Nikon Coolpix S6 6MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Wi-Fi Capable) Best Quality

I received this as a gift, which as such was really cool from the friends who gave it to me. This model's appeal in particular is that it can send your photos to your computer wirelessly, so let me get that right out of the way: you can eventually get it to work, but it saps the battery quickly (and I had two), and more importantly... I just could never get a good picture out of it, so the wi-fi wizardry is for naught.

As a camera... What a disappointment; this applies to most point and shoots: they seem to get many eye catching parameters right, except the important ones. Large LCD screen? Check. Big brand name? Hey it's a Nikon so it must be good, right? Wi-fi wizardry or some such? Check. Results? Awful.

Whenever you try to get a picture it tries to "think" for you, never relinquishes control... And eventually takes the shot... So the moment you were trying to capture is gone, unless you like having people grin artificially for ten minutes... It tries to flash at the slightest provocation, resulting in those garish "tourist" shots; you can disable the flash but then it's completely underexposed... Because I've always had somewhat shaky hands my shots always came out blurry. The only good point about this camera in particular is its macro mode - with the right lighting, loads of time and even more patience. But right after I lent this camera and one of the batteries was lost, it's just been gathering dust. What a waste!

But even worse, honestly, is that the experience is bad enough to kill any photographic aspirations, and that's my biggest beef with this camera and its brethren. I ended up buying a Canon 30D DSLR and that's been great; while I remain brand agnostic what could I possibly believe from Nikon?

So my advice is simple: If you're getting a camera for yourself, look at a cheap DSLR, and if you're worried about the size, look at the Olympus range of small DSLRs like the Olympus Evolt E520 10MP Digital SLR Camera with Image Stabilization w/ 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Zuiko Lens or compacts but not point and shoots like the Canon PowerShot G11 10MP Digital Camera with 5x Wide Angle Optical Stabilized Zoom and 2.8-inch articulating LCD, the Panasonic DMC-LX3 10.1MP Digital Camera with 24mm Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Black)or their equivalent in other brands: You are buying this to unleash your creativity, for which you need to learn and eventually use manual control... No camera, even the ones that cost $8,000 can think better than you. If you're planning a point and shoot as a gift maybe the person in question would gain more from even just a lens...Get more detail about Nikon Coolpix S6 6MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Wi-Fi Capable).