The Coolpix S4 is designed to be a cool camera with a 10X optical zoom lens in currently the smallest available body. While the swivel lens has other advantages, the ergonomics of the S4 are quite poor. Particularly, it is difficult to take pictures without putting your thumb on the LCD screen and the 4-way controllers is small and fiddly.

Without the 10X optical zoom, when compared to other compact cameras, the Nikon Coolpix S4 is poor - if we compared it to ultra-compact cameras, which it is not, it may be average. Unfortunately, that's where it stands. If you don't need a 10X optical zoom there are so many much better compact cameras out there such as the Canon Powershot A620, Canon Powershot A610 and the Fuji Finepix E550. These cameras offer complete manual controls and work on AA batteries. Among ultra-compact cameras, the Fuji Finepix F10, the Canon Powershot SD550, and the Canon Powershot SD500 also offer much better image quality and speed of operation. If AA batteries are important, the ultra-compact Pentax Optio S55 and Pentax Optio S60 are also great alternatives with 3X optical zoom lenses.