Nikon P1000 Field Test

It was only a few years ago that the Nikon P900 leapfrogged the superzoom world and offered a then-unprecedented 2000mm-eq. optical focal length in a fixed lens camera, wooing birding and wildlife enthusiasts with a very powerful tool at their disposal, and one that we aptly praised here at IR. But when Nikon told us about their new P1000, with its new 3000mm-eq. offering, our heads virtually spun around on their axis... "What?!?" Needless to say, we were chomping at the bit to try it out and bring you images from the real world.

But first, a few initial handling notes...
The Nikon P1000 is not small, and yet considering that you get 3000mm-eq. optical shooting distance, with a whopping 24-3000mm optical (125x!) zoom range, it is actually surprisingly light in the hands. It's not feather-light, but you wouldn't want that anyway because you need at least a little weight to help stabilize your hands for those longer shots! In fact, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by how little fatigue set in over several hours of carrying this camera around by my side on multiple occasions, and shooting virtually all of the images handheld.

When Nikon released the P900 during the spring of 2015, I was very excited about the camera for many reasons, not the least of which was its incredible 83x zoom range. There were some concerns, however, including sluggish autofocus and the lack of raw image recording. The P1000 doubles down on what made the P900 an intriguing camera by adding an extra 1000mm of reach, bringing the total focal length range to 24-3000mm while also improving upon some of its predecessor's weaknesses.

There's no such thing as free lunch, though. Nikon achieves the incredible feat of a 24-3000mm lens by utilizing a very small 1/2.3-inch sensor (although it can capture raw files this time around). It's a 16-megapixel BSI CMOS sensor, and 16 megapixels is a lot to put on a sensor that small. Further, the lens is quite large, making the P1000 a generally unwieldy camera. However, it is pretty light for its size, surprisingly so when you first pick it up, but it's far from compact. Small sensor, big camera and bigger lens.