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83x anyone? The new Nikon P900 (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter Marcobf
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HermitIbis
Well-known member
The German magazine "CHIP" has a test: http://www.chip.de/artikel/Nikon-Coolpix_P900-Digitalkamera-Test_77410411.html . Also 40 photos can be studied in full detail.
Their test results for other cameras can be compared: http://www.chip.de/bestenlisten/Bestenliste-Digitalkameras--index/detail/id/996/price/620/ (and played around with)
Mixed results: much praise, but at full zoom the AF can struggle and IS doesn't work perfectly (surprise!). Up to half of the zoom the IS seems to be "surprisingly" effective however. That sounds a lot like the SX50, no?
Obviously the test has a completely different target group than birders, and weighs the "value for money" ratio far too high, so that a brandnew camera is at a massive disadvantage. If we look only at mega-zooms, there is one result in the test which I find particularly impressive: the P900 at max tele position has a shutter lag of only 0.49 sec., significantly better than the Canon SX50 (0.79), SX60 (1.14), Sony DSC-H400 (1.51), Lumix FZ72 (0.79) and on the same (fast!) level as the Nikon P600 (0.45). Great for a 83x zoom.
The manual of the Nikon P900 is now available (18.8 MB, pdf): http://nikonimglib.com/manual/coolpix-p/p900/index_en.html
Their test results for other cameras can be compared: http://www.chip.de/bestenlisten/Bestenliste-Digitalkameras--index/detail/id/996/price/620/ (and played around with)
Mixed results: much praise, but at full zoom the AF can struggle and IS doesn't work perfectly (surprise!). Up to half of the zoom the IS seems to be "surprisingly" effective however. That sounds a lot like the SX50, no?
Obviously the test has a completely different target group than birders, and weighs the "value for money" ratio far too high, so that a brandnew camera is at a massive disadvantage. If we look only at mega-zooms, there is one result in the test which I find particularly impressive: the P900 at max tele position has a shutter lag of only 0.49 sec., significantly better than the Canon SX50 (0.79), SX60 (1.14), Sony DSC-H400 (1.51), Lumix FZ72 (0.79) and on the same (fast!) level as the Nikon P600 (0.45). Great for a 83x zoom.
The manual of the Nikon P900 is now available (18.8 MB, pdf): http://nikonimglib.com/manual/coolpix-p/p900/index_en.html
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Looks like a very intriguing camera for birding- but, maddeningly (and, like some other superzooms,), it appears that the p900 makes you go into the menu to switch to manual focus, giving the bird (the bird that the autofocus is ignoring in favor of focusing on the twigs in front of it) a nice chunk of extra time to disappear, never to be seen again. How about a simple switch on the outside of the camera that instantly flips you from AF to manual focus, & back again, as on the Fuji HS50EXR? Sigh.
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Aandeg
Well-known member
There is a function button wonder if that would work.
HermitIbis
Well-known member
There is a growing number of good-looking sample pictures in the web. The price will eventually drop, and I might bite. What worries me is image quality. According to the test, at iso 400 the P900 has a resolution of 1068, while the SX60 has 1094 and the SX50 1156. Same at iso min, iso 800 and iso 1600. The P900's lens is great, it can't be the problem. It seems that the P900's in-camera logic handles jpeg files too aggressively, softening the result.
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https://www.flickr.com/photos/zorac...WT8-qLTGeH-rqD2ko-rzJfv6-rGbaqZ-2LkTeM-rgpUsX
P900 2000mm. What are your opinions?
P900 2000mm. What are your opinions?
Hard to form an opinion without being able to see EXIF data on most of the bird shots.
I agree that a one-step button (preferrably on the left side) would be ideal, but switching to MF on the P900 doesn't require going into the menu and shouldn't be time consuming. The switch is made via the multi-selector on the back of the camera, easily accessed by the right thumb without taking one's eyes off the viewfinder. If you're shooting in AF mode, pressing the top of the dial (once) takes you directly to MF, and your selection is confirmed by pressing "ok" in the center of the dial. It's a two step process but not bad, ergonomically speaking....at least on the P600. The P900 is larger, but I'm hoping that will actually make manipulation of the camera a little easier, since I find the P600's dimensions a little squishy. I'm also hoping the improved EVF on the P900 will facilitate better manual focusing, but haven't found any reports on that yet.
CORRECTION:
I was just fooling around with the P600 (husband's camera, I use SX50) and realized I misspoke. It requires 3 presses of the multi-selector (bottom, top, middle) to enable MF. It can be done very quickly (provided you remember the correct order) but certainly one dedicated button would be nice.
At least the focusing on the Nikons can be assigned to a toggle on the barrel. I'm limited to using the dial on my SX50, which means I never use MF at all.
mzettie, thanks for the explanation. Does sound like one could get fairly quick at that, but I find I fairly often have to switch to manual quickly, can't do it quite quickly enough, & miss a shot, even with the one dedicated switch on my HS50- it's just nice to get as much help from the camera as possible in the attempt to be speedy. Sounds like the p900 is pretty fast to operate in other ways though.
HermitIbis
Well-known member
P900 sample pictures in large size, some exif data: http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/562406403
The third picture is lovely: http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/562406403/photos/3168001/dscn0350 - max. optical zoom at 357mm.
Sources say that f=4.3 is possible for the P900 at this length, impressive. I also have to admit that I like these colours more than, say, the greens from my SX50.
Edit: Already four customer reviews at amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-COOLPIX-Digital-Camera-Black/dp/B00U2W4JEY/ref=cm_rdp_product
The third picture is lovely: http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/562406403/photos/3168001/dscn0350 - max. optical zoom at 357mm.
Sources say that f=4.3 is possible for the P900 at this length, impressive. I also have to admit that I like these colours more than, say, the greens from my SX50.
Edit: Already four customer reviews at amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-COOLPIX-Digital-Camera-Black/dp/B00U2W4JEY/ref=cm_rdp_product
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Aandeg
Well-known member
It seems you can do it backwards leave it in manual focus then it's one press to auto if you need it. The side tele button can be assigned to focus but it's very slow as I expect it would need to be.
Camera is bigger than nikon 1 v2 with 70_300 cx nice to hold. Didn't get much chance to play with it so far I like it.
Aandeg, I got my P900 today too....too late to do anything with it though. I've been trying to find my way around the menu and functions tonight, and haven't been able to make the transition from MF to AF in one step. Did you find a way to "one button" that function?
Sure would be nice if they'd put a manual focus ring on the barrel.
Like you, my initial impression is positive...but after my experience with the SX60 I want to use the camera in "real life" for awhile before passing judgement.
Aandeg
Well-known member
Put the camera in Manual Focus then when needed you can use the rotary multi selector around the ok button on the back to Auto Focus without leaving manual focus, Just press the right side of it. You have to be in the mode were you press the ok button first. It has the option to change zoom and autofocus without leaving that mode and without leaving manual focus.
So far there there seems to be 3 ways to manual focus. Rotating the ring around the ok button, using the command dial, and reassigning the zoom on the side of the lens.
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Bird_Huszar
Active member
Hey guys I just to the P900 yesterday and already went out birding with it. I originally had an Olympus with 36 x zoom but quickly upgraded to the legendary Canon SX50. I also had the SX60 for a bit but had to return it because I felt it wasn't $600 better than my SX50.
Now the question is, is the P900 $700 better than my SX50? Could be, but one thing is for sure, it's definitely bigger.
I still have to play around with the settings but I'm not a very technical guy and like things to be as simple as possible. That's one of the reasons I liked the SX50 so much, I could do most things very easily on 'Auto' mode and sometimes even get great pictures. When birding the last thing I wanna do is go hunting for settings half of which I can't remember in the heat of the birding moment.
Anyway back to the P900...as mentioned it is a huge camera and also very heavy. Not sure how that is going to play out on an all-day birding adventure...but I see others with their massive SLR and lenses so I guess I could bear it.
One thing that does concern me though is how dark the images come out in auto mode. The SX50 is far superior in this regard. Now it could just be my technical ineptitude but you'd think that the default setting would be more balanced. I cannot even see what I took pictures of...no detail just complete darkness. And the lighting was fine, plus I checked on 2 different monitors and it's not that.
I'll keep playing around with the camera but if I can't solve this issue in a simple and effective manner...I'm definitely returning it.
The zoom is fantastic no doubt...it does blow the SX50 out of the water and not just in distance but also detail. Focusing is a bit wishy-washy. I tried to focus in on some very slow moving Canada Geese and I don't know how the camera did not focus on the Geese but the ground instead. With the SX50 you could lock the focus point and ensure that the auto focus would be concentrated on that point. It's very quick, simple and easy and gets even some of the fleeting birds with relative ease.
P900 shutter speed is pretty good but for something that quick and dark, you'd think it would have more detail...maybe it was just the idiotic focus.
Anyway, I'm not a technical person as I already admitted ...and maybe I'm just too used to the SX50 but I'm not giving up just yet.
Edit: I just discovered bird-watching mode...and that concentrated focus point did appear ...very similar to the SX50. Ok this gives me hope again. But the darkness I hope is solve-able too.
Now the question is, is the P900 $700 better than my SX50? Could be, but one thing is for sure, it's definitely bigger.
I still have to play around with the settings but I'm not a very technical guy and like things to be as simple as possible. That's one of the reasons I liked the SX50 so much, I could do most things very easily on 'Auto' mode and sometimes even get great pictures. When birding the last thing I wanna do is go hunting for settings half of which I can't remember in the heat of the birding moment.
Anyway back to the P900...as mentioned it is a huge camera and also very heavy. Not sure how that is going to play out on an all-day birding adventure...but I see others with their massive SLR and lenses so I guess I could bear it.
One thing that does concern me though is how dark the images come out in auto mode. The SX50 is far superior in this regard. Now it could just be my technical ineptitude but you'd think that the default setting would be more balanced. I cannot even see what I took pictures of...no detail just complete darkness. And the lighting was fine, plus I checked on 2 different monitors and it's not that.
I'll keep playing around with the camera but if I can't solve this issue in a simple and effective manner...I'm definitely returning it.
The zoom is fantastic no doubt...it does blow the SX50 out of the water and not just in distance but also detail. Focusing is a bit wishy-washy. I tried to focus in on some very slow moving Canada Geese and I don't know how the camera did not focus on the Geese but the ground instead. With the SX50 you could lock the focus point and ensure that the auto focus would be concentrated on that point. It's very quick, simple and easy and gets even some of the fleeting birds with relative ease.
P900 shutter speed is pretty good but for something that quick and dark, you'd think it would have more detail...maybe it was just the idiotic focus.
Anyway, I'm not a technical person as I already admitted ...and maybe I'm just too used to the SX50 but I'm not giving up just yet.
Edit: I just discovered bird-watching mode...and that concentrated focus point did appear ...very similar to the SX50. Ok this gives me hope again. But the darkness I hope is solve-able too.
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BH, you might try setting the exposure compensation up a notch or two and leaving it there. With the camera in shoot mode (not "review" like when you're reviewing shots you just took) press the right side of the ok dial; you'll see a vertical bar with .3 gradations on it. Press the top of the ok dial and go up one, two or even three steps.....press "ok" (center of the dial) and the exposure will be set at whichever level you chose.
Bird_Huszar
Active member
Thank you. I did discover that and tried it yesterday but while the preview seems bright, the actual pic still comes out very dark. I almost think there's something wrong with this camera. I have never seen anything so dark in my life.
Got it, thanks! I was thinking that right press was just to get a rough focus, to keep from having to dial so far when manually focusing....but one can just go ahead and take the shot. You do lose the focus square, so I'm not sure it'll be quite as accurate as using pinpoint AF, but it's a cool feature.
Also nice to be able to use the command dial instead of the ok ring to focus. It's certainly easier to manipulate, but I don't know yet if it's any faster than using the lever on the barrel.
Gotta get out and experiment......
That does sound very strange. You could try restoring the default settings and starting over....in case something weird happened to white balance, exposure, DR correction, etc. Other than that, only thing I can suggest is to call tech support at Nikon.
Hope you get it sorted out, must be very frustrating.
Bird_Huszar
Active member
Update: I tried the birding setting, which I'll probably use most often. Seems like it is more balanced, but then I'll be better able to tell once I get home. The shots I took yesterday also seemed fine on the camera preview but when I looked at them on the computer, I was shocked how dark they came out.
I also bought a new memory card, a much faster one. Now the 7 frames / second burst mode takes 5 seconds instead of 9. I was using a class 4 memory card before and now I have a class 10 which writes as fast as 90mb/second.
Which makes me wonder why it takes 5 seconds. If each picture is about 3.5 megabytes and we multiply that by 7, we get 24.5 megabytes...let's round it off to 30 megabytes...per second. So in theory even a 30 mb/s memory card should be able to handle these pictures in one second. Why does a 90 mb/s take 5 seconds?
I also bought a new memory card, a much faster one. Now the 7 frames / second burst mode takes 5 seconds instead of 9. I was using a class 4 memory card before and now I have a class 10 which writes as fast as 90mb/second.
Which makes me wonder why it takes 5 seconds. If each picture is about 3.5 megabytes and we multiply that by 7, we get 24.5 megabytes...let's round it off to 30 megabytes...per second. So in theory even a 30 mb/s memory card should be able to handle these pictures in one second. Why does a 90 mb/s take 5 seconds?
