Lately, in addition to the main benefit of allowing extreme low- and high-angle shooting, the company has taken advantage of the design as a way to build longer zoom lenses into relatively small camera bodies. The latest, called the Nikon Coolpix S10, includes a 10X optical zoom lens that covers a 35mm equivalent of 38mm to 380mm with a fixed maximum aperture of f/3.5, giving it one of the fastest 380mm-equivalent lenses in a compact camera. The camera also sports a 6-megapixel CCD sensor with sensor-shift image stabilization–Nikon refers to this simply as VR–to help keep that long lens steady.The Nikon Coolpix S10 is an update to the company’s existing Coolpix S4 model, adding a couple of very useful features. The popular Coolpix S4 was Nikon’s first swivel-bodied digital camera model since the Coolpix SQ was launched way back in February 2003 (and the first to retain the styling cues of its extremely popular prosumer swivel-bodied models since the Coolpix 4500 in late May 2002).

There have been imitators, but no company has been quite so successful or synonymous with the concept. Inside the swivelling body of the Nikon Coolpix S10 reside the core features of the S4 model — a 10x optical zoom lens equivalent to 38 to 380mm on a 35mm camera, coupled with a 6 megapixel imager, and a 2.5 inch LCD display. Where the S4 had an ISO range of 50 to 400, the S10 boosts the maximum to ISO 800. Even more significantly, Nikon has adopted a shift-type sensor stabilization system for the Coolpix S10 — which should make it quite a bit easier to get a sharp exposure at the telephoto end of that powerful lens!Nikon have brought that design bang up to date with a 10x optical zoom lens (38-380mm), large 2.5 inch LCD screen and maximum ISO of 800. Advanced Vibration Reduction helps to combat camera shake by shifting the camera’s sensor, an essential feature with such a long lens, whilst the unique swivel body allows greater freedom to shoot from different angles. The Nikon S10 also features the usual trio of Nikon technologies, namely Face-priority AF, D-Lighting and In-Camera Red-Eye Fix, to help improve your photos. Other features include a 6 megapixel sensor, PictMotion movies, one-touch portrait button and 15 different scene modes.