The Nikon Coolpix S51c is the camera that everyone wants to take to a party. It is tiny and cute, with stylish looks and has a large LCD screen so friends can gather round for a slide show. The 8.1-megapixel S51c looks sexy and has trendy features, including WiFi, but has trouble taking decent pictures – and isn’t that what a camera is all about?

It seems like a good idea for Nikon to pair wireless connectivity, a bold feature, with a camera that also has strong image quality. This, unfortunately, is not the case. We tested the Nikon Coolpix S51c in our imaging lab and it performed below average for a point-and-shoot in almost every category. Its white balance is inaccurate, noise levels are high, and resolution is poor. Noise levels are high even at ISO 100, so don’t expect good images even when the lighting is perfect.  The Coolpix S51c suffers from significant color fringing, corner darkening, and edge blurriness. To put it simply, this is one of the worst digital cameras we’ve seen in 2007.

The Nikon S51c is deceiving. It looks good, but doesn’t deliver. It's like buying a new pair of shoes, putting them on and discovering that there are no soles on the bottom. Those shoes looked great in the window, but aren’t functional on your feet. It’s the same pang of disappointment with the Nikon S51c.

The S51c has WiFi technology that allows it to wirelessly send images to computers or to Nikon’s online photo sharing site. From there, you can e-mail and print images. There isn’t much setup, but if you don’t know the password to your wireless network then this camera won’t do you any good. There are only a handful of digital cameras that are wireless-enabled. The Kodak V610 has Bluetooth, but also takes horrible pictures. We haven’t tested the WiFi-enabled Sony G1 yet, but we do know the 6-megapixel camera has a larger 3.5-inch LCD with 921,000 pixels but a bigger $599 price tag too.

The 3.8 x 2.3 x 0.8-inch Nikon Coolpix S51c has a tiny 3x optical zoom lens with an optical vibration reduction system. The lens causes lots of distortion in images and is placed where the left fingers can cover it – and pictures of fingertips aren’t very pretty either. It has a 3-inch LCD screen with 230,000 pixels that is the camera’s strongest component. Rounding out the components is the spotty flash, which caused more red eyes than not.

The slim S51c’s body is smooth and almost feels greasy. It is nice to stroke, but awful to handle. The controls are tiny and there just isn’t much to hang onto. It’s the compact size that makes it so convenient for cramming into a pocket though.

The Nikon Coolpix S51c is designed for web-savvy point-and-shooters who are more concerned about updating their blogs and profile pictures than choosing a shutter speed. The S51c is convenient to carry and automates just about everything. It is easy to take pictures, but it requires some knowledge about wireless networks to actually wirelessly transfer images. For those who don’t think they’ll need the WiFi, Nikon offers the S50 for $50 less. The Nikon S51c retails for $299 and is one of the least expensive wireless-enabled digital cameras on the market. Unfortunately, it is almost one of the worst digital cameras on the market and isn’t worth even that much.