Nikon 4300

Nikon's 4300 is essentially an updated version of the 885 that came out last year.

While that model can muster 3megapixels, the 4300 reaches 4megapixels, and comes with a 3x optical zoom - digital zoom is at 4x.

It's compact and reasonably light, but nevertheless it feels sturdy and chunky enough to not look or feel like a toy. Nearly all the buttons are within easy reach of your right thumb.

The 1.5in LCD screen may not have the best viewing angle, but is still very sharp and bright.

The menu system is easy to navigate and provides more than enough options when in manual mode; that said, automatic mode is surprisingly accurate at adjusting the settings to cope with the environment.

There's also a quick-view option where you can see your saved images in the top left quarter of the screen.

One handy feature is the Transfer button, which automatically beams the images to your PC via the USB cable.

But one annoyance is the shape of the mini USB connector: it's pretty much unique, so you can't use any other if you lose it or leave it somewhere.

Nikon has stuck with Compact Flash (CF) for storage, and supplies a 16MB card. Sadly, you can only store one image on this at the camera's highest-resolution tif setting.

Movie mode can store up to 35 seconds of QVGA, and the Small Picture function shrinks down an image to a size that can be emailed.

At £450, images were what we expected: colours were excellent and accurate, but at times the image did seem to be slightly grainy, and there was some feathering.

However, all in all, they are excellent images considering the cost of the camera.

SPECS

• 2,272 x 1,704 max resolution
• 3x optical, 4x digital zoom
• 38-114cm focal length (35mm equiv)
• Red-eye, auto, off, anytime and slow sync flash options
• 3x 1.5in TFT LCD screen
• 95 x 51 x 69 (w x d x h)
• 230g without battery or CF card

Price: £449.99 (£382.97 ex VAT)

Contact: Nikon 0800 230 220