42 1 June 2019 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I subscribe 0330 333 1113
Testbench IN THE FIEld
T
he past few years have seen some
major releases in the full-frame
mirrorless segment of the market,
but the often-overlooked medium
of the superzoom camera has a new champion:
the Nikon P1000. Superzooms, often called
‘all-in-ones’, typically have DSLR-sized bodies
with a fixed lens that usually offers a vast zoom
range. And with the P1000, Nikon can boast the
biggest focal length in the class, as this camera
features a 125x zoom which serves up an
insane 24-3000mm equivalent range. It’s as
if Nikon’s R&D department sketched out the
P1000’s blueprint during a well-oiled work
Christmas party and created a dream
specification sheet that has the power to wow.
In fact, when I was setting up in a photography
hide to capture test images, pulling the P1000
from my bag drew audible gasps from fellow
togs and birdwatchers: ‘Is that the big Nikon
superzoom?’ So, the P1000 can be best
described as the hubble telescope of fixed-lens
cameras, but how does it fare in the field during
a real-world test?Impressive specs
Launched in July 2018, the P1000 replaced
the P900, which shared the same 16MP
resolution but topped out at 2000mm. The
P1000’s biggest headline feature is, of course,
its whopping focal range. Offering a focal
length of 24-3000mm equivalent, the P1000covers everything from wideangle landscape
views through to portraits with compressed
perspectives, right through to wildlife
photography and astrophotography towards
the top end of the 3000mm zoom. This gives
you a good idea of who this camera is targeted
at – essentially photographers who don’t
want to carry around a big DSLR/lens combo,
accompanied by a bag full of additional heavy
lenses. The lens features a variable aperture,
ranging from f/2.8 at the wide end and
increasing to f/8 by the time you zoom in to
3000mm. The lens is built with 17 elements in
12 groups and employs five ED lens elements
and one super-ED lens element to
improve image quality. Protruding from