Nikon P1000

by John

I bought a travel camera in 2019 prior to my trip to UK. It was quite small in comparison to the Nikon SLR’s which I had used for several decades. And it took very good snapshots. Wide angle to telephoto (24-200mm). And video.

Since then, for this blog, I have used an iPhone X almost exclusively, because the shots are quite acceptable, and most importantly, it is always immediately available, in my pocket. The Lumix and iPhone both take reasonable videos.

However, when a friend showed me some shots of the moon taken with a Nikon Coolpix 900, I have wanted one of those big, heavy, mirrorless , behemoths. I watched Ebay from time to time, but they always looked a bit pricey. And the camera size is daunting. And not that I take telephoto shots often. I have a few Nikon telephoto lenses, but nothing spectacular. Catadioptric lenses looked interesting, but expensive, heavy to carry around for the odd shot.

Then recently I saw a used Nikon Coolpix P1000 which looked promising, and placed a bid. I felt disappointed when I was outbid by one dollar. Esnipe probably. So when another used one appeared as a “buy it now”, I did. Ebay had a 10% off deal. And the price was quite acceptable. $AUD 945. Said to be “near mint condition”. I am a bit chary of buying second hand after a few unfortunate experiences, but there was a 30 day return option. So I bought it.

It was not “near mint condition”.

It was brand new, unused. The cables were in their sealed plastic bags, obviously never been unwound. The camera was factory clean. The firmware was version 1.1. so I think that the camera was new old stock. Simple business to upgrade to version 1.6 of the software. And so far the camera works perfectly. For once I think that I scored a bargain.

The new Nikon Coolpix P1000, and Panasonic Lumix LX100-2. The Lumix is no slouch, quite good in fact. And easy to carry in a pocket.

The Nikon is BIG, and pretty heavy.

….and that lens is 24mm widish angle (35mm equivalent) to 3000mm telephoto, when extended. And there is x4 digital zoom on top of that 3000mm. So as a telescope equivalent it behaves a bit like a 12,000mm lens.

There are plenty of reviews of the P1000 on YouTube, so I am not intending to compete. Just a few of the first photos which I took, before reading the instructions. Blew me away!

A view of a tower on the hill about 1km distant. 24mm. Mild wide angle. 2.2mb. Tripod for all of these shots.
47mm. About the same as naked eye. 2.3mb. (it can go up to 16mb.)
97mm. mild telephoto. 2mb.
400mm. 1.7mb. (Since then I have learned how to increase the pixel count, which would have improved this picture quality.)
930mm. 1.8mb.
2000mm. 1.8mb
3000mm. 2mb. f8. 1/500s, On tripod of course. M8 U bolts?

And 3 more shots at the extremes. Still set at low resolution, according to the info screen.

Looking towards the front gate, late afternoon. Note the dead, high branches. A sign of poor rainfall causing die back. 50mm, f3.2, 1/1600s. Camera deciding the exposure settings on automatic.
See the birds on the dead branches? 200mm. 1.8mb. 1/1000s
3000mm, 2mb, f8, 1/500s. At this magnification, even on a tripod, there was some camera shake. Next I need to learn how to set the shutter delay.

I am going to have some fun with this camera. Can’t wait to take some moon and planet shots. And infrared filter coming. And I am now shooting at 16mega pixels, after skimming through the manual.