Small, compact and robust . Good battery life when new .
Disadvantages:
Slow to write images to disk, short battery life after prolonged use
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
We bought the Kyocera S4 about 3 years ago after doing a lot of research into camera. Not being keen photographers, we wanted a camera that was easy to use but that took good quality photos.
At first we were very pleased with the S4. The picture quality is great and at 4 mp the files are reasonable sized. The 16mb card that came with the camera had to be replaced as at "fine" quality we could fit about 10 photo's on there. We bought a 256mb and can fit about 80 photo's on.
The battery is a rechargeable one and this is one of the reasons to buy the camera. We had previously bought a Pentax camera and were very disappointed at how quickly we were going through AA batteries. The S4 had a quick recharge time and long life, enabling you to fill the memory card before needing a recharge, however 3 years on and the battery last for about 5 photos before it needs recharging. The cost of a new battery is about £50. Might as well get a new camera.
Another downside of the S4 is the time it takes to write the taken image to the card. It is about 5 - 10 seconds, and you don't get a preview of the photo that you have taken while you are waiting. If you want to see it you have to switch to playback mode, but can only do this after the camera has finished saving the photo. If the object of the photo is one of the moments and you miss it on the first photo, by the time the camera is ready to take the second photo, the moment will be probably be gone.
Those are the only downsides to this camera, the menus are easy to use, the optical and digital zoom is good, the size and weight are good, and the reliability is excellent. If you are looking for a small, point and shoot (and wait) camera, buy this one.
More details
Durability
Excellent
Reliability
Excellent
Size
Small
Weight
Light
Instruction Manual
Excellent
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