The Nikon S9300 sits at the top of the manufacturer's S – or 'Style' – range, offering a specification aimed at those looking for a compact for their travels. It impresses on paper, but how does it perform when put through the WDC test?

Good LCD screen; nicely designed; general image quality good

Sluggish in use; lack of advanced functionality or manual shooting modes; slight issue with fringing and over-sharpening

The Nikon S9300 is Nikon's flagship travel compact as as such its highlights include: a 18x optical zoom with built in Vibration Reduction image stabilisation technology; a 16MP backside-illuminated sensor; a sensitivity range of ISO range of ISO 125-3200; Full 1080p HD movie recording at 30fps; a...

Stylish; well-built and easy to use; 18x optical zoom offers plenty of flexibility; Useful/fun high-speed shooting modes; Excellent screen quality

Telephoto reach not quite up there with its rivals; No Raw recording; Image quality not up to that of its rivals

All said and done the 'auto everything' 16 megapixel, 18x Coolpix S9300 comes across as a lot of camera for an affordable price if a big zoom with a broad 25-450mm focal range yet pocket sized dimensions are your chief concern.

Broad focal range yet compact; Built-in GPS; High-class construction

Zoom can be noisy; No Wi-Fi facility; Scroll wheel is a tad slippy

The Nikon Coolpix S9300 gives you a lot of zoom power in a camera that is small enough to slip into a good sized pocket. It has plenty of features if you are looking for that little bit extra in a digital camera.

Good Points: Picture quality; features; value for money; GPS; Full HD movies; iFrame movies; Image Stabilisation for video and stills; Stereo sound; High resolution (921,000 pixel) LCD screen; 7 frames per second; 360 degree panoramas; 3D shooting mode; Slow motion and fast motion shooting available

Bad Points: No manual exposure controls; slows down when taking multiple pictures with flash; No manual exposure controls

Back in 2006, Panasonic introduced the digital travel zoom compact camera with its Lumix DMC-TZ1 . Ever since, travel zooms have acquired increasingly longer zooms and ever smaller bodies.

During the first half of 2012, Nikon added four new models to their popular S-series of slim, yet sophisticated cameras; with the flagship model being the Coolpix S9300. It's a super-zoom camera (18x) that's still only 1.5-inches thick.

16-megapixel CMOS sensor; Powerful 18X zoom with wide angle; High resolution 3-inch LCD; Vibration reduction image stabilization; 7fps burst mode at full resolution; Full HD (1080p) video recording; Built-in GPS; 60fps and 120fps burst modes at low resolution

Auto focus is not always fast; Image quality could be better; Battery must be charged in camera; Battery life is low; Low battery indicator appears too late

Nikon's travel zoom range was late to the fold compared to the competition and it has been a slower upturn for the company's S9000-series. Yet the latest Coolpix S9300 has a specification that more closely resembles much of the competition.

Big zoom range; build quality; decent LCD screen

No manual modes; shorter zoom than competitors; limited battery life; poorer image quality than its predecessor; shutter lag

For years we've moaned and groaned about camera manufacturers raising the megapixel ratings of cameras, something that gives extra detail that we don't particularly need and extra noise that we definitely don't want.

Best quality snaps from a compact camera that I have seen. Very robust and idiot proof.

I've been a street photographer for most of my adult life so I really like compact P&S digicams – they are small enough to drop in a shirt pocket, tough enough to go just about anywhere, they generally produce first-rate images with little effort on the part of the shooter, and they are...

Compact 18x zoom; Nice 1080 HD video; Large; hi-res LCD

Expensive; No manual exposure modes; Stability issues at telephoto