83x anyone? The new Nikon P900 (1 Viewer)

mzettie · Apr 24, 2015

Paul Higson said:
Some settings etc on the following link

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/55577911

Lots of other interesting stuff on this site.

Mine arrived yesterday, but I was back from work late. Enough time to charge the battery and fiddle around a bit indoors.

Out from dawn today working outdoors, so will take "The Beast" and my old SX 40 out with me.

Fingers crossed.

Reading through Paul's link, I realized I forgot to mention a couple of settings I'm sure about, maybe cause everybody's agreed about them from the start. First is "image quality" fine, second is NR (noise reduction) low. Third I already mentioned, and that's AF-s (not AF-f.)

Another thing I probably should have mentioned is that manual focus can be set to be controlled by a lever on the left side of the barrel, and you don't have to go into the menu to access MF mode. This makes it actually usable, unlike a lot of superzooms where you have to use the slippery little dial on the back of the camera. And while in MF mode, you can still take a picture using AF just by pressing the right side of the dial and then the shutter.

I'm excited that quite a few here are going to be using the P900 soon, and looking forward to seeing images and hearing reactions from more fellow birders.

crazyfingers · Apr 24, 2015

mzettie said:
First is "image quality" fine, second is NR (noise reduction) low.

Those are the first notes I made re-reading this thread

I'm excited that quite a few here are going to be using the P900 soon, and looking forward to seeing images and hearing reactions from more fellow birders.

Not as excited as someone else I know.

Mine is in the truck just one town away and shows "out for delivery". Since I work out of my home office I am waiting to hear the UPS truck outside.

crazyfingers · Apr 24, 2015

It arrived 3 minutes ago.

mzettie · Apr 24, 2015

crazyfingers said:
It arrived 3 minutes ago.

WOO HOOOO ! And still some daylight left, hope you didn't have much work on the desk!

crazyfingers · Apr 24, 2015

mzettie said:
WOO HOOOO ! And still some daylight left, hope you didn't have much work on the desk!

I'm afraid I'll be slacking off the rest of this Friday afternoon. The sun is in and out 50%. My phone is set to alarm me if I get a message in at work. I'll run inside!

Torchepot · Apr 24, 2015

In post#229 Paul asked about saving a single frame from a video. According to the manual - page 122 on the download or page 38 of the reference section - this is possible in camera as one of the editing options.

I notice that the resulting single frame is saved as "normal" quality - does anyone know if this is lower quality than the individual frames of the original video - assuming that it was shot at full HD?

crazyfingers · Apr 24, 2015

First impressions. Struggling to get the P900 to provide better photos than the SX50.

Setting changes I've made on the P900 so far are:

Shooting in P
Image quality to FINE
Metering is Center Weight
AF area mode Manual NORMAL
AF mode AF-S

Attached: The first two are from the P900. The second two are from the SX50.

The P900 are at max optical and no digital zoom
The SX50 are max optical + 2x teleconverter on.

The SX50 are superior and are half the file size.

Suggestions?

Chris B. · Apr 24, 2015

Neil said:
Chris,
Have a look at a Hoodman that will fit to the LCD screen and use that instead of the EVF.
Neil.

Hi Neil -

After several frustrating days of using the EVF, I decided to resurrect my old Hoodman 2.5" (close to a perfect fit) and bought the Hoodman elastic mounting gizmo to attach it and it works SO MUCH better than the little telescope eye guard I used on the EVF... I'll post some pictures of the rig soon... Also, I might recommend to P900 owners to invest in a good 67mm clear glass or UV filter for the front, mostly because the front element is very close to the front of the camera and appears to attract debris.

Chris

Neil · Apr 25, 2015

Chris B. said:
Hi Neil -

After several frustrating days of using the EVF, I decided to resurrect my old Hoodman 2.5" (close to a perfect fit) and bought the Hoodman elastic mounting gizmo to attach it and it works SO MUCH better than the little telescope eye guard I used on the EVF... I'll post some pictures of the rig soon... Also, I might recommend to P900 owners to invest in a good 67mm clear glass or UV filter for the front, mostly because the front element is very close to the front of the camera and appears to attract debris.

Chris

Glad it worked ok Chris. I will dig mine out and give it a go too.
Neil.

Neil · Apr 25, 2015

crazyfingers said:
First impressions. Struggling to get the P900 to provide better photos than the SX50.

Setting changes I've made on the P900 so far are:

Shooting in P
Image quality to FINE
Metering is Center Weight
AF area mode Manual NORMAL
AF mode AF-S

Attached: The first two are from the P900. The second two are from the SX50.

The P900 are at max optical and no digital zoom
The SX50 are max optical + 2x teleconverter on.

The SX50 are superior and are half the file size.

Suggestions?

I leave the camera in SCENE MODE/ Bird Watching all the time. The fast bursts seem to reduce/eliminate camera shake. I'm usually shooting at/near the 2,000 mms though.
Neil.

Neil · Apr 25, 2015

Back out to the mudflats yesterday with the P900 as my main camera ( I wanted to travel light). It was hazy/cloudy so distance shots were influenced by atmospherics and then the heat hazy kicked in later in the morning.
I was shooting between 1200 - 2,000 mm with mostly around 1800 mm. Distance is 20 - 150 metres from the hide.
Vibration from other shooters around me was a problem as usual as I had the tabletop tripod and balance plate set up on the shelf that runs around the hide.
At least it didn't rain as forecast.
This camera does mean that you can get all the record shots you need with one camera.
This is a video of the morning
https://vimeo.com/125963416
Neil.

crazyfingers · Apr 25, 2015

Still frustratingly unimpressed to say the least. There has got to be a way to get the quality up unless this unit is faulty.

More samples.

P900 at max optical zoom
SX50 at max optical + 2X teleconverter.

The first two images are the P900.
The second two are the SX50
The chickadee is the P900. Really poor

The SX50 has both better depth of field and better detail even though it's using 2x digital zoom.

crazyfingers · Apr 25, 2015

Neil said:
I leave the camera in SCENE MODE/ Bird Watching all the time. The fast bursts seem to reduce/eliminate camera shake. I'm usually shooting at/near the 2,000 mms though.
Neil.

I tried Bird Watching mode a bit. All told took 150 pictures. Don't recall which were in bird mode but I would say that none of the photos I took with the P900 today were keepers and of those that I took with both cameras, every single shot I took with the SX50 was significantly superior to the P900.

I do plan to go out tomorrow with both cameras but unless I can figure out what is causing the P900 to performs so poorly I know what the results will be.

mzettie · Apr 25, 2015

crazyfingers said:
First impressions. Struggling to get the P900 to provide better photos than the SX50.

Setting changes I've made on the P900 so far are:

Shooting in P
Image quality to FINE
Metering is Center Weight
AF area mode Manual NORMAL
AF mode AF-S

Attached: The first two are from the P900. The second two are from the SX50.

The P900 are at max optical and no digital zoom
The SX50 are max optical + 2x teleconverter on.

The SX50 are superior and are half the file size.

Suggestions?

Hmm, Crazy, that doesn't look right. How far were you from your subjects? I think Neil's idea to try the birdwatching mode is a good one, otherwise I don't know what to suggest...except maybe to try the other Vibration Reduction setting from whichever one you're using.

crazyfingers · Apr 25, 2015

mzettie said:
Hmm, Crazy, that doesn't look right. How far were you from your subjects? I think Neil's idea to try the birdwatching mode is a good one, otherwise I don't know what to suggest...except maybe to try the other Vibration Reduction setting from whichever one you're using.

The feeder was at least 30 feet. The leaves probably 20 feet. The rock in the next set 50 feet. The chickadee 30 feet.

I will try the bird setting again but so far I am extremely disappointed.

mzettie · Apr 25, 2015

crazyfingers said:
I tried Bird Watching mode a bit. All told took 150 pictures. Don't recall which were in bird mode but I would say that none of the photos I took with the P900 today were keepers and of those that I took with both cameras, every single shot I took with the SX50 was significantly superior to the P900.

I do plan to go out tomorrow with both cameras but unless I can figure out what is causing the P900 to performs so poorly I know what the results will be.

Oops, hadn't seen this when I replied. Pics from P900 definitely don't look right....birds can move of course, but stationary objects should be better, even if some camera shake is involved.

I think I'd try two things; if you have a tripod, do some testing with it (VR off).
Also try some shots with SX50 at full optical zoom and P900 at an equivalent focal length (use zoom memory to find 1200mm eq.)

mzettie · Apr 25, 2015

crazyfingers said:
The feeder was at least 30 feet. The leaves probably 20 feet. The rock in the next set 50 feet. The chickadee 30 feet.

I will try the bird setting again but so far I am extremely disappointed.

That's not very far, well within the range you should get good shots handheld, even at 2000mm. I was thinking maybe you were shooting something really far away....2000mm optical gets much more challenging stabilization-wise at long distances....I just dunno....

PS....maybe try spot focus too

crazyfingers · Apr 25, 2015

mzettie said:
Oops, hadn't seen this when I replied. Pics from P900 definitely don't look right....birds can move of course, but stationary objects should be better, even if some camera shake is involved.

I think I'd try two things; if you have a tripod, do some testing with it (VR off).
Also try some shots with SX50 at full optical zoom and P900 at an equivalent focal length (use zoom memory to find 1200mm eq.)

I'll do that tomorrow. I do have a tripod but if this camera can't beat the SX50 hand held it will be going back. Whether it is defective and I should ask for an exchange I don't know, if I can't get it performing better than the SX50.

crazyfingers · Apr 25, 2015

mzettie said:
That's not very far, well within the range you should get good shots handheld, even at 2000mm. I was thinking maybe you were shooting something really far away....2000mm optical gets much more challenging stabilization-wise at long distances....I just dunno....

PS....maybe try spot focus too

Ya, I did do some of that too. Either way, side by side, at 2000mm it should produce a better quality photo than the SX50 when the SX50 is max optical and 2x teleconverter. But so far side by side the SX50 has been much superior.

mzettie · Apr 25, 2015

crazyfingers said:
I'll do that tomorrow. I do have a tripod but if this camera can't beat the SX50 hand held it will be going back. Whether it is defective and I should ask for an exchange I don't know, if I can't get it performing better than the SX50.

Yes, I'd feel the same way. I suggested a tripod because a focusing defect would still be apparent with shake out of the mix. You'll have to use the 10 second timer with VR off (wifi shutter release doesn't work well, IMO)

83x anyone? The new Nikon P900 (1 Viewer)

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