mrs-j's Full Review: Nikon COOLPIX L4 Digital Camera
A couple of months ago, one of the sites I write for announced that they would be giving away a free Nikon 4 megapixel camera for everyone who wrote 15 articles that month. As a happy coincidence, my husband had just recently been complaining that he didn't like having to haul my monstrous Canon 20D out every time he took a photo, so I decided to write out my fifteen contributions and see what the company sent me!
Within three weeks, the UPS man dropped off a Nikon Coolpix L4 digital camera on my doorstep.
About the Nikon Coolpix L4
This 4 megapixel digital camera is the tiniest digital camera that we have owned. With an advertised weight of 5.8 ounces (including the batteries) the camera is under 3.5" wide, 2.5" tall and only 1.4" thick. It literally completely fits within the palm of my hand.
The Coolpix L4 takes standard AA-sized batteries. Good if you choose to use rechargeables and handy if you're traveling somewhere and find yourself with no more juice. Bad if you don't choose to use rechargeables, as the cost can rack up after awhile.
Checking the Internet, I see that the camera usually retails for around $125 - $140 on various websites.
This 4 megapixel camera has multiple resolution options. Max resolution is 2272 x 1704 pixels. You can shoot as low as 640 x 480. The L4 is one of the "Coolpix L" series of digital cameras, which run L1 - L6.
The camera can zoom from 38mm to 114mm (a 3x optical zoom). It has 4x digital zoom, but I don't recommend using digital zoom, the results are lower res and more prone to blurriness due to shake. Realistically, what these numbers mean is that you can get reasonably wide on indoor shots where you'll need the wide angle, and a very light to moderate zoom when needed. It's perfect for "point and shoot" but serious photographers still need to lug out the big guns (and another camera) for deep zooming and wider angles.
The camera features both normal and macro focus ranges, which is nice. I have always preferred the Nikon Coolpix macro capabilities over other similar digital cameras. Autofocus works well in good light, with enough of a contrast in the subject. The Nikon only has a single midpoint for autofocusing, but you can focus and reframe if necessary.
Nikon's flash modes include auto, fill flash, red-eye reduction, slow flash and no flash. I find that this camera is particularly well-suited for indoor party photos, and doesn't drown out faces with too much flash. You can use exposure compensation (-2 to 2 in 1/3 exposure increments) but for me the whole point of a compact P&S style camera is to Point - Shoot. I don't mess with the compensation on this camera.
You can also take movies with this camera, although unfortunately they aren't accompanied by sound. There is a limit to the length of the movies, but if you want short, animated, silent clips, you can get them.
The Coolpix L4 takes SD/MMC cards, and comes with 10MB of internal storage (which isn't enough for much of anything, really). The camera doesn't come with a storage card, so you'll have to buy one separately. Storage these days is very cheap, with a 1GB storage card costing under $40. We've found that 1GB will hold over 500 high-res photos. Images are stored as JPEGs for quick download. The camera has a mini-USB video out interface.
The box includes the cables for the interface, as well as two AA batteries and a CD-ROM of picture software from Nikon.
Other specs straight from Nikon include:
Advertised battery life: 250 shots with alkaline batteries or 450 shots with lithium batteries
Shooting modes: Auto, 4 modes with Scene Assist (Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Night Portrait), 11 Scene modes (Party/Indoor, Beach/Snow, Sunset, Dusk/Dawn, Night Landscape, Close Up, Museum, Fireworks Show, Copy, Back Light, Panorama Assist), BSS (Best Shot Selector), Color options, Blur Warning, Date Imprint, Self-timer (10 sec)
Using the Camera
My husband had the camera out of the box and ready to go in under two minutes. He was very eager to get his new pocket-sized camera. The Nikon Coolpix L4 powers up quickly and the 2" LCD screen is bright and easily viewable under most conditions.
The greatest thing about the L4 is it's diminutive size. It can easily be slipped into a pocket or small purse and pulled out at a moment's notice. However, it's a low-end digital camera, and in some ways it really acts like one. Most obviously, the lag between pressing the shutter button and the photo being taken is absolutely annoying. I purchased a Canon Powershot S60 for my pocket camera (which my husband still finds too large) and while it has it's annoyances, it is instantly responsive to a shutter press. The L4 is not.
My husband commented after a few days that while he still prefers the Nikon more for its portability and ease of use, he really wished that the camera didn't have any lag, like my S60.
Another issue that is annoying is that after the camera takes a flash photo, the LCD goes blank and it takes a handful of seconds to come back and be ready for the next photo.
In short, the camera is inexpensive, which is great. But it acts like an inexpensive camera in daily use. I'm especially aware of it because of the lineup of cameras that I'm used to using, but casual photographers might not be bothered by it at all.
Picture Quality
I really like the quality of the pictures that come from this camera. They're nicely saturated, if a bit on the warm/yellow side at times. The images are crisp and even when using the flash, subjects in the image are well balanced light-wise. The image quality is perfect for quick family shots, party shots or travel shots.
One Issue
We did have one single issue with the camera within the first month of owning it, that hasn't occurred since it was resolved. Our first set of batteries died, and we got the "low battery" warning before the camera shut down completely. We changed out the batteries with a set that had been charged, and the camera still didn't recognize the new batteries. It turned on, flashed the "low battery" warning, and died. We then tried another set we had that we knew had plenty of "juice" (from the TV remote) and the camera still flashed "low battery".
Thinking that it had given up the ghost, and figuring "easy come, easy go" because it was free, I left it in my husband's office for about a month. During that time I purchased a large pack of brand new batteries at the local wholesale club. When I came upon the camera while cleaning, I decided to try again with the batteries. I pulled out the old batteries, used a can of compressed air to blow out the battery compartment in case anything had been blocking the connection, and then put in a set of verifiably new (non-rechargeable) batteries.
The camera seems to be working fine, and has now for a couple of weeks on this set of batteries, so hopefully the issue is resolved.
Summary
For free, I have to say this camera is great! We love taking it with us when we're just out and about, or going somewhere that isn't conducive to hauling around a large and/or expensive camera. The photos that we get are crisp, colorful and clear. And best of all, it's easy enough to use that my non-photographer husband is not only comfortable using it, but actually loves using it. We keep the camera on the side table in our family room daily, and he's taken many more pictures around the house than he ever did before. It's nice that I'm no longer the only one taking pictures in our family. In fact, my Epinions photo was taken by my husband using this camera!
If you're looking for a solid point-and-shoot digital camera that's easy to use, I highly recommend the Nikon Coolpix L4. At a price point of around $125, it's a solid deal.
Nikon USA
http://www.nikon.com
Support: 1-800-645-6678 (6AM - 4PM PST Mon-Fri)
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): Free This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Fool-Proof for Absolute Beginners
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