Digital Home Thoughts: Nikon Coolpix S80 Reviewed

"The Nikon Coolpix S80 is a new 14 megapixel touchscreen compact camera. Featuring a large 3.5 inch OLED screen with 819k-dots and a 720p HD movie mode with stereo sound and an HDMI port, the Nikon S80 allows you to focus and take a picture or video simply by touching the relevant area on the screen."

Nikon's never been one to take the compact market that seriously, having subcontracted manufacture (if not design) to other companies, and the S80 feels like such a product, with some odd design decisions, like the 5x optical zoom lens that starts at a 35mm equivalent rather than 28mm equivalent, which is what its predecessor had. The OLED screen might be a good selling point, but ultimately image quality is a bit on a so-so side. If a consumer electronics company like Panasonic can do good compacts, there is no reason for Nikon not to. I suspect its mostly a strategic decision on their part not to divert too many resources to the compact division.