Introduction

Ease of Use

Photography is such a welcoming past time. Frankly, anyone can do it but not everyone wants to get bogged down with jargon and numbers. If everyone wanted to get involved with reciprocity failure or the circle of confusion, there would be no need for the L series of cameras from Nikon. L stands for Life and it's the company's range of easy to use point and shoot models for the happy crowd. The L810 is the daddy of the bunch being the biggest. It has a large 26x optical zoom on the front meaning that the lens barrel sticks out a considerable distance. Accompanying that is a chunky grip to aid steady shooting at telephoto and also give the look of a more sophisticated DSLR.

To operate the Nikon Coolpix L810's zoom, the shutter release which is perched on the tip of the grip has a zoom ring wrapped around it. However, Nikon have been thoughtful enough to place a secondary zoom rocker on the lens barrel. After all, to ensure steady shooting a hand has to be placed under the barrel and your thumb will sit right where that rocker is situated. Just above the rocker is a small button for activating the flash. If you don't press this button to pop the flash up, pressing the flash options button on the back won't make any difference, except a message will flag on the screen telling you to open the flash. Once up you get five options: auto, red eye, forced off, forced on and slow sync.

On top of the Nikon Coolpix L810, the stereo microphones sit in a glossy black dome behind the flash unit. A speaker and power button are located to the right. On the back, the direct video button is in the top right corner. This button will record video straight away regardless of the mode that you're in. Be aware that the settings you've got the camera in for still shooting will be used in video too. There are only three options in the video menu for resolution, auto focus and wind noise reduction. The quality of the video is good and the sound recording is superb. Very nice and clear.  To be picky, we prefer a counter that counts up so we know how much video we've taken at a glance. We can see the benefit of having a clock counting down - especially if you have limited space on the card. Maybe a future menu option would be the ability to change it?

Front	Rear

Beneath the small leatherette thumb rest there are four buttons surrounding the navigation pad. The top buttons open up either the different modes (green camera) or playback images you've previously taken (blue arrow). At the bottom, the buttons are for the main menu and deleting pictures and video you wish to discard. Once in the menu, the centre pad allows you to navigate your way around by pressing left, right, up or down. These buttons also double up for access to macro mode, self timer, flash options and exposure compensation.

Because the L series of cameras are so easy to use, the Nikon Coolpix L810's menus have been simplified to within an inch of its life. There are only three tabs for shooting, video and set up. In playback, this narrows down to two tabs.

Because of the camera's standing in the full Nikon range of digital compact cameras, the L810 doesn't have any special features or digital effects such as you'd see on the more expensive models. It does offer five colour options: standard (default), vivid, black & white, sepia and cyanotype. But that's not what the L series is about. If Nikon start to put hordes of effects and features into the menu system, it will look just as crowded as all the others and put off the main target customer that the L series of cameras are aimed at.

All the good stuff is under the hood such as the ED lens elements and VR system to keep your shots steady when zooming out.  The EXPEED C2 processor ensures speedy data transfer of your pictures so you can take another picture as soon as possible.

Front	Top

On the outside, the Nikon Coolpix L810 looks very nice in its glossy plastic coating. The shiny plastic appeals but we do wonder about scratching over time. The leatherette coating on the grip and thumb rest works well enough but can get a bit slimy when using the camera over a prolonged period or in warm weather. It's not the material; it's caused by clammy hands.

The L810 takes 4x AA batteries (four of which come provided) as is usually the case in cameras at this market level. The idea is that although the batteries will run down sooner, they're more readily available in most shops. They are placed in the bottom of the camera inside the grip area. The SD memory card also goes in there. The door is slid across to open and close and it has a locking switch. The tripod bush is plastic which we expected. A rubber cover shields the HDMI, USB and mains adapter ports. The zoom rockers are both easy to use in our opinion. Neither gave more shake than the other. However, the one on the lens barrel is certainly a lot looser making it easier to use. For close subjects at full zoom, it certainly helps more.

Pre focused, shutter lag times from the Nikon Coolpix L810 are roughly the same as any other digital compact camera. It can take a shot in around 0.08 seconds. There are three shooting modes. Continuous does what it says on the tin but is pretty slow. We managed 6 six shots in ten seconds. The camera was pretty fast at first; it managed just under three shots in the first second. This slowed with only three more over a ten second time span. BSS is the Best Shot Selector. It continuously takes photos and saves them to the buffer until you take your finger off the shutter release. It then saves the  picture that has the highest amount of detail. There's also a Multi Shot 16 mode that takes 24 low resolution pictures and merges them all onto one picture. It's handy for analysing fast moving moments such as a golf swing, horse running or fast, complex machinery.

Memory Card Slot	Battery Compartment

As we mentioned earlier, there's two tabs in playback. The amount of options available is much more extensive though. There are a couple of editing tools such as D-Lighting (a dynamic range enhancer) and Skin softener. The rest are for printing or organisation such as print order, slide show, rotate and copy.

In the box, the Nikon Coolpix L810 comes with a strap, 4x AA batteries, USB lead, lens cap and HDMI lead to attach the camera to your television. Of course, the end that plugs in uses analogue leads (not every one has a digital television apparently) so the digital quality is lost immediately. You can buy a HDMI lead and because not everyone could use one, we can see the position that Nikon are placed in.

The Nikon Coolpix L810 comes with a large booklet that is only actually a quick start guide. It's multi-lingual so only a small portion is in English. There are two enclosed CDs with the full manual on and Nikon ViewNX 2 for editing if you don't already have an editing suite on your computer.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 16 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 6Mb.

One of the biggest problems we could see throughout the test of the Nikon Coolpix L810 is the image quality. When we were taking the pictures, on the screen they looked lovely. They were sharp, well exposed and blur free. Of course it's not best practice to trust the screen but it's easy - and fair - to think that you get a reasonable idea of the final outcome so that you can reshoot if necessary. With the L810 that isn't the case. We went on our way perfectly happy with what we saw on the screen. Even zooming in gave a false idea of the picture quality.

Noise

Low ISO gives a good performance with smooth results and sharp edges. The lack of noise continues through ISO 100 and 200 although at the latter stage, edge definition appears to break slightly. Edges continue to deteriorate through the mid stages but colour noise is kept at bay for the time being.

Colour starts to close in at ISO 800 with definite noise in darker areas and creeping into the mid-range. Detail starts to diminish at this high setting. By the final highest setting of ISO 1600, image quality is expectedly poor. However up until this point the processor has done a good job of keeping it out of the pictures. At the top level colour noise seeps into the image all over and detail is sparse. This is a setting to use sparingly.

ISO 80 (100% Crop)	ISO 100 (100% Crop)
ISO 200 (100% Crop)	ISO 400 (100% Crop)
ISO 800 (100% Crop)	ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

Focal Range

The Nikon Coolpix L810 has a massive 26x optical zoom which is the equivalent of 22.5-585mm in 35mm terms.

22.5mm	585mm

Sharpening

When digital cameras record in JPEG the processor sharpens the image but even then they can sometimes need a little extra push in Photoshop. The Nikon Coolpix L810 has an immense sharpening system and we found that even using the standard sharpener the picture was over cooked and we had to take it back off.

Original (100% Crop)	Sharpened (100% Crop)

File Quality

The Nikon Coolpix L810's 16 megapixel sensor has two compression ratings at full resolution. The highest quality has a star designation next to the image size in the main menu. A typical image at this size is around 6Mb while knocking it down to the normal setting without the star will shave off roughly 2Mb of information.

High (100% Crop)	Normal (100% Crop)

Chromatic Aberrations

Despite the ED lenses in the Nikon Coolpix L810's barrel, we still found traces of chromatic aberration - purple fringing - in high contrast areas.

Chromatic Aberrations 1	Chromatic Aberrations 2
Chromatic Aberrations 3

Macro

We'd like to see the Nikon Coolpix L810's macro function get in that bit closer but what we do see is lots of detail in the compact flash card we tested the macro feature on. In other sample shots with more detail to the edges of the frame we noticed that image quality does drop off to a degree.

Macro	Macro (100% Crop)

Flash

The Nikon Coolpix L810 has a pop up flash and when in use it works really well. As with any flash, the closer the subject, the brighter they'll be but from a reasonable distance the results are brilliant. Nice and even with great skin tones retained on portraits.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (22.5mm)	Flash On - Wide Angle (22.5mm)
Flash Off - Telephoto (585mm)	Flash On - Telephoto (585mm)

There's not an ounce of red-eye to the degree that they simply don't have to add a red-eye reduction feature either.

Flash On	Flash On (100% Crop)
Red Eye Reduction	Red Eye Reduction (100% Crop)

Night

There's no manual control on the Nikon Coolpix L810 so we relied on the landscape mode in the presets. The picture was a bit too noisy for our tastes so we put it in auto and manually selected a low ISO. The results of that are marginally better but the long exposure has done some damage.

Night Landscape	Night Landscape (100% Crop)
Night Auto	Night Auto (100% Crop)

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Nikon Coolpix L810 camera, which were all taken using the 16.1 megapixel High JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample Movie & Video

As of February 2025, we are no longer providing full size sample images or videos for download.

Please contact us if you have any feedback on our new policy.

Product Images

Front of the Camera

Isometric View

Isometric View

Isometric View

Rear of the Camera

Rear of the Camera / Turned On

Rear of the Camera / Shooting Mode

Rear of the Camera / Shooting Menu

Rear of the Camera / Playback Menu

Top of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Memory Card Slot

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

Every manufacturer releases a megazoom model to entice certain photographers into buying their brand. The Nikon Coolpix L810 would suit the outdoor rambler who likes to take pictures of wildlife without disturbing them. Alternatively the large zoom is useful for the sloth in all of us that simply can't be bothered to walk there. Whatever your persuasion, the long zoom of the Nikon Coolpix L810 will deliver. The camera looks attractive. We had the bronze model which looks a bit more brown but it's a lovely colour nonetheless. Build quality isn't the best but it's to be expected at this price point.

Where the Nikon Coolpix L810 gets let down is in the image quality section. We mentioned earlier that we looked at our point of reference (the LCD screen) and the images looked lovely. Once back on the computer, the larger screen and higher resolution monitor told a different story. While we know that the LCD shouldn't be used to determine final image quality, what else are you supposed to use on a day out? Or on holiday? The screen is relied on heavily and even when we zoomed in they looked better on the camera. Edge definition breaks down pretty quickly on the L810 which looks like it's a by-product of the noise reduction system because noise isn't present until very late on. In fact even at ISO 800, we were happy enough with the overall results.

Of course it's easy to look at Nikon - one of the most respected and best selling camera companies in the world - and think that they should be churning out mini D4s. That's not the case though and it's important to keep the price in mind when looking at the Nikon Coolpix L810's specification. If you're a budding amateur that wants to use a long tele-zoom camera without the hassle to begin with then the L810 certainly will do the trick.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	3.5
Features	3.5
Ease-of-use	4.5
Image quality	3.5
Value for money	4

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Nikon Coolpix L810 from around the web.

Specifications

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