Image Quality & Value

Nikon Coolpix L110 review – Image Quality

Images when viewed on the L110’s LCD screen can appear overexposed in areas where the actual images aren’t. This was notable when viewing on a more accurate computer monitor. This is poor for shooting accurate exposures when using the camera – however, overall exposure is actually relatively accurate, but it can be tricky to tell due to this issue.

Images themselves aren’t particularly sharp throughout the full zoom range. Also, as there is no Raw shooting capability or user-defined noise reduction control, meaning the output Jpegs do seem to come out processed a little muddied as well as soft.

Chromatic aberration – red and purple fringing – is also apparent in many image situations and isn’t limited toward just the edges of the image.

Nikon L110 review – ISO sensitivity image noise test

ISO sensitivity ranges from 80-1600 at full resolution, dipping to 3MP when using the ISO 3200-6400 settings. Images begin bright and colourful, but colour intensity flounders as the ISO increases. Image noise doesn’t vastly increase throughout the range due to significant noise reduction, yet even low-ISO images have more grain than would be liked and high ISO images lost much detail. Furthermore Jpeg artifacts seem to be present throughout the range, leaving image quality fairly poor at full size.

On the plus size, images at extended zoom settings do produce a pleasing shallow depth of field and there’s not much colour noise at any of the ISO settings to be intrusive. The L110 even has an in-camera post-production D-Lighting feature to pull more shadow detail out of an image if desired.

Nikon Coolpix L110 review – Value For Money

The superzoom market has become more and more competitive of late, with models offering considerably better performance than previous generations. The Coolpix L110 may not be the strongest in all areas, but it doesn’t half undercut the others on the market by price. And if that’s a key point when purchasing then the L110 has got it bang on the money – it delivers a 15x zoom for under £200. Go elsewhere and the next nearest option is the mightily-similar Olympus SP-600UZ for £260, otherwise it’s a case of stepping up the spec-ladder to the more fulfilled (yet pricier) 18x zoom Panasonic FZ38 for around £280. Beyond this most manufacturers place more significance on the zoom capacity- such as the Sony HX1’s 20x 28-560mm equivalent – at a more premium (i.e. costly) price-point.