This is a camera that is designed to be dummy proof. It does the job nicely. The Nikon L22 is a camera anyone can use. And it has a low price.

This is not a sophisticated digital camera. It is designed to be sold at a low price point with few bells and whistles, while still being able to take good pictures. It is ideal for those that are not technology savvy, just keep in mind that it is not as customizable as other cameras in this price range.

The automatic picture adjustments the camera makes work fairly well. Not perfect but better than average. I am pleased with the camera’s automatic picture adjustments.

The video is disappointing. It is only 640x480. In otherwords it is only standard television. 480p (hi-def is 720p, 1080i, and 1080p)

Picture quality
I want to start by talking about the photos. The best photos I got were in good sunlight. The colors were rich and bold, exactly what the average consumer is looking for. So outside during the day is fine for this camera. And I have no problem with this.

In rooms with fluorescent lights, the pictures were a bit yellow and lacked the red in the environment. Yes you still saw red if it was bright red, but the tints of red in other objects was lost in an overly yellow environment. These were at automatic setting so you do need to change the settings in your camera if you do shoot under florescent lighting. Sadly the camera does not automatically adjust for these changes in light source. But when using a flash in this environment, most of these imperfections are eliminated (but not all).

The flash pictures worked well. They are exactly what I would expect from a point and shoot camera. At night with not other light source, the camera's flash would light up objects around 20 yards away fairly easily. Not perfect but just fine for documenting events. In these photos you clearly saw the color of the horse and could easily identify the rider. Just don’t expect to be framing your pictures with this flash alone.

The automatic expose is ok. I found that the camera had a little difficulty properly exposing the subject in certain situations. For landscapes or group photos, it worked perfectly. Changing your focus point will help this. Backlighting was an issue when using the automatic settings.

Physical button
There are two buttons and a toggle on top. There is a small on/off button just to the right of the center of the top. To the right of that is the shutter release button. It is about half the diameter of my index finger but it depresses easily with no issues. Around the shutter release button is a zoom toggle. You use this to zoom when you are taking a photo and when you are zooming into a picture you are reviewing.

On the back are 5 buttons and a cross key. Starting from the bottom is a menu button and a trash button. Just above that is the round cross key and an “OK” button in the middle of that. Just above that is the camera mode button and the picture review button.

The round cross key style buttons control flash (5 options), over or under exposure control, and turning the macro on/off (which only works in certain settings, not all).

To focus you press on the shutter button half way. The focus lag is anywhere from half a second to a second. And sometimes it fails to focus, so you will have to halfway press the shutter button again to get it to focus. This is not a camera for fast activities.

The zoom is slow. It takes 2 seconds to go from optical wide to max optical zoom. Slow considering how short the zoom is. It does have digital zoom which takes longer. I personally see no point in using digital zoom since you can do digital zooming on the computer with more accuracy. I always prefer to crop my pictures on the computer afterwards.

The buttons are lower than I would like. I just have to flex my thumb back to use the cross key. But for picture taking you don’t really use it much so it isn’t a big problem.

I’m not wild about the zoom controls because they are so small. It is a small ring fitted around the shutter release button. The great thing about it being small is it makes the camera very portable. It will not break off easily when thrown in a purse or bag. But because it is small, long fingers have a hard time using it. This type of control is a lot slower than if you physically handled the zoom lens itself.

Battery and SD card compartment
On the bottom you have a battery compartment, an audio/visual port, and a tripod female screw port.

One of the big complaints I have read was the latch on the battery/card compartment can fail. She has not had any problems with the latch as of this posting. I can clearly see how it can easily fail. It is a very small plastic pin. And for its size it is holding back a lot of plastic.

VR
It has a vibration reduction feature and it is a digital VR (not optical). Optical stabilization is preferred. The VR does work well but it will not replace a stable shooting platform. I zoomed in across a large room and took a picture with almost no blurriness.

Size
The size of the camera is really nice when you consider when it was first introduced onto the market. You can put this in an empty jeans pocket if you wanted (unless you have your skinny jeans on). It is compact and designed to travel. It does get lost in a big bag/pouch sometimes.
It was much smaller than my old Nikon 8MP, so when I first used it I was pleased with the size. But it is still bigger than other point and shoot cameras, such as my new Sony WX9. That Sony is very small in comparison.

Ergonomics
Ergonomics are minimal. It is slightly bubbled on the right front so you have a better grip with your right hand (although not large enough for me to grip easily). There is a depression on the back for your thumb.

If you haven’t figured out, this camera is too small for my longer fingers. A child or small adult will probably find it perfect.

Screen
The screen is not a touch screen so you have to use the buttons. I actually like this. I don’t like touch screens on my cameras. I find it easier to use buttons. Especially when the buttons are customizable.

The screen is good. No major complaints. It does a good job of showing you what you shot and the color is replicated well.


To review the pictures you hit the play button on the back. It shows you the most recent image.

What I really do not like about this camera is you do not have any real manual controls. You have control of over/under exposure, and you have presets. But you really have to rely on the present controls.

My cameras have a turn dial with modes on it to select from. I prefer having that on my camera. Those modes are all controlled on the screen. You have 5 options.
-Easy auto mode
-“Portrait”; 16 specific portrait options
-Smart Portrait
-Movie
-Auto mode

These different modes allow different presets. So you do not have the same options in each setting.
Portrait gives you several different modes. Portrait Landscape Sports Night portrait Party/indoor Beach/snow Sunset Dusk/dawn Night landscape Close-up Food Museum Fireworks show Copy Backlight
-Panaroma assist

Basically these present change the shutter speed or exposure. For example, fireworks has a long shutter exposure. Vibration reduction does not work on long exposures, so you will need a tripod.

Macro
There is a macro feature called “close-up” and it works ok. It is a special setting in smart portrait. Sadly close photography does not work in auto mode. In normal mode you need to be 10 inches away from the object. In “close” mode you need to be 2 inches away or you don’t get the object in focus. It works about as well as my Droid X. If you are into shooting close up objects then I recommend a SLR with interchangeable lenses. My Sony WX9 does macro photography automatically. But for the casual photographer, this macro setting works just fine. Although I am critical in this paragraph, I do like the photos produced. Just make sure you have a good light source. For quicker macro access, you hit the rounded cross key at the bottom and you can turn macro on or off easily without having to enter the menu.

Panorama
Panorama assist is awesome. Basically you take a picture then the screen guides you to by showing you part of the image you just took. You line up that image and take a picture. It does it again until you have are finished with the panorama. Then you can put them together on your computer. You should have a tripod and I recommend using special software. Then you can piece them together using paint or another program on a computer.

Is it easy to take photos using panorama? No. It is a pain without a tripod and very time consuming. Yes you get really cool results when you use this feature. But you have to line up 2 points in the translucent image before you take the picture. You need to have steady hands (I don’t), be able to line up these two points at the same time, hold the camera at the same height as the previous picture, and properly angle the camera. And you need a lot of patience. I spent over 5 minutes getting a 180 degree shot.

My brand new Sony WX9 has a panorama function also. But that camera is a lot easier to use. You just pan it across the landscape like you would with a video camera, but you end up with a static picture instead. It is far easier and much much faster.

Durability
This camera is 11 months old with no durability issues. It hangs around inside her purse and she takes it everywhere. Her purse is full of other junk that bangs around.

Battery
This camera uses AA batteries. You can use rechargeables, or alkaline. DO NOT USE alkaline because they die really fast (but it is nice to have that as an option in case of emergencies). Use rechargeable batteries because they last a lot longer than alkaline. Basically the rechargeable batteries can handle the higher electrical draw better. Battery life of rechargeable batteries is around half a day with full usage. Around 300 photos (much less if you keep the LCD screen on and keep messing with settings). But with minimal usage you can expect it to last a week before you have to swap out the rechargeable batteries.

So what are the advantages of AA batteries? The most important is you can always buy batteries if you run out of your own stash. The rechargeable AA batteries are also less expensive than the Lithium-Ion batteries in most cameras. Around 2 to 4 times cheaper for the same number of shots.

One disadvantage of AA’s are that AA batteries take up more space than a Lithium battery (I’ve found that 4AA batteries have the same life as 1 thin Lithium 3.6 volt battery). This camera uses two AA’s at a time so you will need some backup batteries in a pocket or purse.

Shooting speed
It shoots one photo every 1 second. With flash it is around 5 seconds or so.

Lag
It can take up to a second to focus. About 2 seconds to zoom. And about a quarter of a second shutter lag.

Other numbers
-Movie mode is 320 or 640. Not high-def.
-12 megapixels
-3.6 zoom

The bottom contains a single port for the 2 batteries and 1 flash card. It accepts the standard SD card. So if you have a smaller one then you will need an adapter.


Flash
It has a small flash on the top right corner that works well. Not perfect but just fine for a compact camera. What I don’t like about the flash is it does not work well on close objects. Also the decision making on using the flash doesn’t make sense to me.

Photo size
The file size of the photos ranged from 2 MB to 5MB



Weight and dimensions
Weight: 1 1/8 ounces
Length(depth): 1 inch
Width: 3.75 inches
Height: 2.5
Capacity: 2 AA batteries and 1 normal size SD card


Summary
The Nikon L22 is a dummy proof camera. It is designed to be simple without a lot of confusing options. So while I want those options, those that are not computer/technology savvy will appreciate the simplicity.
But do I recommend this camera? No. It is an older camera and (surprisingly) it has not reduced in price to stay competitive with other camera’s in this economical category. You also have the issue of the latch design that other users have complained about.

&#169 Alan Lake's Kitchen 2011


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Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 100
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Fool-Proof for Absolute Beginners