Slimline

Nikon's entry-level Coolpix L6 is even more basic than the Coolpix L5 model we reviewed in December. Featuring a 6-megapixel imager and 3x optical zoom lens it is simple to use, thanks to a drastically restricted control suite. Exposure control consists of scene modes and exposure compensation. You can't adjust sensitivity, flash output is non-adjustable and focusing options are limited to centre-point AF, with a minimum distance of 30 cm for general photography and 10 cm for close-ups. No viewfinder is provided.

The shooting menu contains seven settings: Set up, Image mode, White balance, Exposure +/-, Continuous, BSS and Colour Options. Set up lets you choose how items are displayed (as text or icons) and covers other standard adjustments, such as date/time settings, monitor brightness, speaker volume and date imprinting. Image mode covers image size/quality settings. BSS engages Nikon's Best Shot Selector (BSS) function, which will record up to 10 shots while the shutter release is pressed, then automatically select the one it thinks is the least blurry. The rest are discarded before you can check them.


Five Colour Options are provided: standard, Vivid colour, B&W, sepia and cyanotype (blue toned). The white balance menu contains seven settings, including a 'pre-set' mode for manual measurement. Exposure can be adjusted across +/-2EV in 1/3 EV increments, while the Continuous mode has three settings: single, Continuous and Multi-shot 16, the latter recording 16 thumbnail-sized images at roughly 2fps and presenting them as a single 2816x2112 pixel frame with moderate compression.

Moving a lever on the lower right side of the rear panel allows users to select between the auto, scene and movie modes. Nikon provides 15 Scene presets, four of them with Scene Assist sub-menus that let users choose from options related to subject type and positioning as well as the way the image is presented.

Video options are quite good for a point-and-shoot camera. You can record VGA and QVGA clips with sound at 30 or 15 fps or QQVGA at 15 fps. But you can only store 20 seconds of VGA video in the internal memory! And you can't edit video clips. Voice recording is also supported and the internal memory can hold up to 50 minutes of audio.

Playback options are pretty standard, with the usual single, index and slideshow settings plus DPOF printing, protect and delete. You can also create small copies of shots for emailing and copy image files between the internal memory and a memory card. Limited cropping facilities are provided via the playback zoom control and the camera also comes with Nikon's D-Lighting function, which automatically corrects images that are poorly exposed due to backlighting and low flash levels. In-camera red-eye reduction analyses flash shots for red eyes and corrects them automatically.  But no histogram display is provided.

The Coolpix L6 is comfortable to hold for a slimline digicam but many of its control buttons sit under your thumb when your index finger is on the shutter button. This makes some buttons difficult to operate. The camera body feels slightly 'plasticky' but is well built and the memory card compartment on the side panel closes securely. Two AA batteries are inserted in the base of the camera, which also carries a central tripod socket.

Pictures from the test camera showed the typical elevated contrast and saturation of most digicams and outdoor shots had a slight warm cast. The higher contrast caused highlights to block up in shots taken in bright sunlight. Although it created an illusion of sharpness in most shots, Imatest showed overall resolution to be slightly below expectations and revealed detectable edge softening. Slight barrel distortion was found at the wider angles of view.

The camera had some difficulties with focusing on close subjects and digital zoom shots were affected by compression and sharpening artifacts. Slight colour noise was detected in low light shots, although the lack of sensitivity adjustment made it difficult to compare high and low sensitivity settings. Even in low light levels we were unable to force the sensitivity setting higher than about ISO 300 so we were unable to assess the claimed 'auto ISO 800' setting.

Lateral chromatic aberration was generally low and we found little evidence of coloured fringing in outdoor shots. Saturation was moderate with the Standard colour setting but images were wildly over-saturated when the colour was set to Vivid. White balance performance was above average with only the fluorescent pre-set delivering unacceptable colour reproduction. The flash produced enough light to illuminate an average-sized room.

The Coolpix L6 took 2.5 seconds to power up and shot-to-shot times without flash averaged 2.3 seconds. With flash, shot-to-shot times slowed to between eight and 10 seconds! We measured an average capture lag of 0.6 seconds but shutter lag was negligible with pre-focusing. The continuous shooting mode recorded shots at two frames/second. The battery were still going strong at the end of our tests.

IMATEST GRAPHS

Standard colour setting.

Vivid colour setting.

SAMPLE IMAGES

Close-up.

Dynamic range and contrast example showing warm bias in outdoor lighting.

Digital zoom.

Auto white balance under fluorescent light. (Incandescent lighting produced similar results.)

Fluorescent lighting pre-set under fluorescent lighting.

Image sensor: 5.76 x 4.29mm interline CCD with 6.18 million photosites (6.0 megapixels effective)
Lens: Zoom-Nikkor; 6.3-19.2mm f/3.2 - 5.3 (38-116mm in 35mm format)
Zoom ratio: 3x optical, up to 4x digital
Image formats: Stills – JPEG (Exif 2.2); Movies - Quick Time Motion JPEG with sound
Image Sizes: Stills – 2816x2112, 2048x1536, 1024x768, 640x480; Movies – VGA/QVGA at 30/15 fps; QQVGA at 15 fps.
Shutter speed range: 4-1/1500 second
Image Stabilisation: n.a.
Exposure Compensation: +/- 2EV in 1/3 EV steps
Focus system/range: Contrast-detect TTL AF; range 30 cm to infinity; Macro to 10 cm
Exposure metering/control: 256-segment matrix metering plus Program AE and 15 scene modes, 4 with Scene Assist
ISO range: Auto (approx. ISO 50 with auto gain-up to ISO 800)
White balance: Auto with TTL control, 7-mode manual (Direct sunlight, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Cloudy, Shade, Flash and White Bal. Preset)
Flash modes/range (ISO auto): Auto, Auto with Red-eye Reduction (In-Camera Red-Eye Fix), Flash Cancel, Anytime Flash and Slow sync
Sequence shooting: 1.7 fps to memory capacity
Storage Media: 23MB internal memory plus SD expansion slot
Viewfinder: n.a.
LCD monitor: 2.5-inch type; 115,000-dot TFT display with brightness adjustment
Power supply: EN-MH1 x 2 rechargeable NiMH AA batteries (approx. 540 shots/charge)
Dimensions (wxhxd): 91 x 60.5 x 26 mm (excluding projections)
Weight: 125g (without batteries and card)