Review

The Nikon Coolpix S6000 is a sleek, user-friendly compact ultrazoom camera with a surprisingly long 7x optical zoom (a 35mm equivalent lens range of 28mm to 196mm). It occupies the middle ground between standard ultracompact point-and-shoot cameras with 3x or 4x optical zoom, such as Nikon's own S4000, and compact ultrazooms with 10x optical zoom and higher, such as Nikon's S8000 which was reviewed by this website back in May.

The S6000 is a small, lightweight camera at 3.8 inches wide, 2.2 inches high and 1 inch thick (97x55x25mm), with a weight of only 5.5 ounces (156 grams). It has a 1/2.3-inch, 14.2 megapixel sensor, probably the same sensor that is in the S8000. The S6000 comes in four colors - silver, red (the color of my review model), black and bronze - and its list price at the time of this writing is $249.95.

Wide Angle, 28mm equivalent

Telephoto, 196mm equivalent

Nikon packages this model with an EN-EL12 lithium-ion battery, an adaptor for plugging into a power source to recharge the battery, a USB cord for transferring files and battery recharge, an A/V cable, a wrist strap, a CD-ROM containing a 164 page User's Manual and various software programs including Nikon's ViewNX picture transfer and organizing software. The camera I received also contained a paper version of the User's Manual.

The S6000 was my constant companion during the two weeks I had it for review. We endured some of the hottest weather the Washington, D.C. area had seen in quite a while. Throughout my experience shooting with the camera, I was continually impressed with its small size, quick operation and, above all, its ability to produce accurate colors. Let's examine this interesting camera more closely.