Nikon Coolpix L12 review
Review Date : Thu, 25 Oct 2007
Author : WDC Team
- Sample Photos: View sample shots of the Nikon Coolpix L12
Nikon's 7.1-megapixel Coolpix L12 tops Nikon's 'lifestyle' range and features Vibration Reduction, Face Detection and a 3x zoom.
| Pros: | ISO range, Vibration Reduction, design, muppet-proof. |
|---|---|
| Cons: | Writing speed, no manual ISO adjustment, noise. |
Perfect First Compact?
Nikon’s L12 has a 7MP sensor, 3x optical zoom (35-105mm equivalent) and 15 scene modes. Where it starts to get interesting is with an ISO range of 80-1600 and optical image stabilisation.
You can get the L12 for a street price of less than £100, which also weighs in its favour. Quick to start up, its layout is simple and efficient and it has lots of features to help the novice – in fact this could be the perfect first digital camera for someone completely new to digital photography. The lens design is different from that of most cameras, as it is not centred in the middle of the zoom barrel, but slightly below centre. Very compact in size, the L12 has a small bump on the right which accommodates the AA batteries.
Performance
Manual control of the ISO range isn’t possible, so images will vary in noise due to the camera selecting a higher sensitivity in dark conditions. The time to write to the memory card can also be slow if you are using the highest-quality settings, but since the camera is unlikely to be used for high-speed work, this isn’t too much of an issue.
Image Quality
Usually we test how cameras perform at each ISO setting but on the L12 you can’t control this as the camera sets it automatically. Fringing is minimal and not an issue, and while noise is apparent it’s noticeable only for prints of A3 size – any size smaller would be fine. The lens does show signs of barrelling at the wideangle end, though it’s minimal at the telephoto end. Exposures are consistent and it deals well when subjected to a variety of lighting conditions.
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Latest comments
April 11 22:26
Terence J. Hoare
Nikon Coolpix L16. Just returned from bringing my second Nikon L16 camera back to the shop. Same problem both times - the screen went. Nothing was visible on the screen. It still took photos though, you could just not see what you were taking. This camera was pretty dismal even before the 1st or 2nd return (replaced 1st time, refund second). Why? Well I have a number of unhappy's; (1) If there was any dim light, even a little then the photos were invariably out of focus, hazy or just poor quality - and I know the limitations of compacts (2) At times it could not handle close ups, even with the correct mode, it would auto focus in, then out, of the subject, sometimes going past what I considered the optimum focal distance (subject clear & sharp) only to come up with the "red square" symbols indicating unabe to get a good image, (3) It was slow to start on switching on. (4) Photos of say a mountain with a topped in snow orwith a subject backed by bright sky would end up with just white where the brighter parts of the photo should have been. I have had compact camera's before but did not really encounter these problems. I bought this camera as I was so impressed by the Nikon Coolpix 4100 which sadly ahd a scratch to thr lens. I will now probably head for the Canon Shop. Good points, looked very good, had some niffty multishot options, big screen. Over all rating 4/10. Do not buy this camera.