Nikon COOLPIX L830 16 MP CMOS Digital Camera with 34x Zoom NIKKOR Lens and Full 1080p HD Video

I consider myself an avid hobbyist photographer. I also take photos for my blog, which I am establishing as part of my profession as a writer and researcher. For my purposes, this camera is perfect. It feels great in my hands and the zoom lens allows me to obtain a sharp focus on subjects even across a large lecture hall.I'm still learning all the features. The pocket guide is helpful, but I would recommend downloading the manual. A very helpful review by another purchaser includes the download link to the PDF document.Several reviews mention the lack of a viewfinder as a detriment. I've been taking pictures with my iPhone so the lack of a viewfinder is of no consequence to me. Plus the ability to add a memory card (which is really a necessity) means I can take as many photos as I want without worrying about storage space, which has become an issue with my iPhone. Your mileage may vary.I also like the option to change shutter speeds on this camera. Before I got my iPhone I was using a 5 MP Kodak EasyShare camera. It takes decent pictures but the shutter speed is so S-L-O-W I lost many great pictures. And I'm not talking about fast action shots,either, but rather expression shots from a speaker. Frustrating!Battery life seems OK if you use lithium batteries as opposed to regular dry cell batteries. Using lithium batteries is convenient if you're traveling, especially abroad, but you can also use rechargeable batteries with an external recharger. If you're bothered by the prospect of discarding batteries and having them wind up in landfills (I was), there are often local recycling facilities available (http://www.earth911.com/recycling-guide/how-to-recycle-single-use-batteries/), or you can recycle your batteries by mail for no charge (http://batterycenter.com/battery-recycling-program.html), These options provide the ability to discard spent batteries as responsibly as possible.Finally, I really like that this looks like a real camera, rather than a pocket camera. It may seem superficial, but I've already noticed that I am treated like more of a professional when I attend events as press when I'm using this camera as opposed to my iPhone. The red color is also gorgeous, and yes, I've received favorable comments for this, too.If you're a pro photographer, spend the money to get a top of the line camera. It's an investment. For me, this step up from a pocket point and shoot model was just the ticket. Very glad I made this purchase.

When I was getting ready to head out on a recent trip to the stunning Central America country of Belize, I knew that I would need something more to take pictures than merely the iPhone I carry in my pocket. I had some big plans to fulfill a life-long dream of traipsing through the Belizean jungle and taking pictures of the animals I found there. Since I'd had a (much) older style of Nikon COOLPIX previously, I made sure to include this version in my research pool.After a significant amount of research, I came back to the L830. It seemed like a good deal. It supposedly had the features I needed, but I was hesitant to pull the trigger on the purchase. It just looked like the price was too low. I didn't want to get snowballed by the low price into buying something I would regret as soon as I was out into the jungle. I was especially worried that the listed 34x zoom would crap out and leave me with nothing but larger, fuzzy shapes instead of the crisp, clear, high-definition pictures and videos I wanted to bring back.I needn't have worried. This camera is AMAZING. Seriously, I took pictures and video that would have been bragged about had they been taken by a professional wildlife photographer. The high-definition pictures showed every hair on the howler monkeys' bodies and every tooth protruding from the mouths of the crocodiles hiding away in the reeds at the edges of the Monkey River in south Belize. The 16MP sensor in the camera performed stunningly well in both the bright light of the pristine Belizean beach and in the dim mist surrounding the Mayan ruins at sunrise and the darkened interior of the caves we explored.Not only was the output magnificent, the controls were so very easy and intuitive, I barely had to read the instruction manual. Still, I did read that manual and found it to be clean, concise and packed with good tips on how to use the L830 up to its potential. There really was no downside to my purchase of this camera. I plan on using this for a long, long time.Definitely worth my money and yours.