I had the chance to check out the Nikon CoolPix S230 digital camera featuring a whopping 3″ touchscreen LCD display. My previous camera – the HP r937 which boasted a 3.6″ touchscreen – was a beloved possession of mine. When it died *got killed by my children* I mourned the loss of it for about a month. Then I decided it was time to get out there again and find another worthy piece of show-stopping technology to make me whole again. And there it was – the Nikon CoolPix S230. Feature rich, aesthetically sound, and extremely compact – I’m sure you can imagine my anticipation for its arrival. Four long, agonizing days I waited for us to be together. Finally, right there on my doorstep I was gazing at this beautiful piece of equipment that I had fallen so deeply in love with during our brief internet affair.

I took it out of the box and to cherish this moment, I videotaped the unboxing of my tiny little miracle in the making. I assembled the pieces and turned it on – NO DELAY! It was so fast and the touchscreen display was bright and vibrant. It was sensitive – but not too sensitive; it was just right – it was hit-and-miss with my pudgy little index finger, but the screen was perfectly responsive to the light touch of the stylus in my hand. I played around with the settings as this sexy little newly found treasure teased me with each new discovery I made, flipping through the screens and getting to know my new friend a little better. The battery door was quite annoying as barely a touch would send it flying open on it’s springed hinge. Even so, I was willing to forgive…

What came next was horrific. It’s like when a single woman meets the man of her dreams and he’s everything she could ever hope for – until he starts to speak. This camera disappointed me to the point of physical disgust. I was in digicam heaven – until I snapped that first, hideous, terribly blurry photo. I was in shock, not able to believe that this ghastly, fuzzy little photo had come from such a sophisticated member of the electronic community. *Faint* Once I caught my breath, I convinced myself this had to have been a fluke… my wonderful new CoolPix was simply testing my loyalty. I had to give it another shot. Imagine the horror as I got the same result again … and again … and again … All of the features in the world – even the touchscreen – can’t make up for this poor quality! {All of these photos were taken at 10MP – my HTC Touch – at 2MP – could take better pics than this}:

The disappointment I felt after learning that Nikon had cheated me was a terrible feeling. I had been so excited to put my hands on this little silver objectification of awesomeness, I could barely sleep Wednesday night! You can imagine my dismay after having gotten to know the CoolPix S230. Our romance was short and not-so-sweet and when it was all said and done, our one night stand ended with me rushing to WalMart to find a new flame to fill the void created by the extremely low standards CoolPix offered. After an hour of comparing and contemplating, I finally decided the FujiFilm FinePix Z30 would be going home with me. When I snapped the first photo, I immediately began to ask this tiny wonder, “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?!” One word: SCORE! This camera was not only about 80 bucks cheaper than the Nikon but it was *cuter* in its bright orange shell and the photo quality was outstanding. The pictures are perfectly focused and crystal clear. While it lacks the touchscreen capability of the CoolPix S230, it more than makes up for it in its abundance of features:

• Resolution range of 0.3MP up to 10MP
• Face Detection & Automatic Red-Eye Removal
• Scene Recognition
• Auto-focus
• Photo slideshow playback and choice of manual playback transitions
• Video recording and on-camera playback {640×480 or 320×240}
• On-Camera cropping and rotation *you can even add voice memos to your photos!*
• High-speed shooting option
• Blog Mode {one of my FAVORITE features!} – this resizes/resamples your photos automatically to either 640×480 or 320×240 and adds effects such as:
  • Aspect Ratio changes
  • Brightness/Contrast modification
  • Color warming/cooling
  • Sepia toning
  • Illustration, painting, miniature, and zooming effects
  • Diagonal crops and drop shadows
  • Face mosaic (blurs faces)

Today, just to be sure, I took about 200 photos with my FujiFilm camera… the results remain as different from the CoolPix as night and day!

I took these (left) through the window of a van moving at about 35-40 miles per hour
and (right) in the reflection of my van window:

This was created using (left) the diagonal crop/drop shadow and (right) zoom effects in the camera:

And how’s this for PRECIOUS and totally in-focus? :) *you can even see the goosebumps on her arm!*

… lastly, a breath-taking shot of the sun peeking out from behind the clouds …
*How do you like knowing I took this THROUGH my windshield?*

That pretty much settles it! … As for the Nikon CoolPix S230, I would not recommend making that purchase – unless, of course, you can appreciate that “a-drunk-man-takes-all-my-pics-for-me” appearance :)

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