For anyone looking at getting a decent, mid-level point-and-shoot with the look and feel of an SLR, the Nikon Coolpix L120 is by far the best choice, even with its few shortcomings!

As a semi-professional photographer who primarily shoots film (but is slowly converting to digital) I always have kept at least a digital P&S camera with me to get those "quick" shots that I can't get because of the time involved in setting up the shot in an SLR. My previous camera, the Minolta DiMAGE S414 had been getting long in the tooth and was starting to glitch. A friend gave me his Nikon Coolpix E5200 and I was immediately hooked on Nikon's legendary imaging quality. However, the 5-megapixel sensor in the Coolpix E5200 was short of what I truly needed, so the same friend who gave me the E5200 also let me try out his Coolpix L110. I was blown away with how well the photos turned out! In my quest to buy my own Coolpix L110, I had heard back in February that Nikon was releasing the Coolpix... Read more

I purchased the Nikon L120 about a month ago in preparation for a trip we were taking to California. Although I was impressed by several of the features I read about, such as the extended zoom and pseudo-dslr design, I still had some concerns about a couple of features such as the complaints about focusing and lack of manual controls. After shooting about 200 pictures, I am happy to report that I will be keeping the camera.

I'll address my concerns about the reported concerns others expressed. First was the concern over focus. At one point, the camera was having trouble focusing on a shot of the sea and horizon. Everything was blurry and only items within 20-30 ft. would be in focus. I tried several different modes, including landscape and beach, but it did not cure the problem. At that point, I decided to just turn it off and turn it back on and that solved the problem. There must be some issue with the algorithms which pick certain items to focus, but the old "off... Read more

Bought this camera and loved the ease of operation and picture quality. I also have the Panasonic DMC-FZ35, which is VERY complicated. I needed something simpler. I learned to use this Nikon after only 1 hour of reading the manual (compared to months still trying to figure out the Panasonic). Was easy getting great pictures. Smile detection and Pet mode worked terrific. Unfortunately, my primary reason for this type of hybrid camera, is for the convenience of camera and HD video in one unit. Video quality on this unit is well below average. I compared it to my Panasonic - no comparison. The Panasonic's video was smooth and clear, the Nikon - grainy and jerky. I really wanted to keep this camera for it's ease of use and picture quality, but the poor video quality ultimately caused me to return it. Until I find an easy to use camera with good picture and video, I'll continue with the months of trying to figure out the Panasonic.

PROS: Ease of use, great pictures, smile... Read more