COOLPIX L610 Digital Camera (Black) (Old Model)

As an experienced DSLR photographer, I needed a small and simple do-all vacation camera that would work for both my wife and me. The Nikon L610 is a superb camera for its size and price and meets our needs perfectly. I suspect it will probably meet the needs of most casual photographers. The quality Nikkor glass lens provides crisp and accurate images. The 14x zoom range is appropriate for most hand-held shots. The manual pop-up flash has a bit more output than most point & shoots and offers nice illumination. AA alkaline batteries are relatively long lasting (for still photos without flash) and can be purchased easily anywhere in the world. Regarding camera setup, for the vast majority of our photos, I select the AUTO setting and adjust the ISO sensitivity to 125 and simply point and shoot. The photos are very sharp with vivid color and we are pleased with the results nearly every time. For what it's worth, in reading some of the critical reviews on digital cameras, it seems the problems most people have occur in three areas: (1) battery life, (2) memory speed, and (3) user familiarity. Many seasoned photographers know that AA alkaline batteries offer the advantages of reasonably long life, affordability and availability -- especially when traveling overseas. No chargers, no voltage issues, no waiting, just plug & play. For improved performance, I use non-rechargeable Energizer Lithium AA batteries in my L610. These offer hundreds of trouble-free shots and battery life virtually becomes a non-issue (about $6 for a 4-pack on Amazon). As to memory, my choice is the SanDisk Extreme Class 10. The high-speed data transfer rate this memory card offers is particularly important when shooting videos. The current price for a 32GB card is about $30 on Amazon (a 16GB card is about half this price). As to ISO sensitivity, nearly every technical analysis of digital cameras shows image quality noticably degrades at settings above ISO 200 (ironically, similar results occur with film speeds). Unless there is a specific need, such as extremely low light or fast-action photography, lower ISO settings will give most folks much better photos under a broad range of conditions. Lastly, there is a lot of technology packed in these little automatic cameras. Obviously, we are much better off reading the camera user manual and becoming comfortable with the features and functions of these gadgets. As the saying goes, it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

I initially bought this camera to use on my honeymoon, and while the photos are OK, they're not the quality I would expect from Nikon. Trying to get the photo you want with this camera requires taking several shots and deleting most of them. I'm sorely disappointed with this camera, for the reasons many others have mentioned. It eats through batteries (we use rechargable, so it's not so bad, but I wouldn't take this to an event of any sort without a set of backup batteries), the image quality is so-so for a camera of this price, and low-light or motion photography is practically out of the question unless psychedelic-blurry photos are your thing. Overall, is the camera OK? Yes. It's OK. Solid 3.5 stars. Is it worth $150-200? Absolutely not. In fact, I have a Coolpix L14 that I bought in 2009 or so, and while the images are lower resolution than the L610, sometimes the quality is overall more pleasing and prints nicer. The L610 takes lovely photos in direct sunlight, and films well in bright light, too (using a SanDisk Extreme 32GB card). Trying to capture clear photos of motion, pets, babies or almost anything indoors? Better hold REAAAL still, and pray the subject doesn't move. As I have developed a fine tremor, taking a clear shot can be an exercise in futility. I don't personally know what camera to direct you towards, but reconsider this one. It's NOT worth $150-200.

I have had cameras in the past using the usual cartridge, roll film, canister, etc. including 4x5 plate formats, twin lens reflex, SLR, etc., and more recent early digital cameras. The Nikon L610 is the first digital I have owned that feels like a more substantial SLR when holding it. Today, most digital cameras are not much bigger than a pack of cigarettes, and thinner. They are awkward to hold, and if your hands are bigger than medium size, the challenge to keep fingers off of unwanted feature buttons can be daunting. The L610 has what I will call a vertical 'bulge' on the right side, which is perfect for your grip. The shape of the top of the camera is, on first look, very unusual, and then you recognize that it provides some additional ergonomics that make your left hand grip better, and which keeps those errant fingers above the lens, and away from the viewing screen. And when you deploy the flash, the left hand still remains clear. The viewing screen is a terrific 3" wide, which doesn't seem like much, until you compose your photo on it. It is BIG. The top of the camera is super user friendly. The power button is in a perfect location, the shutter is easily found without looking for it every time you take a shot, and the zoom control (part of the shutter assembly) is also 'intuitive'. Menu features are very simple to use, even if you don't bother to read any of the instructions that come with the camera. I have not used the movie feature extensively yet, so I have some learning to catch up on with respect to the sound recording level adjustments. However, the video was simple to use, and playback likewise was intuitive. By the way, we shot inside with available light, and the quality of the video was excellent! We really didn't take the time to do a decent test of the sound level, but what we did record was clear. The package comes with a USB cable, and a video cable, a camera strap, and two AA batteries. There are plenty of accessories available, but I limited myself to a 16 GB SDHC card, a Case Logic camera case, and a set of four rechargeable batteries with charger. The price of the camera, plus the noted accessories was a total of nine dollars more than the lowest price for just the camera that I found anywhere else. One final note: Nikon engineers have a home run with this camera. The ergonomics are first rate - for you Industrial Engineers out there, this model is a case study in human factors engineering. For the rest of us, this camera is at the perfect price point for new digital camera users, and is a welcome high quality addition to the more seasoned user's camera bag.

With all the four and five star reviews, I was expecting something nice. This camera takes pictures, and that's about all the good I can say about it, so far. This is a preliminary rundown of the faults I've found since getting the camera yesterday: The AF hunts constantly, even if the camera is locked in a tripod and pointed in exactly the same place. Textured surfaces give it fits. The only thing you can control manually is the ISO, and anything below ISO 400 breaks down quickly, with ISO 1600 and 3200 being pretty much unusable, to the point that with ISO set to auto, the camera will never select ISO 3200 itself(then why even have it?). Even at ISO 800, pixel peeping reveals noise that would make the photo unusable for large prints. The zoom does not tell you what 35mm equivalent you're shooting at, which is a shame, since that is math that the camera is already doing, as it has a zoom percentage bar.(4.5mm=0/63mm=100) The lens is also somewhat slow(dark) with a max aperture of f3.3 and a aperture of around f5 when zoomed to roughly 50mm. Indoor work without the flash isn't going to happen. the zoom control is finicky, and zooming destroys any semblance of focus you may have had. The lens also noticeably lags behind the control input. In full auto mode (Easy Auto) the camera has an annoying habit of raising the ISO before slowing the shutter, which means that a shot that could have been usable, like a landscape on a cloudy day, is rendered useless by the camera prioritizing shutter speed and jacking the ISO into the unusable range. I've not shot with it in landscape mode, as I just received the camera yesterday, and have done most of my shooting so far in either "Auto" or "Easy Auto" mode, so hopefully that mode will cure the problem. Moving objects are an impossibility, especially without the flash. Even aimed directly at a 75 watt light bulb, shutter speed never rose above 1/320. In a very well lit room(3 75 watt bulbs, with computer and TV throwing extra light) the best shutter speed that could be achieved was 1/25 at ISO 400. The noise the camera produces in color is blotchy and very unpleasant. Changing to black and white seems to smooth the worst of it, somewhat reducing the effect. The best thing I've found to do with this is put it in black and white, keep the ISO at 200 and shoot things that don't move. I'll spend some more time with the camera and see if I need to reevaluate my opinions as I become more familiar with it. All in all, I'm a little disappointed that Nikon released this, as the same size sensor with 12 megapixels would have been more usable overall. I also understand why they did, as the consumer market is driven by the number of pixels and things light low-light performance and manual control are things that only photo geeks like me think about. Will I be returning/selling this? No. I bought it for a specific task, which requires a camera I don't care much about. While loosing something I paid 65 dollars for would suck, it would hurt a lot less to loose this than my DSLR or good compact. Would I recommend this? No. There are better performing cameras out there, for nearly the same money. Just remember that megapixels aren't everything!

I bought this camera a while ago and finally decided to give a review. I had an older coolpix but when I let my daughter borrow it, she broke the battery door when she fell on it ice skating. The camera is pretty easy to use, takes really clear pictures that you can blow up without my distortion. Nice contrast and pretty good color too. The zoom is 14x but when you zoom past the optical zoom section, its a digital zoom meaning it will just enlarge the image taking a pretty crappy picture. The image stabilizer works great except when the winds blowing! I'm used to a full sized camera, so using this tiny thing in the wind is impossible for me. I use this camera when I go hiking and its perfect for that! I used to take my regular camera (Nikon D300) with lenses, tripod, flash etc and by time I hiked to my destination, I'm too tired to take any pictures. Switching to the coolpix is the perfect solution. Fact that it uses AA batteries means I can shoot all day without draining the batteries. I carry 8 AA in my camera pouch for my longer hikes. I love taking video with this camera too. I carry a gopro and my Nikon and find that the Nikon's video is 100x sharper then the gopros! The image stabilizer makes my videos nice and steady, not shaky like the gopro. now for the negatives: Battery life is terrible!! This camera is great for taking pictures, the batteries last long long time but if you shoot video with it, make sure you invest in a giant pack of AA batteries!! This camera will drain a pair of new AA batteries in less then 10 minutes of shooting!! BUT, the batteries aren't fully dead, the camera I think overheats them (they are hot when you take them out) and the fail, Swap them out, let them cool down and you can get a few more minutes of video out of them. Video: When I shoot video and I'm doing a longer shot, the camera will have a frame thats half black. You can see when it happens thru the screen. When you edit the footage, you'll have to chop that frame out. Sometimes its noticeable, sometimes not.. And when you're filming and zoom in, its NOT an optical zoom! Its a digital zoom meaning the image is just enlarged via software so it gets grainy pretty quickly. And you can't cant zoom very far in either and it doesnt zoom very fast. Another problem is you can't zoom in, film then zoom out (shoot from long shot to wide angle). overall its a wonderful camera exceeding my expectations and would gladly buy it again. Even with the few flaws, I love it and will use it till it falls apart.

I have owned a coolpix L 100 which is a good camera but could not change ISO settings so you had put in shooting mode with low ISO to get really good pictures from it. But they got it right with the coolpix l610 ISO settings are auto or you can manually change ISO for whatever your needs are. This camera takes 2AA batteries alkaline, lithium, or rechargeable. Only downside is battery not as good as my coolpix l 100 but that did take 4 AA maybe why it had better battery life but still a great camera great pictures. Consumer Electronic City is the seller and they delivered camera fast and everything was as they said thank you

Yikes...the batteries fall out. The battery door will not stay closed/locked so have had to use duct tape to keep the batteries in the camera. I have had several Coolpix cameras. As for photos, this model is a good camera for casual user, to take a few photos of the grandkids, and small enough for a pocket. However, If you take lots of photos, upgrade to another model. The zoom tends to give fuzzy photos and the camera's response time is slow (for zooming, between taking photos, etc.).

This is a great mid sized point and shoot camera. It has a nice sized lens so you can take close ups but shouldn't need a tri pod much. There is not much you can do for experimenting with exposure. You can play with colors some with the black and white feature where you can add just one color. There is a rainbow of colors to choise from. This is the feature I bought the camera for. The camera uses two AA batteries and is a bit bigger than most point and shoots. It fits nice in my hand and feels solid. I bought a used model with no manual and it only took a couple minutes to get used to the functions. Anyone that gets one of these with a manual should be able to understand the camera very quickly. A good camera worth buying.