Nikon Coolpix L14 7.1MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Blue)

I've been toying with the idea of getting a digital for years but I wasn't sold on the picture quality, (without spending a great deal of money) and I'm frankly a film snob. I have a vintage Fuji SLR and a Canon Photura which both produce great shots but are cumbersome to chase the kids around with. I wanted something easy to set, with minimal buttons so my kids could use it as well, but with a quality worth printing at least a 5x7 with. The specs are well detailed in the description so I'll just go general. I found the camera very intuitive. I haven't looked at the manual but all the modes are easy to figure out by the 'press a button and see what happens' method. Editing on the fly is quick and easy, the video I took looks as good as a minidv tape, the pictures blow up well. It fits in my front jean pocket or in a small matching Samsonite hardcase I found for $4. With a 2 GB card I can do 30 minutes of video or about a thousand pictures. This camera is advertised as long life batteries and so far I've done about 200 photos and 15 minutes of video on the supplied batteries. One negative is the shutter time when using flash mode it is s-l-o-w. You can't catch something quickly, you're going to get three or five seconds after you think you are. However, turning the flash off made this shutter as fast as my Photura, (if not as fast as my SLR) but still had a lag time between shots. It's a trade I can live with since the multiple exposure settings make it easy to compensate for not using the flash. The design is excellent. I'm left handed and a lot of things designed for one handed use annoy me by placing buttons where a left handed user will hit the wrong ones. Although there are three buttons on the top of the camera, I had no problem at all with this. The kids are very interested in the stop motion feature. While I got this as a snap shot camera for my own use, it would be an excellent choice for an 8 year old's first camera. I spent a long time (about a year) choosing between a Nikon, Canon or Kodak model. I think the Nikon was the right way to go for ease of use, results, and visual styling. Couldn't be happier with it.

I'll start by saying that this is a GREAT, maximum bang-per-buck 'point-and-shoot' compact digital camera. I conducted a LOT of research before I decided on the 'Coolpix L14', and it is one of my best purchases ever. I've been using an old Fujifilm 'Finepix 2650' (2 megapixel) for a few years now, and it's served me well. I wanted a more compact, simple to use and intuitive brand-name (like Nikon, Canon, Sony, etc.) digital cam that took high quality pictures in 'auto mode', and still had some advanced features and options that I could use in a 'manual mode' for even more control of the shot. I also wanted a camera that would use both 'AA' batteries, and high-capacity rechargeable 'AA' batteries, if I so choose. This camera takes both, and the batteries last a lot longer than many other cameras that I researched (Nikon claims about 1,000 shots with 'Energizer e2' lithium batteries), owned, or borrowed. The LCD screen looks sharp and crisp as well, and I like the 'face finding' and 'red eye fix' technology too, and they both work quite well. In addition, I tested it's video abilities as well, and the audio/video look and sound seamless, although you really need to get a 2GB card to get any meaningful length video out of this cam. The pic transfer software also works perfectly with my Windows XP PC, with no glitches. In summation, for the price, this cam is a truly GREAT buy, and it looks GORGEOUS in blue too (classy, expensive look)! Hope this review is helpful.

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I just recently purchased this camera, and after using it for only 5 days I have decided to return it primarily because the image quality is very poor. The images are soft and washed out, not sharp and crisp like I have come to expect from Nikon (I have the D80 as well). The menu system is very primitive but it is still functional. The only good thing about this camera is its very low price. But, I feel that this camera is a bad value, even at this price. I have decided to pay 50% more and buy the Canon SD1000. The images from my old SD230 (3 megapixels) were much better than with this new Nikon (7 megapixels).

The Good:

low price

light and small

takes AA batteries

The Bad:

-soft pictures

-washed out color and general haziness of images

-very long delay between pictures (especially with the flash)

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The best thing about this camera is its video capabilities. Full screen, 640x480 video with good color and low light performance. You MUST add at least a 2gb card to take advantage of the video options.

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My experience was much the same as TechnoGeek's. Almost every picture I took was blurry. Outdoors it takes fairly decent shots, but indoors it is extremely finicky. I poured over the manual and tried every combination of settings, but I could not get the camera to take consistently clean pictures. The action settings seemed to have no effect. Just taking a still photograph indoors with the flash usually came out blurry. The manual even warns not to press the button too hard, saying otherwise pictures could come out blurry. (!) With the flash was always better than without, but at no point could the pics hold up against a family member's Olympus FE 180. Worse still was how slow the camera responded, taking 3-7 seconds to save a picture. The voice recorder would have been a very useful option had the camera taken decent pictures.