You don’t need a high-resolution camera to get good-looking pictures. If they’re made right, 5-megapixel cameras can produce great photos. If you’re on a tight budget, but still want to take some photos, consider the Nikon Coolpix L10. This little camera has few features, a very slow flash recycle time, and can only produce up to 5-megapixel stills, but its tiny price tag and decent picture quality make it a solid budget contender.
Like every Coolpix L-series and almost every other budget camera out there, the L10 offers very few user controls. Besides white balance, exposure compensation, and a standard selection of scene presets, you can’t change many of the camera’s settings. Most notably, the aforementioned exposure compensation is the only control you have over a photo’s exposure. This means very little flexibility when shooting, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing; if the snapshot camera shoots well on its own, it doesn’t need many manual settings.
For such an unassuming little camera, the Nikon Coolpix L10 actually works pretty well. It’s responsive enough for casual shooting, and its(admittedly small) 5-megapixel photos look great.