Nikon Coolpix S3000 12.0 MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Electronic Vibration Reduction (VR) Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Plum)

I was initially hesitant to buy this camera since there were ZERO reviews to be found, either here at Amazon, or elsewhere on the internet. But, since I've owned two previous Nikon Coolpix cameras (an old 4 MP camera, and a really old 2 MP camera) and both were great, I wasn't too worried. And I was right to buy it: it is working great and taking great photos, after several days of playing around with it.First of all, it is very user-friendly. The menus and controls are completely intuitive, and make sense even if you have not cracked open the manual. ("cracked open" being a bit of a misnomer, since the manual is electronic only; the paper manual that comes with it is just a "quick start guide")Second of all, it is a gorgeous piece of machinery; cute and cuddly and shiny and impressive. I'm afraid my girlfriend is going to try to steal it, it is so cute. I may have to buy her one to preemptively stop that from happening.But, most of all, it takes great pictures. I walked all over town the first day, putting it through its paces, and scrutinized the photos on my computer when I got back home. If I was going to have to return it, I wanted to do so quickly, but I don't need to. The photos are great.It is a point-and-shoot, which means that you don't have direct control over shutter speed, aperture, etc. But, you do have a dozen or so "scene modes" including Beach, Museum, Sunset, Panorama, Action, etc. These are very handy. I haven't tried them all yet, but they seem to be well designed.The second day, I put the camera through its paces inside the house. No problems; it takes great indoor shots, providing excellent exposures both with natural light and with the flash. The wide-angle 4.9 mm lens (equivalent angle of view to a 27 mm lens in a 35mm format camera) was especially nice: you can stand in a corner of a room, and get the entire room into the photo! Nothing left out. That is pretty unusual in an inexpensive fixed-lens camera.My third day test was to take the camera to the beach on a bright, contrasty day. It performed admirably, maintaining both shadow and highlight details, and rendering the deep blues of the sky and water, as well as the bright sand, equally well. This one's a keeper, folks!Another nice plus: there is a "16x9" mode available in the "shooting mode" options. This doesn't quite use all 4000x3000 pixels; it only uses 3968x2232 of them. But the images are perfect "HD" format, and completely fill up a typical wide-screen monitor without any stretching. Somehow, they look all the more impressive on a computer screen than the typical 4x3 ratio.Final tidbit: I bought the camera from Amazon, which was $10 cheaper than the local big-box store, had no sales tax, AND allowed me a 30 day return period with no restocking fee (which would have been 14 days AND a restocking fee at the local store; they need to get a clue).Anyway, as an overall impression, five stars easily for the Nikon Coolpix S3000........JC

The camera was great for the first few months. Small yet good quality photos. I enjoyed it. BUT within 6 months it stopped working properly. It is still under warranty so I contacted Nikon and explained the problem. They took my email address and said they would send me an email with a link so I could reply to the link and attach photos so Nikon could determine if I needed to send the camera in for repair. 3 days later, I still had not received any emails from Nikon so I called back. It turns out they got my email address wrong (even though I repeated it twice and they repeated it back correctly) so said they would resend it. 2 days later I still had not received the email so called again. Finally received it a few hours later. I replied to the email immediately. 2 more weeks passed before I finally received a response saying yes I have to send the camera in - shipped at my own expense. It took 18 days to get the camera back, supposedly repaired. However, it was not actually fixed. I called Nikon again and was told I would be sent an email with a prepaid shipping label so I could, once again, return the camera. Once again, 2 days have gone by yet I have not received an email. I just called Nikon and was told by the supervisor that they have to "follow proper protocol" in order to email the label and it takes 1 - 2 days. I explained it had been 51 hours since my phone call... she said it is still only the 2nd day (um, really?) and to let them do their jobs and I would eventually get the label. I requested a refund and was told it is not possible, they do not issue refunds under any circumstance. So... I have had a non functioning camera for 3 months and cannot get my money back. Stay away from Nikon!!

this was a good point and shoot, it's was perfectly working for year and one day the lens didnot come out, since that day a started having problems with my camera........ a couple of month later the screen turned black, and that was the end. what a shame, it was a good camera.

This is an excellent camera in this price range. I was looking for price, size, and picture quality. I looked at the Coolpix cameras with touchscreens, but trying one out in the store, I found it wasn't very intuitive. My previous camera was a Canon Powershot.Overall, I like this camera. The viewing screen is large and clear, the pictures seem to be good quality (based on viewing on the computer; I haven't printed any out yet.) I find this camera very easy to use overall.The manual is lacking. There are features that are simply not included in it. Personally, I think that if a manual is included, it should explain everything. I shouldn't have to hunt for information online. Still, it covered the basics well.There are two aspects of the camera that I don't like. First, there is no battery status indicator. I want to know right now how much battery I have left, and I can't find any option for this in any of the mentions. There's no mention of it in the manual. I would expect there to be some sort of indicator, but I haven't found it yet. I don't want to be surprised by suddenly having a dead battery.Second, I find it odd that the battery must be charged while it is in the camera. I plan to buy a second battery. With my Canon, the charger worked on the battery alone. While traveling, I wore out my battery. I put it in the charger, put a second battery in my camera, and took more pictures. By the time I got back to the hotel, the first battery was charged. Charging doesn't seem to take very long, so this probably won't be much of an issue, but I'm still surprised by it.Aside from that, this seems to be a good quality camera for its price. I consulted with friends who do photography and they said that, unless I'm blowing up pictures to a huge size, 10 megapixels is plenty, so I feel good about this purchase of 12mp and 4x zoom.