The Nikon Coolpix S9900 supplants the S9700 and brings with it a new design, adding some retro feel to this superzoom camera.

It has grown slightly over the previous model, but it brings with it a big change, and that's a 3-inch vari-angle display on the rear. It has a resolution of 921k-dots but is a TFT LCD display rather than OLED.

Adding this flexibility on the display means more options when it comes to composing your shots, so you can make full use of that 30x zoom lens the S9900 carries.

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The display is very much like that you'll find on Nikon's bridge cameras and you'll also be able to have it facing forward so you can plonk yourself in front of the lens for that ubiquitous selfie.

The retro styling is particularly evident on the silver version we played with at the UK launch of the new cameras, with the black handgrip evoking memories of cameras past. 

It doesn't quite go the whole hog in retro reminiscence like Olympus' OMD models, but we like the overall effect, even if the new camera is a little larger than the model it replaces.

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Those new looks should help the Coolpix complete against the likes of the Panasonic Lumix TZ70 or Canon's PowerShot SX710, both of which are excellent cameras in their own right. 

The 30x zoom lens offers 25-750mm equivalent range, meaning this is very much a camera you can stuff in your pocket, but still be able to deploy that lens for distance shots.

There's a 16-megapixel 1/2.3-in CMOS sensor at the heart, but in the time we had to play with the camera, we didn't have the chance to test the quality. The widest aperture is f/3.7, no doubt a byproduct of that concertinaed lens, meaning it's not the fastest camera around, even at the widest angle.

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Essentially, with this type of camera, to get the best shots, you'll need good support, but you do at least have manual controls to be able to take advantage of that and the new display is a definite help in composition.

Arrayed on the top you have a mode dial with PSAM options, as well as the normal auto and presets. There's also good connectivity, with Wi-Fi, NFC and GPS built-in, so there's no shortage of functionality.

There's quite a price pinned on this camera at £279.99, but we like the design refresh that the S9900 brings.