Nikon COOLPIX L810 16.1 MP Digital Camera with 26x Zoom NIKKOR ED Glass Lens and 3-inch LCD (Red) (OLD MODEL)

This camera was something that I was dying to get. I've had a very old, 8 year old in fact, Coolpix camera that still works but it's so old that I hate using it. The time in between taking one picture and the next if you need the flash is horrendous. So I finally went on the search to revamp my camera owning. And I found the Nikon Coolpix L810. I have to admit what I really wanted was something close enough to a professional photographers camera. I take pictures everywhere I go. Especially with my son. I also don't buy photographer pictures, I tend to do them myself and they always turn out really well. But I wanted a camera that could take that even further. When I read that this camera could take pictures that were professional grade I was pretty sold. Not to mention that it came in colors. I love color choices! It just makes everything a little bit more fun. Upon recieving it, I read the manual and figured out how to use it. It takes a little time to figure out exactly how to. Because you don't just go clicking away like most cameras. You hold the capture button half way down. There is a small square on the screen that will turn green when your camera is properly focused. That is when you press the capture button down completely to capture a picture that is not blurred. You can 'snap snap' but sometimes you will get blurry pictures because the camera takes pictures so fast if you don't focus you will get blur. It doesn't have any problems with the lens cap. If you forget to take it off a message on the screen informs you to turn off your camera, take the lens cap off, and try again. Which was nice because I have heard of people ruining their motor because they left their lens cap on. There are two places to zoom on the camera depending on how you hold it. On the top and on the side, which is really handy. It does take video though I haven't tried that yet. I was also worried about the size of the pictures. How much room they would take up on a memory card. I bought a 16GB card and haven't had to stop taking pictures yet. In fact, I went to the zoo took over 80 pictures and still only came to 300mb. So I am extremely pleased with that as well. I have already recommended it to a friend that is interested in a nicer camera. Definatly worth the purchase.

True story: Had my heart set on the Nikon D3100, but I couldn't bring myself to pay that much for it. Rewind to my son's 8th grade graduation in May. I didn't have a camera at the time so I was using my cell phone which ran out of batteries by the time the graduation procession started. I was devastated. FORTUNATELY a good friend whose son was also graduating was sitting right behind me and she had a gorgeous professional looking camera. She offered to take pics of our son for me. When she emailed them to me the next day, her pictures were amazing! The zoom, picture color and clarity was so unbelievable! I HAD to know what the name of her camera was. She said a "Nikon Coolpix L810". I quickly looked it up online and found it cheapest on Amazon. I ordered it on a Friday and got it on Monday! I'm in LOVE with this camera. I've been practicing taking photos with it outside my work during breaks and the pictures are just beautiful, the zoom is AMAZING. Now, it's definitely not a quick point and shoot camera. You should ABSOLUTELY read the focus instructions VERY carefully before you use this otherwise your pictures come out blurry. BUT that's not a camera issue, it's a "you're not focusing the camera correctly" issue. Lol. You need to press the button down only halfway to allow the camera to focus first, once the focus light turns green, THEN press it all the way down. Tricky at first but gets easy after about 5 pics. So take your time practicing with the focus and getting to know all its shooting modes and features before you try to use it for special occasions like graduations, weddings, vacations...etc. After you get used to it, you will be in love with it. The price for the quality of this camera is outstanding. Love the size of it too. Big enough to be taken seriously, but small enough to fit in a purse or bag for travel. Not heavy, but just enough weight to it to give that quality feel. It's perfect! Comes with: Strap, four AA batteries, USB cable, audio video cable, lens cap and software CD-ROM. Didn't come with a carrying case but no biggie, found one on ebay for about $6 w/free shipping (Ebay item #380422196943)

First Impression: Great looks and many settings, oh my! Out of the box this camera looked quite capable, which is what I expected, already having a Nikon that was my main camera. Side zoom, dedicated record button are all great pluses for it, and opening up the side panel, there it was, mini HDMI that can spit out your 3D photos onto a capable device. Wow! Design and Case: Nikon made it look like a DSLR, as many cameras in this class do to be able to have a large zoom and bigger, well, everything including the screen, flash, microphones, and even four batteries in the hand-hold. The blue glossy plastic looks great and can hold up to scratches relatively well. Buttons are well placed, although there is one to let the flash up, meaning you better remember to release it on a dark shot, because it doesn't automatically. Lens cap is basic, you might have to finagle to get it on. The hand hold is rubberish, very nice to your hand and your shot. Tech: You can choose the type of batteries you put in in setting for better efficiency. Zoom in two places is a little overkill for me, but some may like it. Stereo mikes really don't make to much of a difference considering they are an inch from each other. Buttons are basic, you will recognize the symbols from your first digital camera. Screen is great quality with what looks like a high ppi, size is just right. Shooting: Simple as ever if you want to take a picture, no settings, no filters, auto everything. It's called auto mode, and it's for the people who just don't care and want a good quality pic. But oh you can do so much more! Straight up modes also include portrait (recognizing faces), scene (I'll get into that later), and easy auto, where it picks a scene for you. Scenes: Very good ones to pick from, most have special things about them such as; in sports mode, it takes three, food mode you change the tint. Panorama assist is dreary along with it's brother, 3D. On both, when you take a picture, it shows the out line of the edge of it that you have to line up with your surrounds, which isn't as easy as it sounds. UI and Settings: Hit that little menu button and it will take you to different settings depending on the mode you were in. Some are obvious, white balance, megapixel count, ISO, filters, and how many shots to take on a click. But that's just the shooting menu. When you cruise onto movie menu from the side, again, even easier than shooting. Go to set up and you open a big can of worms. Anything you possible want to change about the camera is found on three pages of options. Those intimidated by technology are warned to leave them be. Those who like cameras, dive on in. I recommend going over every setting and figuring out what it does, so in the future you know. Things like Eye-Fi upload, vibration reduction, and motion detection are wonderful. Overall the UI is straightforward as long as you know what it all means, as navigation is easy. Recommend for anybody

I really needed a new camera. The last two camera products I used were the Canon a560 and a Kodak c833. They both got the job done, but they were too easy to use, and I needed something more complex. So, as a family, we decided to buy this camera. To start, I'd like to thank amazon for being so quick. We were expecting the camera in 5-8 days, but we got it in three days only. The packaging wasn't fancy, nor ugly. The contents were the camera(duh), avi output for the camera, free batteries(trial use only), usb cable to plug the camera into our computer, and a nice software dvd. Now for the camera, all I can say is you get than what you pay for. The camera did come with unnecessary features, like 3D pictures, and excluded features like shutter speed control, but for $200, what do you expect? The zoom is wonderful if your subject is still and your hands are still. The auto-focus not fast at all, so your subject should be still for at least 3 seconds to get a zoom photo. The pictures without zoom are wonderful. The camera can detect faces very quickly, you have the option to control iso speed(up to 1600), and the flash is just perfect. I haven't tested much outdoor photography, so you can look at pictures on youtube maybe. Now for the video. The video on 480P is normal, and to tell the truth, the 720P is stunning on the screen. It's nearly professional, spider-man looking video. On the computer, the video looks how it does on youtube(if unedited). The most annoying thing you can do during video is zoom. The noise it makes is just terrible. It sounds like a dying cat trying to screech. But the auto-focus does look nice. Another thing that I don't like about this camera is the feel of it. It feels like a strong plastic bottle. It makes me disgusted, but it's just something you have to get over. Last of the cons, there is no optical viewfinder. This is a huge factor of buying a camera, because I grew up using optical viewfinders, and not using one makes me more shaky while taking pictures, and makes me uncomfortable but this is also just something else you have to get over So, to sum it all up, this camera is worth the money you pay for it. It takes clear picture on full zoom if your willing to be patient, the video is exceptional, the auto picture is very, very nice, the manual photos are also very nice, and the camera is light. Overall, I would most definitely recommend this camera to a friend! Update on 10/06/2012: I've been getting into bird photography in the morning the past few days, and the photos are excellent! The average shutter speed was 1/30 with iso on 200, and the pictures were better than I'd expect. It's clear that the birds are birds and not trash, the pictures aren't blurry at all, and even for birds from 20-30 feet away, it seemed they were only 5 feet away! Another point for Nikon! Update on 10/10/2012: Because of my great experience with this camera at home, I decided to entrust it with a 3-day vacation to Sedona. I've never been more happy with a photo in my life! My hands are not of the most stable, but this camera handled my shaky hands amazingly at full zoom on small wildlife like nothing. I got pictures of Golfers 30-50 feet with the support of a circular bar and my hands, stunning professional-like photos of my parents and the family, very memorable photos of Tuzigoot and Slide Rock, and exceptional video quality(with the exception of the zoom while videotaping). This camera highly surpassed my expectations of it's use, and I can say I'd be very proud to use it in almost any situation. Thank you Nikon!

**updating a year later and changing from 4 stars to 3 stars. This camera is extremely slow when taking pictures. You also have to hold down the button in a particular way or it will not take the photo at all. The lens cap is still an issue for me. There is an error message and delay in turning on if you forget to remove the lens before turning camera on. This I do often, and I knew it was going to my downfall for shooting with this camera. *I have one of the first Coolpix cameras made, but it does not work anymore because of an internal flutter problem (I haven't tried to send it in for repair). It turns on, but I only get a screen that looks like lines jumping vertically. With that being said, it took the most amazing pictures in all types of lighting: concerts, fireworks, Christmas lights, laser lighting, etc. I really used and abused that camera. I am disappointed in Nikon because it appears that the cameras are being made cheaper and of lesser quality than in the past. love this camera. i am giving it 4 stars though because the time it takes to take a photo is annoying. It is especially frustrating if you are taking pictures of babies or nature. the blue color is beautiful. the zoom feature is great. make sure you take the lens cap off before turning on the camera. I definitely see this as the future downfall of this camera for myself. i have always turned on my cameras before removing the lens to get ready. You will get an error message and instruction to turn off your camera and then remove lens cap if you accidentally do this. the black and white scene setting takes great photos.

I was simply looking for a camera to take good photographs and maybe even try my hand at some professional photography in the near future. This camera is a great product to start with. it does not shoot in RAW but the image quality is just as great to work with. The learning curve is pretty low, which is a good thing, there are many preset features for different shooting situations, from all-purpose shots to sports to fireworks/night shots. As I mentioned the fireworks mode, it would be good for me to note on this particular setting the camera's shutter speed is at its max of 4 seconds. I make mention of this because I know some folks may want to try their hands at light painting. Four seconds is more than enough to get a word or 2 in and with enough practice and experience you will be creating perfect light painted images each time. It must also be noted that for optimum performance natural daylight is the best time to take photographs with this camera, the images are shot at its best, crisp and clear. What I like the most is the ability to get just the right amount DOF needed for commercial product photography. Once you have proper lighting and a tripod or anything that will keep your camera steady, most if not all your shots will be near perfect. For what it's worth, the 720p recording works fine. My only gripe with it, is that the autofocus does not work on items that are within 1-5cm of the lens. I guess I may need to try a macro lens and see if it would make a difference. Other than that, for general video recording it works just fine. All in all, for it's price and size the COOLPIX L810 is worth the buy. It will be the perfect gift for any budding photographer.

I received this camera less than 24 hours ago.. I have fairly extensive experience with photography - mostly film. Familiarizing myself with this Nikon (L810) and doing a fair number of shots encourages me. It is obviously a 'consumer grade' item but performs very well. It is quick to start - easy to learn and use, fairly intuitive. It shoots quickly and with very little lag. The photos taken are of very good quality thus far. Batteries (AA) are easily available. With a 16 gig card it seems to have a large capacity even at the highest resolution set. All the settings available seem to cover most situations without enduring a very high learning curve. It kind of looks/feels like an SLR - but is small and light. The lens works quite well and provides wonderful telephoto power. The macro setting is very friendly and effective. I've yet to find anything to complain about. It is a VERY good value considering the low price and high performance. I'd have liked to had geo catching but the provided software is an acceptable 'work-around' for that. I've yet to use the video - but not a big requirement for me. If its half the still performance I'll be satisfied. It's a Nikon - not a Leica - but very-very good considering the price. Only time will answer reliability concerns... but while feeling a tad flimsy - not a big annoyance. It feels good in the hand. Small in size and nice light weight. I'd strongly recommend it. The only problem I anticipate is a confusion potential when inserting batteries as far as polarity. There are no discernible makings to know which way to put them in unless you check the manual. A small solve-able issue... but a foolish over sight I thought. A great value!!

This is a great camera for those just attempting to get into photography. I'm no expert by any means, but I feel like this is a great product for the price and for kind of a step between ye average point-and-shoot and a DSLR. I'm not ready to make the jump to DSLR yet, but this camera is certainly what I've been looking for. It is not exactly a point-and-shoot camera, and I think that's something that prospective buyers should know for sure. I read some reviews about how blurry some pictures have come out because the focus takes a bit to become clear. That would be because, again, it is not just a point-and-shoot. You have to spend some time with it to get comfortable using the different settings. Using the camera in "easy auto" mode is probably the best for someone looking for point-and-shoot capabilities, but if you want this camera to produce the best pictures it can, you definitely have to play around with the settings and everything to find what works in which situations. But really, it is an excellent camera for the price (much cheaper from Amazon than from Walmart or Best Buy, or anywhere else you may find it). The battery life is pretty excellent. I used the batteries that came with the camera for several days before they died, but I purchased a pack of rechargeables specifically for camera usage. I would totally recommend this camera to someone looking for a step up from the average point-and-shoot, but not entirely a professional grade camera. I haven't had any bad issues so far.

This was a replacement camera for my 12 year old and ailing Olympus 5060wz camera. This camera was a great price for the features it comes with and even though it does have some weaknesses to it, like the slow focusing, weak flash, way to touchy zoom, it still produces great photo's for this type of camera without breaking the bank. If you are an avid photographer, used to higher end performance, this model will be a disappointment to you!! For myself, even having been an avid photographer since my early teens and my father being a Professional Photographer, this camera suites my current day needs for photo taking, so, my drawback list isn't an issue for me. I like it and it's functionality and ease of use. Cheers, Pierre.

I have owned 2 of these cameras mainly for it's smaller compact size & for quick photos & videos. No issues with this camera at all.

Consomme trop de batteries.