Nikon Coolpix L810 review

Some people buy digital cameras based purely on brand, specs and price, and Nikon has them in its sights with the L810. The Nikon brand carries some gravitas, and with a 26x zoom, 16-megapixel sensor, 3in 921,000-dot screen, HDMI out, a choice of four colours and a price just shy of £200 including VAT, it’s bound to stand out on the shop shelves.

The 26x zoom is a little way off the similarly priced Olympus SP-810UZ with its 36x zoom. However, the L810’s zoom range starts at an unusually wide 22.5mm equivalent focal length. It’s not a huge gain over the 24mm focal length commonly offered elsewhere but it’s still welcome for landscape and architectural photography.

The chunky lens barrel and generous rubber-coated handgrip give the air of an enthusiasts’ camera, but the truth is this is a point-and-shoot camera with a big zoom. There’s no electronic viewfinder, no manual exposure or focus controls and the screen isn’t articulated. Elsewhere, there are signs of cost-cutting, with four AA batteries – rechargeable batteries not included – and no orientation sensor, so portrait-shaped photos must be rotated manually.

The menu options are stripped right back, with ISO speed and white balance but no control over the metering or autofocus. Even face detection isn’t available in Auto mode, although it does appear in a couple of Portrait scene presets. This is worrying, as zooming in with an ultra-zoom camera gives a narrow depth of field, so it’s more of a problem when the camera focuses on the wrong thing.

The self-timer function is stuck at 10 seconds, whereas virtually every other camera we test includes a two-second option to avoid shaking the camera when shooting with a tripod. This function is especially useful on ultra-zoom cameras because they’re much more susceptible to shake, so it’s a shame not to find it here.

Most of these criticisms also apply to the Nikon Coolpix L120, but whereas that camera made up some ground with its dependable image quality, sadly that isn’t the case with the L810.

Photos taken in low light were grainy and smudged – click to enlarge

The move from a 14- to a 16-megapixel sensor boosts noise levels more than details. In fact, because of the stronger noise reduction required in the L810, the L120’s photos also displayed sharper details in subtle textures such as hair and fabric, even in brightly lit shots. Comparisons with the L120 were even more damning in low light; neither model excelled but the L810 suffered particularly badly for noise, with grubby shadows, blotchy highlights and barely any definition to fine details.

This camera is at its best in bright light and at wide-angle zoom settings, but noise reduction has reduced these leaves to nondescript green smudges – click to enlarge

Our biggest concern is that the autofocus was unreliable at telephoto zoom positions. About 30 per cent of our test shots at the full zoom extension where a little soft, and a further 30% were completely out of focus. At least the worst offenders were easy to spot on the screen so we could have another go at capturing the scene, but on some occasions the camera was persistently unable to focus.

Focus at the long end of the zoom was hit and miss – this is one of the better examples – click to enlarge

The 720p video mode has little to commend it either, with a weedy soundtrack that picked up lens motor noises, ineffective optical stabilisation and jittery autofocus.

There are lots of pocket ultra-zoom cameras that suffer less from image noise, and while none matches the L810’s 26x zoom, various models come close and deliver much more reliable focus. The L810 may have the specs to impress but it doesn’t back it up with results.