Nikon has announced that it has launched two new 10 megapixel cameras to its range today; the S550 and S600, that promise to offer the worlds smallest and world's fastest start up times respectively.

The main draw to the Coolpix S550, which will be available for £199.99 from March, is its size.

It is claimed to the smallest camera of its class with a 5x zoom lens and packing in 10 megapixels.

However, this camera is also claimed to be fast and delivers light sensitivity up to ISO 2000.

A new feature is the smile mode, which displays a gauge that indicates when the selected subject smiles.

Snappers can also activate the blink warning, which displays a message when it detects that a subject has blinked, offers quick magnified visual confirmation, and allows the shot to be retaken immediately.

The camera also packs in a 2.5-inch LCD monitor, offers SDHC card compatibility as well as 50 MB of internal memory, USB connectivity and, of course, PictBridge support.

The COOLPIX S550 will be available in a choice of Titanium Silver, Urban Black, Blue, or Purple.

Meanwhile Nikon the Coolpix S600 is a compact camera that will boast 10 megapixels and an ISO of 3200.

The new camera, which will come with a 4x optical zoom will also come with what Nikon claims is the worlds fastest start-up time of 0.7 seconds.

Like other models announced today, the camera will be sport a metallic body, a 2.7-inch LCD monitor and come in Titanium Silver, or Urban Black body colours.

Other tech specs include Face-priority AF, In-Camera Red-Eye Fix, D-Lighting, a macro shooting mode from 3 cm, approximately 45MB internal memory and PictBridge support.

The camera will be available in April and cost £249.99.

>> Link - Nikon