The Nikon Coolpix L100 Camera Review

Nikon Coolpix L100 Key Specifications:

• • Zoom: 15x optical (28-420mm)

• • Resolution: 10Mp

• • Sensor size: 1/2.33in

• • Sensor type: CCD

• • Max. picture size: 3648×2736

• • File type: JPEG

• • Metering types: Matrix, focus weighted, spot

• • Exposure Compensation: +/ – 2EV in 1/3 stage increases

• • Shutter Speed: 2sec-1/4000sec

• • Flash: Built-in 0.5m-11m (wide), 0.5m-9m (Tele)

• • Screen: 3in TFT LCD

• • Awareness: ISO80-800 (auto in particular), 720-3200 (HiISO or Sport)

• • Capacity: 44Mb inside, SD, SDHC

• • Focus Types: Center, face detection

• • Ordinary Focusing: 50cm

• • Close Focusing: 1cm

• • Interface: USB 2.0

• • Power: 4x AA batteries

• • Size: 110x72x78mm

• • Weight: 355g (excl. battery and card)

Design

It very well might be astounding however Nikon, an organization whose SLR division turns 50 this year, can be viewed as something of a rookie to the superzoom portion. Setting to the side the Coolpix S4 of 2005 and its replacement the S10, the two of which wore a 10x long-range focal point, the first ‘genuine’ Nikon mega zoom camera was the P80, sent off in 2008. The subject of this audit, the Nikon Coolpix L100, was presented alongside the P80’s replacement, the P90, recently.

The ‘L’ in the item name shows that the Coolpix L100 has a place with the ‘Life’ series of exceptionally digital, simple-to-utilize point-and-shoot models. A first glance at the camera appears to go against this. A cumbersome appearance joined with a level-headed dark completion loan a demeanor of sincerity to the L100, to the point that it might well look scary to a portion of its objective clients. 

The greater part of the mass is because of the focal point and the hand-grasp, the last option of which needs to oblige the four AA estimated batteries that power the digital camera. The brilliant side of this is that the L100 is truly agreeable to hold, as the sizeable grasp gives a phenomenal method for buying for your fingers. The camera feels plasticky to the touch, however, the general form quality is great.

The front of the Nikon Coolpix L100 is overwhelmed by the huge focal point, even when it sits withdrawn into its lodging. Upon power-up, the focal point broadens, given you have not neglected to eliminate the focal point cap in advance. If you have, you won’t just have to eliminate it yet additionally to drive the camera now and again. When broadened, the focal point’s length remains consistent, as all the zooming seems to occur inside. The focal point isn’t appallingly quick as far as its most extreme opening, which is f/3.5 at the wide point and f/5.4 at the fax end.

The central length range, then again, deserves admiration, beginning at 5mm (identical to 28mm) and going the whole way to 75mm (comparable to 420mm). Fortunately, Nikon has included Vibration Reduction (VR) to assist with forestalling camera shake, a fundamental element on a camera like this. Strangely, while VR is the focal point situated in the Nikon SLR framework, it is of the sensor-shift assortment in the L100 (and the P90 as well, so far as that is concerned). I found that the VR framework has an observable effect on the sharpness of the pictures, as displayed in the models on the Image Quality page. You can hear a slight mechanical humming commotion when it is turned on, yet if not you don’t see it, then again, actually that you can utilize more slow shutter speeds than typical despite everything taking sharp photographs. Toward the left and right of the focal point, you will find the AF help/self-timer light and the camera’s amplifier, individually.

Control

There are moderately scarcely any outer controls on the Nikon Coolpix L100, although the size of the body would have permitted more. The top plate includes a power button and the shutter release, encompassed by the zoom switch – and that is all there is to it. The flash must pop up manually, utilizing your fingertips – there’s no button for this, and it is one of only a handful of exceptional things the camera won’t accomplish for you consequently.

Display

The greater part of the camera’s backboard is taken up by the three-inch LCD screen, whose goal is 230,000 dots – not much yet sufficient. The back controls are limited to a Shooting Mode and a Playback button, a standard four-way route cushion, and Menu and Erase buttons. The bolt fastens give speedy admittance to four frequently utilized capacities, which fortunately incorporate exposure compensation. The other three are the self-timer, macro, and glimmer modes, as noted before, you need to manually raise the pop-in request to have the option to utilize the last option. Autofocus options OK button is utilized to affirm changes to settings.

Battery

On the left side – when seen from the back – there are the USB/AV OUT and DC-IN ports shielded behind an entryway. Over these are the camera’s speakers and a neck lash eyelet. On the base plate is a metal mount attachment, which isn’t lined up with the optical hub of the focal point. Right close to it is the battery/card compartment entryway. 

Designing a single compartment for the batteries and the memory card was not the best thought, as the L100 runs on four AA estimated batteries that don’t have anything to keep them from dropping out – you need to recollect this while changing memory cards. Curiously, the manual cautions that you can utilize expendable alkalines and FR6/L91 lithium batteries however no rechargeables – regardless of this, the camera joyfully took the four Eneloops given to me by Nikon themselves. Pictures are recorded on SD cards, with 44MB of inward memory given to return to, should your card top off.

Shooting Mode

The Nikon Coolpix L100 is quite possibly the most profoundly digital camera we’ve tried up to this point. Whenever it is fueled up, you can utilize the Shooting Mode button on the backboard to choose from Easy Auto, Movie, Scene, Sport Continuous, and Auto modes. Indeed, this intends that there are no manual, screen or gap need modes on this camera – and what probably won’t be so clear is that you have no control over the ISO responsiveness by the same token. 

Shutter speed, exposure, and ISO are dealt with by the camera in all shooting modes, regardless of whether you like it. In Easy Auto mode, the main things you approach are the glimmer and resolution settings. The camera takes command of all the other things by dissecting the scene before the focal point and picking one of the six most generally utilized scene modes, for example, Landscape, Portrait, Night scene, Night picture, Close-up, and Backlight.

The following thing in the Shooting Mode menu is Scene, where you get to pick the scene mode you need to utilize. These incorporate, on top of those referenced above, Beach/snow, Museum, Sunset, Food, Party/Indoor, Dusk/sunrise, Copy, and Panorama help. In these modes, you ordinarily gain access to the glimmer and self-timer modes as well as exposure compensation, and as well as the macro mode too.

In Panorama help mode, you take the principal picture in the wake of applying flash mode, self-timer, exposure compensation, and macro settings as required, and afterward, the camera superimposes 33% of this photograph on the live picture. This assists you with creating the following shot with a fair measure of cross-over for simple sewing on the PC. You can rehash this progression until you have taken enough photographs to cover the scene. The camera locks the exposure, white equilibrium, and concentration at the qualities set with the main shot. The photographs taken for the display can be sewn on the PC with the guide of the provided Panorama Maker programming.

One of the additional fascinating elements of the Nikon Coolpix L100 is the Sport Continuous shooting mode. The most noteworthy selectable goal is confined to three megapixels, however, you can take shots at a speed of up to 13 edges each second for up to 30 casings in succession. 

This can be useful for catching quick movement, although there is no assurance that the subject will be in focus. At the wide finish of the zoom range, the tremendous profundity of the field could conceal any centering blunders, yet not at the fax end, which is sadly where you are bound to be while shooting sports. Note additionally that the camera will naturally pick high responsiveness putting essentially ISO 720 together to keep the shutter speed high – and we as a whole know what this involves with a little sensor digital camera like the L100.

There is a different High Sensitivity shooting mode for those times when you don’t have to take shots ceaselessly at high edge rates however you require a high awareness setting to have the option to utilize a genuinely high shutter speed – normally while making hand-held efforts in low light. This mode likewise forces a three-megapixel limit on the goal of the photos you can take, and once more, the camera will pick an awareness setting of ISO 720 or higher. The self-timer, flash mode, exposure compensation, and macro capacities are accessible.

It is not surprising to find a Smile mode on the Nikon Coolpix L100 isn’t to be expected. Face identification is consequently actuated in this mode, and the camera puts outlines around every one of the countenances it has had the option to distinguish (up to three). The face closest to the middle is set apart with twofold casing lines, demonstrating that this is the face the camera is observing. When it recognizes a grin, it shoots the shutter, without you pressing the shutter release button. After the shot is taken, both face and grin locations continue, so the camera can make more effort of grinning at faces. Assuming the flash is popped up but you can’t make one more effort until it is completely recharged.

It might sound incongruous, however, the shooting mode that allows you to get to the largest number of settings is the Auto mode. On top of controlling the glimmer mode, large scale mode, self-timer, and exposure compensation, you can empower or handicap the VR framework – impairing it is suggested for mount work – switch the Motion Detector on and off – when it’s on, it naturally helps the ISO responsiveness after detecting camera or subject development – connect with Distortion Control to carefully lessen the mathematical contortion of the focal point, set white equilibrium from a decision of presets or even make a custom WB setting, pick a variety choice (standard, striking, highly contrasting, sepia or cyanotype) and access various drive modes. 

These incorporate single-shot, nonstop taking shots at a pace of 1.2 edges each second for up to seven frames at full resolution, Best Shot Selector, which consequently picks the keenest of up to ten photographs taken in progression with the shutter release held down, and Multi-shot 16, an exceptional mode in which sixteen photographs are taken at a pace of around 7.5 frames each second, which are in this way organized in a single picture. Truly, I battled to track down a utilization for this.

The Nikon Coolpix L100 provides a limited extent of altering capacities in Playback mode. These incorporate D-lighting, trimming, and resizing. D-lighting lifts the shadows in an image of a contrasty scene without influencing the mid-tones and the features – make a beeline for the Image Quality segment for an exhibition. Do take note of that on the L100, it is a post-catch thing – this camera doesn’t offer the Active D-lighting capacity of Nikon’s DSLRs. Editing and resizing – the last option of which is called ‘Little picture’ in the menu – are clear as crystal. The firsts are saved in the two frames.

Scene Menu

The Sports/High ISO sub-menu contains three settings: Sports nonstop, High responsiveness, and Smile. For each situation, the greatest picture size is restricted to 3M (2048 x 1536 pixels) or more modest.

Choosing the Sport ceaseless mode and pressing the Menu button allows you to browse three catch speeds: Medium at around 6.5 frames/second, High at roughly 13 frames/second, and Low at around 4.3 frames/second. The main other change given is to picture size, where you can browse 3M, PC screen (1024), TV screen (640), and 16:9 (1920).

In the High responsiveness mode, awareness is set to ISO 720 or higher (up to ISO 3200 still up in the air by the camera) and you can change picture size (3M and lower), white equilibrium, variety choice, and twisting control settings and access the nonstop, BSS (Best Shot Selector) and Multi-shot 16 settings. In Smile screen mode, the full scope of picture size settings is accessible – however, no other menu options are open.

ISO

Utilizing the Nikon Coolpix L100 has had us with blended effects. Not having any command over shutter speed, gap or ISO in any of the shooting modes implies that you can focus erring on different parts of picture taking – like structure – yet it might have the outcome that you can’t take the kind of picture you have imagined. Zero influence over the ISO responsiveness may likewise imply that you are not taking advantage of your camera regarding picture quality, as the L100 will generally support the ISO if it thinks incandescent lighting levels are low, regardless of whether you have the camera mounted on a stand. Also, your exposure may be off as well – having exposure compensation available to you is something to be thankful for, yet without a live histogram, it isn’t really helpful.

Performance

The simple self-adjusting framework had a few defects in the test camera that showed up fundamentally when we were attempting to shoot close-ups. Although the camera can focus to 50 cm at the wide position and 1.5 meters at full optical zoom, we found it hard to drive its focus regarding the matter in the focal point of the edge if there was anything behind the subject – regardless of the distance, away it was.

It frequently took at least eight endeavors to get the camera to focus in regarding the matter, even though both AF sensors were situated directly over it. The test camera additionally showed an impressive inclination to chase after concentration, even in brilliant surrounding lighting. Accordingly, it would concentrate quickly and emanate a signal before sliding off to focus on the foundation as the shot was taken. The two pictures underneath give instances of how far out-of-centre the subsequent pictures can be.

The L100 has a couple of different quirks that might make dissatisfaction among its clients. For example, getting back from Playback to Record mode is completely just conceivable by squeezing the Shooting Mode button, though, on most other advanced cameras, a second press of the Playback button or a half-push on the shade delivery will likewise get the job done – while utilizing the L100, I frequently ended up gazing stupidly at the camera when I was unable to go from Playback to Record by delicately tapping the screen discharge like I am accustomed to doing with different cameras.

While this may be something individual, my other wellspring of disappointment – a regular failure to secure a spotlight regarding the matter in respectably low light, despite the camera having a center illuminator – will undoubtedly be of worry to a more extensive gathering of clients, as well. At last, I haven’t loved the way that there are no showcase choices for a full-outline review of your photos – constantly, the camera will overlay a great deal of shooting information (however not really of the sort you are generally intrigued by), and you need to stand by a seriously prolonged time before they vanish so you can see the photo without them. The expansion of a Display button would have been really smart.

Video Mode

As well as catching stills, the Nikon Coolpix L100 can likewise be utilized to record video. The choices are 640×480 pixels at 30 casings each second and 320×240 pixels at one of the other 30 or 15fps. A superior quality recording isn’t upheld, however, for standard definition, the quality is very great. And keep in mind that VR doesn’t work while recording film cuts, the electronic adjustment framework utilized shows up exceptionally compelling. The optical zoom can’t be utilized while shooting the lens can be preset to the ideal zoom position before you begin recording. Exposure compensation is, tragically, not available for motion pictures.

The Nikon Coolpix L100 accompanies a shockingly itemized, 136-page PDF manual that is cross-referred to. Nikon additionally supplies a Software Suite, including Nikon Transfer and Panorama Maker, on a CD-ROM. The projects have Windows (XP SP3 and Vista SP1) and Macintosh (Mac OS X 10.3.9, 10.4.11, and 10.5.5) adaptations.

Picture Quality

The Nikon Coolpix L100 created pictures of good quality during the survey, especially outside in brilliant light, where it didn’t as a rule resort to utilizing high ISO values. In less light, it would frequently expand the responsiveness to keep the screen speed high, which brought about a deficiency of picture quality due to sound decreasing interminably. 

With zero commands over ISO, you can’t have confidence you are getting the best quality from the camera, tragically. Optimistically, purple bordering was limited for a superzoom, which is incredible information. The camera can catch a few staggering macros, whose quality is again just limited by its infrequent decision of too high an ISO setting. Vignetting was not an issue, even with the blaze turned on. Highlights like Vibration Reduction, Distortion Control, and D-lighting work on the ease of use of your photographs. Night photography and red-eye expulsion are, be that as it may, not among the L100’s assets.

Noise

The Nikon Coolpix L100 is something of a unique case in that the photographic artist doesn’t gain access to the ISO awareness settings – they are dealt with by the camera in all shooting modes. At full resolution, the L100 utilizes the ISO 80-800 territory to pick an ISO speed – which can be strongly non-standard like ISO 149 for instance – while in Sport Continuous and High Sensitivity modes, the camera will pick a high worth between ISO 720 and ISO 3200. 

This being the situation, we can’t give you the typical series of harvests of a similar subject taken at standard ISO settings – what we did was a photo of a similar scene in Auto mode and High Sensitivity mode. In the main case, the camera picked ISO 400, while in the second case, it settled on ISO 742. 

Pros of Nikon Coolpix L100:

• • 4-way VR Image Stabilization

• • Good build quality

• • Bright screen

• • Good Tele Lens

• • Manual Focusing

• • Nice picture quality

Cons of Nikon Coolpix L100:

• • No Wireless Connection

• • No Environmental Sealing

• • No Built-in Viewfinder

FAQs

Does the Nikon Coolpix L100 take a video?

The Nikon Coolpix L100 can be utilized to record videos. The options are 640×480 pixels at 30 frames each second and 320×240 pixels at one of the other 30 or 15fps.

How old is the Nikon Coolpix L100?

The Nikon Coolpix L100 is an advanced camera produced by Nikon Corporation in 2009.

Final Words

The Nikon Coolpix L100 is an all-rounder and remarkable camera combining the simplicity of a complete point-and-shoot camera with the large wide-point 15x long-range focal point and picture adjustment of a high-level super-zoom. It is all-around made, greatly designed, to be promptly convenient, and takes awesome preview pictures in practically all circumstances. It is a bit costly contrasted with a few potential adversaries, yet it is an entirely affable little camera.