Nikon Coolpix L100

Viewfinder (0.00)

The L100 has no viewfinder; everything is done through the LCD screen on the back of the camera body.

Display (4.90)

The LCD screen of the L100 is a 2-inch model with about 230k pixels. That’s a bit on the low side, so it is hard to see some fine details in images. However, it is bright and has good color, so it is adequate for use in previewing and checking images. Just don’t expect it to wow people when showing off photos.

Flash (6.00)

The flash of the L100 is a small pop-up model located above the lens. We found this to be reasonably powerful; it clearly illuminated objects a few feet away in near total darkness. Nikon quotes a range of 36 feet at the wide zoom and 29 feet at the telephoto, but that’s a very optimistic number : we wouldn’t recommend that you rely on it to beyond 10 to 12 feet at most.

You do get quite a few flash modes, though: you can select auto, auto red eye, off, forced on and a night portrait mode that combines a flash and slow shutter speed.

Lens (9.00)

The lens is the highlight of the L100: the camera is built around a long 15x zoom, with a focal length range of 5 to 75mm, which is equivalent to a 28 to 420mm zoom on a 35mm film camera. That’s a decent range that gives a good wide angle as well as a long zoom. The lens is limited in other ways, though; the aperture range of the lens is a rather disappointing f/3.5 to f/5.4, which doesn’t give much room for gathering more light at the wider end, or much depth of field at the smaller end.

Zoom Ratio Examples
5.0 mm	15.1 mm	75.0 mm

Battery (5.00)

The L100 is powered by 4 AA batteries, which can be either the standard disposable type, disposable Lithium ones or rechargeable Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMh) ones. A set of 4 disposable AAs are included in the box. If you go the rechargeable route (which is much more ecologically sound), the batteries cannot be charged within the camera: they have to be charged in an external charger. Somewhat confusingly, there is an external power port, but Nikon does not list an available external power supply as an accessory. Nikon claims a battery life of around 350 shots from standard AA disposables or 900 from Lithium ones, which seems to be a little on the optimistic side; we only got about 200 shots from a set of standard batteries.

Memory (3.00)

The L100 can store photos in two locations: in about 44MB of internal memory or on an SD card that fits into the same compartment as the batteries. The newer SDHC cards are not directly supported.

Jacks, Ports & Plugs (2.00)

The L100 connects with the outside world through a single AV out port underneath a small rubber cover on the side of the camera body. Cables for USB and video/audio output are included with the camera. This port on the camera body is a proprietary one; if you lose or damage the cables, you’ll need to buy new ones from Nikon, as you can’t use standard USB cables in this port.