Nikon Coolpix L12 7MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Vibration Reduction Zoom

I bought this camera to complement a trip to Europe. It accompanied me constantly in a pants or coat pocket when on the go, and proved rugged, simple, and reliable. I used the auto setting 80% of the time - low light, bright light, cloudy days, rainy days, dark caves. Of the 600 or so pics I took, about 75% of them were keepers (mostly because I refused to use the flash and instead relied on the camera's auto ISO, high sensitivity, and slowed down shutter speed). My friends had $250+ cameras and this thing took pictures that looked virtually identical to theirs and at a $100 discount, PLUS with anti-shake (grainy pics), AND with a cheap looking design (less risk of theft). I used the fully automatic pic feature to good effect, captured a couple videos, took close ups and landscapes, and got one audio recording. Fast draw and shoot capability a big plus. Burned through about 3.5 sets of Alkaline batteries.The one complaint I have is the low-ish frame rate on the medium video setting. My friends' $250+ cameras (sony, cannon pocket cameras) took camcorder-like videos while mine was a bit choppy on this setting. To be fair, on the highest quality setting the video looks just fine.I dropped the camera twice from about a meter up and it doesn't even have a scratch, just some pocket wear from being toted around so much.I highly reccomend this camera as a cheap all purpose pocket camera for people who don't want to mess around with ISO/shutter settings themselves. It's not only a good all around camera, but stacks up well against more expensive pocket cameras, with a bigger screen than them, and it takes better night time photos.

Returned this within 2 days - pictures were not bright - they were washed out.

died within a year

Nikon is made in China. What a shame. This could be a fine little camera, but the quality of the case is "cheap" and the lens covers stopped working two weeks after I bought it. The camera is now in the mail to the Nikon service center. We'll see what kind of service it gets, and how quickly I get it back -- either fixed or a replacement.

Overall a nice little camera by Nikon. It's compact enough to carry in a pocket or purse. It makes quality images if used properly. The anti-shake feature is good, especially if you have trouble holding a camera steady. Battery management is good. It uses two AA batteries. They are available in most places and are not expensive when compared to most others. It will accept alkaline, lithium, oxyride, and rechargeable nickel-metal hydride. The case is plastic. The most delicate parts appear to be the battery hatch and memory card lids, the lens extension, and the monitor screen. If you break the monitor screen Nikon will replace it for $100+/-. Storage is either on the camera's internal memory of 21 MB or removable SD cards. Approved cards are by SanDisk, Toshiba, and Panasonic up to 4GB. The camera is made in China. There is no viewfinder. Image composition is done on the monitor screen. It has 20 language options built into the camera. The flash will work up to a maximum of 14-26 feet, depending on the settings. A CD is provided with editing software for Windows or Macintosh. User manuals in English and Spanish are provided. The lens is a 3x Nikkor, 5.7-17.1mm/f2.8-4.7;(a 35mm equivalent of 35-105mm); 5 elements in 5 groups. The sensor is 7.1 million effective pixels. 6 image sizes are available. The shutter speeds are from 1/1500 to 4 seconds. The self timer runs for 10 seconds. The interface is USB. The three areas which I might consider weaknesses are flash recycle times which might be considered a bit on the slow side, macro which seems like it should go a bit closer, and composing on the monitor screen when the sun shines on it. (It's best to shade the screen from direct rays of the sun when composing.) If you have a camera of this type, it's best to spend a little money on a case to protect it. I bought one of those semi-hard clam shell types with a zipper. So far it's protected it well.

I purchased a Nikon Coolpix L12 to give as a gift to a dear friend who is not electronically-savvy. I had originaly given this friend a Nikon Coolpix P-1 and she NEVER used it because all of the features and functions intimidated her. I gave her the Nikon L12 and now she regularly uses it (she also gave me back the P1). The simplicity of operating the L12 made her feel free to use it and she gets great pictures. At 7MP this little camera produces great images. I purchased it "Refurbished" and the camera appeared to have never been taken out of the box. It uses two AA batteries and this is a big plus also. For someone wanting an easy to use camera at a very low price you can't go wrong with a Nikon L12. It is older technology but works perfectly. No complaints at all!

This is a very nice camera, it take very nice pictures, better pictures than my canon A560 that I used to have. It's very light, small, with a big screen, and high qualityThe only thing that I don't like is that it takes its time to get ready for the next picture once you take one, the video takes some time to come back again on the screen.