Nikon CoolPix L110
Jayesh Limaye, Aug 18, 2010 1707 hrs IST
An affordable high-zoom digicam with decent image quality
Good color reproduction and image quality, good 720p video recording, superb LCD display, 15x optical zoom, hybrid image stabilization, price
Very few manual options, noise at ISO400 and higher
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Design & Construction
The Nikon CoolPix L110 sports a design similar to many of Nikon's SLR cameras and has the similar ergonomics as well. The body is bulky and feels solid. Built for right-handed people as most digicams, there is a rubber grip to get a firm hold on the camera. In fact, this grip is larger than that of the more expensive Nikon CoolPix P100. This thickness is not unusual since the camera is powered by four AA batteries, which are inside this portion. The camera is not very light, but it is not too heavy either and this is actually useful as it provides some stability when shooting handheld. Neck strap attachments are available on either side. The dimensions of the camera are 108.9 x 74.3 x 78.1mm, while its weight is around 406 grams.
The lens used in this camera is the Nikkor wide angle 5.0-75.0 mm 1:3.5-5.4 which effectively has a focal range of 28 to 420 mm. The lens does not come with an automatic lens cover, but a manual cover is provided to protect the lens when the camera is not in use. There is a flash on top of the lens, which pops out, though it has to be done manually. Just to the left of the lens is the focusing assist lamp, which helps the autofocus mechanism of the camera.
When you take a look at the top of the camera, you can see that just near the flash there is a stereo microphone to record stereoscopic audio. The placement at the top means that audio is recorded well no matter which direction the sound is coming from. However, the drawback is that you cannot have directional audio recording. Also, being placed so close to each other, we are skeptical about how effectively they can really record stereo sound.
The sieve you can see near the centre is the speaker, which is useful when you play back the video recorded by the camera. A nicely recessed power button is placed next to the speaker and has a green LED at the centre, which glows when the camera is switched on. The right portion, which is held by the hand, has a zoom rocker with the trigger button at the centre. The zoom rocker is used to zoom in and out, the subject being shot or filmed.
The back portion is dominated by the large 3-inch LCD display. This display is unique from the cameras we have reviewed thus far, as it has 460k dots, which are more than twice those available in competing models or even more expensive models for that matter. The advantage is visible right away as the images look a lot better due to the higher resolution display. The display is visible even outdoors under direct sunlight. This is, of course, necessary for this camera as it lacks any other viewfinder.
The red button near the top right is the dedicated video recording button. Just beside it is the thumb rest, which is a rather peculiar but useful feature, not found on most other cameras. The button with a green camera icon or the Scene button lets you choose different scene modes to shoot according to your choice. The playback button to its right lets you view the recorded content. A jog-dial is present below these two buttons which lets you toggle flash, macro mode, delayed shutter release or adjust EV value, when clicked in one of the four different directions. The OK button at the centre confirms the setting.
You can also sift through your recorded content using this jog dial. The menu button near the bottom right lets you access the different functions of the camera, such as setting the image/video resolution, image stabilization, white balance, etc. As is self-explanatory, the button with the garbage bin icon is used to delete recorded content from the camera.
We found it odd that the scene selection was available only after going inside the menus of the Scene button, as it is a standard practice to provide a dial to achieve the same in a faster and convenient way. The placement of all the buttons is good and they are placed such that you can easily operate the camera with just your right hand even while holding it in the same hand using your thumb or index finger.
The battery compartment can be accessed at the bottom of the camera and the hinge and door mechanism are quite strong. The memory card slot is also present here. The compartment houses four AA batteries, which incidentally add to the weight and bulk of the camera. A longer lasting Lithium battery would have not only reduced the weight, but also the bulk of this camera. There is also a threaded tripod socket to mount the camera on a tripod for steadier photo shoots. This is made of metal and is therefore made to last. The problem here is that you cannot access the memory card when the camera is mounted on a tripod because the battery compartment lid cannot be opened. But this is not really an issue as you may seldom use a tripod with this point-and-shoot camera.
Video out is available in the form of a mini-HDMI and configured to be watched up to a resolution of 1920x1080.
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