Nikon handheld... absolutely awful!

[CrippsCorner]

Hi... I bought my mum her first ever digital camera for Christmas, a Nikon L25. It's proper, proper terrible.

Now I have a D3200 myself but I only got it last year and tbh I haven't used it that much, so my knowledge when it comes to cameras isn't all that extensive.

This L25... the white balance is awful, everything appears orange. On a recent outing, about 75% of the photos came back blurred, and this is multiple people taking these photos, it isn't just one person with Parkinson's. The field of view doesn't seem to be great, and the screen is very slow to update as well. I'm gutted because with her old manual camera, she actually produced some really nice looking photos!

I've had a little mess around and haven't been able to improve the situation... obviously I'm not expecting the world from a £50 camera, but do you have any ideas?

 

[planetx]

It's never the cameras fault but the little pink bits that hold it......

 

[JJ!]

Looking at reviews of the L25, and none of them are pretty. 5 x zoom is enough to cause camera shake and there is no image stabilisation on this model it does not take much to ruin a photo even with steady hands.

 

[CrippsCorner]

It's never the cameras fault but the little pink bits that hold it......

Yes but with an old analogue camera the pictures were coming out really nice (that was budget too) but now, with a digial camera, they're coming out poor. The user hasn't changed...

 

[Brazo]

The sensor size has changed somewhat though, you've gone from full frame albeit film, to a tiny, tiny little sensor and this will amplify camera shake.

 

[Habitual]

It's never the cameras fault but the little pink bits that hold it......

Like that, blatantly going to pass it off as my own at some point.

 

[planetx]

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

^ LOL Steve

Looking at reviews of the L25, and none of them are pretty. 5 x zoom is enough to cause camera shake and there is no image stabilisation on this model it does not take much to ruin a photo even with steady hands.

Yeah first review I found, suggested all the faults you've found.

It's a £50 camera... not being funny but it's not going to take D-SLR esq photos...

 

[dunganick]

We've not seen any of the pics. Might have been on the wrong mode or someone had for instance accidentally locked the ISO at 200 causing the camera to drop the shutter speed.

 

[Niall]

Well if it's no good then there's a fairly obvious solution; if she enjoys taking photos too I think that a better camera is justifiable.

 

[CrippsCorner]

She would just go back to her old analogue camera, which was even cheaper! But it works... just wanted mum to become modern lol.

 

[planetx]

What is an " analogue" camera anyway? - does it tick?.......

 

[CrippsCorner]

Okay well a few examples of the better photos! Didn't even bother putting the worse ones on to the computer. Cats here, why so blurry!? Not in focus at all really... no depth of field to be seen :dapprove:

Look at the table here, sure it wasn't that bright! All the detail's just washed out...

 

[Niall]

By the looks of it, they just don't look focused on the subject, the bits that are in focus such as the soil behind the cat are sharp.

 

[CrippsCorner]

Nothing is in focus on the first photo though... it's set on to auto focus so why isn't it doing it's job

 

[Emma.]

My Nikon bridge camera is awesome. I'm going to guess its user error. On mine if you press and hold the shutter button but not fully press it until it beeps which means its now focused.

​The one with the table looks to be on the wrong setting maybe and the flash has gone off.

 

[Ay Ay Ron]

I really don't know what you expect from a £50 p&s camera. The focus will more than likely be down to user error, not half pressing the shutter button. What extent of depth kg field do you expect? I'm pretty sure the cameras lens won't be great either. That field of view does it have? Are you expecting the range from 10mm to 300mm zoom?
If she enjoys photography, spend some more money on a better camera.
I bought my mum a £150 Samsung a few years back and didn't expend the world from it. Be realistic with what you want from the amount you've spent.

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Read the manual ..

You might find that the min focusing distance is 1.5m unless you're in macro mode ?

Failing that .. bring it to me (don't think you're too far away!) .. if I can't get a half decent shot then it can't be user error :rasp:

 

[CrippsCorner]

My mum has no enthusiasm for photography... I'm just genuinely confused as to why a £40 film Olympus camera is absolutely destroying a £50 digital Nikon camera.

 

[Brazo]

I don't think a fair price comparison could be made but don't forget that its only really in the last few years that digital quality surpassed film.

Just because its film doesn't mean it's poor, how do you think we managed back in the day