Nikon Coolpix L100 sample photos

How close does a 15x optical zoom get you? Pretty close actually. Nikon's four-way image stabilization worked well, too, minimizing blur when the lens was fully extended.

Though the L100's lens displayed a fair amount of barrel distortion (left photo), turning on the camera's distortion correction did a great job of straightening things out (right photo).

The L100 features a Sports Continuous Scene Mode for shooting at up to 13 frames per second for up to 30 frames, but only at a resolution of 3 megapixels or less. The results are decent enough for small prints and Web use. The bigger price you pay is time as you wait for the L100 to store the photos after you've released the shutter--endemic to high-speed burst modes on point-and-shoot cameras.

Purple fringing--or in this case blue--isn't abnormal for point-and-shoot cameras. However, the L100 displays an above average amount of it. That neon-blue halo continues around the entire edge of the flower.

The L100 produces OK colors in general, but reds and oranges were a little too vibrant. (See the next slide for an example.)

While this daisy was a bright orange, the L100 struggled to get it right, blowing out the color on sections of the petals.