Coolpix L5 first opinion

Nikon seems going on the right track since they put VR system on their new digicam lineup, and now the new coolpix L5 has equipped with VR 5x zoom in such a small body. It's a good answer from Nikon for today mid-zoom competition, I think. I intend to get one for my wife, since I like the design, the lens, and value.

I was dissapointed with my old Nikon E4100 (4MP, 3x zoom), so-so picture quailty, tend to blur (no VR), barrel distorsion was so bad. I'm waiting for L5 review now, but first thought from the specs are :

• Low resolution LCD (but better battery life)
• Slower lens (but with VR)
• VR system shifts the lens, not the CCD
• No manual ISO (same with my previous E4100)
• ISO max 400 (other brands up to ISO 3200 this time, Nikon should be aware)
• No manual control (my wife doesn't need that)
• No optical viewfinder (no matter)
• Use only 2xAA alkaline/NiMH/Lithium
• Small and light (for a 5x zoom camera)

What I don't know yet :

• VR works with movie?
• AF assist light?
• Flash performance?

I wonder about the lens performance, I hope the barrel distortion not as bad as mine. I also hope there's improvement in image quaility, movie quality, and shot-to-shot performance.

Perhaps any comment or opinion about L5? Maybe from the owner of L3, L4, or L6? I would greatly appreciated.

Kodak DC3200, DX3500
Fuji A203
Nikon E4100
Lumix LZ2
Upcoming : Fuji S6500fd

Plz reply...

Does anyone have any pictures taken with this camera... I am looking for the sharpest pics, and a very good opt. voom. I am getting a camera for my 60th birthday and want the best, but small. I have a sony, which is pretty good, but want even better... Can you tell me what small camera would take the best shots? I like the IS, tele-zoom, so does anyone have any pics?

I think there will be some reviews of the L5 and S10 in Oct,
but there haven't been any yet.

I helped a friend pick it up at Bestbuy today. We could have bought the P4 (she wanted Nikon) for $30 more but I preferred the optical zoom to the extra mepgapixel and the AA battery to the Lithium one.

She ll be back from two weeks of holidays in Europe, mid-October and I ll practically forced her to buy 4GB of memory...
--
Yiannis

'We don't take pictures with our cameras,' Newman once said. 'We take them with our hearts and we take them with our minds, and the camera is nothing more than a tool.'

erwinmul said:

I wonder about the lens performance, I hope the barrel distortion
not as bad as mine. I also hope there's improvement in image
quaility, movie quality, and shot-to-shot performance.

Perhaps any comment or opinion about L5? Maybe from the owner of
L3, L4, or L6? I would greatly appreciated.

Click to expand...

One thing you have to watch with Nikons (of any stripe) when judging picture quality is their defaults. Nikon tends to set the defaults (on all their cameras) in a very raw state which means you either have to engage in post processing (which can be done in a batch if you are just taking snapshots) or set the defaults to handle more processing in the camera (as virtually all of the competition does). Frankly, while I see the reasoning behind this for the DSLR's, I think Nikon misses the boat by doing this in the P&S market. Most people (such as my wife who uses a Pentax P&S), want viewing/printing ready output direct from the camera. I bought the P-4 (knowing its foibles) and am quite happy with it. I reset the defaults when I lend it to her (though some of the "scenes" seem to reset the defaults on their own). You might try the various scenes to see if that is true of the L-5. FWIW, the L-5 was of interest to me (I was replacing my now dead Olympus UZ), but I went for the P-4 in significant part because it does offer manual control.

Let us know how you like your L-5 as you become more used to it.

TED

looking for a p&s how does this compare to the the other nikons like p4 s10 (zoom aside ofcourse) and is there another p&s from another brand i should consider. Lookinbg for an all around compact camera, for parties and gatherings when i dont want to take the slr along.

it is the indoor/low light champ!
--
ireno

F30 is great if you shot a lot of indoor/lowlight images.It has a sharp lens/CCD combination. But I do not like it because it has only a 3x zoom and in it shows really bad purple fringing in daylight shots, in some reviews, samples like the ones in http://www.dcresource.com .