Nikon Coolpix S3000 12.0MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Vibration Reduction (VR) Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Black)

I was initially hesitant to buy this camera since there were ZERO reviews to be found, either here at Amazon, or elsewhere on the internet. But, since I've owned two previous Nikon Coolpix cameras (an old 4 MP camera, and a really old 2 MP camera) and both were great, I wasn't too worried. And I was right to buy it: it is working great and taking great photos, after several days of playing around with it. First of all, it is very user-friendly. The menus and controls are completely intuitive, and make sense even if you have not cracked open the manual. ("cracked open" being a bit of a misnomer, since the manual is electronic only; the paper manual that comes with it is just a "quick start guide") Second of all, it is a gorgeous piece of machinery; cute and cuddly and shiny and impressive. I'm afraid my girlfriend is going to try to steal it, it is so cute. I may have to buy her one to preemptively stop that from happening. But, most of all, it takes great pictures. I walked all over town the first day, putting it through its paces, and scrutinized the photos on my computer when I got back home. If I was going to have to return it, I wanted to do so quickly, but I don't need to. The photos are great. It is a point-and-shoot, which means that you don't have direct control over shutter speed, aperture, etc. But, you do have a dozen or so "scene modes" including Beach, Museum, Sunset, Panorama, Action, etc. These are very handy. I haven't tried them all yet, but they seem to be well designed. The second day, I put the camera through its paces inside the house. No problems; it takes great indoor shots, providing excellent exposures both with natural light and with the flash. The wide-angle 4.9 mm lens (equivalent angle of view to a 27 mm lens in a 35mm format camera) was especially nice: you can stand in a corner of a room, and get the entire room into the photo! Nothing left out. That is pretty unusual in an inexpensive fixed-lens camera. My third day test was to take the camera to the beach on a bright, contrasty day. It performed admirably, maintaining both shadow and highlight details, and rendering the deep blues of the sky and water, as well as the bright sand, equally well. This one's a keeper, folks! Another nice plus: there is a "16x9" mode available in the "shooting mode" options. This doesn't quite use all 4000x3000 pixels; it only uses 3968x2232 of them. But the images are perfect "HD" format, and completely fill up a typical wide-screen monitor without any stretching. Somehow, they look all the more impressive on a computer screen than the typical 4x3 ratio. Final tidbit: I bought the camera from Amazon, which was $10 cheaper than the local big-box store, had no sales tax, AND allowed me a 30 day return period with no restocking fee (which would have been 14 days AND a restocking fee at the local store; they need to get a clue). Anyway, as an overall impression, five stars easily for the Nikon Coolpix S3000........JC

The camera was great for the first few months. Small yet good quality photos. I enjoyed it. BUT within 6 months it stopped working properly. It is still under warranty so I contacted Nikon and explained the problem. They took my email address and said they would send me an email with a link so I could reply to the link and attach photos so Nikon could determine if I needed to send the camera in for repair. 3 days later, I still had not received any emails from Nikon so I called back. It turns out they got my email address wrong (even though I repeated it twice and they repeated it back correctly) so said they would resend it. 2 days later I still had not received the email so called again. Finally received it a few hours later. I replied to the email immediately. 2 more weeks passed before I finally received a response saying yes I have to send the camera in - shipped at my own expense. It took 18 days to get the camera back, supposedly repaired. However, it was not actually fixed. I called Nikon again and was told I would be sent an email with a prepaid shipping label so I could, once again, return the camera. Once again, 2 days have gone by yet I have not received an email. I just called Nikon and was told by the supervisor that they have to "follow proper protocol" in order to email the label and it takes 1 - 2 days. I explained it had been 51 hours since my phone call... she said it is still only the 2nd day (um, really?) and to let them do their jobs and I would eventually get the label. I requested a refund and was told it is not possible, they do not issue refunds under any circumstance. So... I have had a non functioning camera for 3 months and cannot get my money back. Stay away from Nikon!!

Have a canon powershot e1 in need of repair. Bought this to replace it. Figured 12 mp better than 10.... nope. After trying multiple settings, realized that the pix weren't nearly as clear or defined. There was really no comparison. So returned and am getting a replacement part for the canon. In fairness, the camera is very small and the pix were ok. Also, tried a canon 12 mp powershot SD1300 and those pix weren't as good either. Called Canon and discovered that the lens makes a huge difference. Also, 12 mp isn't necessarily better than 10. Note that some high end camera only have 10 mp..... but very good lenses and larger sensors. Basically, small = convenience with a downgrade on resolution. It is a cute, small camera, but if you want really good pix, go with something with a better lens.

This is an excellent camera in this price range. I was looking for price, size, and picture quality. I looked at the Coolpix cameras with touchscreens, but trying one out in the store, I found it wasn't very intuitive. My previous camera was a Canon Powershot. Overall, I like this camera. The viewing screen is large and clear, the pictures seem to be good quality (based on viewing on the computer; I haven't printed any out yet.) I find this camera very easy to use overall. The manual is lacking. There are features that are simply not included in it. Personally, I think that if a manual is included, it should explain everything. I shouldn't have to hunt for information online. Still, it covered the basics well. There are two aspects of the camera that I don't like. First, there is no battery status indicator. I want to know right now how much battery I have left, and I can't find any option for this in any of the mentions. There's no mention of it in the manual. I would expect there to be some sort of indicator, but I haven't found it yet. I don't want to be surprised by suddenly having a dead battery. Second, I find it odd that the battery must be charged while it is in the camera. I plan to buy a second battery. With my Canon, the charger worked on the battery alone. While traveling, I wore out my battery. I put it in the charger, put a second battery in my camera, and took more pictures. By the time I got back to the hotel, the first battery was charged. Charging doesn't seem to take very long, so this probably won't be much of an issue, but I'm still surprised by it. Aside from that, this seems to be a good quality camera for its price. I consulted with friends who do photography and they said that, unless I'm blowing up pictures to a huge size, 10 megapixels is plenty, so I feel good about this purchase of 12mp and 4x zoom.

What a GREAT camera. I had been cursed with the kodak easy share (older model) for years now and no matter what, I could only take about 10 pics before the battery died. I love the Nikon its small- light weight and perfect fit for me! Im not a professional photographer but I can take some great pics with this camera. The options that the menue gives you for photos is amazing! I would highley recomend this camera above kodak! They made everything VERY easy for inital set up also! Once I opend the package, did the camera set up, I was ready to take pictures within 3 minutes (once I charged the battery fully which only took about 30 minutes). I bought this camera because I was going on vacation and was tired of going places with an unreliable heavy camera and now feel so lucky to have this one! Ive never taken so many pictures before that its like a whole new world for me. This camera will also give you and option for "blink protection", "auto correct", and so MANY other options. Great camera, great price compaired to Walmart, Target, and other store/web-sites. Also Amazon was the only place I could get this cool green color. Stores werent carrying this color yet (only the purple, black, and some of them had the orange). One last thing I want to mention is the speed of taking the pictures. What I was used to was press the button wait about3-4 seconds then wait about 8 more seconds before you could shoot your next one-not so with the Nikon. I can practically take pic after pic with it - its great!

When I saw the price for this camera in March 2011 for around $99, I was thinking that's a great price! And the reviews seem quite positive so it can't be a terrible little portable digital camera. I was planning to give this as a gift to a friend to upgrade her old Nikon from 2004. So, I bought the Nikon S3000 and excitedly opened the box, and was happy to see the new Nikon S3000 just as pictured online. But things can be deceiving...sure the size is wonderful, slightly larger than a credit card, and about 3/4" thick and very lightweight so it's a definite easy-pocketable camera! The power to on/off is quick, buttons in good locations and very easy to understand menu, feels nice in your hand, zoom in/out is quick too, and the design looks very clean. The large 2.7" LCD is bright and not much different from a 3" (which is what I'm used to). So what's to complain about? Well, if all the photos you take are distance shots or portraits, this is probably a keeper! If you ever want to take macro shots, this is NOT the camera - the Nikon S3000 cannot focus at all! I mean I was really surprised testing out the camera. It doesn't even have autofocus! Even after setting the "little flower" for macro, I was not able to take close-up shots unless I was AT LEAST 3+" away from the object! WOW, that's some bad macro...I mean, think about the times you want to take a photo of a label, or display, or text or sign, you won't be able to with this camera unless you want alot of wide-shots. But most macros are meant to be tight. The charger is also a BIG surprise, and a NEGATIVE one at that! You cannot charge the battery unless it's still INSIDE the camera! That's just dumb. Most people are used to taking out the battery to put it inside a separate wall charger and carrying an extra battery to use, but the Nikon S3000 is designed poorly so that you cannot even use the camera while charging your battery! Overall, great price, great photos at a distance, poor macros, inability to charge battery separately, lack of autofocus are all what makes the Nikon S3000 a DO NOT BUY! And definitely NOT a gift worth giving to someone who likes taking photos! Return!

Before I bought this camera I did a lot of research on digital cameras. I narrowed it down to three brands. Canon, Nikon, and Sony. It took a very long time to make a decision since I didn't want to buy crap. I eventually settled in the Nikon brand because I am very familiar with its features and camera functions. I was replacing a cheaper older model of a Nikon Coolpix L10. So, I was definitely going spend a little over $100 for this camera, but then again cameras have come a long way since the 2007. Even if I didnt buy the S3000 I knew I would get something better than my older camera due to the advancement of the compact camera technology. This camera is great for everyday/events picture taking. After having the camera for a few days, I tested it out when I went to a family reunion. I got many compliments and inquiries about where i got the camera from. I believe I took about 100 pics in the two days spanning the family reunion. Camera Features: I took pics using a wide variety of the camera's features. The micro mode was pretty cool, the camera was able to focus on the subject and the picture did not come out blurry. It was pretty easy to take a pic in panorama mode. At first when I took the pics that would make up the panorama pic, I wasnt sure how the whole pic would come out, but the panorama maker software that comes with the did wonders. Once you out the pieces of the panorama pic in the correct order the software makes the panorama picture for you. Now that I know that I made a great panorama photo I will be using this feature very much in the future. This camera definitely tells you if someone blinked in the photo after the photo has been taken and you can always opt to take another pic. Continuous shot selecter is also a nice feature. You can choose to take 3 continuous shots or 16 continuous. Pics in low-light or darkness are excellent and always give light exposure buy the flash and orange light on the front of the camera. I took a picture in my room with the only source of light in the room being light from a television and the picture came out as if a ceiling light was on. Other features that are nice are skin-softening, smart portrait(recognizes faces), 17 scene modes including panorama, subject tracking Video: For a compact camera, the video quality was great. The sound quality was also excellent inside the video too. Playback on my laptop was seamless. You could hear words and sentences very well in the background of the video. It's NOT HD, but I could make out everyone in the video and nothing at all was blurry. Battery is a plus since you can charge it, as oppose to change AA batteries all the time. The charge is very short as well. Definitely get a case for this camera, it is very compact, slim, and small. I have a case logic compact digital camera case. I bought my case at Walmart for $7 and cents. I feel like my camera is very well protected. Overall I am very happy with my purchase of the Nikon Coolpix s3000. Its a great everyday camera for the busy college student or for someone who just wants to capture life's moments. Definitely buy this camera, it well worth your money and you will not be disappointed.

I bought this camera about 15 months ago as a replacement for the Canon ELPH I had for 5 years. I loved the ELPH, but replaced it to get something more modern. From the outset, the picture quality with the Nikon was nowhere near what I got with the older, supposedly lesser quality Canon. Since I had donated the Canon to a charity auction, I didn't have the option of going back to it or I would have and trashed the Nikon. Last week we went on vacation and I planned to take a bunch of pictures. Well, the Nikon will not turn on. Installing a freshly charged battery doesn't help. Talked to Nikon, and of course it's out of warranty, so they want a small fortune to look at it. I'll never buy another Nikon . . . I'm going back to Canon.