Nikon Coolpix P1000 Review
The Nikon Coolpix P1000 ($999.95) is beyond an audacious idea for a camera. It marries a small 16MP image sensor—about the same dimensions as what you find in a top-end smartphone—to an absurdly big, long 125x zoom lens. The result is a bit of a Frankenstein device, with a body as big as an SLR, and a large, permanently attached lens. It’s not the right camera for every photographer or situation, and it requires a good deal of skill to use effectively at maximum zoom. But it does succeed in filling a niche, and will find a place in the heart and bag of some photographers, especially for use in capturing images of distant wildlife.
That said, for most photographers we recommend the Canon PowerShot SX60 HS as our Editors’ Choice for cameras that exceed a 50x zoom ratio. It costs about half as much as the P1000, seems to be about half the size, and is a better all-arounder. But if you laugh at a zoom with a “mere” 1,365mm reach, the 3,000mm zoom of the P1000 may lure you in with its siren song. Just be aware that it requires effort and skill to get strong results at the extreme end of its zoom lens.
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Big Lens, Big Camera
The P1000 is the largest bridge-style camera we’ve ever seen. Its body is about the size of a small SLR—it resembles the D5600—with a protruding fixed lens, larger than any SLR starter zoom. The P1000 measures 4.7 by 5.8 by 7.2 inches (HWD), weighs 3.1 pounds, and supports 77mm front lens filters. The handgrip is pretty deep, but I still found the big lens to make the camera a little bit front heavy, and the tripod socket is on the body, which doesn’t make for the best balance when mounted on a tripod.
The superlative zoom range is the reason for the bulk. The lens is a 4.3-539mm f/2.8-8, equivalent to a 24-3,000mm in full-frame terms. It can snap shots of wide-angle landscapes, and zoom in to bring distant subjects into clear view. You can get an idea of what that gets you by taking a look at the image above, shot at 24mm, and the one below, at 3,000mm. The little white dots in the wide shot are egrets, and you can see how tightly the zoom captures one of the birds, as it starts to take flight, in the uncropped shot below.
There’s actually a good macro capability too. At the wide angle, the lens can focus on subjects just 0.4-inch (1 centimeter) from the front of the lens. A 3,000mm focus is available to 23 feet (7 meters), so you’re better off getting up close and personal for your macro shots.
The P1000 doesn’t have extensive weather protection. Nikon doesn’t advertise dust or splash protection, and while I wouldn’t hesitate to use it in light precipitation, you should definitely take care to cover it when working in any weather in which you’d grab an umbrella to keep yourself dry. If all-weather use is more important than zoom reach, look at the Sony RX10 III or RX10 IV, both of which sport a 24-600mm f/2.4-4 zoom, a larger image sensor, and weather protection.
The big body leaves plenty of room for physical controls. The left side of the lens barrel holds a zoom control rocker along with a framing assist button—it temporarily widens the field of view of the lens, compared with your set position, and shows an on-screen box overlay to indicate 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 often difficult to find or track your subject due to the extremely narrow angle of view.
In practice, the zoom-out assistance works well. No, this is not a great camera for tracking fast-moving targets—I’ll talk about its burst rate and autofocus system in a bit—but I was able to get a few action shots in testing. The P1000 would never be my first choice for tracking fast action, however. 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 manual focus it’s your focus control, in the expected place toward the front of the outer barrel. But if you’re using the camera in autofocus you can set it to perform another function. It works well—you can turn it quickly to dial 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 can set the ring to adjust ISO or White Balance.
There’s a hot shoe (for an external flash) and a pop-up flash, both centered behind the lens, on the top plate. The pop-up flash is big, and rises a couple of inches above the body when opened for use. Even so, you’ll need to remove the lens hood when using the pop-up for shots at the widest angle, as it will cast a shadow on photos otherwise.
To the right of the Mode dial, on the right side of the top, are an additional control dial, the On/Off button, 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 mode, and a number of Instagram-style filter effects, ranging from desaturated bleach bypass to a high-contrast black-and-white look Nikon has dubbed Noir.
The Moon and Bird settings aren’t much to talk about. The former zooms the lens to the 1,000mm 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 mode, and did it at the maximum 3,000mm setting. Detail isn’t as strong as moon shots I’ve taken with long lenses and big sensor cameras, but it’s neat that you’re able to do it with a lens that can also cover wide-angle vistas.
I found the Bird setting to be less useful—it changes the focus point to a small, central area, so you can focus and recompose, and uses the OK button to set the lens to the 500mm position. You can still adjust the zoom in or out, but you’ll always see a virtual frame, matching the 500mm angle of view, when capturing wider shots. It’s just there to let you know what the frame would be like if you hit the OK button to punch into 500mm. I was pretty happy photographing wildlife without the framing assist, but you may find it more useful in practice.
As an alternative to framing assistance, you can add an accessory to the hot shoe, the Nikon DF-M1 Dot Sight ($174.95). The add-on slips into the shoe, and pops up to reveal a small transparent viewscreen and a centered laser pointer. Once calibrated (the DF-M1 can be used with other cameras too), it shows you the center point of your lens. You won’t get framing assist, so it’s good for distant subjects that won’t fill the frame, even when zoomed all the way in, or for tracking moving subjects while the lens is too tightly zoomed to follow them via the EVF. I found the Dot Sight to be more effective for static subjects, though, as the P1000’s autofocus struggles a bit when zoomed all the way in.
Because the body is as a big as an SLR, Nikon has room to include a good number of physical controls. There’s a button to switch the between the rear LCD, EVF, and eye sensor (for automatic switching), along with an AE-L/AF-L button and AF/MF toggle switch right at the top. Below you’ll find the Record button for movies, along with Delete, Menu, Play, and Display buttons.
Finally, there’s a flat command dial on the rear. Turning it adjusts the f-stop (assuming you’re shooting in a mode that supports aperture control). It has the OK button at its center, and can also be pressed in a cardinal direction for Flash, EV, Macro, and Self-Timer control. I tend to shoot in Aperture Priority, and did find one issue with the flat dial—if I accidentally nudged it while zoomed in, the lens wouldn’t open back up to its widest setting when zooming out. I nudged it a few times in field testing and ended up shooting some wide shots at f/8, a setting that really puts a damper on the P1000’s image quality. (More on that later.)
You have your option of framing images using an eye-level electronic viewfinder or the rear LCD. The latter is a 3.2-inch panel, mounted on a vari-angle hinge so it can swing to the side of the body and face forward, up, or down. It is sharp, 921k dots, and bright enough to use outdoors, but doesn’t support touch 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’s a very good EVF, on par with what you’ll find in nicer mirrorless cameras. It’s sharp, and it refreshes quickly enough to show smooth motion and to track moving subjects effectively. 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 can send images to your smartphone automatically or on demand via Bluetooth, and it can be remotely controlled via your phone via Wi-Fi with a live feed to your phone’s screen. Nikon also offers a wireless Bluetooth remote for remote image capture.
The battery is rated for 250 shots, or about 80 minutes of video capture by CIPA standards. That’s on the low side, so you may want to consider picking up a spare. The P1000 supports in-camera charging, but I was unable to get it working with any third-party AC adapters. I tried a few, including the plug that came with my iPhone, but only the Nikon adapter worked for me. One of the benefits of USB charging is the ability to plug the camera into all of the same places you’d use to charge your other electronics, so this is a bit of a downer.
There’s a single memory card slot, with support for UHS-I speeds and SD, SDHC, and SDXC card formats. Interface connections include micro HDMI, micro USB, and a 3.5mm microphone input.
Inconsistent Speed
You’d expect the big lens, which needs to extend before making an image, would slow down the power-on process. But the P1000 manages to go from off to on, focus, and capture an image in 1.8 seconds. No, it’s not the instant power you get from an SLR, but 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 0.1-second. But it does slow down when zoomed all the way in. At 3,000mm the lens requires 0.3-second to focus on average.
For the most part, the P1000 is a very responsive camera. Except when it isn’t. And that’s what you have to deal with if you opt to use its burst shooting mode. It rattles off a burst of 7 shots in a second, but stops and becomes completely unresponsive as it writes those images to a memory card. Regardless of whether you are shooting in Raw, Raw+JPG, or JPG format, you have to wait about 10 seconds for the burst to commit to memory.
There are several autofocus options available. You can shoot in AF-S, which locks focus once it’s acquired, or AF-F, which acts like AF-C and continues to adjust focus as long as you hold the shutter button down halfway. The default focus area covers the entire frame, with Face Detection. Other options include a manual flexible spot in three sizes, both of which are moved around using the rear four-way controller.
You also get Subject Tracking, which requires you to press the OK button to identify your subject and initiate the tracking. It had no problem keeping track of small birds scurrying over mudflats or flying through the air, but can get confused if your subject leaves the frame. Pressing OK again disables the tracking, so you can once again place the virtual box around your subject and reinitiate tracking. Finally, you have access to Target Finding AF, which is another wide, automatic focus setting. I didn’t notice any real difference between it and the Face Detection mode.
In practice, the P1000 is an absolutely fine performer when it comes to photographing subjects that are not moving around at a fast pace. Wildlife photographers trying to snap shots of songbirds on tree branches or a lion enjoying a rest on African safari won’t face problems, but I struggled to track cormorants gliding above the surface of the water, and getting a good shot of a tern diving for food is too much for the P1000’s autofocus system to handle. The shorter zoom, but larger sensor Sony RX10 IV is a much better choice for shooting action with a bridge camera—it has phase detection autofocus and fires as quickly as 24fps.
A Boon and a Detriment, All at Once
The P1000’s lens is its marquee, headline-grabbing feature. It makes the camera different from any other point-and-shoot to date, even the Nikon P900 and its 83x zoom. But it introduces a problem. At wider apertures it is very sharp. But it doesn’t maintain wide apertures through the range. Quite simply put, when the f-stop narrows beyond f/5.6, image quality drops quickly. But you can still shoot as far as 1,500mm at f/5.6. The f-stop drops to f/6.3 at 1,600mm, to f/7.1 at 2,200mm, and to f/8 at 2,800mm.
See How We Test Digital Cameras
Diffraction plays a part here. The effect, which is caused by light scattering as it passes through a narrow aperture, softens edges and adds a glow to photos, effectively reducing resolution. Pixel density has a part to play as to when diffraction becomes a real issue. The P1000 packs 16MP into a tiny 1/2.3-inch image sensor, and our Imatest(Opens in a new window) tests confirm the expected behavior—image quality drops significantly at f-stops narrower than f/5.6.
At its widest angle—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 drop to 1,595 lines, which is just a little 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/4, 1,845 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/3.2, but 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 down—2,522 lines at f/4, 1,949 lines at f/5.6, and 1,336 lines at f/8.
At 135mm we see 2,456 lines at f/4, which is the brightest the lens gets at this focal length. Edge quality is good, but not outstanding at 1,895 lines. You can still get good images at f/5.6 (2,036 lines), but avoid f/8 (1,413 lines). Results are similar at 275mm—2,599 lines at f/4.5, 2,138 lines at f/5.6, and 1,494 lines at f/8. Edges do tick up at the 275mm position, notching a strong 2,441 lines at f/4.5. They are almost as good as the average when shot wide open through the rest of our tested range.
Next up is a test at 434mm. The lens has narrowed to f/5 here, and resolves a strong 2,573 lines. Stopping down just a bit to f/5.6 cuts resolution to 2,311 lines, and there’s a larger drop to 1,640 lines at f/8. Results are just about the same at 570mm, where the maximum aperture remains f/5.
At 753mm the lens opens up to just f/5.6, though we still see a strong 2,319-line score, but drops to 1,820 lines at f/8. Results are similar at 865mm and 1,105mm. Zooming further, to 1,300mm, nets slightly softer results at f/5.6 (2,150 lines) and a poor showing at f/8 (1,128 lines).
The 1,600mm position is the longest setting at which we’re able to perform lab tests. Resolution drops when you zoom this far. At f/6.3, the widest the lens opens to at this setting, we see a just-okay 1,798 lines, with edges that lag behind the center (1,445 lines). At f/8 we see 1,338 lines.
Field testing doesn’t net numerical data, 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/6.3 through about 2,200mm, where it becomes an f/7.1 lens. The drop to f/8 is toward the edge of the zoom range, at 2,800mm. The amount of soft, diffuse glow we see in images increases as you approach the long end of the zoom range, with a typical example of 3,000mm image quality shown above.
It’s not just resolution that’s affected by the small f-stop. If you’re shooting in anything but bright light, the P1000 is going to move to a higher ISO setting to eliminate motion blur. Imatest also checks photos for noise. In-camera noise reduction keeps JPGs relatively grain-free through the top ISO 6400 setting, but there’s more to image quality at high ISO settings than noise alone. Clarity starts to drop as soon as you move past the lowest ISO 100 setting, but remains pretty good through about ISO 400. At ISO 800 we see fine lines smudged away, but it’s still a very viable option for photography. ISO 1600 further cuts into resolution, but blur doesn’t truly overtake detail until you push to ISO 3200 and 6400.
Raw capture is also available. It’s something that is missing from the P900, and something we expect to see in a modern, premium camera, even one with a small image sensor. Raw images don’t have noise reduction applied in-camera, so they show 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, but we recommend and use Adobe Lightroom Classic CC for Raw conversion.
Raw detail 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, but is still small and fine. At ISO 3200 grain is bigger and rougher, to the point where it certainly detracts from image quality. Image quality at ISO 6400 is a little too rough, so I recommend avoiding it when possible.
But sometimes it’s not possible to avoid working at a high ISO. I was able to snap crisp shots with a short shutter speed on a sunny day, but working on a cold, gray, overcast morning was a very different story. Under bright skies the P1000 keeps the ISO low and the shutter speed to a short 1/500-second—quick enough to capture blur-free shots at 3,000mm thanks to optical image stabilization. But on the gray day I ended up shooting at ISO 800 with shutter speeds around 1/125-second. I didn’t see evidence of motion blur at this setting, but the high ISO, plus a bit of foggy mist in the atmosphere, netted results that were less impressive than under bright light.
4K Video Too
Video is available at up to 4K resolution at 25fps or 30fps, and you can also shoot at 1080p or 720p at up to 60fps. There’s no 24fps capture option, which will disappoint videographers who prefer the look of the cinema to video. There is uncompressed output available via HDMI, so it is possible to connect a field recorder to net video at a higher quality than the camera can manage internally. You can add an external microphone if desired.
I was generally happy with the quality of the 4K footage, though put off by a short period of blackout between pressing the Record button and the clip starting. The lag is just about a second in duration. The ISO isn’t as much of a concern, as video often uses a longer shutter speed than stills, typically 1/60-second for 30fps capture. Video itself is sharp and crisp, but as with many things, there are some challenges involved when working with the P1000.
Stabilization is a big challenge. I set the camera on my go-to tripod for photography, a Gitzo Traveler with a ball head. You can see the results in the opening shot of the clip above, where I zoom from 24 to 3,000mm from the tripod on a day with mild wind. The footage is shaky, a clear indication that my tripod is simply not up to the task. I do wonder if I’d get better results if Nikon had put the tripod socket at the bottom of the lens barrel, as the camera is a bit front-heavy at maximum zoom.
Handheld footage also shows some shake, as you’d expect, but not that much more than what we saw on the tripod. The P1000’s image stabilization system does an admirable job eliminating the extreme shake you’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 Clam ball head—just tightening the adjustment knobs was enough to change my frame dramatically at maximum zoom. A fluid video head would likely be a better fit.
Autofocus when recording video is also a concern. The P1000 is quick to find a subject at first, but making changes to focus when recording is a little more difficult. Even with the EVF, it can be hard to see just what is in focus in your shot. Pressing the left button on the directional pad reacquires focus, but I’d like to see an option to leave focus peaking highlights turned on when the camera is set to autofocus. They’re available as a manual focus aid. It is pretty easy to switch the lens focus mode with the toggle switch, but you have to decide on autofocus or manual focus before you start recording. Likewise, manual exposure control is available, but you can’t adjust settings while recording a clip—everything has to be locked in before you press the button.
A Specialized, Niche Tool
The Nikon Coolpix P1000 is an enticing bridge camera. It has the absolute longest zoom lens we’ve seen in any camera of this type, by a wide margin. The lens sets it well apart from the smartphone cameras with similarly sized image sensors. In the hands of the right photographer, it is capable of capturing images you simply won’t be able to with any other camera.
But that ability comes with some serious caveats. For one, the P1000 is an absolute beast in terms of size. The lens is understandably massive, given its zoom range, and the big body is required to give 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 end of the zoom range, and where the ISO needs to be pushed high for crisp results under dreary skies, which further cuts into resolution.
The autofocus system is absolutely fine for cooperative subjects, but you’re not going to get a great hit rate with fast-moving action, at least not when zoomed in. You’ll also have to deal with the burst shooting experience when photographing action, which is disappointing to say the least. I don’t mind being limited to seven shots, but the unresponsiveness during the seconds after a burst isn’t what we expect from a camera at this price.
The P1000 is most certainly a niche camera. If you are a skilled photographer with a penchant for subjects that don’t appreciate being photographed up close with a wide-angle lens—skittish wildlife comes to mind—it can be a very useful tool, as long as conditions are good. In dim, questionable light you’ll have to deal with a slower shutter speed and high ISO, and on bright, hot days, expect atmospheric interference and haze to come into play.
Most photographers will be better served with a different bridge camera. Our favorite model with more than 50x power is the Canon PowerShot SX60 HS, which also offers Raw capture, but is priced and sized more reasonably. A replacement has been announced, the SX70 HS, but we’ve not yet tested it. The SX70 adds 4K video, like the P1000, but drops Raw shooting support, which is disappointing.
For a step up in image quality, but a step back in zoom power, the Sony RX10 III and IV are both worth a look. Both models feature a 24-600mm zoom with an f/2.4-4 aperture, an image sensor that is physically larger than the P1000’s, and weather sealing. The RX10 III is priced competitively with the P1000, and is our Editors’ Choice for premium bridge cameras. The RX10 IV is more expensive, but has a much more advanced autofocus system.
These alternatives are better fits for most photographers. But not everyone falls into the bucket of most. If the P1000’s lens speaks to you, and you understand the camera’s limitations and quirks, it could serve you very well.
Nikon Coolpix P1000
3.0
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$996.95
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MSRP $999.95
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The Bottom Line
The Nikon Coolpix P1000 has the longest zoom of any fixed lens camera yet, but it takes a good deal of skill to master.
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