Nikon Coolpix L810 Review
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.
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ISO 80 (100% Crop) |
ISO 100 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 200 (100% Crop) |
ISO 400 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 800 (100% Crop) |
ISO 1600 (100% Crop) |
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Focal Range
The Nikon Coolpix L810 has a massive 26x optical zoom which is the equivalent of 22.5-585mm in 35mm terms.
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22.5mm |
585mm |
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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.
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Original (100% Crop) |
Sharpened (100% Crop) |
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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.
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High (100% Crop) |
Normal (100% Crop) |
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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.
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Chromatic Aberrations 1 |
Chromatic Aberrations 2 |
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Chromatic Aberrations 3 |
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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.
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Macro |
Macro (100% Crop) |
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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.
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Flash Off - Wide Angle (22.5mm) |
Flash On - Wide Angle (22.5mm) |
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Flash Off - Telephoto (585mm) |
Flash On - Telephoto (585mm) |
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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.
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Flash On |
Flash On (100% Crop) |
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Red Eye Reduction |
Red Eye Reduction (100% Crop) |
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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.
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Night Landscape |
Night Landscape (100% Crop) |
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Night Auto |
Night Auto (100% Crop) |
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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
This is a sample movie at the highest quality setting of 1280x720 pixels at 30 frames per second. Please note that this 40 second movie is 52.6Mb in size.
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
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Front of the Camera |
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Isometric View |
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Isometric View |
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Isometric View |
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Rear of the Camera |
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Rear of the Camera / Turned On |
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Rear of the Camera / Shooting Mode |
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Rear of the Camera / Shooting Menu |
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Rear of the Camera / Playback Menu |
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Top of the Camera |
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Side of the Camera |
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Side of the Camera |
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Front of the Camera |
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Memory Card Slot |
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| 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) | |
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| 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.
ephotozine.com »
The Nikon Coolpix L810 is a 26x super-zoom digital camera, aimed at those who want a lot of zoom but are on a budget. The L810 is available in bronze, red, blue and black for £229.00.
Read the full review »
expertreviews.co.uk »
Some people buy digital cameras based purely on brand, specs and price, and Nikon has them in its sights with the L810. The Nikon brand carries some gravitas, and with a 26x zoom, 16-megapixel sensor, 3in 921,000-dot screen, HDMI out, a choice of four colours and a price just shy of £200 including VAT, it's bound to stand out on the shop shelves.
Read the full review »
techradar.com »
In recent months, the world of camera manufacturing has gone superzoom crazy. From the top end likes of the Fuji X-S1 to the budget-priced Olympus SP-620UZ, most brands have something new to sell.
Read the full review »
Specifications
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*Unless otherwise stated, all figures are for a camera with a fully-charged Rechargeable Battery operated at an ambient temperature of 25°C. |
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| Product name | COOLPIX L810 |
| Type | Compact digital camera |
| Effective pixels | 16.1 million |
| Image sensor | 1/2.3-in. type CCD; approx. 16.44 million total pixels |
| Lens | 26x optical zoom, NIKKOR lens |
| Focal length | 4.0-104.0mm (angle of view equivalent to that of 22.5-585 mm lens in 35mm [135] format) |
| f/-number | f/3.1-5.9 |
| Construction | 12 elements in 9 groups (1 ED lens element) |
| Digital zoom | Up to 4x (angle of view equivalent to that of approx. 2340 mm lens in 35mm [135] format) |
| Vibration reduction | Lens shift |
| Autofocus (AF) | Contrast-detect AF |
| Focus range (from lens) | [W]: Approx. 50 cm (1 ft 8 in.) to infinity, [T]: Approx. 1.5 m (5 ft) to infinity Macro mode: Approx. 1 cm (0.4 in.) (when zoom is set to middle position) to infinity |
| Focus-area selection | Center, face detection |
| Monitor | 7.5-cm (3-in.), approx. 921k-dot, wide viewing angle TFT LCD with anti-reflection coating and 5-level brightness adjustment |
| Frame coverage (shooting mode) | Approx. 95% horizontal and 95% vertical (compared to actual picture) |
| Frame coverage (playback mode) | Approx. 100% horizontal and 100% vertical (compared to actual picture) |
| Media | Internal memory (approx. 50 MB), SD/SDHC/SDXC memory card |
| File system | DCF, Exif 2.3, DPOF, and MPF compliant |
| File formats | Still pictures: JPEG 3D images: MPO Movies: MOV (Video: H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, Audio: LPCM stereo) |
| Image size (pixels) | 16M (High) [4608 x 3456(fine)] 16M [4608 x 3456] 8M [3264 x 2448] 4M [2272 x 1704] 2M [1600 x 1200] VGA [640 x 480] 16:9 [4608 x 2592] |
| Shooting Modes | Easy Auto, Scene (Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Night portrait, Party/indoor, Beach, Snow, Sunset, Dusk/dawn, Night landscape, Close-up, Food, Museum, Fireworks show, Black and white copy, Backlighting, Panorama assist, Pet portrait, 3D photography), Smart Portrait, Auto |
| Continuous Shooting | Single (default setting), Continuous (Up to about 4 images at about 1.2 fps), BSS (Best Shot Selector), Multi-shot 16 |
| Movie | HD 720p (default setting): 1280 x 720/approx. 30 fps, VGA: 640 x 480/approx. 30 fps |
| ISO sensitivity (Standard output sensitivity) | ISO 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 Auto (auto gain from ISO 80 to 1600) |
| Metering | 256-segment matrix, center-weighted (digital zoom less than 2x), spot (digital zoom 2x or more) |
| Exposure control | Programmed auto exposure with motion detection and exposure compensation (-2.0 to +2.0 EV in steps of 1/3 EV) |
| Shutter | Mechanical and charge-coupled electronic shutter |
| Speed | 1/1500 to 1 s 4 s (Fireworks show scene mode) |
| Aperture | Electronically-controlled ND filter (-3.3 AV) selection |
| Range | 2 steps (f/3.1 and f/9.9 [W]) |
| Self-timer | Approx. 10 s |
| Range (approx.) (ISO sensitivity: Auto) | [W]: 0.5 to 5.0 m (1 ft 8 in. to 16 ft) [T]: 1.5 to 2.5 m (5 ft to 8 ft 2 in.) |
| Flash control | TTL auto flash with monitor preflashes |
| Interface | Hi-Speed USB |
| Data Transfer Protocol | MTP, PTP |
| Video output | Can be selected from NTSC and PAL |
| HDMI output | Can be selected from Auto, 480p, 720p, and 1080i |
| I/O terminal | Audio/video (A/V) output; digital I/O (USB) HDMI mini connector (Type C) (HDMI output), DC input connector |
| Supported languages | Arabic, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (European and Brazilian), Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese |
| Power sources | Four LR6/L40 (AA-size) alkaline batteries Four FR6/L91 (AA-size) lithium batteries Four EN-MH2 rechargeable Ni-MH batteries (available separately) AC Adapter EH-67 (available separately) |
| Battery life | Still pictures*: Approx. 300 shots when using alkaline batteries Approx. 740 shots when using lithium batteries Approx. 450 shots when using EN-MH2 batteries Movies: Approx. 1 h 50 min when using alkaline batteries (HD 720p) Approx. 5 h 15 min when using lithium batteries (HD 720p) Approx. 3 h 10 min when using EN-MH2 batteries (HD 720p) |
| Tripod socket | 1/4 (ISO 1222) |
| Dimensions (W x H x D) | Approx. 111.1 x 76.3 x 83.1 mm (4.4 x 3.1 x 3.3 in.) (excluding projections) |
| Weight | Approx. 430 g (15.2 oz) (including batteries and a memory card) |
| Temperature | 0°C to 40°C (32°F to 104°F) |
| Humidity | Less than 85% (no condensation) |
| Supplied accessories | Camera Strap, LR6/L40 (AA-size) alkaline batteries (x4), Lens Cap LC-CP25 (with cord), USB Cable UC-E16, Audio Video Cable EG-CP16, ViewNX 2 Installer CD, Reference Manual CD |
| Optional accessories | AC Adapter EH-67, Hand Strap AH-CP1, Rechargeable Ni-MH batteries EN-MH2-B4 (set of four EN-MH2 batteries), Battery Charger MH-73 (includes four rechargeable Ni-MH batteries EN-MH2) |
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