Nikon Coolpix L11 Digital Camera Review

 I went in with a camera my brother gave me.  It had all the screws missing and the memory card didn't work.  So I found out that they don't make the memory card I needed and it was going to cost at min. $65 bucks to fix it.

 This sad little story led me to one of my new best friends.  This camera is easy to use, compact and totally worth the $100 (sale price.)  It is light and has a very handy menu that is easy to read and work through.  It even has a help option right on the camera.  See something on the menu you don't know...just chose the question mark and it tells you what it is.  I don't use this option but I know that with beginners it would be helpful.  It is a scrapbookers DREAM!

Was very pleased with the pictures I was able to take at the Special Olympics program I attended.  I had clear crisp clean action shots that even showed the hair flying around in the air without blur.  I wish I was able to share some of these shots but due to confidentiality of my students I am not.  You will have to take my word for it.

I thought maybe this would be a transition camera because I went to Mexico on a mission trip with a Sr. High Youth Group.  I was afraid that if I took an expensive camera that I might lose it.  I was wrong.  This isn't a transition, only when I am traveling camera.  This is my every day use when I need a camera, camera.  The shots that I have from the trip are just beautiful.  The families we built for.  The youth working and playing, landscape it is all just perfect.  I really believe these pictures do say a thousand words.  There are some pictures below.

This winter was great!  There is a snow setting on the camera and it worked wonderfully.  I have many pictures of my dog playing in the snow.  You will find some of those below too.

List of menu options:

• Sports (great action shots!)
• Night (this is very helpful with all of the camping I do.)
• Party/indoor shots
• Beach/Snow (Living in Washington we have a lot of both.)
• Sunset (this is one I don't use often but again is great to have when at the beach or camping.)
• Dusk/dawn (great to have when camping, hiking.
• Night Landscape (again helpful to have when you are outside a lot!)
• Close up (I use this setting a lot for reviews and pictures of my crafts. This setting makes any close up picture crisp and clear.)
• Museum (I have only used once but museums don't allow flashes so it takes a better picture without a flash at this setting.)
• Fireworks (Need I say more? 4th of July pictures rock!)

Color options are plentiful too:

• Standard color (never use it)
• Vivid color (normal setting)
• Black and White (fun to use but unless I absolutely know I want it black and white I won't use it and will edit it on my computer. Because if you take it in B/W it won't edit to color.)
• Sepia (is the same as black and white. I never use it so I can chose to have just a normal picture or edit it. For those who don't know Sepia is more of a brownish tint but the same idea as black and white.)
• Cyanotype (is the same as black and white but more of a blueish tint. I used it once just to try but it isn't a setting I use.)

This camera also takes videos and good videos at that.  The sound it picks up is good and for such a small mic.  When you play the videos you can hear the sounds and that sound is impressive for such a small item. 

The only downfalls I found are.

• 1. You have to buy a SD memory card because it doesn't have it's own built in memory. They aren't expensive so really it wasn't that big of a deal to me.
• 2. It didn't come with a video cord to connect to a TV but that isn't much of a deal for me because most of my family has a SD Card slot in their TV. But on the other hand I know a lot of people who don't. I would imagine that the cord isn't going to be all that expensive.

Power upside...when you use the right batteries (Eneloop) the camera will go a whole six days of constant use before dying.  On the week long trip to Mexico we were in a location without electricity.  I was worried I would run out of power before I ran out of room for pictures.  It didn't happen.  I made it back to California before the camera died and was able to charge up before my cousins wedding.  I can't say the same for standard rechargeable batteries.  I burned through them like it was nothing. 

So I guess that can be an up or a downside.  Depending on how you look at it or what you use in your camera.

Lastly there are some colors to chose from which is fun.  I just have a plain black one because I had to have it and that was all the store had that day.  It is a great camera for beginners and seasoned picture takers.  It fits in your pocket, purse or anywhere else you may need to put it.

Get the Nikon CoolPix LII and have a great time seeing your world over and over again.