The Nikon Coolpix L120 is a 14.1-megapixel superzoom camera, sporting a 21x optical zoom lens ( 25-525mm) , a unique side control lever for smooth zooming throughout the range, sensor-shift Vibration Reduction, 720p HD movie recording with stereo sound and a 3-inch LCD screen with a resolution of 921, 000 dots. Other highlights include over 20 scene modes, a 1cm macro mode, AA battery power, and a Sport Continuous mode that shoots up to 20 frames at 15fps, albeit at reduced resolution. Available in a choice of wine red and black, the Nikon Coolpix L120 officially retails for £249.99 / €290.00 / $279.95.
Ease of Use
Outwardly, the L120 is very similar to last year’s L110 model, though they are not quite identical to each other. The Nikon Coolpix L120 retains the fairly big and comfortable hand-grip of its predecessor, which still houses the four AA batteries needed to power the camera, but this time around it benefits from a slightly larger textured rubberised area to aid handling. As with the L110, the set of 4 commonly available R6/AA-size batteries share their home with the memory card, and given that there is nothing to keep them in place when the compartment door is open, you need to be careful when changing cards, otherwise the batteries spill out onto the floor.
The front of the L120 is dominated by the large lens, even when it sits retracted into its housing, although commendably it’s no larger than the L110’s 15x optic. Upon power-up, the lens extends, provided you have not forgotten to remove the lens cap beforehand. If you have, you will not only need to remove it but also to power the camera off and on again, unless you quickly remove it within a couple of seconds, whereupon the lens extends as normal. The L120’s lens is not terribly fast in terms of its maximum aperture, which is f/3.1 at wide angle and f/5.8 at the telephoto end. The focal range, on the other hand, commands respect, starting at 4.5mm ( equivalent to 25mm) and going all the way to 94.5mm ( equivalent to 525mm) .
The L120 sports a great addition in the form of a side control lever on the lens barrel. This allows you to zoom the lens in and out using your left hand, as well as the conventional method of the zoom lever. It doesn’t sound like a great deal in theory, but in practice it proves to be a very useful feature, especially when operating the zoom during movie recording. Kudos to Nikon for coming up with a genuinely innovative and helpful design feature, quite a rarity these days.
Thankfully Nikon have included Vibration Reduction ( VR) to help prevent camera-shake, an essential feature on a camera like this. As is the case with many other Nikon compacts, VR in the L120 is of the sensor-shift variety rather than the in-lens version used in the manufacturer’s SLR system. In addition to pure mechanical vibration reduction, you may choose a hybrid form of image stabilisation, in which case sensor-shift VR is complemented by a solution that involves taking two shots in succession, which are then combined in-camera for greater effect. Naturally this takes more time, but can yield better results in certain circumstances.