Superzoom Bazooka - An Ode to the Nikon Coolpix P1000
One of the most annoying parts about camera ownership is finding out that your big, fancy tele-zoom just isn't enough to reach whatever distant object or person you were hoping to shoot from the cheap seats. You ask the question; "just how much zoom can you fit onto a camera?" Nikon had an answer - and apparently, it was just "yes."
This is the Nikon Coolpix P1000; an absolute freakshow of a camera. It's Nikon stretching the idea of the point-and-shoot bridge camera to the absolute extremes by fitting it with the kind of maximum full frame equivalent focal length that would normally require you mounting something that looks like targeting equipment for a fucking battleship.
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| The fixed focal length F-mount Nikon Reflex 2000 mm f/11. Yeah. Just imagine carrying that around. Source: Jo Geier |
Crucially, they also pulled off this feat without compromising the ability to snap pictures of anything at more immediate distances through a combination of well-designed stabilized telescoping optics, and a sensor that would actually seem more at home on a smartphone than it is on a camera in the same size ballpark as your average DSLR.
That last point sounds bad, but it's actually the entire reason how the P1000 can stay reasonably portable despite carrying a 24-3000 mm equivalent focal length. The glass on this camera is actually just of 4.3-539 mm in terms of reach, but that fingernail sized 1/2.3-inch sensor is small enough to where physics does the rest of the heavy lifting by way of the sensor's crop factor.
Even then, this camera is still BIG. It's still technically a bridge camera by function, but this sure as hell isn't sized like some rinky-dink Kodak PixPro that you can impulse purchase at a Best Buy and immediately regret afterwards. The body is sized and shaped much like Nikon's upper mid-range DSLRs such as the D750, albeit with an absolute cannon of a telescoping lens permanently grafted to the front.
The P1000 is not light either, weighing in at 1440 grams and you can definitely feel it when hauling it around. While the DLSR shaped body is rather comfortable to hold, the camera's immense optics package makes it rather front heavy. You do get ample room on that massive barrel to support the camera while shooting by hand, but I certainly wouldn't call it the nicest thing on the planet to keep hoisted for long periods of time.
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| Nikon Coolpix P1000 - f/3.5 - 1/2000 s - 24 mm eq. - ISO-100 |
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| ENHANCE. Nikon Coolpix P1000 - f/8 - 1/320 s - 3000 mm eq. - ISO-400 |
The actual process of zooming this thing in is almost as entertaining as the result. At the wide end, the P1000 behaves like a fairly normal camera. Start leaning on the zoom rocker though and the barrel just keeps extending... and extending... and extending, until the camera begins looking less like something you bought from Nikon and more like something you stole off an anti-aircraft battery.
It's difficult to really convey what 125x zoom looks like just by throwing numbers around. At 24 mm you might be framing an entire building. Keep zooming and suddenly you're looking at one window. Keep going and now you're staring at whatever poor bastard is sitting behind that window wondering why they feel watched.
The zoom motor itself is reasonably easy to control and you can creep through the range without too much trouble, though once you're way out toward the long end even small adjustments make a huge difference in framing. That's where the novelty gives way to the realization that 3000 mm isn't just "a lot of zoom." It's almost an entirely different way of looking at distant subjects.
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| Nikon Coolpix P1000 - f/8 - 1/50 s - 3000 mm eq. - ISO-800 |
And yet, shooting at eye level by hand is actually surprisingly doable, even at more extreme focal lengths thanks in large part to the optics' excellent VR. In good lighting with a reasonably fast shutter, I can walk around, see something like distant wildlife, a still landscape, or an approaching race car and quickly rip off a couple pretty respectable looking photos without needing to reach for a tripod.
There is also a very thoughtful feature that Nikon included called "snap-back". One of the biggest annoyances with shooting far away objects at long focal lengths is that you can easily lose track of them as you or the subject shifts positions. The P1000 lets you pull back the image through the EVF or the display at the hold of a dedicated button, allowing you quickly re-sight your subject.
Of course, being able to see something from half a county away and pull the view back on the fly doesn't automatically mean getting the shot is effortless.
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| Nikon Coolpix P1000 - f/5 - 1/1600 s - 185 mm eq. - ISO-100 |
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| Nikon Coolpix P1000 - f/5 - 1/125 s - 370 mm eq. - ISO-200 |
The P1000's stabilization can work miracles, but at the far end of the zoom range you're still trying to aim what is effectively a telescope using a camera body. The slightest twitch of your hand can send whatever you're looking at sailing straight out of the frame, and even just holding the thing steady enough to compose a shot starts becoming an exercise in patience.
In good daylight, I generally found the P1000 competent enough at locking onto stationary or predictably moving subjects, but the farther you zoom in, the more difficult the whole process becomes simply because your field of view gets so narrow. It's very easy for a bird, car or aircraft to wander out of frame completely while you're trying to follow it, at which point the autofocus doesn't matter much because you first have to figure out where the hell your subject went.
That gets even more noticeable once the light starts getting worse or the subject isn't giving the camera much contrast to work with. You're asking a relatively small-sensor point-and-shoot system to focus through some extraordinarily ambitious optics, and eventually it reminds you what kind of camera is underneath all that lens.
A good tripod takes most of that nonsense out of the equation. Suddenly, staring at distant buildings, wildlife, aircraft, or the moon becomes substantially easier because you're no longer fighting the sheer magnification every time you breathe. The P1000 goes from being merely impressive to feeling genuinely ridiculous once you can actually leave it pointed at something long enough to appreciate how far away that something really is.
That being said, Nikon inexplicably put the tripod mount under the camera body rather than providing some kind of collar or mount closer to the lens. Considering how dramatically front-heavy this thing becomes with the barrel extended, you'll want a tripod and head stout enough to keep the whole contraption from slowly bowing toward the ground.
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| Moon shots are the P1000's most worn out trick. They are also still incredible. Nikon Coolpix P1000 - f/7.1 - 1/500 s - 2400 mm eq. - ISO-360 |
Still, this all makes the P1000 a bit like the ultimate all-in-one walkaround and mounted photography package in spite of the camera's immense size and weight. If you have no idea what you're going to shoot or how far away it's going to be, this thing has it all covered. As someone who once got fed up with switching lenses on my old D3200 to the point I was willing to get rid of it, the integrated super telephoto capability of the P1000 was a godsend.
For a while, I genuinely thought this solved the whole problem. It did however introduce a few new ones.
On the P1000, you do get some pretty nice controls for what is technically still a point-and-shoot camera. There's a proper mode dial, a command dial on the top, another control wheel on the rear, a programmable function button and even a large customizable ring around the lens barrel. You can shoot RAW, take over exposure yourself and generally operate the P1000 much more like a "serious" camera than the CoolPix badge might imply.
What does suck is that this arrangement will inevitably feel limiting to anybody accustomed to Nikon's proper front-and-rear command dial setup on its higher-end DSLRs. I honestly don't get why Nikon couldn't have just added a front dial near the grip. The P1000 already handles like one of those cameras and there's enough unused real estate on the body to start charging property tax. Why stop halfway?
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| Racetracks are a great place to flex the P1000's muscle - but all that zoom still can't beat the air. Nikon Coolpix P1000 - f/5.6 - 1/500 s - 860 mm eq. - ISO 140 |
You're also going to become very familiar with the atmosphere, very quickly at more extreme focal lengths.
There's a funny thing that happens when you start trying to photograph something that's miles away: the camera might have enough reach to see it, but now you have miles of filthy, moving air sitting between you and whatever you're trying to photograph. Heat rising off the ground can make distant objects shimmer like they're underwater, while humidity, haze, smoke and plain old pollution can absolutely murder contrast and detail.
This is not really the P1000's fault. You can spend the price of a used car on professional full-frame telephoto equipment and still run into the exact same problem. The P1000 just makes it hilariously easy for an ordinary person to zoom far enough to discover it.
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| Nikon Coolpix P1000 - f/3.4 - 1/8 s - 41 mm eq. - ISO 640 |
The other problem with using the P1000 at the extreme end of its zoom range is that the lens gets increasingly hungry for light. At the wide end it's relatively bright, but once you're fully extended out to 3000 mm the aperture closes down to f/8. You don't need to know exactly what that number means to understand the consequence: less light is reaching an already tiny sensor, and the camera has to start compensating for it somehow.
In bright daylight, this really isn't much of a problem. Give the P1000 enough sun and it can produce some remarkably decent looking photos considering the absurd optical gymnastics going on in front of that little 1/2.3-inch sensor. Once the lighting starts getting worse though, the limitations become much harder to ignore.
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| Nikon Coolpix P1000 - f/3.2 - 1/6 s - 44 mm eq. - ISO 800 |
The camera can either leave the shutter open longer, which isn't ideal when you're photographing something that moves, or start cranking up the ISO and introduce more noise into the image. Neither option is particularly flattering, and the tiny sensor simply doesn't have the same breathing room as something larger when conditions start going south.
This is probably the biggest reality check behind the P1000's ridiculous zoom range. Just because the camera can see something three miles away doesn't necessarily mean the light is going to cooperate enough for you to get a good picture of it. In broad daylight? Have at it. Around dusk, under heavy clouds, or inside a dim venue? That's when the optical cannon starts feeling a whole lot more like a potato launcher.
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Nikon Coolpix P1000 - f/6.3 - 1/640 s - 1800 mm eq. - ISO 100
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Ultimately the gargantuan size of the P1000 proved to be more burdensome as time went on. The funny thing is, after the novelty wore off, I wasn't actually shooting around 3000 mm all that often.
Don't get me wrong: having that kind of reach available whenever I wanted it was incredible, and there were plenty of moments where I would've been completely unable to get the same picture without it. Wildlife, aircraft, distant cars, the moon, or just some random object on the horizon that makes you go "what the hell is that?" are where this camera becomes genuinely special.
But most photography happens at much more ordinary distances. A lot of the time I was using only a fraction of the P1000's available zoom, because there simply wasn't any reason to reach three zip codes away from where I was standing.
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| Every seat becomes a good seat with the P1000 - if you can even bring the camera into the venue. Nikon Coolpix P1000 - f/6.3 - 1/250 s - 2000 mm eq. - ISO 250 |
That realization became increasingly important the longer I owned it. The P1000 gave me access to 3000 mm whenever I needed it, but I still had to carry around the camera required to provide 3000 mm even when I didn't.
And more often than not, the places I visited that would otherwise be a perfect opportunity to leverage this camera's insane zoom are also those most likely to turn it away at the gate. For many major sports venues, auditoriums, and other ticketed establishments, the P1000 is just too big. It's frustrating, but something I am unfortunately powerless to do anything about, except settle for a smaller camera, and that ended up being a more attractive option as time went on.
So, I did. Permanently.
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| Nikon Coolpix P1000 - f/5 - 1/80 s - 370 mm eq. - ISO 400 |
I ended up replacing the P1000 in everyday camera duties with a Panasonic Lumix ZS200, possibly one of the most well-rounded compact superzoom cameras ever made. While bigger than most true retractable lens compacts, it's quite a bit smaller than a DSLR-like bridge camera and yet it still manages to cram in a 24-360 mm equivalent focal length, mated to a 20 MP 1-inch sensor.
While it is a substantial downgrade from the P1000 in terms of zoom range, the increase in sensor spec is real - and it shows. The ZS200 handles low light and high ISO far better than the P1000, and its focal length is still versatile enough to cover most of the environments I would shoot with the P1000, all while being comparatively tiny. I might have to write about this camera in it's own piece someday, because it really is fantastic.
So who does the P1000 actually make sense for?
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| I was quite literally bending over backwards while holding eclipse glasses up to the lens to make this shot. |
If you're routinely photographing things that actively resist being anywhere near you - birds, aircraft, ships, motorsports, distant wildlife, the moon - then honestly, this thing still makes a remarkable amount of sense. There is simply nothing else remotely this self-contained that gives you this much reach without venturing into interchangeable-lens setups that cost a fortune and require you to carry around even more ridiculous hardware.
For someone looking for one camera to casually bring everywhere though, I think the answer becomes much murkier. Yes, the P1000 can shoot almost anything. The problem is you're constantly slinging a 3-pound optical cannon around your neck no matter what the subject of the day is - and that can suck.
The P1000 is still one of the most versatile cameras I've ever used, but after living with it I realized versatility on paper isn't necessarily the same as versatility in practice. Yes, this one camera can cover everything from a wide landscape to craters on the moon, and that remains completely fucking ridiculous. But you're carrying the size, weight, small sensor and slow long-end optics around whether you're photographing something three miles away or thirty feet away.
That was ultimately the lesson this camera taught me. There is a difference between a camera being able to do everything and a camera being the one you actually want with you while doing anything.
I'm still going to miss it.
What's Good
- The most zoom that you can get in an all-in-one bridge camera.
- Excellent VR makes long distance shooting from the hand practical
- 1/2.3-inch class sensor can resolve respectable detail in good lighting
- Rather affordable when compared against equivalent APS-C or full-frame alternatives
- Incredibly bulky and quite heavy
- Slow lens and small sensor pairing struggle in low light
- DSLR-like handling but not quite DSLR-like controls
- Dirty air remains a problem at extreme distances
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