Nikon's ‘S' range of its Coolpix compact cameras is targeted towards customers who look for style and sophistication in their gadgets, as well as trusty performance.

It's no surprise, then, that the Nikon Coolpix S620 has an air of understated charisma about it. There's not really anything in the way of a radical design: it's a simple compact camera that feels small in the hand with dimensions of 90 x 53 x 23mm.

The rear of the camera is fuss-free with only four well-positioned control buttons, a rotating control wheel and a 2.7-inch LCD screen. The top of the camera features a small power on/off button as well as the shutter button with a surrounding zoom control. The only extra that's a little more out of the ordinary is a small light which illuminates when your flash is set to fire.

The main selling point for the Nikon Coolpix S620 is its start-up time of 0.7 seconds. Press the power button and the screen illuminates providing a preview almost immediately. It's fair to say, though, that it's not really possible to start capturing as soon as the camera has powered up, nor begin exploring the menu settings. On average, it took around 3 or 4 seconds for the camera to kick-start its auto focusing function and a similar amount of time to be able to explore the camera's scene modes.

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Whilst Nikon's menu set-up is nice and bright with large fonts and the option to alter the view to icons if you wish, the operation of the Nikon S620 takes a little getting used to. Although the control wheel that's used to navigate through the camera's menu system is responsive and quick to scroll, since it also doubles up as a directional control pad and features a centre ‘OK' button, you have to get used to both scrolling and clicking to execute your menu options.

The menu works on a ‘tabs' basis so you have to remember to press the right-side of the directional control dial to access your options rather than the more natural ‘OK' button. This proves frustratingly awkward and more often than not basic options are selected without being given the opportunity to delve into more detailed settings.

The Nikon Coolpix S620 is geared to those who want to be able to take a decent, well-exposed shot without worrying about camera settings. Most of the more fun effects are achieved using the camera's 16 automatic scene modes. A button just above the control dial gives you quick access to these options with scope for the more creative ‘Panorama assist', ‘Fireworks Show' and ‘Sunset' as well as more common scene options such as ‘Portrait'.

A ‘Smile' option that's great for both self-shot snaps and group portraits means the camera will automatically take a picture once the faces in the frame are beaming. The auto smile feature on the S620 works far more successfully than some competitors' models and a quick response time means that there's very little danger in missing that special moment. To support this there's also a ‘Blink Proof' feature. After all, what's the point in setting a camera to automatically fire if your subjects are smiling only to find it looks as if their eyes are shut?

As well as being able to capture movies with sound, the other main shooting feature available on the Coolpix S620 is ‘Subject tracking'. Keeping the camera focused on a select subject, even if it's moving, the ‘Subject tracking' feature is a blessing if you're trying to get a good shot of something that just won't keep still, like an energetic toddler or a pet.

When it comes to image quality the results from the Nikon Coolpix S620 are a little hit or miss. With adequate, bright lighting, outdoors shots tend to be very good. Details are crisp and there's a good tonal range even in full Auto mode. Start experimenting with the camera indoors, however, and a few problems tend to crop up.

First of all, the S620 doesn't cope well with high ISO settings. It offers an impressive ISO range of ISO 100-6400 at first glance (although you can only access these when in Auto mode: try to tweak the ISO settings whilst you're in a Scene mode and you'll find yourself wandering aimlessly among menu options). But any shots captured above ISO 400 will cause you to lose important details through heavy noise. The camera also seems to struggle with auto white balance in lower light conditions and images tend to be affected by a cool cast that isn't very flattering for skin tones.

That said, with plenty of scope for auto capture, the Nikon S620 is a good choice for those who want a basic point and click camera. It's compact in size, easy on the eye and with a durable build it would stand the test of time well.

This camera has plenty of scene modes to help capture an aesthetically pleasing shot without worrying too much about camera settings. Features such as ‘Smile' and ‘Subject tracking' go a long way to providing a compact that can help even the less confident of photographers achieve a decent image. On the downside, menu navigation is a little clunky and confusing and the camera doesn't cope well with high ISO settings. This is a shame as in good lighting conditions the image quality is very satisfactory. Superficially, the Nikon Coolpix S620 has a fast start-up time with almost instant lens extension and monitor illumination. However, it's a bit of an empty gesture when the reality is you have to wait a good few more seconds in order to access the menu system or take a shot.