Back in 2015, I reviewed a Nikon camera called the Coolpix P900, which is a “bridge camera.”
I wasn’t familiar with the term then, but I am now. A bridge camera is a bridge between a point-and-shoot camera and a DSLR, or digital single-lens reflex camera.
Back then, I thought the P900 was a pretty darn good camera. I guess Nikon thought I was wrong, because I’ve been testing the new Nikon Coolpix P1000 ($999, www.nikonusa.com), and it’s bigger and better than the P900 in almost every way possible.
Meet the new boss
The P1000 is like the P900 on steroids. It’s physically bigger and heavier, and the built-in lens has an insane zoom range of 125x (24 mm to 3,000 mm).
I’ll go ahead and say it: Nobody really needs a zoom lens that goes out to 3,000 mm, but it sure is fun to see what it can do.
I admire Nikon for creating such a beast of a camera.
The first thing I noticed is how heavy it is. Holding the P1000 with the lens fully extended is difficult but not impossible, especially with the camera’s built-in image stabilization.
The camera weighs just over 3 pounds and measures 5.8 by 4.7 by 7.2 inches, which means you won’t wear it around your neck all day without some discomfort.
The camera’s sensor captures 16-megapixel images with a resolution up to 4,608 by 3,456 pixels.
It has an ISO (film speed) range of 100 to 6400, and it can shoot up to seven frames per second, but in short bursts, not continuously.
The lens has an aperture of f/2.8 at the widest to f/8 at maximum zoom.
The lens and imaging system has a digital zoom of 4x, so if you really want to experiment, the lens will reach out to the equivalent of a 12,000 lens for a 35mm camera. That’s telescope territory and not really a mode I would expect to produce very good images.
In macro mode, it can focus as close as 0.4 inch.
The viewfinder is not optical. It is a tiny 1 centimeter OLED screen. The main screen is a 3.2-inch TFT-LCD, but it is oddly not a touch screen, which I think is a shame for a $1,000 camera.
The camera’s battery is a weak point. The battery is good for up to 250 shots, or 1 hour and 20 minutes of video. For a camera the size of the P1000, that’s underwhelming.
The P1000 takes beautiful video at resolutions up to 4K UHD. The camera can shoot RAW files, which capture more image data than JPG images, but every time you take a RAW photo, be prepared for up to a 5-second delay while the camera processes the shot. During this 5 seconds, the camera is unresponsive, which is a pain.
The built-in flash works out to about 41 feet.
Scene modes
The P1000 really wants to help you take good photos. There is a long list of scene modes that will change the exposure settings for certain situations.
The wheel on top of the camera includes program settings for shooting birds and the moon.
I took shots of both at the camera’s maximum zoom, and both modes resulted in really nice photos.
I took a stunning picture of the moon by steadying the camera against a post in my front yard. I found some pelicans at White Rock Lake gathered under the Garland Road bridge.
The P1000 shoots onto SD cards, but it also has wireless connectivity. If you load the Nikon SnapBridge app to a smartphone or tablet, the camera can upload its images to a smart device as you shoot.
Accessories
Nikon was nice enough to send along two optional accessories: the Dot Sight and a remote control.
To enable the remote, you have to turn off the smart device connection, but from the remote you can zoom in and out and set the aperture, shutter and ISO as well as change modes.
The remote can trigger the shutter and start/stop videos. It’s great for when you have the camera on a tripod and you don’t want to disturb your image composition as you make adjustments.
The Dot Sight is an alternate optical viewfinder with an adjustable illuminated dot to help you keep track of far off subjects when you are zoomed to the max.
Overall, I liked the P1000, but I’m not sure it’s right for everyone.
If I were a bird watcher or into sports or wildlife photography, this would be a great camera to buy.
