Great family camera

We have had our Coolpix L1 for white a while and have been very happy with it - with one minor exception which I will outline below. We bought it to record important moments. Most of our photos include people and most photographers would call what we do with the camera taking snapshots. But we wanted a camera with which to take snapshots and with which we would be happy with them.

This camera has provided quality pictures in all kinds of lighting situations without our having to go in and set all kinds of controls. About the only "settings" that I do is manually turning on or off the flash or putting it in the automatic mode.

The battery seems to last forever on a charge, unlike some cameras we've had.

There are two minor aggravations with the camera, but both are not a big deal if you just look before taking pictures. Sometimes the little protective shutter that closes over the lens when the camera is off will open only about 90 percent of the way. If you don't realize it, it blocks out a corner of the picture. I suspect this might have been caused by something we did to the camera, and Nikon might repair this if we sent it back to them, but it has not been a big deal to us. It only happens occasionally and when it does happen, it is quickly noted on the screen and easily remedied by nudging it with one's finger.

The other minor aggravation is that if you aren't paying attention, sometimes the little scroll wheel on the back that changes modes will inadvertently find its way into a mode other than the one you want to be in. I'v just learned to look at this when I turn the camera on.

Overall, our entire family has been happy with this camera. We have dropped it and abused it in ways that one shouldn't, but it keeps on taking excellent pictures.

One other thing I will mention is that there is a brief lag between when you press the shutter button and when the picture is taken, but I have found that on most cameras that aren't extremely expensive.