Excellent camera for the price

Just bought the Coolpix L1 at Costco Warehouse. I owned a an older 3 mp Nikon digital that my daughter dropped and broke. This camera is terrific! Takes great pictures and using Sanyo rechargeable Ni-MH batteries I have taken close to 75 (mostly flash) pictures at fine resolution and some short movies on a 1 gig card without running out of power. This camera is also very simple and intuitive.

For users who think this camera takes poor pictures ... please READ the user manual. It takes excellent pictures if you understand the auto focus feature and use it properly. I think it takes better pictures than the Canon Sure-Shot that my brother-in-law owns.

The only reason that I am not giving this camera 5 stars is because of the lag time between pictures. It seems quite long at times, but most compact digitals are the same. Originally I wanted the Nikon digital SLR (no lag time between pictures), but for me having a camera that would fit easily in my purse turned out to be a better option. I can take pictures of my kids at a whim.

I love the portrait setting and how it seeks out a persons face for auto-focus. This is a really cool feature.

Just like my older Nikon there are all kinds of settings for indoor, night-time, beach conditions that help create better pictures under various conditions. Nikon has since added the d-lighting, white balance and other features since my older camera and I love those features too.

All in all this is a GREAT camera. Big Bang for the buck!!!! Read the user manual and play around with the features. You will not regret buying this camera.