Amateur Photographer - UK (2020-05-09)

subscribe 0330 333 1113I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI 9 May 2020 49

Resolution Noise

FEATURES 7/10

BUILD& HANDLING 7/10

METERING 7/10

AUTOFOCUS 7/10

AWB& COLOUR 7/10

DYNAMICRANGE 7/10

IMAGEQUALITY 7/10

VIEWFINDER/LCD 8/10

Forandagainst

Shootingin rawandprocessingimagesyourselfcanhelpto

alleviatesomeoftheworstaspectsofimagedegradation

causedbynoise,howeverbyISO 1600 thelimitationsofthe

sensorareplaintoseewhenviewingimagesat100%.Asis

oftenthecasewithsmall1/2.3-inchsensors,you’rebest

usingthecamerabetweenISO 100 andISO 800 andonly

pushabovetoISO 1600 whenlow-lightconditionsdictate.

RAW ISO 100 RAW ISO 400 RAW ISO 800

RAW ISO 1600 RAW ISO 3200 RAW ISO 6400

RAW

ISO 6400

RAW

ISO 800

RAW

ISO 100

Herearedetailsare
takenfromour
resolutiontestchart
pattern (shown above)

WHILEtheNikonP950and

P1000remaintheundisputed

kingswhenit comesto

maximumtelephotoreach,

neitheroffera 1in20.1MP

sensorlikethemightySony

RX10IV(£1,699).Asfaras

othersmall-sensorsuperzooms

go,theCanonSX70HS(£499)

is undoubtedlyoneof theNikon

P950’sclosestrivals.Whilethe

SX70HSsqueezesmore

resolutionfromits20.3MP

1/2.3-inchsensorandmatches

theP950’srawand4Kvideo

captureabilities,itszoomcan

onlyextendto1350mm.

Forsuperzoombuyerslooking

toprioritisemaximumzoom

rangeaboveallelse,theP950

is anundoubtedcontender.

AsidefromtheNikonP1000

(£899),thereisn’tanythingelse

onthemarketwithitsextended

rangefortheprice.Youcould,

of course,optfortheolder

P900insteadwhilethisis still

availableonsale.Thatsaid,the

P950’simprovementsareall

usefulandwelcomeadditions,

especiallytheabilitytocapture

stillimagesaslosslessrawfiles

or to record video in 4K.

centreof theviewfinder.Overall
coverageis prettygood,although
there’sstilla sizeableborder
aroundtheedgeof theframethat
lacksanycoverage.Autofocus
optionsincludeFace-priorityfor
portraits,userdefinedSingle-
pointAF(ineitherSpot,Normalor
Widevariety)forregularshooting,
plusSubjectTrackingandTarget
Findingforwhenyouwantto
shootmovingsubjects.Youcan
alsochoosebetweensingle-AFfor
staticsubjects,orfull-time
continuousAFformovingones.
In ordertogivetheP950’sAFa
workoutI testedtheautofocusat
somelocalfootballmatches,
where I found it to be generally

reliable.Subjecttrackingmode

worksprettywellin decentlight

whensubjectsaremoving

predictably,butit canalsobe

thrownoffbyerraticallymoving

subjects,orwhenotherobjects

getin thewayandconfuseit.

Focus-lockin AFSinglemodeis

allbutinstantaneousin good

light,butdoesslowdownin

excessivelypoorlight.Whenthis

happenstheP950’sorangeAF

Assistlightautomaticallyswitches

ontohelpthecameratofocuson

nearbysubjects.

In termsof itsprocessingspeed

theP950isn’ta particularly

powerfulcamera,andcertainly

isn’t one that allows you to shoot

continuousburstsof shotsfor

prolongedperiodsof time.In fact,

duringtimedtestsI wasonlyable

tocapturea maximumof ten

full-resolutionJPEGsat the

highest7fpssettingbeforethe

bufferfilledandshootingground

toa halt.Interestingly,I gotexactly

thesameresultsforrawand

raw+JPEGcapture.Fromthisit

wouldappearthatNikonhas

cappedburstshootingonthe

P950at tenconsecutiveframes

irrespectiveof thefile size

generated.Also,whenshooting

longburststhere’sa prettylong

delaybeforeyou’refinallygranted

thego-aheadtoviewimages

on the rear display.

Verdict

Amaximumof3,200l/phwas

recordedatISO 100 shootingin

therawformat,whichdroppedto

2,800l/phatISO800.Furtherup

thesensitivityscalethere’sa

notabledropin qualitybetween

ISO 1600 (2,600l/ph)andISO

3200 (2,200l/ph),withISO 6400

returninga figureofjust1,800l/

ph. Best to work below ISO 1600.

+Hugeopticalzoomrange

+Additionofrawcapture

+Canrecord4Kvideo

• A bitlargeandunwieldy


• Smallsensorhampersimage
  qualityathighersensitivities


• Processingspeeds are on the
  slow side

The 83x optical zoom enables you to fill the frame with the moon at 2000mm1/500sec at f/6.5, ISO 200, 2000mm