What is my next Nikon Digital Camera going to be?

On my bucket list again is the Nikon Coolpix L810 and found it today.  After saving enough money to be able to buy it and add to my collection of digital cameras. I love photography so obviously, I will invest as much as I can afford to this hobby but very rewarding if you are a serious photographer. When I get this Nikon Digital Camera, then I will talk more about it’s specs and what magic it can do for my coming photo adventures. For starters, it has a 16.1 megapixels resolution  but I found a short review.

(Courtesy of CNET) Reviews – Digital Cameras – Nikon digital cameras – Nikon Coolpix L810:

http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/nikon-coolpix-l810-black/4505-6501_7-35182759.html

Quick Specifications:

Digital camera type Full body/Resolution 16.1 megapixels/Optical zoom 26 x
Lens 22.5 – 585mm F/3.1/Optical sensor size 1/2.3″/Optical sensor type CCD/Image stabilizer Optical

The good: The Nikon Coolpix L810 is an inexpensive 26x megazoom point-and-shoot that’s easy to use and runs on AA batteries.
The bad: The L810 performs poorly in low light and indoors without a flash, and its shooting performance is slow, as is its autofocus.
The bottom line: The Nikon Coolpix L810 offers a lot of specs at a low price. If you need fast shooting performance, though, you’ll need to spend more money.

Editors’ note: During my testing, I experienced some performance issues that Nikon attributed to my review camera being an early production sample. I tested a second L810 camera, and while its autofocus and overall shooting performance were still slow, it did not exhibit any other issues. If you have an L810 that is performing unusually, such as giving lens cap error messages when the lens cap is off or unexpectedly powering the camera off, contact Nikon customer service at 1-800-Nikon US. The rating and text of this review have been adjusted accordingly.

It’s completely reasonable to expect a particular product, in this case a camera, to get better with each generation. That’s not the case with the Nikon Coolpix L810.

Sure, on paper, Nikon is offering more for your money in the L810 than in its predecessor, the L120. But that’s simply a matter of specs; you get a wider, longer lens and a higher-resolution sensor, neither of which gets you better photos.

Also, despite its looks, the L810 is very much a basic point-and-shoot camera, offering little more than fully automatic shooting. Not that that’s a bad thing and, in fact, if all you need is a decent auto mode and a long lens for shooting in daylight and your photos are going straight to Facebook, the L810 is plenty.

Features: Photo quality gets noticeably worse above ISO 200. (Credit: Matthew Fitzgerald/CNET)

The camera’s color performance is its best attribute, though again it’s dependent on using ISO 200 or lower. At those sensitivities, colors appear bright and vibrant. Exposure is good, but as usual with compact cameras, highlights will occasionally blow out. Its white balance is good overall, though the auto white balance is warm under unnatural lighting.

Video quality is the same as photo quality: good enough for Web use at small sizes. Panning the camera will create a little judder and you may notice some motion blur with fast-moving subjects; that’s typical of the video from most compact cameras. The zoom lens does work while recording, which is definitely a selling point with such a long lens. Its movement is slow — as is the autofocus, if it focuses at all — and you will hear it moving in your clips.

As I mentioned earlier, if you’re looking for an uncomplicated automatic point-and-shoot, that’s exactly what this is. There are two Auto modes on this camera. One is Easy Auto, which uses scene recognition (Nikon calls it Scene Auto Selector) and adjusts settings appropriately based on six common scene types. If the scene doesn’t match any of those, it defaults to a general-use Auto. Then there is an Auto mode, which is similar to the program AE modes on other point-and-shoots, giving you a modicum of control over your end results. You can change ISO, white balance, and exposure compensation as well as color, flash, and continuous-shooting modes. Light metering is locked to multi pattern unless you’re using the digital zoom, and the focus area is fixed to the center of the frame.

I have a few Nikon Digital Cameras now but I can still remember my favorite Canon EF Film SLR Camera, my very first expensive camera with a Canon 50 mm f/1.8 lens and a Vivitar 70-150mm f/4-6 telephoto zoom lens and also a Vivitar 28mm f/5.6 wide angle lens for Canon FD SLR Cameras. It’s quite obsolete now that I got a new Canon EOS Rebel Xsi 450D DSLR.  The old camera still works flawlessly and in almost mint condition but I seldom use it now since it is a film SLR and films are very expensive nowadays not only to buy a roll of film but also when you have it processed and copied onto photo paper. It’s a lot cheaper to just buy SDHC/MC (4/8/16/32/64GB) memory cards and use a point and shoot digital camera, upload images to your computer and then print it on photo paper by yourself. Sometimes we never bother to print the images but just watch them on slideshows right after we have uploaded the images. You don’t even need a slide projector to do that, you can show and watch slides right on your computer monitor or laptop screen. The beauty in photographs is amazing to behold and it leaves lasting memories that we can keep forever not only in our hearts and minds but also for our own legacy.

About Oly Trinity

Oly is the travel blogger, documentarian on lakbaypilipinas.ca, also a writer-poet, photographer and artist whose work constitutes a blog-documentary in many aspects of life, people, places, arts, culture and traditions, even architecture. It's about trips at home and abroad, also flashbacks of trips on years gone by, reminiscing memorable experiences then back to the future and now, all these in the new blog. You will see, hear and read about the travels, feasting on foods around the globe, meeting people in places that she visits and sharing their traditions and goodwill, who visits countries that others only dream about and who wants to share with you all of her experiences never to be forgotten in this lifetime. From her old hometown to her new home she will marvel you with stories, and show you how small the whole world really is; if you love to travel. Now, let's start that wonderful journey together.