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Is the Nikon L31 good for Sports Photography?

Nikon Coolpix L31
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Nikon L31 Sports Photography Score

POOR
Nikon L31 has a score of 15 for Sports Photography which makes it a POOR candidate for this type of photography. If Sports Photography is important for you, we strongly recommend you to consider the Alternative cameras listed at the bottom of this page.
Read our detailed Nikon L31 Review
Nikon L31 Sports Photography Detailed Analysis
Average Max shutter speed: 1/2000s

Nikon L31's max shutter speed of 1/2000s is not the best in class but it will be enough to freeze the moment. A potential problem may be when you use a fast aperture at very strong light, your camera may overexpose because of slow max shutter speed

130 mm Tele Lens

130 mm reach is not going to be adequate in some sports events.

Environmental Sealings

Most outdoor sports games are held in all-weather, so your camera has to be ready for difficult conditions such as rain and snow. Exposure to dust and water splashes are also very common in sports.

Focus Points

In sports photography , you keep continuous autofocus (AFC) mode on for tracking the subject and more focus means better tracking.

Poor Battery Life: 200 shots

In most sports events, you shoot at high speed for a long time and this drains the battery pretty quick. With a battery life of only 200 shots per charge, you may need to change batteries very frequently in the middle of an event.

Not so good Ergonomics&Handling

Nikon L31\s compact body is not very ideal for sports photography as it lacks the external dials and knobs to change the camera settings fast and the ergonomics doesn't help you to have the most stable shooting position.

No Manual Exposure Mode

Even though modern digital cameras features advanced algorithms to calculate the right exposure, they still may fail some difficult conditions. Lack of manual exposure mode in these conditions means lot of shadow and highlight clipping.

No Manual Focus Mode

Compact cameras are not great at focusing moving objects especially at low light and your camera may not even fire bacause of not locking the focus, so manual focus mode is very useful at these times.

No Built-in Viewfinder

In the lack of a a viewfinder, holding the camera away from the body while using live view is not very stable, especial with heavy camera bodies and lenses. Besides, LCD screens are very hard to read under bright sunlight.

No External Flash Shoe

When shooting indoor sports or outdoor sports at low light, an external flash may become very helpful.

No Image Stabilization

Lack of Image stabilization may result in blurry photos especially at long focal lengths.

Slow Lens at Tele: f6.50

You will have hard time getting fast enough shutter speeds with a lens that is slow at tele.

No RAW shooting capability

RAW files contains much more color information compared to JPEGs, and gives you more room for post processing without significant quality loss. They provide wider dynamic range and option to recover shadow and highlight clipping to some degree.

You may also be interested in these reviews:

Nikon L31 for Portrait Photography
Nikon L31 for Street Photography
Nikon L31 for Carrying Everywhere
Nikon L31 for Landscape Photography

Nikon L31 Alternatives in Ultracompact cameras for Sports Photography

Olympus TG-870

Compare L31 vs TG-870

16 MP | 1/2.3' BSI-CMOS Sensor
21-105 mm Lens

Rank in All Cameras: #556
Rank in Compact Cameras: #76

Olympus Stylus Tough TG-870
Imaging
Features
Value for Money
Portability 95
Overall Score
Portrait
Street
Sports
Daily
Landscape

Canon ELPH 360 HS

Compare L31 vs 360 HS

20 MP | 1/2.3' BSI-CMOS Sensor
25-300 mm Lens

Rank in All Cameras: #742
Rank in Compact Cameras: #173

Canon PowerShot ELPH 360 HS
Imaging
Features
Value for Money
Portability 97
Overall Score
Portrait
Street
Sports
Daily
Landscape

Canon ELPH 190 IS

Compare L31 vs 190 IS

20 MP | 1/2.3' CCD Sensor
24-240 mm Lens

Rank in All Cameras: #935
Rank in Compact Cameras: #301

Canon PowerShot ELPH 190 IS
Imaging
Features
Value for Money
Portability 97
Overall Score
Portrait
Street
Sports
Daily
Landscape

Canon ELPH 180

Compare L31 vs ELPH 180

20 MP | 1/2.3" CCD Sensor
28-224 mm Lens

Rank in All Cameras: #1012
Rank in Compact Cameras: #416

Canon PowerShot ELPH 180
Imaging
Features
Value for Money
Portability 98
Overall Score
Portrait
Street
Sports
Daily
Landscape

Nikon A10

Compare L31 vs A10

16 MP | 1/2.3' CCD Sensor
26-130 mm Lens

Rank in All Cameras: #1139
Rank in Compact Cameras: #497

Nikon Coolpix A10
Imaging
Features
Value for Money
Portability 97
Overall Score
Portrait
Street
Sports
Daily
Landscape

Nikon A100

Compare L31 vs A100

20 MP | 1/2.3' CCD Sensor
26-130 mm Lens

Rank in All Cameras: #1115
Rank in Compact Cameras: #476

Nikon Coolpix A100
Imaging
Features
Value for Money
Portability 98
Overall Score
Portrait
Street
Sports
Daily
Landscape
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