Review on Nikon COOLPIX L810 Digital Camera: 16.1MP, 26x Zoom, NIKKOR ED Glass Lens, 3-inch LCD (Blue) by Flex Graham

I bought the L810 in August 2012 (about a year ago) so had quite a bit of time to try it out. This was my first camera upgrade since using Nikon's $100 base models like the P60 and L28 (although my very first was the Kodak Easy Share). Pros: I chose the blue camera. The color is rich and I haven't had any major problems with chipping. My cameras follow me everywhere so he's been through a lot and is holding up pretty well. I dropped it once (only about 3 months ago) and it only survived a corner chip (that's all you can see). Camera performance was not affected. In bright light, especially on sunny days, photos come out amazing and clear, especially macro photography (the type of photography I do most often). This camera works with SD cards so it was an easy upgrade (although I later bought a higher quality SD card to improve recording at the card's speeds). You can fit a little in the frame when the lens is fully zoomed out. (This may be a scam to some people) While this isn't a DSLR, it looks like it is. Some people have even asked me what Nikon SLR that is! My dream is to have a DLSR but I don't have the money for it yet (college is expensive). When you hold it in your hands, this camera looks like a digital SLR (so far I'm so close to the dream). corners. It's not important enough to bother me, and I've actually used this defect to take some amazing, creative perspective shots. * Manual adjustment: Manual light/exposure adjustment is OK. The camera can be finicky. * Settings: Sometimes it is difficult to find settings in the camera, e.g. B. Card formatting. It's frustrating when I have to work fast because my objects (organisms) aren't always waiting for me. * Lens must be open/exposed to view images. I would have liked if there was an option to "close the lens" when viewing images. My cheap $50 FujiFilm that I take with me when I go fishing automatically closes the lens after you start viewing pictures after about 1 minute. This can usually be fixed with software, but I've had cases where there was no hope. I don't understand this and have to struggle with the camera to manually capture the flash. * The lens is very easy to destroy. Only a month after owning this camera, there was already dust under the lens. I always wear a cap and never expose the lens to strong winds or the beach. Most of the shots don't show the dust, but I know it's there. At certain zoom levels, one of the properties of the dust creates a blur. I'm pretty sure Nikon will fix that if I send a camera in, but it's probably expensive. However, I've never looked into it (and I don't like paying for shipping). * Dark lighting; This was my biggest disappointment with this camera. That's terrible for low-light situations. My friend's phone camera took better photos than me in low light. Whenever I want to take pictures in low light, e.g. For example, when shooting moths at night, I have to put on a headlamp and hold the flashlight in my left hand while trying to take the picture. When I use the flash it only works at close to medium distances. Very close objects are overexposed and parent objects are absent. Also, the blur increases as the lighting gets darker. I know it's not a professional camera. But I wish it could handle low light better for the price. * Energy Monster: The camera operates on (4) AA batteries. There are no battery packs here. This thing is a battery monster that's ALWAYS hungry. I have rechargeable AA batteries for this now, but not always. Before investing in rechargeable batteries, the situation was bad. Sometimes focusing takes too long and very often it is difficult to get the right focus. For example, I want to take a close-up of a dragonfly. The camera focuses on the face or the body, but not both at the same time. Anything that isn't in focus is very blurry. I want a crisp close-up with full focus. It might be too much for a camera like this, but I really don't know. I don't have enough experience to make such a judgement. * Speed: The camera is much faster than my previous one, but still too slow for fast shots like running animals. These shots tend to get sharper the further you zoom out, but sometimes I need detail. I tend to get these frames indirectly. I capture the action on video and then use editing software (e.g. Picasa) to extract photos from the video. These "photos" aren't as sharp as regular images, but they allow me to capture things like lightning. There's an ultra-fast burst mode that can capture 16 photos per frame. You can later extract individual photos from this frame, but they must be enlarged, which reduces clarity. So the L810 gets 4 stars overall because it's a nice improvement/upgrade over cheaper cameras. I love it, but it can be frustrating when I don't get the shots I want. Plus, the low-light images are just awful. You may have more experience with cameras than I do, and you could probably better appreciate my complexity. Or maybe you're less experienced and feeling a little overwhelmed by all the reviews of all the cameras you're looking at. It doesn't matter who you are, YOU make the final decision. This is my experience and you must evaluate and digest it to decide if the L810 will meet your needs as a photographer.