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Category: Point-and-Shoot

IMAGE QUALITY

The Nikon Coolpix L2 is a digital camera targeted to entry-level point-and-shoot photographers. It has 6.0 megapixel resolution on a 1/2.5 in. CCD image sensor, and a 6.3–19.2mm (38-116mm, 35 mm equivalent) 3x optical zoom lens, with a maximum aperture of F3.2(W)–F5.3(T).

We find the overall image quality of the Nikon L2 to be good to very good. Multi-Pattern metering is precise and images have good detail and reproduce with pleasant colours. The Nikon L2 lacks low-light capabilities and is recommended for well-lit well-lit ourdoors shots.

3x Optical Zoom Range
Wide-angle 6.3mm [38mm]	Tele 19.2mm [116mm]

The Nikon L2 provides 3x optical zoom. In the above pictures, we show the coverage for 38mm and then 116mm (35mm equivalent).

The Nikon L2 has AUTO mode and easy-to-use Scene Modes. You can dial in an exposure compensation (no Auto Bracketing) and select White Balance.

Macro

Macro 19.2mm, P, Pattern 1/323.4 sec., F5.3, ISO Auto

The Nikon L2 lens allows you to focus as close as 10cm (3.9 in.) at wide-angle. I find the macro performance on the L2 not quite up to par to Nikon's excellent macro capability we've come to expect: it does not focus as close and it can sometimes be quite difficult to obtain focus lock.

Metering mode is Multi-Pattern. Shutter speed ranges from 2 to 1/1,500 sec. in AUTO mode, with the Fireworks scene mode at 4 sec.

You cannot set the ISO on the Nikon L2; it is automatically selected by the camera and ranges from 50 to 200. This low ISO range ensures the images of the Nikon L2 have generally very low noise. The downside is that, unless the subject is well-lit, the use of a slow shutter speed will generate a Handshake Warning and a Blur Warning (i.e. images are blurred due to camera and/or subject movement).

Chromatic Aberrations

CA is not a problem in everyday shots but may be slight in high contrast situations. In the shot above, the corner delimited by the red square at middle, and reproduced at 100% crop at bottom right, shows slight fringing.

The Nikon L2 does not have long shutter speeds (slowest is 4 sec. in scene mode), so don't expect to be able to take good Night Photography shots.

The flash range is not particularly impressive at 3m (10 ft.) at wide-angle and 1.75m (6 ft.) at telephoto.

Overall, good image to very good quality for a 6.0MP digital camera. Colours are very good. The Nikon Coolpix L2 makes it easy for a beginner to obtain very good images in well-lit situations.

The pictures in the Nikon Coolpix L2 Photo Gallery page provide a good sample of what the camera is capable of. I have provided samples at 800x600 pixels (compressed to Quality 60/100 in Photoshop Elements). Remember that this version is of slightly lesser quality than the original 2816×2112 version.

You can safely assume that most macro shots and slow shutter speed shots required the use of a tripod. Any image that is adjusted for levels in Photoshop has "_adjusted" appended to the file name.

I have defaulted the image size to 800x600 pixels. For those who have their monitor resolution set to 1024x728 pixels, everything should snugly fit and you should not have to scroll to see the whole image. If your monitor is set to 800x600 pixels resolution, start the slide show and then scroll to the right to position the image within your screen width. Then, press F11 (if you are using Internet Explorer) to switch to full screen mode, and the image should fill your screen nicely. Press F11 again at any time to switch your monitor display back to normal mode.

To return to this page from the Photo Gallery, click on the animated graphics of the camera.

Please open and download the original size version only if you need to and only once to your hard drive -- and save me some precious bandwidth. Thanks!