Blurriness and lighting?

Number one and the MOST important point, I'd suggest reading your camera's manual. I always find myself reading my camera's manual even after having had it for years. You can never go through it too much.

I normally don't agree with people buying more and more gear before learning what they are doing, but a tripod is a VERY good investment, so go for it.

The camera that you have is a bridge camera, so it's a perfect learning camera. The reason your photos are blurry at night or in low light situations is because the shutter speed is slow, meaning that it's open for a longer amount of time, allowing camera shake to affect the quality of the picture. You can counter that by increasing your aperture or boosting up your ISO. If you increase your ISO, though, your photo will become more and more noisy (that grain that people complain about all the time).

I suggest you read some books, watch some videos about photography. Try to understand the relationship between aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and exposure. Once you understand them, you'll be able to play around with the settings more and more. Good luck!!

 

Everything xobrittuhox said.

Also, I agree that it sounds much like a problem with slow shutter speed. However, just googling the camera really quick, turned up a Cnet review that basically said that this was not the best camera for low light situations. http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/nikon-coolpix-l120-red/4505-6501_7-34505804.html However, this issue is more about the pictures coming out grainy than blurry. Just by reading the spec and reviews, this camera doesn't seem to give you much control, so I think tripod is a must in low light situations in order to combat blurriness.

 

your camera can go up to ISO 6400, and nikons are generally great at low grain even at high ISO... now I'm not 100% sure that's true with their p/s or bridge cameras, but I would like to assume so.

So look up how to bump up the ISO on your camera, I'd vote starting at about 800(or whatever your closest option is) and if you keep having shake, go up from there. Just realize that the higher the ISO you go, the more grain you're going to start to see.


and as already chirped above, your best book is going to be your manual, so start there

 

Regarding photography book recommendations, there is a thread for that here:

Book recommendations?

I suggest browsing through that one; the thread isn't very long, and several good titles are mentioned in it.
Your camera's manual will go a long way explaining how your camera works, but I find that very few camera manuals explain what you actually do with all that working, as it were, in any useful depth. These books will help you with that part.

 

A tripod is probably a good idea. It's worth spending a little bit extra (compared to the $20 ones) and getting something like this one on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Dolica-GX600B...3GWU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1325993074&sr=8-2

The ball head is much easier to work with than the video camera style ones you'll usually find at Best Buy or wherever, and the legs can spread out to let it go much closer to the ground, which you need to get the camera at the right level for doll photos.

 

I don't think it's fair to say "it's the camera," since ANY camera would have the same problems in low-light situations. The problem is your expectations of the way the camera will perform in low light, and a lack of understanding of how cameras work.

A photo is the result of light hitting (in the case of a digital camera) a sensor. The less light there is, the less light hits the sensor, so in order to get an image that isn't just a black square, the shutter has to stay open longer in order to let more light in. The longer the shutter is open, the more chance there is for things like your hands wobbling (everyone's hands wobble) to shake the camera and blur the photo. That's why people are saying to use a tripod: it means you can take your hands off the camera so you won't shake it during long exposures like the ones necessary in low light or at night.

You can also make the sensor more sensitive by increasing the ISO, but this can result in grainier photos. Try reading up on the relationship between ISO, aperture, and shutter speed to get an idea of what plays into how much light reaches the sensor.

You'd have this same issue with really any camera. A super-expensive professional DSLR will still take blurry photos if you hand-hold it in low-light situations. Don't think that getting a different camera will solve your problem; it won't.