To Nikon's credit, the S51c's wireless functioned flawlessly when I used it with my wireless router at home. Setup was simple, and fairly quick, on the camera. After I sent my first picture e-mail, I got an e-mail from my Picturetown that prompted me to complete my registration at Nikon's Web site, where I input the camera's access key (found in the wireless portion of the setup menu), and I was ready to go.
In our lab tests, the S51c turned in slow results. It took 4.2 seconds to start up and capture its first JPEG. Subsequent JPEGs took 3.4 seconds between shots with the flash turned off and 3.8 seconds between shots with the flash turned on. Shutter lag measured 0.9 second in our high-contrast test, which mimics bright shooting conditions, and 2 seconds in our low-contrast test, which mimics dim shooting conditions. In continuous shooting mode, we were able to capture 8.1-megapixel JPEGs at an average of one frame per second.
Image quality was good for an ultracompact, but not outstanding. Colors were generally accurate and the camera's automatic white-balance system did a decent job of neutralizing colors under incandescent lighting, though our test shots retained a very slight yellowish cast. Of course, some people prefer this, since it retains a hint that you weren't shooting in daylight. The camera's tungsten and fluorescent settings did a good job with their respective light sources, and the manual white balance turned in the most neutral results of all. Images from the S51c weren't the sharpest we've seen, but still have plenty of fine details, and we were pleased to find only very minor colored fringing.
At the camera's lowest sensitivity of ISO 100 we saw only a little noise, but at ISO 200 noise stepped up a bit, manifesting as small speckles, but was only really viewable on monitors and not in prints. At ISO 400 noise grew and included some larger off-color speckles. While Nikon's noise-reduction algorithms smooth it out some, it still has a minor appearance in some prints. At ISO 800 noise obscures a large amount of finer detail when viewing on monitors and a significant amount of shadow detail is lost, though smaller prints should still be passable. ISO 1,600 fares about the same as ISO 800.
Overall, the S51c is a nice ultracompact camera, though its wireless capabilities could be more useful. Since Nikon offers the S51, which is basically the exact same camera without the wireless, you're probably better off saving some money and opting for that, unless you think you'll get a really big kick out of uploading images through your home wireless router, or you plan on forking over an extra $4.99 a month for the privilege of using one of T-Mobile's HotSpots.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
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Typical shot-to-shot time | |
Time to first shot | |
Shutter lag (typical) |
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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