Nikon Coolpix L100

UPDATE: our full review of the L100 is now live.

Auto Mode

The L100 has 2 — count 'em: 2!  — automatic modes. One of these modes still allows you to change the white balance preset, adjust exposure along a fixed scale, etc. while the other doesn't let you change anything at all. 

Movie Mode

The L100 movie mode records video in 2 resolutions - 640 x 480 and 320 x 240. It's not listed in the specs, but we were told that the recording file format is AVI. Using movie mode is as easy as taking still images - once you switch to movie mode, pressing the shutter button will begin and end video capture. You can zoom while recording video, a feature which is often locked out on point-and-shoot cameras.
 

Drive/Burst Mode

The L100 has a Sports Continuous Scene mode that will shoot up to 13 frames per second, or up to 30 frames per second when the resolution is set to 3 megapixels or lower. It also has a Best Shot Selector feature that will automatically take up to 10 pictures with a single shutter press and then save the sharpest one out of the bunch.
 

Playback Mode

Reviewing your captured images and videos is easy - the Playback button at the 1 o'clock position relative to the circular 4-way controller brings you right to them, showing each in full-screen view by default. You can use the zoom control to magnify the currently-selected image and to switch to a thumbnail view or to a calendar view that shows you the current month - assuming you have the date correctly set in the main settings menu - where you can scroll to a specific date using the 4-way controller to look at the images captured on that date.
 

Custom Image Presets

The L100 has a number of preset scene modes: Landscape, Beach/Snow, Night Portrait, Museum, Panorama Assist, Sports, Portrait, Sunset, Night Landscape, Copy, Food, Back Light, Dusk/Dawn, Fireworks Show, Close Up, and PartyScene. All of these are labeled and have an illustrative icon to represent them in the mode menu. All of the standards are included here, but we admit that the Food scene mode feels like the correct answer in a Sesame Street 'One of these things is not like the others' skit. Market research must have indicated that there are consumers who like to take pictures of food often enough to include this preset in an ultra-zoom camera.
 

There is also a Scene Auto Selector that will automatically evaluate the current shooting conditions and apply one of six scene modes without requiring any user input.