Nikon COOLPIX S30 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 3x Zoom Nikkor Glass Lens and 2.7-inch LCD (Blue)

My husband and I took this on our cruise to use for snorkeling since our DSLR was going nowhere near the water! The picture quality (while obviously not comparing to our DSLR) is pretty good and we got some great pictures of the sea turtles and other underwater creatures we saw (images posted on the product page). I tried to hold the camera as steady as possible when taking pictures, but obviously that's difficult in the water, and the turtles aren't holding still to pose! Even so, we had very few blurry pictures.I put in brand new Energizer Ultimate Lithium AA batteries before we left, and the battery indicator was still full when we we came home a week later, even after keeping it on for long periods of time while snorkeling and looking at all the photos each night. Got an Amazon basics 4 GB memory card that lasted all week as well (camera indicated it would hold about 700 pictures).The battery/card cover was hard to get open when we got back. It looks like it has some salt built up around the edges, so we'll see how it works the next time we use it. BUT, considering we took 300+ underwater pictures and the disposables would have cost about $10 each + $10 or so to develop and they only take 27 pictures each AND we'd only have printed, not digital, photos from them, it was still a great buy, even if we only get one vacation out of it.Bottom line: While I wouldn't make it my everyday camera, it worked great for underwater pictures, which is why we bought it, and I'm so glad we got this instead of wasting money on disposables. A word of caution: if you're using it in waves or taking it in and out of the water, make sure the lens is free of drops, since the screen can be hard to see in the sun. I wasn't paying attention and had some otherwise great above-water pictures obstructed by water drops on the outside of the lens.

My intended use for this camera:- Photographs of gardens and landscapes, mainly for before-and-after images, and for documenting technical aspects of in-progress landscape installation work. (Valves, wiring, carpentry, etc.)Why I bought this model:- Less than $150.- Runs on (2) standard AA batteries, not a proprietary power pack.- Advertised as waterproof to 10 feet. (Important because I may use it in wet / muddy conditions in the garden.)My experience so far:Received the camera in May 2012, took a few hundred shots, dropped it from about 3' onto a linoleum surface (really, not that big a drop,) at which point the LCD screen conked out. Warranty service was free (complete replacement) but took >6 weeks to process.Image quality is good (for such a small lens) *when the camera auto-focuses properly*, which is about 75% of the time, even in broad daylight. Frequently tends to over-expose shots in bright light.Distortion is quite noticeable, esp. when attempting portraits of faces from closer than about 6'.Macro/close-up mode is good to about 2".Flash can be set to either "Auto" or "OFF," but cannot be manually locked "ON". Can be annoying in certain low-light situations.Not sure about waterproof-ness, haven't tested the unit underwater or in heavy rain yet. (I may update my review after using the camera in the rain.)Verdict: Price a bit too high for a camera that doesn't reliably auto-focus or auto-expose. Still, for simple utility purposes, it's working OK so far. Don't expect great-quality images from it.

I bought this camera specifically for a recent vacation as I knew I would be doing some snorkeling. As I didn't want the hassle of a point and shoot disposable, but don't go snokeling very often, I wanted something digital, midprice and reliable and chose Nikon as a leading brand. When the camera arrived, I was surprised at how heavy it was and quite chunky, but it seemed sturdy and as it is also meant to be shockproof, seemed fine. I inserted batteries and an SD card and was up and running.The camera menu interface is straightforward and easy to use and it didn't take me long to find the "underwater photo" setting. I took a few snaps around a pool and everything seemed fine. However, as soon as I started to use the camera actually underwater, the LCD screen appeared to fog up, as if water had got into it and it became totally unusable. I persevered and took several more photos despite being unable to aim properly. The camera claims to be waterproof down to 3m, so about 10 feet - I don't think I even went deeper than 5 or 6 feet, so it certainly wasn't anything to do with the water pressureOnce I got back to my hotel room, I opened up the watertight battery compartment and was pleased to see that both the batteries and the SD card seemed dry and unaffected - it was just the LCD screen that was now showing just a white screen with glimpses of the actual image. Over several days the LCD screen seemed to "dry out" and return to almost normal view, but now some fo the menu buttons don't work. Also the actual pictures taken by the camera underwater and video were OK, but nothing special - can't quite work out if that is the camera quality or the water visibility which was a bit cloudy, or a bit of both.Overall experience very poor and I returned the camera to Amazon - return was picked up quickly by UPS and full refund issued within three days - if only the camera had performed as well as Amazon