More zoom, fewer pixels make for a very good camera

The Good The Nikon Coolpix S9700 is a 30x compact zoom that captures nice photos and video; it has very good shooting performance; and it has a full assortment of shooting modes from basic automatic to more creative options including full manual control.

The Bad The S9700's flash is poorly located, as are the stereo mics; Wi-Fi features are fairly limited compared with those in competing models; and battery life can be short if you do more than take photos.

The Bottom Line Outside of some design quibbles, the Nikon Coolpix S9700 puts big zoom power and nice photo quality (snugly) in your pocket.

The desire for longer zoom lenses has supplanted using sensors bursting with megapixels to market point-and-shoots.

So much so that for the Coolpix S9700, Nikon increased the telephoto range of its top compact megazoom from 550mm on the S9600 to 750mm, while simultaneously dropping the resolution from 18 megapixels to 16.

All in all, this is a good thing. The S9700's longer lens doesn't really change the camera's body size or weight, keeping it pocketable. Its photo and video quality remain quite nice for its class. And shooting performance is pretty quick, too, though the autofocus still occasionally struggles to lock onto a subject when fully zoomed in.