has 4 different options, Auto mode, Scene mode, Smart portrait, and Subject tracking. In my experience so far with this camera I have noticed that the Auto-mode isn't always perfect. I may have to take a bunch of pictures, before I can get the picture looking like I want it to look. To be honest I am a bit picky with my pictures though. Many times when I am having somebody else snap a picture for me that can be quite an annoyance. The Auto-mode definitely works better on landscapes than it does for people (in my opinion).

The scene-selector mode is sweet when I am the one taking the picture there are 15+ differing options that optimize the camera for different types of pictures such as: sunset, portrait, pet, beach, party/indoor, etc. I gave up even trying to teach the technologically handicapped this mode after the 2nd attempt.
The mode that has been the most useful for me has been the Smart-portrait mode. This mode basically finds a couple of people's faces and then focuses the picture on them. Since the majority of the time I am taking pictures of people I have found this to be an amazing option. I use this mode for 90% of my pictures. I get pictures that look amazing and I usually give the camera to other people in this mode although sometimes it won't take a picture and they will have to "refocus" the camera by re-pressing the button.

The smart tracking picture mode has honestly not been something that I have needed yet but I suppose it takes pictures of moving objects or something like that.
I could ramble on more but I figure that this should be sufficient for now. Overall this camera takes great pictures, they look sweet in print and they are very photoshopable (is that actually a word?) and look great in print form and also on the web.

142 of 159 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Not an acceptable camera July 16, 2011

By A. Whalen

Color Name:Silver|Amazon Verified Purchase

To put this in context, we purchased this camera as one of a handful of point-and-shoots; we bought a Nikon D90 shortly before having our first child, which is a stellar DSLR, to add to an old Panasonic Lumix point-and-shoot that did take pretty good pictures, despite an excessively bright flash. After a couple of years, we wanted to 'downgrade' back to to point-and-shoot cameras, given that ours is about 5 years old, and newer ones are both more high-tech and relatively inexpensive for the given level of technology. We bought 'a few' to serve a couple of more or less specific roles, all shy of the DSLR's "big heavy super-high-quality photograph field cannon" role. The purpose of this one was to be... well, the cheap one. The everyday, easy-to-use, no-brainer, compact and lightweight and easy for my wife to put in the diaper bag and take to the museum or the park with the kids. Cheap enough that if you lost it or it got scratched by car keys, no big deal, nice enough to take good basic photos but otherwise no particularly fancy features.

Now, put in that context, time for the inevitable 'pros' and 'cons'.

Pros:
- Extremely compact, lightweight, 'sexy' design with chrome details around silver metal body
- Fast start-up, about 2.5 seconds to power up
- Continuous shooting can get maybe a hair more than 1 picture per second. Specs list as 0.7s intervals.
- Battery life seems to be good so far, about 200 pictures and several videos over the course of 3 days with all varieties of flash and zoom and the battery still indicates fully charged
- Zoom is pretty powerful for such a compact camera

Cons:
- Skittish. It's hard to get a clear picture from the thing even with a steady hand. Image stabilization does nothing as far as I can tell.
- Because of the former, producing sharp pictures with continuous shooting is pretty much hopeless
- Focus is hopeless in ISO3200. No, with any automatic or manual setting, with or without the flash, focus is hopeless. About 1 out of every 4 pictures came out well-focused. Even focused pictures seem to have blurry points in the same range as other objects that are at the same distance, even near the center of the scene. This is even for things like city scenes in full daylight.
- Abandon all hope, ye who shoot photos indoors... focus is abysmal. Did I already make this point?
- Because the focus is so poor, zooming in on anything, even a little, is absolutely and totally hopeless. Taking pictures of animals at the museum came out occasionally reasonably focused; zooming in as little as 2x produced worthless blurry shot after worthless blurry shot
- As with pretty much every point-and-shoot, the flash creates a scene completely washed out with white light - needs to be diffused.
- Very slow to become responsive after a photo; with or without a photo review, the camera takes about 5s to become responsive and available for another photo. This appears to be the case with 3mp the same as 14mp. Just very, very, very slow.
- Very slow to delete a picture; deleting a picture you don't like takes 3 clicks, then about 3 seconds to complete the operation. It's a little surprising how any device (phone, camera, gps, tablet, anything) could take that long to complete a simple operation...
- The shutter speed is too slow or simply wrong; if you have kids, who are naturally always in motion, they'll be a blur even if they're standing still to pose for a photo.
- Slow to actually fire a shot after zooming and pushing the button - sometimes 1 to 2 second delay, which means, the subject (kids!) is often simply gone by the time it actually shoots.
- Grainy. Even in broad daylight, color fields on high-res pics, like buildings and peoples' faces, is grainy and pixellated with blotchy color tones.
- Video. Can't record smoothly, even at lower resolution, with a high-quality Class 6 SDHC card. Don't bother with video.

To be perfectly fair and objective, I took this camera and our Samsung ST-95 outside and took two shots per camera, of each of five subjects, in the same resolution, at the same time. I chose the sharper of the two photos from each camera and renamed the file generically. I then brought up the photos on our 1080p 55" TV - the largest-format, highest-resolution screen in the house. I showed them to my wife and asked her to choose "before" and "after", letting her know that I had swapped the order of the pictures randomly (so that A wasn't always the Nikon, B wasn't always the Samsung). In 5 out of 5 cases, she picked (and I agreed) the Samsung's pictures, simply on the focus. The Nikon just can't focus correctly. For example, on the back patio, the kids' tricycle is relatively focused, but the grill right beside it - both near the center of the shot - is entirely blurred out. All of my subjects were stationary out of necessity; I could not get a single clear picture of the kids or dogs with the Nikon, so there was no relevant comparison to be made. Using "scenes" to balance the settings made absolutely no difference on focus, only color balance.

Overall, this camera is a fine solution if you don't expect much and you won't do much with it. You could shoot some video or take pictures of inert objects at medium range in full daylight and maybe one out of every two or three photos will be focused enough to pass a cursory inspection (don't look too close), but beyond that I'm afraid this camera just can't perform acceptably. It'll capture images, but they won't be GOOD. Despite the aforementioned purpose for which we bought this camera, we'll probably take around one of the better / other ones instead. It's really just about as well not to take a picture of those 'precious moments', as to attempt to do so with this camera. Other folks who have claimed that they are satisfied with this camera just can't be looking very closely at their pictures; after three outings and a few hundred pictures I am just amazed at how poor the quality of the shots are, in every environment, every light, every kind of subject. It's not for lack of use or lack of knowledge/experience with digital cameras; this really just has an extremely poor-quality sensor and processor and, I would assume, sub-standard firmware.

I suggest looking at other entry-level offerings such as Samsung ST-65. Or, go for a mid-range camera. You really should only consider this camera if the looks of the camera itself matter a whole lot more than the quality of the pictures it can take - and, if the quality of the pictures it takes don't matter much at all to you. If you do care about the ability to capture images, this camera will not be satisfactory.

I do not recommend this camera.