Capsule Review: Nikon Coolpix L6

The Nikon Coolpix L6 packs in great features for the low price. Long battery life, simple controls and a bright 2.5" LCD screen make this a great camera for the casual shutterbug or as a first digital camera. Nikon promises 1,000 pictures on one pair of lithium AA batteries (or 400 on alkalines), and offers easy-shot features like Face Priority, D-lighting and In Camera Red-Eye Protection to appeal to entry level users. Easy to find at less than $150 USD, the Nikon Coolpix L6 gives you the features that most new users want in a digital camera - and truly impressive battery life.

Summary

The Nikon Coolpix L6 is Nikon's latest entry in their line of Coolpix digital cameras. It features low price, long battery life and simple controls that make it easy for anyone to shoot good digital pictures. The Coolpix L6 is lightweight, easy to use and perfect for the entry level shutterbug who wants a reliable camera that's easy to use and offers good picture quality. Nikon has aimed the camera squarely at the young and young-at-heart crowd with its advertising, styling and user friendly features that make the Coolpix line popular.

Highlighted Features - Long Battery Life

By far the most impressive feature of the Coolpix L6 is the record-breaking long battery life. Nikon has partnered with Energizer (yes, the company with the bunny) to research and engineer energy saving features that conserve battery life. Their innovations give this camera a very impressive 1,000 shots per set of AA lithium Energizer batteries - and just to get you started, they include a set of Energizer lithium batteries. With most other cameras in any price range averaging 200-300 shots of battery life, Nikon has good reason to wave the flag about their performance in this area.

As the mother who missed the shot of her daughter being handed her sheepskin because I was changing the batteries on my digital camera, this is a feature I truly appreciate. Even with alkaline batteries, you'll get about 400 shots out of the Coolpix L6 before you have to change the batteries.

Easy Controls

Nikon bills the Coolpix L-series of cameras as 'memories made easy', and the L6 delivers on that promise. The camera does away with complex controls and gives you features that make it easy to take high quality pictures with very little experience. This is not the camera for the experienced shutterbug who wants total control over every technical aspect - but it doesn't pretend to be. This is the camera for my mother, who has a professional quality digital that she routinely hands to the nearest grandchild at every opportunity because she has no idea how to set the lens speed, adjust the flash or any of the other myriad settings it offers.

With the Coolpix L6, you really can just point and shoot. If you want more control, though, there are fifteen 'scene' settings that allow you to choose from settings with easy to understand names like daylight, low light or portrait. You can choose to add fun extras like color effects,

Image Correction Features

The Nikon Coolpix L6 also offers three in camera innovations that let even inexperienced picture takers eliminate common picture problems. In camera red eye protection automatically corrects the infamous red-eye effect when taking flash pictures. The Face Priority mode will automatically recognize facial features when taking portrait shots and enhance the facial area of subjects so that you don't get out of focus faces. And the D-light detection will automatically correct under and over exposed shots by making a copy of the photo and adding in detail to only the out of balance areas of the photo.

Super Cool Coolpix Features

The Coolpix L6 also offers two special features that help the amateur photo buff get the most out of a digital camera. The Best Shot Selector will automatically select and save the sharpest image from a series of up to ten pictures taken in sequence. And if you've ever ended up with a blurred, out of focus memory of a special moment, you'll really appreciate the Blur Warning, which will let you know when a photo you've shot is out of focus so that you can retake the shot before leaving the scene.

Image Quality

The Nikon Coolpix L6 offers great image quality for even the newest of users. With 6.0 megapixel capability and a 3x Niktor Zoom lens, the L6 gives users the ability to take a wide range of photos from tight close-ups and full panoramic scenery shots. Nikon technology puts high quality digital images within the range of anyone who can point and shoot.

Other Coolpix L6 Features

- Lightweight and compact, easy to hold and shoot. The L6 is slim and comfortable to hold, with all the controls on the right hand side of the camera, making it possible to take one-handed shots. It weighs in at just 4.4 ounces without the battery or SD memory card. The dimensions (3.6 x 2.4 x 1.0 inches) make the Coolpix L6 a slim pocket-size camera.

- Menu available in choice of 20 languages

- USB capability to transfer pictures to your PC for editing and sending in email.

- In camera editing and fun effects let you trim and frame pictures without connecting to the PC

- Movie mode lets you record at up to 15 frames per second

- 23 MB internal memory, supports SD memory card for more storage capability

- Built in flash with four modes for best flash selection

- 2.5" super bright LCD monitor for excellent picture viewing

Slideshow capability for playback of images

- Slideshow capability for playback of images

- Included Nikon's Picture Project software for organizing, sharing and editing pictures

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