S7c

[Johanna]

I've been reading the forum archives to try to get a sense of how people feel about the S7c. I'm struck by the fact that Macworld listed it on their "best events" of 2006; and it does seem to rank highly on most listings. I'm wondering though how much of the hype is just because of the wireless/e-mail capability; I'm eager for the dcrp review coming out this week. Does anyone have an opinion whether the S7c stands on its own in terms of picture image (especially in comparison to the Fuji F30/F31fd -- which seems to a general gold standard for p&s cameras)?

[PhotoUserABC]

Very interested in what users of either camera have to say. How easy and fast is the WI-FI feature on the S7c.

[GoneTomorrow]

Originally Posted by PhotoUserABC

Very interested in what users of either camera have to say. How easy and fast is the WI-FI feature on the S7c.

It's a lot of trouble, but I did get it to work with Windows XP (a friend of mine seemed to have no problem on his OSX). The transfer rate of it is impressive considering that it's wireless, but it's too slow when you dumping 500 MB or more at a time. I stick with my trusty $15 USB 2.0 card reader. Much faster!
If you don't want to bother with the dock or a card reader, and especially if you travel with a laptop and don't want the extra equipment, then the wireless feature would be pretty useful in that case.

The Vibration Reduction is a nice feature, but doesn't work as well as optical stablization on larger cameras.

The image quality is fair, with what I would deem average noise for an ultra compact. The S7c goes up to 1600, but it's extremely noisy and more or less useless. Above 200 is fairly noisy, but 400 is slight enough to be reduced with software afterwards (Neat Image, etc.)

The size of the camera is it's best feature. It's also reads/writes quickly with a fast memory card (even with my cheapo RiData 66x). Also, I particularly like the scroll wheel and the time interval feature is nice as well.

[apressman]

Here's a slant on the usual perspective. Heeled over to 20 degrees I reckon.
Practical Sailor magazine likes the camera, as does myself. The vibration reduction, small size and fast startup time combine to make the perfect camera for me to take yacht racing.
As the prints I require are often of small size (8x10 at most) and the setting usually bright I don't get the noise described above.
It fits nicely into the waterproof case described at the end of the link below and BOTH fit nicely into a windbreaker pocket.
It doesn't matter how good the camera if you don't have it with you.

Link to watertight (to 16 feet case)
http://goshotcamera.zoovy.com/product/WPC005WP700_NIK_2

Link to USB Active Sync cable & charger (leave the cradle home)
http://sfplanet.zoovy.com/product/C-NIKS6-U2

[ketterling]

I'm very pleased with my S7c camera. I keep meaning to do a basic comparison (same photo from all cameras) of that and three other digital cameras I have access to, but I never seem to have the time.

One of the really cool features of the S7c is the time-lapse movie feature. I'm amazed how well the movies turn out. I'm also very happy that Nikon put a tripod mount in the camera (something not included in other small cameras).

One complaint I have about the camera, though. You can't use the tripod mount and the power adapter at the same time (too close together). That really bites when trying to take a long time-lapse movie. An option would be to have a tripod mount in the dock, but they didn't do that, either.

I'm still reading the manual, and I'm amazed at how many features are in this camera. I'm still learning about them, but I've had very little time to actually use the camera.