Nikon COOLPIX for my cool TRIX

Author's Rating:

Pros: Attractive camera with versatile and professional quality.

Cons: A little bulky.

The Bottom Line: 
Recommended

Author's Review
When I went shopping for a digital camera I had certain criteria in mind that I wanted it to meet. What I wanted and what everyone else wants isn't going to be the same but more than likely they will be similar. The camera that I was going to purchase wasn't going to be horribly expensive. It also had to look nice. Durability was important; I didn't want a cheap piece of trash. Megapixels wasn't a huge priority but I wanted no less than 5. Optical zoom was, in a way like megapixels, the more the better. A big part of my decision was what kind of battery it had. I, personally wanted AA batteries. I figured that it would be easy to find a good portable power source that I wouldn't have to worry about dying in the middle of nowhere with no replacement. Most importantly I didn't want to have to worry about outlet converters for different countries; you can find AA batteries anywhere.

I checked all my options and did all my research, comparing and re-comparing cameras within my price range. I came to the decision quite easily when I realized that the Nikon Coolpix L1 met all the qualities I wanted in a digital camera. It wasn't too expensive and it felt comfortable and sturdy in my hand; it wasn't so tiny that my large hands couldn't operate it. I liked the Black version of the L1 better than the silver. It has a sleek, attractiveness to it. The L1 also exceeded my megapixel and optical zoom requirements while adding more bells and whistles that just make this an awesome camera.

Here are some stats for the Nikon Coolpix L1:

6.2 Effective Megapixels. Definitely a bar setter for its class. To me, having those extra features makes all the difference. Even if you only have one more megapixel than your brother or best friend, it still makes your camera better.

High Quality 5x Optical Zoom. This is one of the camera's best features that sets it apart from it's counterparts. Other cameras in it's class won't have as high as 5x optical. The optical zoom means that your pictures are still quality. The L1 does go up to 10x digital zoom but then the quality of the picture goes down.

Bright 2.5 inch LCD: makes viewing pictures and sharing them with your friends and family much easier. The screen display was probably the biggest worry I had when buying this camera. I was worried that out in the sun, you wouldn't be able to see the LCD. Most cameras that have this problem, also have a view-finder (the little whole you used to look through on those other cameras) but this one didn't have one. I was pleased to find out that it does not have any problem showing the display out in the sun.

Nikon's Features: In-Camera Red-Eye Fix(TM) to remove red-eye in the camera; Face Priority AF to automatically focus on faces for great portraits; and D-Lighting for in-camera repair of dark images. Exclusive to Nikon. The L1 Also comes with a picture editing/composing program on CD. I haven't really used it a whole lot because I just use Photoshop but it did look easy to use and useful.

16 Scene Modes: for great Portraits, Panoramas, Landscapes, etc.; 4 of the Scene Modes come with Scene Assist to guide you in taking better pictures, automatically. One of the coolest things that I have taken advantage of it the ability for the camera to capture video. I've been out on the boat plenty of times and filmed a buddy of mine do some amazing wakeboarding tricks. I don't own a digital video camera so I'll have to settle for the next best thing.

Battery Life: The battery life is good, 230 images with a set of COOLPIX rechargeable AA batteries; 400 images with lithium AA batteries. I would recomend spending a little more money to get a good set of rechargeable batteries. They will pay for themselves in the long-run.

Adjustable Graphic User Interface with Help Button. This allows you to choose between the traditional menu item view or the new icon view. Press the help (?) button and it will instantly display an explanation for all main menu functions on the LCD.


With all of that out of the way, the question is, how are the results? Does it take good pictures? Are the colors bright? Does it focus reliably and clearly? Do the pictures look nice? The answer is YES. So nice in fact, I used this camera to take my little brother's high school senior pictures with. They turned out extremely well and his friends thought they were professional. The Nikon Coolpix L1 also saved the day at his graduation! The colors come out fantastic and the details are emaculate. The focus works well and if the picture turns out blurred from an unsteady hand the camera will automaticly detect that and tell you imediatly that the picture is blurred. Then you have the choice of deleting it or keeping it. This prevents bad pictures and your aproval rating will increase. There are several different features you can use to further broaden your options for picture taking like the 'black and white' or 'sepia' feature. These can be used to create wonderful pictures of people which are great to give to family members. I use the "close up" option to capture the smallest of details on plants and flowers. The flash is powereful. If you are inside, sometimes it can be too much causing pale faces to appear too white.

The Nikon COOLPIX L1 digital camera is an excellent entry level to mid level camera that won't disappoint. It will takle those quick, simple jobs or even those extravagent important ones. I've owned mine for about a year and it has served me well.