The Nikon Coolpix L3 is the midrange member of Nikon's simple, inexpensive L-series digital cameras. The 5-megapixel camera sports a 3x optical zoom lens, a handful of useful scene modes, and a small price tag. It's not the fastest, sharpest, or sleekest digital camera on the market, but this little shooter produces good-looking images for the price.
Design
Compact and light, the L3's silver plastic body is fairly stylish for such a low-end camera, though at 26mm thick, the Coolpix L3 is a little too fat to slip into your jeans. Fortunately, its light frame weighs 120 grams (without SD card and batteries), making it comfortable to carry in a jacket or purse.
Controls are simple and direct, though thicker-fingered users may find the recessed buttons awkward. The top side of the camera holds a large, round shutter-release button and a smaller, rectangular power button. The latter isn't as responsive as we would've liked, and it needs to be held down for a few seconds to start up the camera.
The back panel holds the rest of the camera's controls. A small zoom rocker; a mode slider for switching between automatic, scene-assist, and movie modes; a four-way-plus-OK control pad; and menu, review, and trash buttons sit next to the Coolpix L3's two-inch LCD. The control pad lets you navigate the camera's menu system or directly access the flash, timer, and macro modes.
Features
Like most low-end, budget digital cameras, the Coolpix L3 is light on features. ISO sensitivity is set automatically, although white balance and exposure compensation give the user some degree of control over images. Nikon somewhat makes up for the lack of manual controls with an ample assortment of 15 scene presets that configure the camera to shoot under special situations, such as in a museum or against a backlight. The movie mode shoots VGA clips with sound at 30fps. This is a significant step up from its little brother, the Coolpix L4, which can shoot only silent movies at 15fps. While the Coolpix L3 doesn't have an image-stabilisation mode, it does detect possible blurry photos as you take them based on a handful of camera settings, such as shutter speed, and prompts you to save or delete the questionable image.
Performance
Performance was a bit sluggish, but in good lighting, the Coolpix L3 does a decent job. After an irritating 4.5 seconds to start up, the L3 can snap off an image every 2.1 seconds. With the onboard flash enabled, the rate bumps up to a painful seven seconds. Shutter lag is a middling 1.2 seconds in good lighting but a disappointing two seconds in dim conditions. We managed to take 10 shots in 7.6 seconds in burst mode, getting a frame rate of a little more than 1.3fps.
Image Quality
Images from the Coolpix L3 generally came out sharp but were hindered by some annoying qualities. For example, we noticed vignetting -- the darkening of corners of the image -- in our test shots, and high-contrast edges developed a slight purple fringe. Despite these image problems, details were rendered crisply, and colours were reproduced accurately, if slightly cool.
Despite a limited feature set and sluggish performance, the Nikon Coolpix L3 produces good-looking images, especially for a camera in its price range. If you're on a budget and don't need a lot of options, the Coolpix L3 might be a good choice for you.
Like this article? Click below to send it to your mobile for free!
nikon camera
24/05/2008, 03:10 PM
rating
9/10
I read this article and also see these comments on this camera. But i don't believe because i use this camera very well and this camera has very great performance. Attractive design. Great zoom with solid image quality. Flexible and user-customisable ISO settings.
Pros: Great attractive camera with fast features.
Cons: Nothing.
Report offensive comment
sharok
21/03/2007, 12:30 AM
rating
3/10
Why Nikon dosen't pay people's money back or change this "Very Bad Indoor"camera for buyers?All faces turn burnt in my L3,when shoot in flashlight.
Report offensive comment
angelfehr
02/01/2007, 02:11 PM
rating
3/10
After my Nikon Coolpix 4100 died, I received the L3 from the company as the replacement under warranty. I was pleased to get a 5MP to replace my 4MP camera, but since have been quite unhappy with the camera, as compared to the 4100 I had researched and purchased.
Pros: I like the small size, the viewing screen is clear, and it is easy to use. It uses AA batteries which makes it easy to continue to use even when the included rechargeables are charging.
Cons: The flash is terrible - I think too weak as most indoor shots turn out too dark. If I turn the flash off, the shutter speed is too slow and the picture is blurred.
Using the indoor/party scene mode doesn't help either - then the pictures are dark AND blurred.
It isn't the fastest camera but I wouldn't care if I could just get good colour quality & crisp photos in my indoor shots.
Report offensive comment