Today in our review is a budget ultrazoom Nikon CoolPix L310. Cameras of the CoolPix Lite line have always been distinguished by quality, while not very expensive. The business card of digital cameras is ease of use, attractive design and a wide range of functionality.
The camera is equipped with a 14.1 megapixel CCD. Its physical size is 1 / 2.3 inches, and its sensitivity ranges from ISO 80 to 1600, expandable to ISO 6400. In addition, the camera sensor is endowed with the ability to stabilize the image to maintain the sharpness of the frame in difficult shooting conditions. The Nikon CoolPix L310 has a 21x zoom ratio with focal lengths ranging from 25mm to 525mm in 35mm equivalent. The information processing in the camera is handled by the EXPEED C2 graphics processor.
Externally, Nikon CoolPix L310 makes quite a favorable impression. The body of the camera is rather large and heavy, but, nevertheless, due to the successful layout of the shell, it is very convenient to hold it and during shooting there is no need to support the camera with the other hand. Also, for better grip in the hand, the grip of the camera is covered with a perforated rubber pad. The camera is assembled conscientiously. Although the case is made of plastic, the strength of the structure does not give rise to any complaints. The joints of the panels do not form gaps in order to protect the camera from unwanted ingress of dirt and moisture inside in the future. Of the possible colors of the shell, only one is available - black.
The front of the Nikon CoolPix L310 is occupied by a lens, and an autofocus lamp is located next to it. On the upper edge there are: a built-in flash, its activator, a microphone, a speaker, a power activation key and a shutter release in the frame of the zoom control lever. Most of the back plane is occupied by the display. It is 3-inch, but with a rather low resolution of 230,000 dots. It has good viewing angles, which allows you to see the picture without distortion, not only in frontal viewing, but also with some displacement to the left, right, up and down. To the right of the screen, there is a menu entry key, a multifunctional navigation joystick with an enter button in the center, buttons for viewing and deleting footage, as well as a button for selecting a shooting mode. There is also a button for direct video activation. The right side of the camera is reserved for the USB connector, as well as a port for connecting a constant power adapter, which, unfortunately, is not included in the camera package. On the bottom of the body there is a tripod socket, an adjacent compartment for four AA batteries and SD, SDHC, SDXC memory cards.
The camera interface is simple and straightforward. The Nikon CoolPix L310 has three tabs in the menu, where the user can adjust the parameters of shooting photos and videos, as well as adjust the settings of the camera itself. There is simply no variety of shooting modes in the Nikon CoolPix L310. This may be for the best, because it is very difficult to get lost in such a set. For the most simple photography without unnecessary settings, you are offered the usual automatic mode, where the camera will independently adjust all shooting parameters. The Scene Pack offers seventeen different modes to help you achieve the desired photo quality no matter how challenging the shooting conditions. A separate item in the menu is "Smart portrait": when the camera detects a smile in the frame, the shutter is released automatically. For shooting dynamic scenes, there is a "Sport" mode, with which you can make fairly fast continuous shooting, but at a resolution of 3 megapixels. In this case, the duration of the series itself will not exceed 19 frames. To add interesting features to the pictures, there are four art filters in the camera menu: "Vivid Colors", "Black and White", "Sepia", "Cyanotopia".
Nikon CoolPix L310 records video in HD format with a resolution of 1280x720 and a frame rate of 30 frames per second. During recording, the user has the option to use the optical zoom. This will record the sound in mono format. The quality of the clip can hardly be called excellent: dull color rendition, a lot of color noise, not very effective image stabilization, rather frequent loss of focus. But do not forget that, first of all, Nikon CoolPix L310 is rather a camera, and video shooting is just a functional addition for it.
Now about photography. Here Nikon CoolPix L310 performed much better. Thanks to good optics, photos are clear and sharp, however, due to the large range of focal lengths, you can notice quite distinct chromatic aberrations in most photos. Shooting long distances was not a problem for the camera, and almost all of the photos came out sharp and without any blur. The color rendition of the camera is very bright and colorful, sometimes even with a bit of overkill, but, nevertheless, this aspect should be considered a plus rather than a minus. As for the dynamics of exposure, here Nikon CoolPix L310 showed a very mediocre result: frequent overexposures of bright areas of the frame and complete darkening of shadows are rather unpleasantly surprising.
The test for the sensitivity of the matrix gave the following result: the frame remains clear of color noise up to the 400 ISO mark with a noticeable deterioration in quality already at 800 ISO, and from the 1600 ISO mark the camera activates a rather aggressive noise reduction, which leads to a drop in detail and color reproduction. If the situation requires even more to raise the sensitivity value, then the camera menu provides values in 3200 and 6400 ISO with a resolution of 3 megapixels. The quality of photos in these modes will generally be similar to a full-size 14 megapixel at 1600 ISO.
Don't expect anything supernatural from the Nikon CoolPix L310. The camera is equipped with a high-quality lens, but a rather weak matrix, as a result of which effective shooting with this camera can be carried out only during daylight hours. The Nikon CoolPix L310 is affordable, convenient and highly versatile. It should be considered a pretty nice option if you want a decent high-zoom camera.
Competitors Nikon CoolPix L310 in the price category are: Sony DSC-W690.
