By Melvin Seah, a freelance writer

THE first thing that struck me about this 12.2-megapixel camera is how fast it starts up - just 0.7 seconds to be exact.

Autofocus is also way faster than in other cameras I have tested in this price range. Its ISO speed reaches an impressive 6,400.

However, here are the buts.

While the camera fires up speedily, it takes a while to get ready to snap. I have to wait for five seconds before I can start shooting.

At ISO6,400, photos turn out noisy and lack detail. I would not recommend going beyond ISO800 if you want acceptable picture quality.

If you can get past all these, however, the camera is a good photo mate.

Take the zoom. I am suitably impressed by its 5x optical zoom which starts at a wide 28mm - a step-up from other point-and-shoots that usually offer a 3x optical zoom from 35mm.

People with shaky hands will appreciate the optical stabilisation which detects shakes and makes up for them by shifting the lens. Some cameras at this price range offer only electronic stabilisation, usually by increasing the camera's ISO speed, which can make the picture grainy.

The camera is targeted at the basic user, so do not expect much creative control beyond the standard stuff such as scene modes, white balance, exposure compensation and different colour effects like black and white and sepia.

If you like taking portraits, you will find the Smart Portrait mode useful. Turning this option on activates face detection and tracking; smile and blink detection; and a Skin Softening touch-up tool.

To test it, I asked my wife to aim the gizmo at me with the Smart Portrait mode turned on.

The mode works like a dream: it automatically snaps pictures whenever I smile and warns us whenever it captures a shot of me blinking.

As for the Skin Softening aid, it does remove some blemishes on my face, but do not expect a flawless finish.

Other touch-up tools round up the editing package.

There is D-Lighting, which enhances brightness and contrast, and Quick Retouch, which improves contrast and saturation.

Call me old-fashioned but I still prefer to work on my photos using my computer. The S640's 2.7-inch screen is simply too small to see the image details properly.

Then again, I do not need much editing as the S640 takes very good shots. Fine details such as the time markings on my chronograph wristwatch show up clearly in the image. Most of my shots of a park are properly exposed with very nice greens.

In a room with fluorescent lighting, however, the auto white balance setting produces inconsistent results.

Final say

Apart from the wait to start snapping away, the Nikon S640 is a notch above many other point-and-shoots.

This story was first published in The Straits Times Digital Life.

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