My experience with the Nikon Coolpix p900
I am 15 and in love with photography, it’s not only my hobby but my passion. I get inspired by the littlest of things and want to do more with/stretch my curiosity to get a good picture.
I wanted a good phone that could take decent pictures (of course it’s still a phone with a tiny sensor and bad low light performance) and I did my research and found my baby that I have today and will buy nothing but it’s predecessor. The LG V10 is a beast at video and let’s you take control over most things such as shutter speed, ISO, exposure, white balance, and focus. With all of those things you can also control the level of sound and wind noise coming through the 3 different microphones (two of which are on the top and bottom to give you a stereo sound.
Having all of these options are great and all but I was really striving to get more out of my photos. I needed to control zoom without ruining picture quality. This of course required more than a phone.
My mom has a Canon 5D MKIII and three different lenses which are a 50mm f 2.8, an 85mm f 1.8, and my favorite of them was the 24–70mm f 2.8. I immediately fell in love because of optical zoom.
I needed a camera with it. I looked into getting a DSLR and getting lenses but I didn’t have $26,000 to get a 24–2000mm lens.
Buying a lens like this one would be a bit much and I would also need a full frame camera which can cost 1000+ dollars. As it would be fun to have a lens like this I needed something more practical. With everything I wanted, I got led to the NIkon Coolpix P900. My first camera that I’ve fallen in love with.
This camera has major capabilities in the area of zoom. It’s boasting a massive 83x optical zoom and 4x digital zoom for a total of 332x zoom. Having a camera that is quite similar to a telescope can be fun at times. Also having some of the capabilities of a SLR can comprehend for the standard small sensor.
Some of the key features of this camera are…
- 16MP CMOS sensor
- Contrast-detect AF system
- 7 fps high speed shot and 2 fps continuous (120fps in low-res burst mode)
- Built-in Wi-Fi and NFC
- EVF and 3-in. vari-angle LCD display
- Dual Detect Optical VR image stabilization technology
- Built-in GPS and POI (point-of-interest) functions
- Full HD 1080p 60fps video
- Scene Modes, filter effects, special effects, Picture Controls, Time Lapse
This camera can be used for great wildlife and outdoor shots for the telephoto side and for the wide angle side it can be a good portrait camera.I have taken many portraits of my sister and many shots of the moon because of the amazing zoom.
Pro’s & Con’s
Pro’s:
- Great for wildlife and shots of the moon
- Better macro than most cameras
- Phenomenal zoom range from 24mm wide-angle to 2000mm super-telephoto
- Fast f/2.8 maximum aperture at wide-angle
- Good optical performance for its class, especially when not fully zoomed
- Low geometric distortion
- Very good vibration reduction
- Fast AF speeds in certain conditions
- Decent image quality at low ISOs
- Quick startup
- Low shutter lag
- Decent 7fps burst mode (but see Con regarding buffer size)
- Accurate metering in Matrix setting
- Reliable Auto white balance outdoors
- Very good coverage accuracy from EVF and LCD
- Built-in GPS, Wi-Fi & NFC
Con’s:
- Lens not as sharp at 2000mm eq.
- Limited low-light capabilities
- Autofocus really struggles in low light
- Not much flexibility in NR settings (3 settings, but lowest still too strong)
- ISO settings above 400 are prone to noise
- Lens is quite dim at telephoto (but no surprise given the range)
- No RAW file support
- Shallow buffer in Continuous H mode
- Camera locks up while clearing buffer
- Overly warm results with Auto and Incandescent white balance indoors
- No hot shoe
- Mediocre battery life
In my opinion this is a good camera for anyone that wants and extra camera and an amazing camera for anyone getting into photography. This camera is great for the price and it comes in at $600 USD.
All photos are from Google Images
