Those wanting a budget-friendly digital camera with a healthy dose of optical zoom capabilities, the newly announced Nikon L840 is a promising option. An updated model to last year’s Nikon L830, the new L840 may look largely unchanged at first glance, but it offers more telephoto reach and includes wireless connectivity for the first time as well.
The previous model offered a healthy 34x optical zoom - itself an upgrade over the 30x zoom of the L820 - however, the new L840 adds even more telephoto reach, with a 38x optical zoom lens. On the wide-angle end, the L840 remains the same as its predecessor with an approximately equivalent 23mm field of view. At the telephoto end, the L840 zooms all the way out to an 855mm-equivalent focal length. The variable max aperture adjusts from a reasonably fast f/3.0 on the wide end to a decidedly dim f/6.5 at full telephoto.