Nikon CoolPix P1000 Question

[marklangner]

I've recently learned that Peregrine Falcons nest in areas in the Mt Diablo region near my house...but naturally the nesting sites are off limits during nesting and are on huge rock cliffs well above the valley/floor. I attended a non profit wildlife exhibition the other day and spoke to some people that belong to the peregrine team, and one of the leading photographers of that group said he got all his shots using a Nikon P1000. Said it zoomed to 3000mm, and showed me a close up nest shot on his iPhone. I'm a Canon person, and searching the Canon site cannot find any lens that has that kind of reach. Normally I would not purchase a camera for just a single bird, but thinking I may have a unique opportunity that is very close to my house. Does anybody have any knowledge about this camera ? Is it truly a quality image capturing device, or would I be less than happy with the results. It's Nikon, so I'd have to learn new gear, but for the price, maybe it might get me the reach to capture an image of these birds that otherwise I might not reach even with 600mm and purchasing a 2x TC ?? Hoping someone here might have some info and/or opinion ? Most all my glass is Canon "L" glass, so kinda spoiled.

 

[Steve W]

The fact is that it’ll be no “L” lens, not by a long shot but then it’s only about $900 compared to $13-14k for the canon 800 mm + tc.
it’s not a 3000 mm lens but a 125x zoom, a 3000 mm equivalent with respect to its sensor size.
Google P1000 images and have a look.
There is also more than a couple of articles around as well.

Nikon Coolpix P1000 Review

photographylife.com

Gear of the year 2018 - Jeff's choice: Nikon Coolpix P1000

The Nikon P1000 is a bit of an oddity, but the unique shooting opportunities it makes possible are why it's Editor Jeff Keller's pick this year.

www.dpreview.com

What ever you use, just consider image degradation from heat haze / atmospheric disturbance at long distances

 

[Owney]

You will get results that are more like cell phone rather than DSLR or MLIC quality type images. That being said, you will be able to reach a much longer distance than you could with conventional lenses. Your long distance shots will be best viewed on a computer, tablet, or phone screen as printing would not yield decent results. I normally use a Nikon D500 or Z6ii with 500PF + 1.4 or 70-200 + 2x for 99.99% of my shots. But sometimes the P1000 is the only way to reach my subject. I initially was looking for 15x binoculars and decided that for about the same price I could get the P1000 and be able to preserve an image. I also considered that I spend considerably more on quality telephoto lenses than the P1000, so rather than think of it as an expensive bridge camera, I look at it like a single purpose lens, whose results won’t allow for pixel peeping or anything like that. I enjoy it for what it is and do not compare it to my “real” cameras or “real” 8x and 10x binoculars. Hope this helps.

 

[marklangner]

You will get results that are more like cell phone rather than DSLR or MLIC quality type images. That being said, you will be able to reach a much longer distance than you could with conventional lenses. Your long distance shots will be best viewed on a computer, tablet, or phone screen as printing would not yield decent results. I normally use a Nikon D500 or Z6ii with 500PF + 1.4 or 70-200 + 2x for 99.99% of my shots. But sometimes the P1000 is the only way to reach my subject. I initially was looking for 15x binoculars and decided that for about the same price I could get the P1000 and be able to preserve an image. I also considered that I spend considerably more on quality telephoto lenses than the P1000, so rather than think of it as an expensive bridge camera, I look at it like a single purpose lens, whose results won’t allow for pixel peeping or anything like that. I enjoy it for what it is and do not compare it to my “real” cameras or “real” 8x and 10x binoculars. Hope this helps.

Very helpful...Thank you. My glean from this is, I can try with my big glass...but if I can't reach and an iPhone like image is the best I can do, then perhaps at least I can record the event....this was most helpful...thank you !

 

[wes]

For what its worth, I had a P900 for a while several years ago and it was a fun camera. I bought a P1000 not too long ago to try and get my wife into photography a little and I felt the image quality on the P1000 was worse that the p900.

 

[Owney]

I first tried a P950 but it felt too small compared to my other cameras so I returned it within the 30 day period and instead got the P1000 which for me feels better to hold and has a longer reach.

 

[Steve W]

Another option might be a spotting scope with either an adapter for an iPhone, point and shoot or dsl.