PHOTO QUALITY. This 16-megapixel superzoom camera captured images with very good quality. We judged this model very good for outdoor performance, such as shooting landscapes in the daytime; very good for indoor performance, such as photographing a well-lit basketball game in a gym; good for performance under natural light without a flash, such as shooting under an overcast sky.
FLASH. The Coolpix S9900 captured flash shots that were good. In our distance test, we found the camera's flash could illuminate subjects very well, both near and far. The flash also has fair, somewhat uneven coverage.
LENS. It has a very long 30x zoom lens that can be great for travel and sports shooting when you need to zoom in far to capture your subjects. The lens also has very wide-angle (25mm) capability that's very useful for landscapes and group portraits, although you may notice a bit of distortion when you're shooting faces up close, for instance.
IMAGE STABILIZER. This is an important feature with a long zoom lens; taking hand-held shots at the telephoto end of the zoom range can generally blur or soften images due to the slight movement of your hands. Shooting telephoto in well-lit scenes, this model did an excellent job of minimizing the effects of camera shake. In low-light settings, it performed excellently and almost never produced blurry photos.
SPEED. In terms of performance, the Nikon Coolpix S9900 powers up very quickly. It has a very short interval between shots, which can be important when shooting fast-moving or unpredictable subjects.
VIDEO. The Nikon Coolpix S9900 takes good video like many in its class, though some do a little better. It captures full HD video at 1920 x 1080 30p or 60i. As for sound, it captures very good audio in stereo.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS. It has HDR (high-dynamic range) settings. It has a built-in GPS tagging feature. Like most point-and-shoot models, this camera does not include a viewfinder, which means you'll need to rely on the LCD to compose your photo or video. The display also swivels; this can be helpful when shooting self-portraits or hard-to-reach shots. This superzoom is much smaller, thinner and lighter than most in its class. Even though this is a small and light superzoom, it was somewhat difficult to control and to take pictures with.
