Nikon Coolpix L22 12.0MP Digital Camera with 3.6x Optical Zoom and 3.0-Inch LCD (Red-primary)

I got this camera back in August right before I was going to see concert. I was looking for something cheap, reliable, and that actually worked. This camera does all of that! I posted some pics I took at the concert that night at the Paramore concert and I got some GREAT pictures! This isn't really a camera for people who are looking for a long term family or art camera. Its more for people like me who are more looking for something good that wont cost them a bundle because they use it in high breakage risk scenarios. I'm 19. I go through electronics like that! In fact I had bought this camera once and within 3 hours my nephew dropped it and it broke so I bought it again. I get everything as high tech as possible and have had an ipod since I was 13. That being said, I love this camera! I do eventually want to get an SLR but for now this camera takes an amazing picture and the price is right. For concerts, going out with friends, or family gatherings - you wont be disappointed with the pictures you get. Pros: Simple to use, big viewing screen, records video with good sound, takes AMAZING pictures Cons: Takes a moment between pictures. After you take a picture you have to wait a moment before you can take another. Overall: I would in a heart beat buy this camera a third time!

This is the 4th Nikon Coolpix that I purchased. I owned the Coolpix L6 and liked it very much. The L6 was a great little camera to have in your pocket or purse. It took great photos. The only bad thing - which was big - that I didn't like about that camera was the shutter lag on flash photos. In spite of that, I liked the small size and very nice photos. I purchased two more as gifts. Unfortunately, I dropped mine and wanted to replace it. I purchased the L22 and took it to a wedding. Out of 50 photos, I only have one nice one. I tried it in the garden both on regular and on macro - again did not perform well. Most photos are blurry. Thank goodness for the great return policy at Amazon.com! I will be selecting another camera soon.

See updated comment below. For the money you can't beat this little camera...for the folks who are complaining about blurry photos, this isn't a $1,000 DSLR...there is some shutter lag, as with all inexpensive digital cameras; take that into account and you'll be fine: so far I haven't had any difficulties capturing crisply and clearly the smoke rising from my BBQ grill (it helps if you use the right shooting mode for the right shot, too; for that I used the sports/action mode). The micro mode is great! Another thing that helps prevent blurry photos is to use a tripod! Especially if you're shooting important landscapes or portraits. (Helpful hint: when using a tripd you may want to turn image stabilization off...try a shot both ways and see which you prefer.) As for battery usage...most cameras eat batteries if you're shooting a lot, which is why every photography book/course/instructor/owner's manual tells you: carry extra batteries! Now let's talk video...I am so delighted with the great videos this little camera makes! I had a small digital camera which I paid half again as much for, and my Nikon takes better videos. Again, folks, this isn't a $1,000 DSLR; don't expect it to be, and you won't be disappointed. I highly, highly recommend this camera! It goes with me everywhere I go, and it has not disappointed me yet as I put it through its paces. UPDATE: 10-17-2010: I took this little camera to Biketoberfest, and in the sports/action mode using a panning technique I got crystal clear photos of the bikes as they went by me. I shot several movies and the sound was awesome, and the movies are sharp as a tack! The batteries, which I have had in the camera since I bought it, lasted all day and were still going strong. The micro mode is very impressive...you can get as close as 2" to your subject. The more I use this camera, the more I'm impressed with it and happy I bought it!!

Let me start off by saying that my last camera was a 3.5 MP and it was good for what I used it for but I let it bounce off the floor one to many times and it has died. That is when I started to look around for other easy to use good quality cameras. I looked at a lot of my friends cameras and started to read all the reviews. One of my friends had the Nikon L20 and he loved it. I tried it out too and loved it but I then found out that the L22 was replacing the L20. I asked around and found a friend that had the Nikon L22 and he let me use it for a weekend. What a very nice camera. It did everything I wanted it to do and then some. All the pictures and videos looked awesome to me and I did not have one problem with it at all. All the pics were sharp and focused. What more could you want? East to get batteries! Yup this camera uses AA batteries and I had a boat load of them. Everything in my house seems to use AA batteries so a long time ago I switched everything in my house to rechargeable NiMH AA batteries. They last forever in this camera. Say if you were at a wedding or something and your batteries run out. Just go to your local corner store and get a few easy to find AA batteries or just bring a few extra from home. Life is easy for me. I hate the proprietary batteries that come with most cameras. The other good thing about this camera is it uses standard SD and SDHC memory cards. I got a 8GB SDHC card for $19.00 bucks. It gave me something like 2,200 available pics to take at 12MP. Needless to say I purchased this camera in sliver from Amazon.com and I take it everywhere with me. Remember it is a $100.00 dollar camera and not a $500.00 dollar camera. It doesn't have all the high end features like touch screen but it has everything I want and it takes really nice pics. I don't think you'll go wrong with the Nikon L22. Get it. Trust me :-)

We originally purchased the Nikon Coolpix L22 for our son's birthday present. I purchased it over the Thanksgiving day weekend, even though his birthday isn't until February. Amazon did a great job. The camera arrived in just a couple days. Love that super saver shipping. I just packed the box up into our closet to wait until the birthday party. Fast Forward 3 months. We're in the middle of a 12 year old's birthday party... and he wants to try out his new camera. We took it out of the box and... the battery latch is defective and completely broken off.. It won't hold the batteries in no matter what we try. I then called support, explained my issue and pay to send it to them. About 2 weeks later I get an invoice in the mail telling me if I want my camera fixed I have to pay 70$ That was almost what we paid for the camera NEW! I had them send the camera back to us. I was very disappointed. After doing many more web searches I have found that this issue is very common in the "Coolpix" line of cameras.(In fact google "battery door latch" and the first result is about a Nikon Coolpix... many of the following results are as well) Now on to the technical side. Once I got the camera back I used some electrical tape and taped the battery latch door shut so that I could do some side by side comparison's. Compared to my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS3 8.1 Megapixel it fell short in every test I made with it. Low light shots where blurry, there was a significant amount of noise in the images, and the colors appeared dull in comparison. The video was dull and quite grainy. The sound quality on the video was low and tinny. The only bright spot on the camera was the menu's were easy to navigate and simple to operate. On the Nikon the on/off was a push button and took over 2 seconds to power up, and to actually focus and take a "good" picture in "easy mode" it was more like 5 - 7 seconds.(fastest = 5, slowest = 10) The Panasonic on the other hand has an on/off slider and was taking 3 - 4 seconds for a power-up shot. In the size department the L22 is pretty large for a "point and shoot" it was much larger than the Panasonic. For Menu's between the two. I liked the layout of the Nikon. At first glance it was easy to setup "favorite modes" so you could easily switch your camera between Auto, Easy Auto, Video, and 1 preset mode. But in function it was very slow. You'd push the button and nothing would happen. Press it a second time and watch the menu's flash up, then down again. It just wasn't very fast. The Panasonic took a bit more work getting the presets enabled, but it was very quick. Over all, based on it's performance I'd give it a rating of 2. Based on the poorly designed battery latch, and the poor reception we received from Nikon support... I will be giving this product a 0. And I doubt I will be purchasing another Nikon.

I’ve been using this Nikon Coolpix L22 for casual photography and it’s been okay for what it is: a simple point-and-shoot camera that does the basics without any bells and whistles. The large 3-inch LCD screen is easy to use for framing shots and reviewing photos, and the 12 MP sensor with 3.6x optical zoom captures decent everyday pictures in good light. That said, there are some noticeable drawbacks that keep me from rating it higher. The image quality is just average, especially in low-light situations — photos can look soft or grainy compared with what I’m used to from modern phone cameras. There’s also no real manual control, so you’re relying entirely on automatic modes, which is fine for snapshots but limiting if you want more creative control. Battery life is another mixed point: this camera runs on AA batteries, which is convenient in a pinch, but I’ve gone through sets faster than I expected, especially during prolonged shooting sessions. Pros: • Easy to use and very straightforward for beginners • Big, bright LCD screen makes reviewing shots easy • Good for quick everyday photos Cons: • Image quality mediocre in low light or fine detail • No manual settings or advanced features • AA battery usage can drain quickly Good choice for someone who wants a no-fuss camera for simple snapshots, but not ideal if you’re after sharper photos or more control over your shots.

I am no digital camera expert and have owned only two digital cameras in my entire life, , but I do try to do my research on anything that I purchase and after reading more reviews than I care to think about I decided to buy the Nikon Coolpix L22 12.0MP Digital Camera with 3.6x Optical Zoom and 3.0-Inch LCD (Red-primary) as a Christmas gift for my wife. I will keep the other digital camera a 6 MP Sony Cybershot that has served us well as a back-up. The Nikon Coolpix L22 12.0MP Digital Camera is very simple to use, but if you want to make any changes to settings then you will have to go into the settings menu rather than using a dial setting like on many cameras, but I have found that in most cases I use the same settings time and again. But with practice you can get used to the new way of doing things. The camera arrived on time just before Christmas so I gave it to my wife a little early so she could start getting used to it before the family got together for the holiday. When we got over to my son's house my wife quickly pulled out her new camera from her purse to take a picture of the grand baby and she fumbled it and it flew out of her hands and onto the hard tile floor, pieces flying every where. I couldn't help myself and said something to the affect "Oh well that didn't last long". As we started gathering up the what I thought initially were pieces of the camera I realized that it was the two AA batteries that had flown across the floor when the battery compartment opened on impact. I put the batteries back in the camera and tentatively hit the power button and to my delight it came on and went on to take the sharpest pictures I have ever seen. There was not so much as a scratch on the camera. I certainly wouldn't recommend trying such a brutal test, but I would say that it is an indication of the quality and reliability of the camera. It made me think of the old Timex commercials - "It takes a licking and keeps on ticking!". A serious or professional photographer would not want this camera because it does not give them the quick control they want and need over the shots. If you are a serious or professional photographer than you probably are not reading this review and if you are there is no point in tearing it apart because it doesn't stand up to cameras costing many times more than this one. After reading some of the negative reviews I feel that the writers are in a different category of camera user than most of us. I paid $80 at Christmas time 2010 and now I see the price has dropped down to less than $76. At that price I am not going to complain unless the camera doesn't take a fairly decent picture. This camera takes such clear shots that it can be a little unnerving. I personally will not take a close-up shot of myself with this camera because you can see every little skin blemish and wrinkle. These days I prefer blurry photos of myself. ;-) The only reason I gave it less than a perfect 5x5 rating is because I have not used the video much and that I haven't used the camera enough to make that kind of judgement and I have not had any contact with Amazon's Customer Service department and with all the things that I buy from Amazon I suppose that should tell you something. I will follow-up with another review if there is something worth reporting on. If you want a camera that will take very crisp, sharp, great pictures and is small enough to carry in your shirt pocket or handbag and is an absolute screaming bargain on price then I think that you'll be very happy with this camera.

The L22 is a great camera for the price. The screen is large, and the options for operation are many. It's starts within 2-3 seconds after turning on for that quick shot. It starts in the same mode you left off with, so be aware of what kind of pictures you were taking when the camera was shut off. The AA battery thing is something to get used to, but think of this: You are out in nature with no electricity to charge the in-house battery. ...well a six-pack of AA's in your pocket will definitley come in handy! Battery life seems to be good, I have yet to really put it to the test (got the camera 2 weeks ago). Video is rather good for such a small camera; the time left to record is on the screen. Buy the SD card!! it only has a 16mb memory, so 4/8/16 GB memory card is a must! I will be posting pics soon... (2 hours later...)I uploaded some pics in the gallery. The ease of use makes this camera suitable for a hobbyist photographer like me. The photos can kind of show what is capable, as well as some of the other photos people have uploaded. For the dropped price to 69 bucks, you can't go wrong. One downside is the camera has to be on when downloading shots, so don't forget to unplug the USB and shut it off - battery waster there. ... did I mention to make sure to get a memory card...?! get two!! This camera goes with me everywhere, just in case "the shot" presents itself; 'cause it will be WELL WORTH IT.