Nikon Coolpix P1000 Review - Review 2022

The Nikon Coolpix P1000 ($999.95) is beyond an audacious idea for a photographic camera. It marries a modest 16MP image sensor—about the same dimensions as what you lot observe in a acme-cease smartphone—to an absurdly large, long 125x zoom lens. The result is a bit of a Frankenstein device, with a torso as large as an SLR, and a large, permanently attached lens. It's not the correct camera for every photographer or situation, and it requires a good deal of skill to use finer at maximum zoom. Just it does succeed in filling a niche, and will find a identify in the eye and bag of some photographers, specially for utilize in capturing images of distant wildlife.

That said, for most photographers nosotros recommend the Canon PowerShot SX60 HS every bit our Editors' Choice for cameras that exceed a 50x zoom ratio. Information technology costs about one-half as much equally the P1000, seems to exist about half the size, and is a improve all-arounder. But if you lot laugh at a zoom with a "mere" 1,365mm reach, the three,000mm zoom of the P1000 may lure you in with its siren song. But be aware that it requires effort and skill to get strong results at the extreme stop of its zoom lens.

Big Lens, Big Camera

The P1000 is the largest bridge-manner camera we've ever seen. Its torso is about the size of a pocket-sized SLR—it resembles the D5600—with a protruding fixed lens, larger than any SLR starter zoom. The P1000 measures iv.seven by 5.8 past 7.two inches (HWD), weighs 3.ane pounds, and supports 77mm front lens filters. The handgrip is pretty deep, merely I still found the big lens to make the camera a little chip front heavy, and the tripod socket is on the body, which doesn't brand for the all-time rest when mounted on a tripod.

The height zoom range is the reason for the majority. The lens is a 4.3-539mm f/2.8-8, equivalent to a 24-iii,000mm in full-frame terms. It tin can snap shots of wide-bending landscapes, and zoom in to bring afar subjects into clear view. Yous can get an idea of what that gets you lot past taking a look at the image above, shot at 24mm, and the ane below, at iii,000mm. The niggling white dots in the wide shot are egrets, and y'all can meet how tightly the zoom captures one of the birds, every bit it starts to accept flight, in the uncropped shot below.

At that place'south actually a practiced macro adequacy likewise. At the wide angle, the lens tin can focus on subjects merely 0.4-inch (1 centimeter) from the front of the lens. A iii,000mm focus is available to 23 anxiety (7 meters), then y'all're meliorate off getting up close and personal for your macro shots.

The P1000 doesn't have all-encompassing weather condition protection. Nikon doesn't advertise dust or splash protection, and while I wouldn't hesitate to utilise it in light precipitation, yous should definitely take care to cover information technology when working in any conditions in which y'all'd grab an umbrella to keep yourself dry. If all-weather employ is more than important than zoom reach, look at the Sony RX10 III or RX10 Iv, both of which sport a 24-600mm f/2.four-iv zoom, a larger image sensor, and weather condition protection.

The big body leaves plenty of room for concrete controls. The left side of the lens barrel holds a zoom control rocker forth with a framing assistance push—information technology temporarily widens the field of view of the lens, compared with your set position, and shows an on-screen box overlay to point the actual zoom setting. This lets you find your target, frame it, and release the button to return the lens to the previous zoom position. When zoomed in, it is ofttimes difficult to find or track your subject due to the extremely narrow angle of view.

In practice, the zoom-out aid works well. No, this is not a great camera for tracking fast-moving targets—I'll talk most its burst charge per unit and autofocus organisation in a flake—but I was able to get a few action shots in testing. The P1000 would never exist my first pick for tracking fast activeness, withal. You're better off with an SLR like the D500, a 150-600mm zoom lens, and willingness to crop photos as needed.

The lens also includes a programmable control ring. When the camera is set to transmission focus it's your focus control, in the expected place toward the forepart of the outer butt. But if you're using the photographic camera in autofocus you can ready it to perform another part. It works well—you tin plow it speedily to punch in a big adjustment, or more slowly for minute changes. I never turned it accidentally while making images, and had no problem dialing in third-stop EV compensation adjustments. Aside from EV, you tin can gear up the ring to arrange ISO or White Residuum.

At that place's a hot shoe (for an external flash) and a popular-upwardly flash, both centered backside the lens, on the top plate. The pop-up flash is large, and rises a couple of inches above the body when opened for use. Even so, yous'll need to remove the lens hood when using the pop-up for shots at the widest angle, equally it will cast a shadow on photos otherwise.

To the right of the Mode punch, on the right side of the elevation, are an additional control punch, the On/Off push, the Fn button, the zoom control, and the shutter release. In additon to the standard Auto, Progam, Aperture, Shutter, and Manual exposure modes, the P1000 includes a Scene recognition setting, a Moon mode, a Bird way, and a number of Instagram-style filter effects, ranging from desaturated bleach bypass to a loftier-dissimilarity black-and-white expect Nikon has dubbed Noir.

The Moon and Bird settings aren't much to talk about. The former zooms the lens to the i,000mm position and sets focus to infinity. I had no problems capturing a handheld shot of a crescent moon with the P1000 without using the special style, and did it at the maximum 3,000mm setting. Detail isn't as stiff as moon shots I've taken with long lenses and big sensor cameras, but information technology'due south peachy that yous're able to do information technology with a lens that can also encompass broad-angle vistas.

I found the Bird setting to be less useful—it changes the focus point to a small, central surface area, so you can focus and recompose, and uses the OK button to set the lens to the 500mm position. Yous can still conform the zoom in or out, but you'll always see a virtual frame, matching the 500mm bending of view, when capturing wider shots. It's just there to let you know what the frame would be similar if yous striking the OK push to punch into 500mm. I was pretty happy photographing wildlife without the framing help, only yous may detect it more than useful in do.

As an alternative to framing assist, you tin can add an accessory to the hot shoe, the Nikon DF-M1 Dot Sight ($174.95). The improver slips into the shoe, and pops upwards to reveal a small transparent viewscreen and a centered light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation arrow. Once calibrated (the DF-M1 tin be used with other cameras likewise), it shows you lot the middle signal of your lens. You won't get framing assist, and then information technology'southward good for distant subjects that won't fill the frame, fifty-fifty when zoomed all the way in, or for tracking moving subjects while the lens is also tightly zoomed to follow them via the EVF. I found the Dot Sight to be more constructive for static subjects, though, as the P1000'southward autofocus struggles a bit when zoomed all the way in.

Because the body is every bit a large as an SLR, Nikon has room to include a good number of physical controls. There'due south a button to switch the between the rear LCD, EVF, and middle sensor (for automatic switching), along with an AE-L/AF-Fifty push and AF/MF toggle switch right at the meridian. Beneath yous'll find the Tape push for movies, forth with Delete, Carte, Play, and Display buttons.

Finally, there's a flat command dial on the rear. Turning information technology adjusts the f-cease (assuming y'all're shooting in a mode that supports aperture control). Information technology has the OK button at its eye, and tin also be pressed in a cardinal direction for Flash, EV, Macro, and Cocky-Timer command. I tend to shoot in Aperture Priority, and did discover ane issue with the flat dial—if I accidentally nudged it while zoomed in, the lens wouldn't open up back up to its widest setting when zooming out. I nudged it a few times in field testing and ended upward shooting some wide shots at f/8, a setting that really puts a damper on the P1000's epitome quality. (More on that later.)

Yous accept your option of framing images using an center-level electronic viewfinder or the rear LCD. The latter is a three.2-inch panel, mounted on a vari-angle swivel so it can swing to the side of the torso and face forwards, up, or down. It is sharp, 921k dots, and bright enough to apply outdoors, but doesn't support impact input, an odd omission for a modern, premium camera.

The EVF is about 0.39-inch (1cm) diagonal with 2,359k dots and OLED tech. It'south a very good EVF, on par with what you'll find in nicer mirrorless cameras. It'south sharp, and information technology refreshes quickly plenty to prove smoothen movement and to runway moving subjects finer. Simply put, I've got nothing bad to say about it.

Connectivity options include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth—Nikon calls its Wi-Fi system SnapBridge. The P1000 tin can send images to your smartphone automatically or on demand via Bluetooth, and it tin can exist remotely controlled via your telephone via Wi-Fi with a live feed to your phone's screen. Nikon also offers a wireless Bluetooth remote for remote epitome capture.

The bombardment is rated for 250 shots, or well-nigh fourscore minutes of video capture by CIPA standards. That'due south on the low side, so yous may want to consider picking upwards a spare. The P1000 supports in-photographic camera charging, but I was unable to get it working with whatever third-party Ac adapters. I tried a few, including the plug that came with my iPhone, but only the Nikon adapter worked for me. I of the benefits of USB charging is the ability to plug the camera into all of the aforementioned places you lot'd use to charge your other electronics, so this is a bit of a downer.

In that location's a unmarried memory card slot, with support for UHS-I speeds and SD, SDHC, and SDXC menu formats. Interface connections include micro HDMI, micro USB, and a three.5mm microphone input.

Inconsistent Speed

You'd expect the big lens, which needs to extend earlier making an image, would slow down the power-on process. But the P1000 manages to go from off to on, focus, and capture an paradigm in 1.8 seconds. No, it's not the instant ability you get from an SLR, only it's a good mark for a bridge camera.

Autofocus speed is very quick when shooting at a wide angle, locking onto targets in less than 0.i-second. But information technology does tiresome down when zoomed all the way in. At 3,000mm the lens requires 0.three-2nd to focus on boilerplate.

For the almost part, the P1000 is a very responsive camera. Except when it isn't. And that's what you lot have to bargain with if you opt to utilise its burst shooting fashion. It rattles off a burst of 7 shots in a 2nd, but stops and becomes completely unresponsive equally it writes those images to a retentiveness card. Regardless of whether you are shooting in Raw, Raw+JPG, or JPG format, you have to wait about ten seconds for the flare-up to commit to memory.

There are several autofocus options available. You tin can shoot in AF-S, which locks focus once it's acquired, or AF-F, which acts similar AF-C and continues to suit focus equally long every bit y'all concord the shutter button downwards halfway. The default focus area covers the unabridged frame, with Face Detection. Other options include a transmission flexible spot in three sizes, both of which are moved effectually using the rear iv-mode controller.

You too get Subject Tracking, which requires yous to press the OK button to place your subject area and initiate the tracking. Information technology had no problem keeping track of minor birds scurrying over mudflats or flying through the air, simply can get dislocated if your subject area leaves the frame. Pressing OK again disables the tracking, then y'all can once again place the virtual box around your subject and reinitiate tracking. Finally, y'all have admission to Target Finding AF, which is another broad, automatic focus setting. I didn't notice any real divergence between it and the Confront Detection way.

In practice, the P1000 is an absolutely fine performer when it comes to photographing subjects that are non moving effectually at a fast pace. Wild fauna photographers trying to snap shots of songbirds on tree branches or a lion enjoying a residuum on African safari won't face bug, but I struggled to track cormorants gliding in a higher place the surface of the h2o, and getting a skilful shot of a tern diving for food is too much for the P1000's autofocus organisation to handle. The shorter zoom, simply larger sensor Sony RX10 Iv is a much better option for shooting action with a bridge camera—it has phase detection autofocus and fires as quickly as 24fps.

A Benefaction and a Detriment, All at Once

The P1000's lens is its marquee, headline-grabbing feature. It makes the photographic camera different from whatever other indicate-and-shoot to date, even the Nikon P900 and its 83x zoom. But it introduces a problem. At wider apertures information technology is very sharp. But information technology doesn't maintain wide apertures through the range. Quite simply put, when the f-stop narrows beyond f/5.half-dozen, image quality drops quickly. Only you can nevertheless shoot as far as 1,500mm at f/5.6. The f-stop drops to f/6.iii at ane,600mm, to f/7.1 at 2,200mm, and to f/8 at 2,800mm.

See How Nosotros Exam Digital Cameras

Diffraction plays a office hither. The issue, which is acquired by light scattering as information technology passes through a narrow discontinuity, softens edges and adds a glow to photos, finer reducing resolution. Pixel density has a part to play equally to when diffraction becomes a real outcome. The P1000 packs 16MP into a tiny 1/2.3-inch image sensor, and our Imatest tests confirm the expected behavior—image quality drops significantly at f-stops narrower than f/v.vi.

At its widest bending—24mm in full-frame terms—it manages an excellent 2,542 lines on average. Imatest uses a center-weighted evaluation, and like many compact cameras, the P1000 does lose resolution toward the edges of the frame. They driblet to 1,595 lines, which is only a piddling soft on a 16MP sensor. Stopping down does more to harm image quality than to help it—the lens resolves 2,357 lines at f/iv, one,845 lines at f/5.6, and 1,230 lines at f/8. We want to see at least 1,800 lines from a camera like this.

At the 50mm position, the maximum aperture has dropped to f/iii.ii, simply delivers sharper results than at 24mm. It scores 2,743 lines when shot wide open, with much better resolution at the edges than at the widest angle setting (2,272 lines). Again, resolution drops as you stop downwardly—ii,522 lines at f/iv, 1,949 lines at f/5.6, and 1,336 lines at f/viii.

At 135mm we see two,456 lines at f/4, which is the brightest the lens gets at this focal length. Edge quality is proficient, but not outstanding at ane,895 lines. You can withal get good images at f/5.6 (2,036 lines), but avoid f/8 (1,413 lines). Results are like at 275mm—2,599 lines at f/iv.five, ii,138 lines at f/5.six, and one,494 lines at f/8. Edges exercise tick up at the 275mm position, notching a strong two,441 lines at f/iv.5. They are near as good as the average when shot wide open through the residue of our tested range.

Side by side upward is a exam at 434mm. The lens has narrowed to f/5 hither, and resolves a strong 2,573 lines. Stopping downwards simply a bit to f/5.half dozen cuts resolution to 2,311 lines, and in that location's a larger driblet to 1,640 lines at f/8. Results are just about the same at 570mm, where the maximum discontinuity remains f/v.

At 753mm the lens opens up to just f/5.vi, though we nonetheless see a strong two,319-line score, simply drops to 1,820 lines at f/8. Results are similar at 865mm and one,105mm. Zooming further, to i,300mm, nets slightly softer results at f/5.6 (ii,150 lines) and a poor showing at f/8 (i,128 lines).

The one,600mm position is the longest setting at which nosotros're able to perform lab tests. Resolution drops when you zoom this far. At f/half-dozen.3, the widest the lens opens to at this setting, we run into a but-okay i,798 lines, with edges that lag backside the eye (ane,445 lines). At f/8 we see 1,338 lines.

Field testing doesn't net numerical information, but the results at extreme focal lengths confirm what lab tests at wider settings show: The P1000 doesn't net great results when shot at the smallest f-stops. The lens maintains f/half-dozen.3 through about 2,200mm, where it becomes an f/vii.ane lens. The drib to f/8 is toward the edge of the zoom range, at 2,800mm. The corporeality of soft, lengthened glow we see in images increases equally you approach the long cease of the zoom range, with a typical example of 3,000mm image quality shown to a higher place.

Information technology's non but resolution that's affected by the minor f-stop. If you're shooting in annihilation only bright lite, the P1000 is going to motion to a college ISO setting to eliminate movement mistiness. Imatest also checks photos for noise. In-camera noise reduction keeps JPGs relatively grain-free through the superlative ISO 6400 setting, but there'south more than to epitome quality at loftier ISO settings than noise alone. Clarity starts to drop as before long as you move past the everyman ISO 100 setting, but remains pretty good through about ISO 400. At ISO 800 nosotros see fine lines smudged away, merely it's nonetheless a very viable pick for photography. ISO 1600 further cuts into resolution, but blur doesn't truly overtake detail until y'all push to ISO 3200 and 6400.

Raw capture is also available. It's something that is missing from the P900, and something we wait to run across in a modernistic, premium camera, even ane with a small image sensor. Raw images don't have dissonance reduction applied in-camera, and so they testify more detail as you push the ISO higher, but also require you to process them using software before sharing online. Nikon includes Capture NX software with the camera, simply we recommend and use Adobe Lightroom Classic CC for Raw conversion.

Raw item is strong, without too much noise, through ISO 400. At ISO 800 detail holds up, but grain is heavy. The grain effect is stronger at ISO 1600, just is notwithstanding small and fine. At ISO 3200 grain is bigger and rougher, to the indicate where it certainly detracts from prototype quality. Paradigm quality at ISO 6400 is a little also crude, then I recommend fugitive information technology when possible.

But sometimes it'south non possible to avert working at a high ISO. I was able to snap crisp shots with a short shutter speed on a sunny twenty-four hour period, only working on a cold, gray, overcast morning was a very different story. Under bright skies the P1000 keeps the ISO depression and the shutter speed to a short 1/500-second—quick enough to capture blur-free shots at three,000mm cheers to optical image stabilization. Just on the gray day I concluded up shooting at ISO 800 with shutter speeds around 1/125-second. I didn't meet evidence of motility mistiness at this setting, only the loftier ISO, plus a chip of foggy mist in the atmosphere, netted results that were less impressive than nether bright light.

4K Video As well

Video is available at upwards to 4K resolution at 25fps or 30fps, and you tin can also shoot at 1080p or 720p at upwardly to 60fps. In that location's no 24fps capture option, which will disappoint videographers who prefer the look of the cinema to video. In that location is uncompressed output bachelor via HDMI, and so it is possible to connect a field recorder to net video at a higher quality than the camera tin manage internally. You can add an external microphone if desired.

I was generally happy with the quality of the 4K footage, though put off past a short period of blackout betwixt pressing the Record push and the clip starting. The lag is but most a second in duration. The ISO isn't as much of a business, as video often uses a longer shutter speed than stills, typically ane/lx-2nd for 30fps capture. Video itself is precipitous and crisp, only as with many things, in that location are some challenges involved when working with the P1000.

Stabilization is a big challenge. I prepare the photographic camera on my get-to tripod for photography, a Gitzo Traveler with a ball caput. You can see the results in the opening shot of the prune above, where I zoom from 24 to 3,000mm from the tripod on a day with mild wind. The footage is shaky, a articulate indication that my tripod is only not up to the task. I do wonder if I'd get better results if Nikon had put the tripod socket at the lesser of the lens barrel, as the camera is a bit front-heavy at maximum zoom.

Handheld footage likewise shows some shake, as you'd expect, but non that much more than what we saw on the tripod. The P1000'southward epitome stabilization system does an admirable job eliminating the extreme milk shake you lot'd get from an unstabilized 3,000mm lens, but you'll need to invest in a tripod and head that are built for video to get shake-free footage at the extreme end of the zoom. As it stands, I had a very difficult time locking in my frame and properly locking down my Photo Mollusk ball head—just tightening the adjustment knobs was enough to alter my frame dramatically at maximum zoom. A fluid video caput would probable be a improve fit.

Autofocus when recording video is likewise a business. The P1000 is quick to find a field of study at get-go, simply making changes to focus when recording is a little more than difficult. Even with the EVF, it tin can be hard to see merely what is in focus in your shot. Pressing the left button on the directional pad reacquires focus, just I'd similar to run across an option to leave focus peaking highlights turned on when the photographic camera is set to autofocus. They're available as a manual focus assist. It is pretty easy to switch the lens focus style with the toggle switch, but you have to make up one's mind on autofocus or manual focus before you start recording. Likewise, transmission exposure control is available, but you can't adapt settings while recording a clip—everything has to be locked in earlier yous press the push.

The Nikon Coolpix P1000 is an enticing bridge photographic camera. It has the accented longest zoom lens we've seen in whatever camera of this type, past a wide margin. The lens sets information technology well autonomously from the smartphone cameras with similarly sized image sensors. In the hands of the right photographer, it is capable of capturing images you lot simply won't be able to with any other camera.

But that ability comes with some serious caveats. For ane, the P1000 is an absolute creature in terms of size. The lens is understandably massive, given its zoom range, and the big body is required to requite it some semblance of balance in your hand. And its f-stop drops as you zoom in, to the level where image quality takes a noticeable step back at the longer cease of the zoom range, and where the ISO needs to be pushed high for well-baked results under dreary skies, which further cuts into resolution.

The autofocus arrangement is absolutely fine for cooperative subjects, but you're not going to get a great hit rate with fast-moving action, at to the lowest degree not when zoomed in. Y'all'll too take to bargain with the burst shooting experience when photographing activeness, which is disappointing to say the least. I don't heed being limited to seven shots, only the unresponsiveness during the seconds afterwards a burst isn't what nosotros expect from a camera at this price.

The P1000 is nigh certainly a niche camera. If you are a skilled photographer with a penchant for subjects that don't appreciate being photographed up shut with a broad-angle lens—skittish wildlife comes to heed—it can be a very useful tool, as long every bit conditions are adept. In dim, questionable lite you'll have to deal with a slower shutter speed and high ISO, and on bright, hot days, await atmospheric interference and haze to come into play.

Most photographers will be better served with a different span camera. Our favorite model with more 50x power is the Canon PowerShot SX60 HS, which as well offers Raw capture, merely is priced and sized more reasonably. A replacement has been announced, the SX70 HS, simply we've not notwithstanding tested it. The SX70 adds 4K video, like the P1000, just drops Raw shooting support, which is disappointing.

For a pace upward in paradigm quality, simply a pace dorsum in zoom power, the Sony RX10 Iii and 4 are both worth a look. Both models feature a 24-600mm zoom with an f/ii.4-iv aperture, an image sensor that is physically larger than the P1000's, and conditions sealing. The RX10 Iii is priced competitively with the P1000, and is our Editors' Choice for premium bridge cameras. The RX10 Four is more expensive, only has a much more advanced autofocus organization.

These alternatives are better fits for most photographers. But not everyone falls into the bucket of about. If the P1000'due south lens speaks to you, and you lot empathise the camera's limitations and quirks, information technology could serve you very well.

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Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/cameras/28273/nikon-coolpix-p1000-review

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