Nikon COOLPIX S31 10.1 MP Waterproof Digital Camera with 720p HD Video (Blue) (OLD MODEL)

My daughter wanted a camera. "A real one," she specified. I wasn't about to get her a film camera, and I wanted something small and tough that took decent pictures. After months of research, this was the winner.It took her only a couple of days before she had gotten the hang of taking good pictures (even using a tripod when warranted), and she has since moved on to the camera's fancier features — animated slideshows, special effects like "mirrored" images, and the like. I would never have selected the camera for these abilities, but she loves them all.The camera isn't perfect; it's impossible to create a slideshow except by showing all the pictures taken on a particular date. Some functions are oddly greyed-out and can't be selected. Others can be selected but don't do anything (the faux-tilt-shift in particular). But the camera is in all other respects so excellent that I'm giving it five stars.

We gave this as a 7th birthday present to my niece. We decided we should read the very brief and clear instruction guide so we could show her how it worked. She was thrilled and began taking pictures. By the next day she had figured out how to make cartoon movies and took some underwater shots in the pool at her party. Didn't need our help figuring it out . . . I love that I didn't have to tell her to keep her fingers off the lens -- the design of the front prevents it!!! (Wonderful ergonomics!)Only disappointment is that the camera didn't come with a memory chip. Fortunately we discovered this before we gave it to her and got an SD chip at Walgreens.Highly recommend it. Her parents plan to use it too (if she lets them . . .)

After reading and reviewing a million cameras, I decided on this one for an upcoming trip to Europe. I was very skeptical, as I knew once I purchased one and took it on the trip there was no turning back. We had some sea-side escapes planned and I wanted to be able to bring a waterproof camera into the water while we were swimming and snorkeling. This was exactly what I was looking for. I'm sure the calm, crystal blue Aegean Sea may have been a factor in how well the underwater pictures turned out, but these came out better than some other camera reviewer's photos taken in a pool! We didn't take many night-time shots, so I can't comment on that, but day time, underwater, and pics while the camera was wet came out crystal clear. Would definitely recommend this camera to anyone. Side note: in 3 weeks' time I only had to charge the camera once.

So the picture quality isnt bad, but it isnt that great, even with flash theres still a good amount of noise and blur to the photos. The flash setting is unstable, if you have it on autoflash, then it only really flashes like 40% of the time when you want it to, and even in semi-dim situations it sometimes doesnt trigger and go off and its frustrating. I end up having to put it on flash all the time because the auto-flash is unreliable and more than half the time doesnt detect when its really needed. The recording is alright but not great either, the sound is good though. Its a very very simple and boring camera, since its meant to be waterproof and sealed, i guess they decided to forgo any detailed buttons, or options on camera operation. It takes some getting used to, because theres not a whole lot you can do with the camera. For the purpose of taking pictures in wet or water area, its good, and doesnt give me problems, but its not my go to camera AT ALL for anything that doesnt have to do with water. This camera will most likely sit in a drawer until I need it for water purposes. As for the body of the camera, its sealed pretty well, but the area where the battery and sd card go, the cover seems flimsy and not really sealed, i worry that if its submerged in water, the sd card and battery could be damaged, i havent submerged it yet, but this is just my observation. I have a warranty for water damage, since i bought the 2 year one, so its covered, but it would be inconvenient if this did happen, thats all. So yea, thats my opinion. For regular pictures i use my 5D mark 2, or my pos Sony camera.

I purchased this camera as a cheap waterproof camera that I wouldn't be too sad if I lost, dropped off a cliff, or it was stolen while on vacation. I had relatively low hopes about the feature set of the camera and figured at 10MP it would take decent, albeit not perfect pictures.I'm returning it after day one.The interface is horribly cheap, with very very little options. Could be good for kids, or for grandma. It appears to be designed by the makers of Windows 3.1. The "scene" options had little in the way of useful choices, I would have expected a low light or indoor setting, but none was to be found. There is, however, a fireworks setting for some reason.I was hoping that the pictures would be reasonably clear despite the simply interface, I wasn't even hoping for perfect. They were terrible for 10MP. They were fuzzy and grainy at the same time, even under decent lighting conditions and a clean lens. I don't really understand how they could be that bad. At first I thought maybe just the display on the camera was making the pictures appear to be of poor quality, but after loading them on my computer they were just as terrible.This camera is not deserving of the Nikon name.