Nikon S3000 Digital Camera - Black (12MP, 4x wide Optical Zoom) 2.7 inch LCD

Excellent little camera, I returned a recently purchased Fuji (it was rubbish!) and bought this instead, what a difference. Definately worth the money and does what you want in a compact camera, point and snap, 10/10 for ease of use. I'm not one for reading instruction manuals, didn't need to with this it's that easy. I've taken a few pictures and all seems good so far. Rechargable battery is a bonus as well. David Baily is safe but even I can take a decent photo with this little gem!

Great product-exactly as I expected. Wanted a simple point and shoot camera that delivered good quality photos,got exactly that.Easy to use-I'm a real technophobe but refuse to read manuals but still managed to operate basic functions.

My wife and I purchased the S3000 to partner my digital SLR after returning another compact that fell short of expectations. So far, using the S3000 has been a positive experience with a nice, bright 2.7 inch LCD screen and a 28mm 4x zoom lens.

The camera is well built, extremely pocketable and feels solid to the touch but some; especially those with larger hands may struggle with its smooth glossy exterior and the lack of a grip. Shutter release to shot time is around a second which feels pretty prompt. Focus is quick and reliable, even in low light thanks to an auto focus assist lamp. Continuous shooting is slow at 1 frame per second

12 megapixels on a camera like this is far too many and a minimal amount of scrutiny on a PC monitor reveals poor detail-per-pixel making cropping or large prints a bad idea. Still, at base ISO, a good A4 print is well within the camera's talent so the average 6*4 or 7*5 is no problem and to be fair, this issue is not specific to the S3000 and affects most high megapixel compacts.

Low light shooting with the flash is pretty decent and the flash seems more than adequate for a camera of this class. ISOs above 100 show progressive grain and aggressive detail killing noise reduction. Up to ISO 400 you'll still get a reasonable photo but things slide badly at 800 and ISO 1600 and above is nothing short of tragic. Happily, the camera's automatic ISO option has two predefined ceilings so you can set it to never go above 400 which is a feature worth its weight in gold.

Unlike the compact it replaced, this is a camera that can be left in automatic mode and still be trusted to take good photos. It's nice to use and so small and light it's never a burden to carry. As a secondary camera for causal trips and nights out it's worthy of my recommendation and my rating should be taken in this context. As a primary camera for capturing once-in-a-lifetime moments, save up some more money as you do get what you pay for.