Cameras

The Olympus MJU 7000 is marketed as a digital camera for travelers and holidaymakers. This is due to its longer zoom lens in a relatively small body. It has 7x zoom and 12 megapixels. In terms of ease of use this is a relatively straightforward point and shoot digital camera. Olympus has also included a large 3 inch LCD screen and image stabilisation.

The extra zoom in a smaller body certainly is likely to be very useful. You should also find the camera easy to use.

Outdoor 1 (Medium Zoom)
The MJU 7000 gets off to a solid start. On the whole I am happy with the level of detail in the picture, although I can see this dips in shady areas. For example the name on the front boat is not as clear as it could be.

Outdoor 2 (No Zoom)
Focusing is about average when the zoom is not being used. Landscape shots like this one take smaller digital cameras outside of their comfort zones, but as long as you do not look to go overboard in terms of print size the MJU 7000 should be able to produce acceptable landscape shots.

Outdoor 3 (Maximum Zoom)
You can see the advantage this longer lens offers over the more standard lenses on other compact digital cameras. Focusing is true towards the centre of the shot, but there is slippage as you move towards the edges.

Outdoor 4 (Building)
As with other in this range focusing is not as pin sharp as other brands such as Canon manage. If on the whole you are looking to produce snapshot sized prints this should not be a big deal. The difference in quality becomes noticeable as you increase print size.

Outdoor Portrait
This is the most straightforward of my test shots. The colours have a very natural look to them. I have used face detection focusing to ensure the photo is sharp. I would like to have seen the MJU 7000 make the face a touch lighter as I feel the wall in the background looks lighter than the face.

Indoor Portrait with Flash
A lot of the light has been concentrated on the face. This gives slightly uneven lighting. It also leads to some of the light reflecting directly off the face back into the lens.

Indoor Portrait without Flash
The result without using flash is a touch dark. Noise levels have been controlled fairly well, but as with most digital cameras you only need light levels to dip slightly for flash to be required for this type of photo.

Colours
The colours produced by this camera take on a lighter, more natural look than some cameras offer. Here and there I would like to see a little more punch to the colours.

Macro
I think this shot works really well. The level of definition is very good indeed. In super macro mode you can get in as close as 2cm from the subject. This is likely to be close enough for the vast majority of your macro requirements.

ISO 400 and ISO 1600
Olympus manages to ensure that colours remain more or less true when you boost the ISO ratings. Inevitably noise creeps into the picture, but to no lesser or greater degree than you see with other brands.

Overall
The MJU 7000 sits somewhere in the middle rank when it comes to picture quality. There is nothing that really stands out as a big issue.

The shutter lag times are quite good. It took 0.3 seconds for a single picture and 9.98 seconds for five. With flash turned on the times only slipped a small amount. This was to 0.47 seconds for a single picture and 13.3 seconds for five.

Likewise the MJU 7000 posted a solid start up time. It took 2.69 seconds to turn the camera on and take the first photo.

You can compare this camera to other models by taking a look at the .

There is noting especially striking about the MJU 7000, but it is a pleasant enough looking camera. It is compact without being a truly slim camera. You can choose between silver, black and blue versions.

96.4 x 55.9 x 25.3mm

132g

Lithium Ion.

Olympus has built 16mb of storage into the camera. This is enough for around 6 photos. The camera is compatible with xD and micro SD memory cards.

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Very good. The menu is cut into a few different sections, but each one is easy enough to find your way around. Help text is also available for menu options.

Ease of use – smaller size for longer zoom – good sized screen

Nothing really stands out

There are not many direct competitors to this camera. One that is a bit bigger and offers 10x zoom is the

The Olympus MJU 7000 offers something different to a lot of digital camera with its longer lens and compact size. It appears to have few, if any, major drawbacks and does a decent enough job. If you would like a smaller camera with some extra zoom it is well worth considering.

Front View

Back View

Top View

Sample Menu

Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information on this site, please make sure you double check the feature set and specification at the point of purchase.

Olympus MJU 7000

The Nikon Coolpix S630 is a 12 megapixel digital camera with a 7x optical zoom lens. This is more zoom that most small digital cameras offer. The Coolpix S630 offers image stabilisation and a 2.7 inch LCD screen.

The main attraction is likely to be the extra zoom offered for such a compact sized camera. Picture quality is good and you should find the Coolpix S630 easy to use.

Outdoor 1 (Medium Zoom)
As with many other I have reviewed I can see the Coolpix S630 is capable of producing bright, colourful photos. In terms of sharpness and definition this camera sits somewhere in mid division for this shot. The glare from the sun takes the edge off the photo in places.

Outdoor 2 (No Zoom)
This photo would be roughly in line with expectations when it comes to sharpness. I would like to have seen a bit more detail and light shed on the darker and shadier areas of the scene.

Outdoor 3 (Maximum Zoom)

This is another bright photo. Nikon cameras seem to have the ability to produce pictures that are more vivid than most other brands manage without increasing the colour depth. If you blow this photo up to full size then you may start to notice purple fringing creeping in where the sun catches the edge of light coloured objects.

Outdoor 4 (Building)
Checking through my outdoor shots so far there is a tendency for sharpness to fade away a little as you move out towards the edge of the shot. Overall I would give 8 out of 10 for sharpness. I have used the landscape scene mode for all my scenic shots. I found this helps to give the best results for focusing with the Coolpix S630.

Outdoor Portrait
This is a shot where the camera has packed in a fair amount of colour. The skin tones look quite pink. Part of the reason for this is that the picture was taken on an extremely hot day, creating a very warm light.

Indoor Portrait with Flash
Here we have the opposite to the outdoor portrait where I would like to have seen more colour in the shot. I think this would have helped to perk up the photo as it has a dull look to it.

Indoor Portrait without Flash
The Coolpix S630 does quite well here. It keeps noise levels controlled. This suggests you should be able to take window light portraits with the Coolpix S630. This gives you an option instead of using flash for some indoor photos.

Colours
I like the colours produced for the outdoor photos. You should be able to produce plenty of vibrant looking scenic shots. Indoors my shots lacked colour.

Macro
This is a very standard shot for a digital camera with a smaller lens. You should be able to take decent close up shots, as long as you are not looking for professional quality photos.

Higher ISO
If you are shooting in darker conditions and you are either out of range for flash or flash is not permitted, using higher ISO settings is one way of capturing the shot. You will notice noise levels creeping up quite quickly. If conditions are quite bright this is not too much of a problem at ISO 400, but as you go higher noise levels increase across the photo.

Overall
The Coolpix S630 does a decent job without being anything to get too excited about. For me the most impressive feature was the brightness and colours of my outdoor shots.

The Coolpix S630 is on the slow side if you want to fire off more than one photo. A single shot was timed at 0.39 seconds and five at 30.35 seconds. With flash times were 0.48 seconds for a single shot and 32.47 seconds for five.

To turn the camera on and take the first shot tool 2.74 seconds. This is an average time.

You can compare this camera to other models by taking a look at the .

The camera has quite a simple design. There is a slight curve to the camera adding a bit of extra interest.

57.5 x 96.5 x 25.5mm

140g

Lithium ion. Nikon suggests you should be able to take around 220 shots in between charges.

Nikon has built 44mb of memory into the Coolpix S630. This is enough for around 15 shots. It is also compatible with SD and SDHC memory cards.

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Nothing stands out as being especially difficult about this camera. Nikon has one of my favourite menu systems. It is uncluttered, easy to read and you should have no problem finding the settings you require.

Ease of use – colours – extra zoom for small size

Zoom has small number of steps – shutter lag for multiple shots

Another small, stylish camera offering extra zoom is the .

The Nikon Coolpix S630 does the job it sets out to do. The extra zoom it offers over other smaller cameras comes in handy and I like the fact the camera is easy to use.

Front View

Back View

Top View

Sample Menu

Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information on this site, please make sure you double check the feature set and specification at the point of purchase.

Nikon Coolpix S630