Nikon Coolpix L18 8MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Ruby Red): Customer Reviews & Product Details

Big Screen, easy to use for 1st time digi user. Like it so much i ordered one as a gift for a family member.

I had leave the desert hermitage Saturday like every Saturday to go to town to wash clothes thirty miles away and buy celery and Mori-Nu Tofu, Silken Style, Extra Firm, 12.3-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 12) and the rest, and when I got there remembered I had an assignment to do for the newspaper, but left the Nikon D40 6.1MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II AF-S DX and 55-200mm f/4.5-5.6G ED AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens with 2 Nikon School DVD at home in the hermitage.

I've used the D40 for a few years now and it is finally getting intuitive and I am finally figuring out how to do some of what it can do. I just wish I could afford a long lens. It is really a great camera, and very tolerant of my pushing the limits in low light. Recently I got some great night carnival shots taken and one published.

So I get to town last Saturday and remembered I was supposed to do this VERY IMPORTANT assignment, and went to the place and discovered it was my only chance, that day, right then. Not next weekend; right then. They even offered to lend me their point-and-shoot and they offered to e-mail me the results, but then found out the p&s had been sent back to the shop.

No other choice but to go to the ubiquitous BIG BOX store and see what they had. Nothing special, until I saw my favorite brand name. I thought of going back to an Olympus, having used that brand years ago, but they take minicards not the full size SanDisk 2 GB SD Memory Card ( SDSDB-2048-A11, Retail Package).

Then I saw the Nikon display, and, like, wow.

Okay, so its ruby red . . . That is its only weak point (although the expectant lady at the Chinese food store said it was a great and a lucky color when she saw it while serving my steamed tofu). This camera can do more than you can ever use and more than you can imagine, and more than my beloved d40. For one thing it takes movies, well.

For another thing it takes a full 8 megapixels, more than the d40. I could blow these pictures up further than the d40's, if such a thing as a photo lab still existed (Ok, so, ten megapixels is the standard now; we might say ten is the new 6.something).

And it takes the SD card, so anywhere you are you can pull out a targus SDHC card reader, and slip open the L18's combination battery-SD card cover, and plug the card into any computer with a USB port and file your photos. And you can get SDHC cards big enough for your needs, a card which will far outlast the battery charge.

I just feel really dicey about that battery latch. I used to snap their tooth off all of the time over twenty years ago on my great Canon AL-1 film SLR camera, and it brought out some sweat to my brow the first time I tried manipulating this one. It takes a snap and a slide, but it is no sweat once you get the hang of it.

The strange thing is that old Canon AL-1 took triple AAA batteries in its full sized SLR, whereas this L18 micro-mini-camera takes double AA. In fact the bulk of the width here is due to the fat batteries. I was surprised, but much more is done electronically here than on the old SLR's.

This tiny camera is under four inches long by under three inches tall by about exactly one inch thick, because of the batteries. Figure those dimensions while picking out a camera case, which you will want. Right now mine is wrapped up in a bandana and a Zip-lock bag, just like back in the tropical mountain rainforest twenty something years ago, but I definitely want a case to keep it in, to throw in a pocket and walk around, and no one knows what I'm packing, that I am ready to shoot pictures. Several are for sale here on the broad amazon, but carefully check the interior dimensions. I think I might settle on the Rokinon Digital Camera Weather Resistant Carry Case for Nikon Coolpix L16, L18, P50, P60, P5000, P5100, P6000, S7c, S9, S50, S50c, S51, S51c, S52c, S60, S200, S210, S500, S510, S520, S550, S560, S600, S610, S610c, S700, S710 Digital Cameras.

That's another strong advantage over the full-sized DSLR hanging off one shoulder. This camera and case can slide into any pocket and no one knows it, but you are ready for anything.

Too bad it is, well, so red.

It takes movies. This tiny thing takes movies, with sound, saved right on to the SD card. AND it is HDSC compliant, which means you could probably load that SanDisk Ultra II 16GB/15MB SDHC Card in here and film for a good long time. I'll just be glad to get a 4gb card in here!

Right now I have a 2 GB card in, and have it set to record still photos at the highest resolution, and that 2 GB card will hold over 375 shots. It will also hold over twenty minutes of movie. I am astonished, full of tech shock. Okay, so you're used to your mobile PHONE doing all of this, no sweat, but check out the resolution on this baby (My phone, by the way, only hangs on the wall and rings, except it never does, ring, but that is another story).

This L18 has a three times optical zoom (which means it is not digitally manipulated to look closer - the lens itself is doing the zooming) handled with that tiny teeter totter switch W-T that point and shoot folk are accustomed to (I am used to turning the lens).

This 8 megapixels is incredible. I took some shots at the assignment, and checked them on that full color monitor on the back (I want to get some of those protective screens, but wonder how they affect viewing) and was able to pan in very close with the on-board bells and whistles, and confirm that every hair was in focus.

They were. This is incredible.

For it to do ISO 1600 is another strong selling point for a photographer. You can count on shots by a bare light bulb or street lamp. By candle. I just want to find where I switch off the built in flash, which is also great, going out to 25 feet. This is incredible.

Okay, so the anti-shake means the little elves inside can go what we used to call shutter-priority, setting a faster shutter speed in order to avoid the effects of your shakes. Don't think you can stand on a vibrating steel plate to test the anti-shake. This is for us old folk who aren't as steady as we once were. This camera can do everything except miracles, so don't go out of your way to push its limits.

Which is just what I plan to do in the coming months. Maybe I will report back with updates. I am finding it AUTO's to an incredible depth of field. I can focus on something close (like the ingredient list on the soy sauce bottle at the restaurant) and find what is much further behind still in focus. I am certain you can tweak it if you want a very short depth of field, perhaps simply by pulling way back to widescreen.

The color is true and very good. And the short film I tried out came out very well, as clear as the still shots with good front to back focus, and the microphone (as well as the speaker on playback) are incredibly sensitive.

You can do a lot of things with this camera's on-board photo-processing lab, including Black and White and Sepia, and vivid colors, as if the true colors were not fantastic already. The 110 page User's Manual which comes with it tells you much, if not all, quite clearly, considering. It indicates to me there is much more to this wonderful camera than I am aware of, and I plan to study it closely.

I thought I was just grabbing an emergency, inexpensive point-and-shoot to get an assignment done. It turns out I got one truly great camera with far more capabilities than I am aware of, and I hope to grow into them all.

This should to turn out to be one very beautiful relationship.

The camera works great during daytime but night shots are really blurry. I actually bought a Sony W-150 for myself after this purchase and have kept this as a backup.

I nover thought that I would buy a digital camera, but when I looked at this one, I gave it a try. It is the envy of all those in my family that have digital cameras! It is excellent!!

We purchased the camera from Costco in October, it broke at the end of January, just a couple weeks shy of Costco's return policy. Therefore, we had to deal with Nikon direct to fix our broken lens/ shutter; that just one day decided not to open. Nikon was willing to fix it for $[...], which is the price we paid for the camera. That didn't sit well with me so they offered me a 30% discount to fix the camera, which totaled $[...]. Still a ripoff to me but we're fixing my Husbands "work" camera this time but if it happens again, we're sticking with our Canon cameras!