Customer Reviews on Amazon.com

1. 775 of 786 people found this review helpful

   on  Amazon.com

   By Steven A. Rosenow

   By far the best choice! 21 April, 2011

   For anyone looking at getting a decent, mid-level point-and-shoot with the look and feel of an SLR, the Nikon Coolpix L120 is by far the best choice, even with its few shortcomings!
   
   As a semi-professional photographer who primarily shoots film (but is slowly converting to digital) I always have kept at least a digital P&S camera with me to get those "quick" shots that I can't get because of the time involved in setting up the shot in an SLR. My previous camera, the Minolta DiMAGE S414 had been getting long in the tooth and was starting to glitch. A friend gave me his Nikon Coolpix E5200 and I was immediately hooked on Nikon's legendary imaging quality. However, the 5-megapixel sensor in the Coolpix E5200 was short of what I truly needed, so the same friend who gave me the E5200 also let me try out his Coolpix L110. I was blown away with how well the photos turned out! In my quest to buy my own Coolpix L110, I had heard back in February that Nikon was releasing the Coolpix L120, with a 2-megapixel increase over the L110 and several new features. Having read the first reviews of the camera, it seemed like a sure winner, so I took the plunge on March 14th of this year and secured one for myself.
   
   Instantly, I was hooked on it. Right out of the box, this camera is a winner! The settings, user-interface, the sleek design and the nifty zoom selector on the lens barrel makes this camera worth every penny. In the short time I have owned it, I have already taken approximately 1,200 photos with it; everything from nature, bridges, even the sun! (with a solar filter, of course). And with its fantastic 21x optical zoom, I can photograph a car at more than a quarter-mile away and be able to clearly read its license plate!
   
   The only drawback I can see is that Nikon has left out the ability to manually control your aperture and shutter speed settings (instead, leaving that for the Nikon Coolpix P500 which I was unimpressed with). However, those small shortcomings are overwhelmed by the simplicity this camera offers. Itching to get into Panorama photography, without the need for an expensive SLR with built-in panorama stitching? Consider it done! With this camera's Panorama-Assist feature (which overlays a small portion of the image onto the screen for the next shot to be composed), and the supplied Arcsoft Panorama Maker Pro 5 software, Panorama-style photography has never been more affordable. Looking to enhance photos with HDR-like color clarity? Consider that done, also! This camera supplies with it built-in D-Lighting that preserves the color intensity of an image yet bringing out the details otherwise hidden within dark shadows. Also supplied, incase you don't want to edit your images in-camera, is Nikon's own View NX-2, which not only includes D-lighting enhancement filters, it also offers a host of other image-editing capabilities!
   
   In short, this camera has the competition beat! I would recommend it (I have the black version) over anything else.
2. 202 of 206 people found this review helpful

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   By A. Oertel

   A solid performer with some minor quirks 26 April, 2011

   I purchased the Nikon L120 about a month ago in preparation for a trip we were taking to California. Although I was impressed by several of the features I read about, such as the extended zoom and pseudo-dslr design, I still had some concerns about a couple of features such as the complaints about focusing and lack of manual controls. After shooting about 200 pictures, I am happy to report that I will be keeping the camera.
   
   I'll address my concerns about the reported concerns others expressed. First was the concern over focus. At one point, the camera was having trouble focusing on a shot of the sea and horizon. Everything was blurry and only items within 20-30 ft. would be in focus. I tried several different modes, including landscape and beach, but it did not cure the problem. At that point, I decided to just turn it off and turn it back on and that solved the problem. There must be some issue with the algorithms which pick certain items to focus, but the old "off and on" trick fixed it and I had no other problems, even under similar circumstances. The other issue was of the lack of manual modes. Except for the focus issue, I had no problems with exposure under any conditions, inside, outside, bright lights, dim, flash, portraits, etc.
   
   Now onto the good things. Battery life is very good. I took over 200 pictures with regular alkaline batteries. Although I had lithium batteries ready to go, it has not been necessary to use them. With battery life that good and the fact that it uses 4 AA batteries, I don't think I"ll go to the expense of lithium batteries.
   
   I really like the form factor of the camera. The bulge on the right side is very handy and you can hold it securely with only a couple of fingers. Taking the lense cap on and off is annoying, especially when you forget to take it off after you power it up. However, it's no more annoying than it was in the old days of analog cameras. Also with the plain old lense cap, there are no concerns with sand jamming up exterior shutters. The camera is too large to fit in your shirt pocket but not too big to fit in a coat pocket or purse/backpack. I think it's an acceptable compromise on size. Zoom is excellent. Seals which were several hundred yards away looked like we were right on top of them. I did not experience any shutter lag, although I have not used the camera in burst or sports mode yet. Video mode is about what you would expect for a hand held camera. OK, not great, but works well enough for that quick video when you need more than a still camera.
   
   To sum it up, I like the battery life, picture quality, good assortment of modes, adequate flash range and fantastic zoom. The camera definitely has a few quirks but ones I decided I can live with. I give it a solid 9 out of 10.
3. 503 of 535 people found this review helpful

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   By Keith in Dallas

   Loved it - but returned it 26 April, 2011

   Bought this camera and loved the ease of operation and picture quality. I also have the Panasonic DMC-FZ35, which is VERY complicated. I needed something simpler. I learned to use this Nikon after only 1 hour of reading the manual (compared to months still trying to figure out the Panasonic). Was easy getting great pictures. Smile detection and Pet mode worked terrific. Unfortunately, my primary reason for this type of hybrid camera, is for the convenience of camera and HD video in one unit. Video quality on this unit is well below average. I compared it to my Panasonic - no comparison. The Panasonic's video was smooth and clear, the Nikon - grainy and jerky. I really wanted to keep this camera for it's ease of use and picture quality, but the poor video quality ultimately caused me to return it. Until I find an easy to use camera with good picture and video, I'll continue with the months of trying to figure out the Panasonic.
   
   PROS: Ease of use, great pictures, smile detection, pet mode, easy to understand manual, price.
   CONS: Poor video quality
4. 226 of 241 people found this review helpful

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   By Jgoyle

   Finally a digital designed like a 35mm 28 March, 2011

   I recieved this camera just a couple of days ago. Wow what a fantastic surprise! My two previous digital cameras were a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ10 which I purchased in 2009 for a bicycle tour. While the camera had a lot of good things going for it a couple of problems stuck out which I could not tolerate. 1st and foremost it was very poor in bad lighting and the flash did not compinsate. 2nd..it really needed to be held steady any movement created a blurry picture. Declining light only made the issue worse. My other digital is a Nikon Coolpix 4300 which I bought 6 or 7 years ago to handle an online website. I love that camera, great pictures. good in bad light, not much zoom capability but could deal with that. The big problem...It was designed with an odd memory card which is hard to get and did not hold as much as comparable cameras today. I still use this camera for my website.
   
   Good luck with Nikon and poor luck with Lumix I decided to chance another Nikon. Wow again..quick focus, Holds a common SD card, great zoom capabilities, and best of all it opperates very well in poor light conditions, in fact I forced a poor light condition under my desk with no flash and worked beyond belief! Add to those good reviews the fact they have redesigned the zoom key and placed it on the left side on the lens (can you say 35mm like)long, long, long over due.
   
   If your thinking about one...make the plunge. A+A+A+
5. 117 of 124 people found this review helpful

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   By deniz

   Just love it! 23 March, 2011

   I couldn't wait until this camera was released and it was worth the wait! I love how it looks, the bronze is beautiful, and it sits well in my hand. It felt comfortable from the very first holding. I like how the lens cap attaches--can never get lost, but not in my way either. Easy to use right out of the box. After reading the comments on it's predecessor the Nikon L100 and L110, I did two things immediately. I used fresh lithium batteries instead of the ones it came with, and I, after a few too many blurry photos, upped the ISO. The photos are fabulous so far! I am enjoyed playing around with the black and white setting and got some stunning results, just from sitting in my chair indoors, focising on ordinary items and my dog in my living room! I'm having fun experimenting with the different settings in the menu and recently took some very interesting night shots on my street. Macro is stunning. I found some great cases at Target and Walmart, but the one I bought fits so nicely is a small Lowenpro, it was under $20 with room enough for the camera with strap, and a little pouch for an extra set of batteries. I cannot comment on the video, as I have not used this feature yet. I've only had this bronze beauty for two weeks but so far I am very impressed!
6. 67 of 69 people found this review helpful

   on  Amazon.com

   By AK47

   I did my research and very pleased with results. 20 April, 2011

   I took my time, did a big research.
   I've read hundreds of reviews. Bought it yesterday at J&R for $305 after tax.
   I'm very pleased with it, love it (performance, picture and build quality).
   It looks big on a picture, but it's perfect size in reality.
   I was going to spend around $550 but I couldn't find anything matching
   this one in terms of picture quality (I did research on that).
   I was going for Nikon Coolpix P500 but changed my mind because people really unhappy with overall performance.
   Canon G12 and Nikon 9000 have no zoom...
   Same story with all others (Canon, Nikon, Lumix, Sony, FujiFilm).
   Other manufactures I don't even consider in this price range.
   And speaking about CMOS sensors advantage... They are good only in big full size.
   They undeperform in 1/2.3 and even 1/1.7 sises. Fact.
   I can tell this from my own experience with Canon 50D vs Canon SX1.
   I'm not a Nikon sales man because I'm a huge fan of Canon (T3i is the best!)
   but this time I'm going for compact one for the beach, rain, snow kind of camera.
   What I was trying to say is that for this money I think it's hell of a camera.
   
   AK47.
7. 90 of 96 people found this review helpful

   on  Amazon.com

   By brenda14

   Nikon Coolpix L120 - poor directions for memory card 4 May, 2011

   I got this camera and rushed out to buy a memory card (PNY), not knowing that this camera is so sensitive that you should only use one of 4 recommended cards. Well, you guessed it, I bought the wrong one, but it had automatically formatted card so no problems to this point.
   
   In the middle of the directions that are on User's Manual CD (but not in the quick start guide) I saw they are recommending different cards -- San Disk, Toshiba, Pansonic & Lexor. Then I buy an extra card (San Disk)for this long trip I'm going on with my new camera. Put this one in the camera to checked it out, and boom! the camera freezes in a loop of trying to format the card.
   
   Nikon technician told me about the camera sensitivity to card when I called...that the wrong card could damage the camera from 1 day to 1 year after loaded. So why wasn't this in BIG RED LETTERS IN THE GUIDE?? Camera can be fixed but not before my big trip, so back it went!
8. 57 of 60 people found this review helpful

   on  Amazon.com

   By Rich K

   EXELLENT CHOICE for an Upscale Point and Shoot Camera. 20 April, 2011

   Although this camera looks like a SLR Camera it is not, it is however an excellent point and shoot camera with some features you would find on a more expensive SLR for quite a bit less money. If you are an amateur photographer with some basic knowledge of photography, this feature rich camera might just be the camera for you.
   
   I was looking for a camera that looked good like a SLR, had a great zoom, fairly easy to use and could get off multiple shots fast and of course produced some good end results. This camera so far has done it all plus some. I did not realize there where so many features on this camera until I put there CD in my PC and downloaded all there material.
   
   Instead of me trying to explain everything about the camera I have found a wonderful United Kingdom web site that has done an excellent extremely detailed review on this camera. It has pages of review on all aspects of it plus photos and video taken with this camera. Much more thorough than I could ever be. Just go to " photographyblog.com " and in there review section type in Nikon Coolpix L120 Camera for there review.
   
   I put some zoom photos that I took on the product page. These where taken the 1st day I got the camera. The photo,s of the Loquat tree are the actual 1st and 2nd photos I took with this camera. I will be adding new photos as I get more familiar with it.
   
   So far I like the Nikon L120 very much with a few small exceptions. Not quite a 5 star camera but closer to 5 than 4 stars. So 5 stars it is for now since it is doing most everything I expected it to do when I ordered it.
   
   PS ::: I have the red version and love it. Definitely a sharp, eye catching camera. Also if you have not seen my photos under related images on the product page, take a look I think you will be impressed with the zoom results. Thanx, Rich
9. 31 of 31 people found this review helpful

   on  Amazon.com

   By Janet Tinnin

   COOLPIX is an apt name for this camera 4 May, 2011

   This is an amazing camera. I wasn't sure I was buying the right camera for what I wanted to do but this is just exactly what I wanted. It's amazingly easy to use, takes GREAT pictures, and the video feature is the best. I love how easy it is to record video with this camera. And the mic picks up sound easily. The only thing I would add to this camera is a volume control to boost up the sound when taking video. My husband likes the 20X zoom feature. Brings everything right to you. I would totally recommend this camera to anyone thinking of upgrading their point and shoot. This camera is well worth the price.
10. 70 of 78 people found this review helpful

    on  Amazon.com

    By Tim Durham

    Awesome camera in the point and shoot category - see updates 18 May, 2011

    I would consider myself a very experienced amateur photographer. I owned a D200 with an assortment of lens and I now own the D90 with various lens. I was looking for a high quality PnS camera for my wife and after reading the many many reviews I settled on this one. I am going to write this review now after testing it for a day and I will do like some others and continue to add updates periodically if anything noteworthy comes up. Now for the details. If you are looking for a PnS camera with P,S,A,M controls (aperture, shutter speed, etc) then this camera is NOT for you. This camera is for one group, the folks that want to turn it on, push the button and get a good photo (my wife is in this group!). There is absolutely nothing to learn about the camera. You put in the 4 batteries, the memory card, and turn the power on. Even the most photo ignorant person could figure out the functionality without ever consulting an instruction manual. The "scene selection" button will bring up a menu of 4 main categories. 1. Easy Auto Mode (for those who only want to know the power button and shutter button), 2. A large assortment of scenes (portrait, landscape, Sunset, closeup, and many more), 3. Continuous SPORT mode (I was VERY impressed with this mode), 4. Auto mode (with the ability to change the normal PnS stuff like white balance, ISO, flash, and a few others).
    
    The setting I had to try first was the Sport Continuous mode. I was VERY impressed with this mode. Does it equal my D90 shooting with my 2.8 70-200? no, but the quality is VERY good for a PnS camera. We have the Canon SD700, SD750 and SD800 and none of these would even come close to capturing what the L120 did. To compare image quality I used the L120 and my D90 with a Sigma 18-200 OS. I shot the flowers on a tripod. I shot the little girl handheld. I tried to frame the same shot at the same distance with both cameras. This is not a lab test so it is not perfect. I simply wanted to compare the $900 SLR with a $400 lens to the $275 PnS. The quality of the L120 was pretty amazing. I am going to post the images of both cameras in the product images above so you can see them.
    
    The initial cons I found are: I don't like the SD card and batteries being in the same compartment. The battery door is not very easy to open and close. I also found a few of the buttons a little easy to accidentally push until I get the camera situated in my hand. It is however, very comfortable to hold.
    
    I have not even tried the video and all the various scene selections. I just began snapping pictures and then looked at them in photoshop compared to my D90 photos. I did not have to do alot of testing to see that I was very pleased. I will post more as we use it and I have informative info to add. I can say ditto to the many many positive ratings for this camera.
    
    UPDATE 05/22/11 : I am finding the still the photos to still be outstanding. However, the sport photos have been somewhat of a challenge. In the scene selection you can only choose "Sport Continuous". The part I don't like is that while you hold the button down it will take multiple photos. Then when the shutter button is released, it will complete the "write to card" process (I have ordered a class 10 card to see if that speeds up the write process). In a normal DSLR camera, you would continue to track the person you are photographing and keep shooting if a shot is there. The L120 is used to capture a 3-5 second span and then it will write to the card. While it is writing to the card, you will NOT see anything on the LCD and therefore you would have lost the subject. When using my D90, I would continue to track the person I am photographing and continue to shoot. That is just not feasible with the L120 (i.e. track, or any sport where they are running in a somewhat straight line). You just simply capture a 3-5 second time frame and have multiple shots of that moment in time. The picture quality is not as good when trying to pan the camera and capture a moving target. When I am so used to being able to make all my changes manually, it is somewhat hard for me to use this camera and have no control other than selecting the appropriate scene from the menu. As I stated in my original review, this camera is designed for the aperture ignorant use who simply wants to turn on the camera and take a picture. At my kids' field day, I found out after importing the images that they were all shot in 640 pixels!!! I have no idea how she (my wife) changed that but she or someone did. That rendered the photos useless for print. I fixed it but it was too late. This was only for the "Sport Continuous" mode that I had the resolution problem. When she had "auto" or "portrait" mode selected, the image size was normal. There is a setting in the "Sport Continuous" mode that allows you to change the image resolution for just that mode and anything less than the largest size is going to be too small to print anything decent.
    
    UPDATE 05/25/11: I am very sorry to say that I am growing increasingly unhappy with this camera. I mostly take outside pictures and in good light it has done really well, especially landscape pictures. However in low light I finding that it really stinks. A REALLY major problem is that the flash will NOT auto popup if needed (even if you have it set to "auto"). The flash must be raised manually and then it will fire if you have it set correctly. Most of my initial images were in my normal outdoor setting. But once we began to use the camera indoors at the recent end of the year school functions, it has been a big disappointment. I guess the real question is this. Is there any PnS camera out there that will perform well in relatively low to medium light situations. I am really considering calling Adorama and seeing if this can't be exchanged for something else. I have already mentioned that I don't like the door for the battery and SD card. I hate it even more. It is very hard to open and close. Finding out that it goes thru batteries fairly quickly too. Oh well....