Best Nikon COOLPIX Digital Certified Refurbished

Best Nikon COOLPIX L620 18.1 MP CMOS Digital Camera with 14x Zoom Lens and Full 1080p HD Video (Black) (Certified Refurbished)

This is My Opinion About This Product

After I buy this New Nikon COOLPIX L620 18.1 MP CMOS Digital Camera with 14x Zoom Lens and Full 1080p HD Video (Red) (Old Model) (Electronics)

We purchased the Nikon Coolpix L620 on August 30, 2013 to replace our 2008 vintage Coolpix which was lost in a white water spill after 5 years of great pictures. Several days after receiving the L620 we headed off to Great Smokey Mountains National Park for a week of relaxation and pictures. Several hundred pictures later in a variety of compositions and lighting we return giving the L620 high marks. Needless to say the 18MP images render a sharp crisp picture. We didn't buy this camera to take low rez pictures so all of ours were at full resolution. In non flash situations the camera was able to recycle in less than a second between independent pictures. When a flash was used, often as a fill flash which produced amazing results, there is a noticeable time between pictures approaching 2 seconds which was not a problem at all. The 14x zoom was great when taking wildlife pictures although the automatic settings resulted in a slower than desired shutter speed resulting in a few blurred images. Perhaps the most impressive result was the vibrancy of the colors, exceeding expectations for a camera of this size and price. Performance in low light and foggy situations was notably good.

Now for the rational for the 4 rather than 5 stars. We purchased the L620 in part because it uses 2 AA batteries rather than rectangular customs. With our last camera on several occasions we found ourselves without a spare battery so the ready availability of AA's made dealing with the lesser battery life a reasonable compromise: carrying an extra set in our pocket is easy. In a variety of lighting situations ours averaged 73 pictures (again at max resolution and mixed flash) over the trip (Duracell NiMH 2450mAh). Not bad performance. What was surprising is the lack of warning that you were about to run dry. In our previous 2 Coolpix a warning appeared in the view finder several pictures prior to the battery running dry. With the 620L there was little warning and in two cases the batteries died with none at all (yes there is a little battery in the view finder but it is not at all precise). For a company of Nikon's reputation this is a miss that needs correction.

One suggestion, get a high capacity/quality memory card (we used a 32GB SanDisk Extreme) as it is worth cost for the capacity.

All in all I would give the L620 a strong recommendation and look forward to years of use.