Features
Play, Edit and Print Functions
Battery Information
Inputs and Outputs Notes
Supplied Software

Recording Features

LCD Monitor: The Nikon Coolpix L120 has a 3" TFT LCD monitor featuring approximately 921,000 dots, an anti-reflective coating and a five-level brightness adjustment. The LCD monitor's wide-angle viewing area makes it easy to see and use. The LCD monitor has approximately 97% horizontal and vertical coverage in the shooting mode and approximately 100% horizontal and vertical coverage in playback mode. There is no separate viewfinder on the camera.

Image Sensor: The Coolpix L120 features a 1/2.3" CCD image sensor with a total pixel count of approximately 14.48-million pixels. The effective pixel count is 14.1-million.

Optics: The Coolpix L120 digital camera uses a Zoom-Nikkor glass lens for superb image quality. Every aspect of the lens manufacturing process is controlled by Nikon. The Zoom-Nikkor lens is designed for the specific camera and CCD combination. The Coolpix L120 uses a 21x optical zoom, that is equivalent to a 25-525mm lens in 35mm photography. Coupled with the 4x digital zoom, the camera's total zoom capability is 84x.

VR (Vibration Reduction) Stabilization: The Coolpix L120's Vibration Reduction (VR) Stabilization System effective corrects blur that commonly occurs when shooting at slow shutter speeds or when zoomed in. For still images, the camera uses image sensor shift to reduce the effects of camera shake, in combination with electronic vibration reduction during image processing. When shooting movies, the effects of camera shake is reduced by using Electronic Vibration Reduction.

Built-in Memory: The camera has a built-in 102 MB internal memory for storing still images and movies with sound. Images will be saved to the internal memory when no memory card is inserted.

Recording Media: In addition to the built-in memory, images can be recorded onto SD, SDHC, or SDXC Memory cards. When an SD Memory card is inserted in the camera, the images are automatically recorded onto the card.The camera can support SD cards up to 2 GB, SDHC cards from 4 GB to 32 GB, and SDXC cards of 48 GB or 64 GB.

Image Size: The Coolpix L120 records still images in JPEG format, and high definition movies in MOV video format (Video: MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, Audio: AAC stereo). You have a choice of nine still image size options and three movie options:

Shooting Modes: You can choose one of the following shooting modes:

• Easy Auto Mode: The camera automatically determines an appropriate shooting mode when you frame a picture, allowing you to easily take pictures with a shooting mode that suits the scene.
• Auto Mode: In Auto Mode, you can apply the macro mode and exposure compensation when shooting pictures. You can choose a flash mode and activate the self-timer.
• Scene Mode: You can manually or automatically select a scene mode with settings optimized for the shooting situation:
  • Portrait: Useful for photographs where you want the main subject to stand out clearly from the background.
  • Landscape: For vivid landscape shots that enhance outlines, colors, and contrast in such subjects as forests and skyscrapers.
  • Night Portrait: For shots that provide natural balance between the main subject and the background when shooting portraits under low lighting.
  • Party/Indoor: Shots include details of the background behind the main subject, or to capture the effects of candlelight and other indoor background lighting.
  • Snow: Captures the brightness of sunlit snow fields.
  • Beach: Vividly captures the brightness of subjects such as beaches or sunlit expanses of water.
  • Sunset: Preserves deep hues seen in sunsets and sunrises.
  • Dusk/Dawn: Preserves the colors seen in the weak natural light before sunrise and after sunset.
  • Night Landscape: A slow shutter speed is used to produce stunning night landscapes.
  • Close Up: Used to capture vivid colors in close-up shots of flowers, insects and other small objects, with the background artistically blurred.
  • Food: Used when shooting cuisines.
  • Museum: Use indoors where flash photography is prohibited or in other settings in which you do not want to use flash.
  • Fireworks Show: Slow shutter speeds are used to capture the expanding burst of light from a fireworks show.
  • Black and White Copy: Provides clear pictures of text or drawings on a white board, business card or in other printed matter.
  • Backlighting: Use when light is coming from behind your subject or when your subject is in the shade but the background is brightly lit.
  • Panorama Assist: Use to take a series of photographs that you will later join to form a single panoramic scene.
  • Pet Portrait: For taking pictures of dogs or cats. The camera detects the face of a dog or cat, and focuses on the detected face. When the subject is in focus, the shutter is released automatically (auto release).
• Smart Portrait: Using face priority to recognize human faces, the shutter is automatically released when a smile is detected.
• Sport Continuous: This mode allows rapid, continuous shooting while you press and hold the shutter-release button fully. The camera shoots up to 20 pictures at a rate of up to 15.3 frames per second. You can change the frame rate and image size within this mode.

Movies: Using the dedicated Movie-record button, you can shoot high definition or standard definition movies at 30 frames per second. The maximum movie length for each movie is 29 minutes, and the maximum file size is 4 GB, regardless of the memory card capacity.

Continuous Shooting: You can set the camera to take one picture at a time or multiple images by selecting one of the following options:

• Single: The camera records one picture each time the shutter release button is pressed.
• Continuous: While the shutter-release button is held down, up to 19 pictures are taken at a rate of about 0.7 frames per second (fps) when image mode is set to 14M (4320 x 3240).
• Best Shot Selector: The BSS is recommended for situations in which inadvertent camera movement can produce blurred pictures, or when parts of the image are prone to under- or over-exposure. When BSS is on, the camera takes shots while the shutter-release button is pressed, to a maximum of ten. The images are compared and the sharpest picture is saved to the memory or memory card.
• Multi-Shot 16: Each time the shutter release button is pressed, the camera takes 16 consecutive "thumbnail" images at a rate of about 22 frames per second, and arranges them into a single image, measuring 5M: 2560 x 1920 pixels.

Self-timer: The camera is equipped with a 10 second timer for self-portraits.

AF Area Mode: You can select between the following AF Area Modes to determine where the camera focuses:

• Face Detection: When the camera recognizes a face (front view only), the camera will focus on the face automatically. The camera can recognize up to 12 faces depending on shooting and exposure mode.
• Center: The camera focuses on the subject in the center of the frame.

Color Options: You can shoot still images with several color options: Standard color, Vivid color, Black-and-white, Sepia, and Cyanotype.

Macro Mode: Macro mode is used for taking pictures of objects as close as 0.4". The flash may be unable to light entire subject at distances of less than 1 feet 8 inches.

Focus Lock: The Focus Lock feature is used to focus on off-centered subjects in the frame while shooting in Center AF mode.

AF-Assist Illuminator: If lighting is poor, the AF-assist illuminator may light to assist the focus operation when the shutter-release button is pressed halfway. The illuminator has a range of about 19' at the maximum wide-angle position and 9' 10" at the maximum telephoto position. You can turn this function on or off.

Blink Warning Function: The Blink Warning function is available when you are shooting in Easy Auto, Portrait, or Night Portrait mode. When the camera detects that one or more human subjects may have blinked, the blink warning screen is displayed. The subject is framed by a yellow border, allowing you to check the picture and decide whether or not to take another picture.

Exposure Compensation: You can alter the exposure from the value suggested by the camera, making pictures brighter or darker. You can adjust the exposure from -2.0 to +2.0 EV in 1/3 steps.

ISO Settings: Sensitivity is the measure of how quickly the camera reacts to light. The higher the sensitivity, the less light needed to make an exposure. The camera features automatic ISO settings between ISO 80 to 800, or manual settings at 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, and 6400.

White Balance: You can set the White Balance to Auto, Daylight, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Cloudy, or Flash. You can also choose Preset Manual and use a neutral-colored object as a reference to set the white balance under unusual lighting conditions.

Built-in Flash: The Coolpix L120 has a built-in Speedlite flash with a range of 1'-8" to 19' (Wide angle) and 5' to 9'-10" (Telephoto). You can choose from the following flash modes:

• Auto: Flash fires automatically when lighting is poor.
• Auto with Red-eye Reduction: Pre-flash fires before main flash to reduce red-eye effect.
• Flash Off: Flash will not fire, even when lighting is poor.
• Fill Flash: Flash will fire whenever a picture is taken.
• Slow Sync: Auto flash combined with slow shutter speeds.

In-Camera Red-Eye Fix: If the camera detects red-eye after the pre-flash has fired, advanced red-eye reduction processing is used to further reduce red-eye, slightly increasing the time required before the next picture can be taken.

Play, Edit and Print Functions

Playback Menu: The following options are available in the playback mode:

• D-Lighting: D-Lighting can be used to brighten dark or backlit subjects. While playing back an image, you can select the D-Lighting function, apply it, and save the corrected image without harming the properly exposed areas of the image.
• Print Order: You can select images to print and the number of copies for each.
• Slide Show: View pictures in the internal memory or on the memory card in an automatic slide show. If desired, you can loop the slideshow so it will continuously play. Maximum slide show duration is 30 minutes without operation.
• Protect: You can select images that you want to protect from accidental deletion. Even protected images can be erased if the camera's internal memory or memory card are formatted.
• Rotate Image: Recorded pictures can be rotated 90-degrees clockwise or counter-clockwise on the unit's LCD screen.
• Small Picture: You can create a small copy of a recorded image. The copy will be stored as a JPEG file with a compression ratio of 1:16. You can choose from the following sizes: 640 x 480 (suited to television playback), 320 x 240 (suited to display on web pages), or 160 x 120 (suitable for email attachments).
• Cropping: Create a copy containing only the portion visible in the monitor.
• Copy: You can internally copy images between the camera's internal memory and an inserted SD-card.

Thumbnail Playback: During playback, you can view multiple thumbnail images (4, 9, or 16) at a time. While these "contact sheets" are displayed, you can use the multi-selector to highlight individual pictures. Highlighted pictures can be deleted, if desired.

Calendar Display: This feature displays a calendar allowing you to select and view pictures taken on the same date.

Playback Zoom: During playback, you can enlarge a still image up to 10x. Once the image is zoomed, you can use the multi-selector to scroll around to non-visible portions of the image. You can record a new picture of the cropped image by pressing the shutter button.

Multi-Language Menu: You can choose from 26 different menu display languages including English, Spanish or French.

Printing Pictures: You can print pictures stored in the internal memory or on the memory card by using the Print Set option in the playback menu. Using DPOF (Digital Print Order Form), you can designate which images to print, and how many copies to print. Pictures can be printed as followed:

• Printer or Photo Lab: insert the memory card into a printer, or take the memory card to a digital photo lab (images stored in the internal memory need to be transferred to a memory card prior to printing).
• PictBridge-compatible Printer: connect the camera to a PictBridge-compatible printer via USB cable
• Transferring to Computer: transfer the images to a computer before printing them via USB

Battery Information

Power Requirements: The Coolpix L120 is powered by four "AA" batteries. You can use alkaline (supplied) or lithium non-rechargeable batteries, or Nickel-Metal Hydride (Ni-MH) rechargeables. For best performance, you should use the camera's setup menu to indicate the type of batteries being used. The approximate battery life for each type of battery is as follows:

Auto Off: When the camera is operated on battery power, the Auto Off mode will automatically turn off the monitor to reduce the drain on the batteries if no operations are performed for the length of time specified in the Auto Off menu. The time limit for the Auto Off mode can be set to 30 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes or 30 minutes.

Inputs and Outputs Notes

USB/Audio-Video Output: The Coolpix L120 features a single proprietary jack on the side of the camera for connecting the supplied AV or USB cable. This one output allows you to download your photos to your computer or printer via USB using the supplied USB cable, or view your photos on a TV using the supplied AV cable. The USB interface is USB 2.0 Hi-Speed compatible. The video output is NTSC or PAL compatible.

HDMI Output: The camera has a mini-HDMI (Type C) output for connecting the camera to a high-definition TV. An HDMI-to-mini-HDMI cable (not included) is required for connecting the camera to the HDTV. You can set the picture resolution to Auto, 480p, 720p, or 1080i.

Supplied Software

ViewNX 2 CD-ROM: The supplied CD-ROM contains ViewNX 2, Apple QuickTime (Windows only), and Panorama Maker 5. The Nikon Transfer 2 function of ViewNX 2 is used to copy (transfer) pictures from the camera to the computer. ViewNX 2 is used for viewing your images and movies on the computer, retouch and print photographs, and edit movies. Panorama Maker 5 is used for creating panorama images from the camera's recorded still images.

System Requirements: The supplied software will work with Windows and Macintosh. You computer will need to meet the following system requirements: