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83x anyone? The new Nikon P900 (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter Marcobf
- Start date
Careil has a very interesting pond where we can see many charadriiformes and anseriformes. Variety and density are great and we sometimes get some ("more or less") rarities like osprey or calidris temminckii, netta rufina, charadrius morinellus.... we have 2 big observatories. September is a very good period at Careil because water level is very low and birds come closer to the observatories.
Matthieu
Matthieu
Thanks, Chris. For the most part, Galapagos was BRIGHT. Tandayapa was the opposite, and that's where I really could have used a 1 inch sensor. I'm intrigued by the G3X too, but a little put off by reports that it's auto-focus and burst speeds are sluggish. That bothers me more than the lack of an EVF, since I've come to like the LCD adapters.
I had a chance to handle the Panasonic FZ1000 briefly while we were on the islands. It's a really responsive camera and I have a feeling that's why so many DSLR users like it. Unfortunately, I think 400mm just isn't enough for my needs, and unlike other FZ's it isn't threaded for a teleconverter. If it was, I'd buy it in a heartbeat, cause I've seen stunning bird pics from the the FZ200 paired with a Nikon E17ED teleconverter.
Anyway, I hope you get the G3X so I can benefit from your experience! I'm sure you'd have no trouble selling your P900 since Nikon's been totally unable to keep up with demand.
There is a good discussion of the FZ1000s internal electronic TC on DP Review:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/53860928
Apparently it provides effective 592mm but reduced resolution
Barry Sheinfeld
Member
I currently own a Panasonic fz35 and I find its EVF to be only usable at best.
I will be upgrading in January and am leaning towards purchasing a fz 300, particularly if the reviews when it are released are highly favorable with particular emphasis on the EVF which is supposed to be far superior to the one on the fz200.. My backup plan if the reviews are not favorable is to purchase a fz 1000 as its EVF is said to be superb.
However, I still remain intrigued by the Nikon 900 and its megazoom capabilities
So I am wondering for those who have used the p900 what are your impressions of its EVF, in terms of its strengths and weaknesses.
I will be upgrading in January and am leaning towards purchasing a fz 300, particularly if the reviews when it are released are highly favorable with particular emphasis on the EVF which is supposed to be far superior to the one on the fz200.. My backup plan if the reviews are not favorable is to purchase a fz 1000 as its EVF is said to be superb.
However, I still remain intrigued by the Nikon 900 and its megazoom capabilities
So I am wondering for those who have used the p900 what are your impressions of its EVF, in terms of its strengths and weaknesses.
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Thank you, Etudiant. When I followed the link you provided, I realized I had read that thread after googling "FZ1000 + teleconverter." I've pretty much decided that I won't buy that camera because I'm afraid I'll fall in love with it's quickness and low light performance, but always be disappointed with it's reach.... 2000mm's can really spoil you quickly. Even if the FZ1000 accepted a 1.7x tele, that pales in comparison to the SX50's max optical zoom of 1200mm. And 1200mm is a piece of cake for the P900, if the light's good.
I'd really, really like more speed and low light performance, but I think I'm going to wait for the larger sensor cameras to evolve....unless Chris gets the G3X and says it's awesome....
Hi Barry, I used the Canon SX50 for a couple of years....happily, except for the lousy EVF. I got pretty good at guessing where the bird was most of the time, but was thrilled when the SX60 with it's greatly improved viewfinder was released. Unfortunately, the two SX60's I bought seemed to have much less effective image stabilization and inferior IQ and I returned them both.
The P900's EVF is a lot better than the SX50's, but that's not to say it's great. I now use a Hoodman Loupe on it, and although that adds a lot of bulk to an already big camera, it's worth it to me to be able to see what I'm shooting. A few days ago I picked up my SX50, put it to my eye and realized I'll probably never shoot through a bridge camera's EVF ever again...it seemed that puny.
BTW, the Hoodman's not the only LCD adapter out there, just one I happened upon. Other brands are Neewer, Carry Speed and Zacuto.
I love the EVF on my 900 not had one on my last few cameras (mostly videos) and "was not bothered" when I found the 900 had one. Now I wouldn't be without it, get a clear picture when I look through it, not having to juggle about with the screen angle and avoiding glare. Certainly I find the target quicker.
Now I can't compare the speed, not having had a fast camera before, but I find the AF is as fast as I can line up the shot, snatching at BIF it surprises me, and I have never found it to be slow enough to make me get disappointed..........line up the shot, press and click....job done
Tests in the garden on tripod and with remote lining up a telegraph pole at 220 mtrs and I find the 800mm setting is generally best, but as always, it is down to good light coming from the right direction.
Just after I got my 900, I took some pics of people and dogs at Sandwich bay, they were 1.4 miles away, and I used full digital zoom hand held. All the people were recognisable Not been able to repeat that shot since...different light perhaps?
I usually keep the digital zoom turned off though, leaning towards quality and not reach.
I had a little play around with my TC-E17Ed lens, the one which fits on the front of the lens. Big, bright and damned heavy. Purchased an adaptor ring and a little bit of machining on it and fitted the lens to the front of the 900 using a mounting bar to stabilise and support it. The idea was to see what could be achieved. "Not a lot" as Paul used to say, but it does look impressive
Den
not had one on my last few cameras (mostly videos) and "was not bothered" when I found the 900 had one. Now I wouldn't be without it, get a clear picture when I look through it, not having to juggle about with the screen angle and avoiding glare. Certainly I find the target quicker.Now I can't compare the speed, not having had a fast camera before, but I find the AF is as fast as I can line up the shot, snatching at BIF it surprises me, and I have never found it to be slow enough to make me get disappointed..........line up the shot, press and click....job done
Tests in the garden on tripod and with remote lining up a telegraph pole at 220 mtrs and I find the 800mm setting is generally best, but as always, it is down to good light coming from the right direction.
Just after I got my 900, I took some pics of people and dogs at Sandwich bay, they were 1.4 miles away, and I used full digital zoom hand held. All the people were recognisable
Not been able to repeat that shot since...different light perhaps?I usually keep the digital zoom turned off though, leaning towards quality and not reach.
I had a little play around with my TC-E17Ed lens, the one which fits on the front of the lens. Big, bright and damned heavy. Purchased an adaptor ring and a little bit of machining on it and fitted the lens to the front of the 900 using a mounting bar to stabilise and support it. The idea was to see what could be achieved. "Not a lot" as Paul used to say, but it does look impressive
Den
Barry Sheinfeld
Member
Thanks mzettie and Den for your helpful feedback.
In the end, alas, I will have to decide between the excellent EFV of the Panasonics albeit with decent but not great optical zoom capability and the p900 with its much greater zoom potential but only good but not great EFV.
All of the three sound like that their image stabilization is quite good to exemplary.
Thanks again!
In the end, alas, I will have to decide between the excellent EFV of the Panasonics albeit with decent but not great optical zoom capability and the p900 with its much greater zoom potential but only good but not great EFV.
All of the three sound like that their image stabilization is quite good to exemplary.
Thanks again!
Seen that all these are pretty bulky, you could add the Canon GX3 to your list, even though you'd then need to shell out extra for the viewfinder.
I love the EVF on my 900
Now I can't compare the speed, not having had a fast camera before, but I find the AF is as fast as I can line up the shot, snatching at BIF it surprises me, and I have never found it to be slow enough to make me get disappointed..........line up the shot, press and click....job done
Tests in the garden on tripod and with remote lining up a telegraph pole at 220 mtrs and I find the 800mm setting is generally best, but as always, it is down to good light coming from the right direction.
Just after I got my 900, I took some pics of people and dogs at Sandwich bay, they were 1.4 miles away, and I used full digital zoom hand held. All the people were recognisable
I usually keep the digital zoom turned off though, leaning towards quality and not reach.
I had a little play around with my TC-E17Ed lens, the one which fits on the front of the lens. Big, bright and damned heavy. Purchased an adaptor ring and a little bit of machining on it and fitted the lens to the front of the 900 using a mounting bar to stabilise and support it. The idea was to see what could be achieved. "Not a lot" as Paul used to say, but it does look impressive
Den
Den, I've seen stunning bird shots taken with the E17ED paired with a Panny FZ200, and wondered if it might be worth my while to find one and get the FZ300 when it's released. It wouldn't give me anywhere near the reach of the P900, but I wonder if it would give me significantly better low light performance, since the FZ's can stay at 2.8 across the zoom range. Any thoughts on this....?
I'm also intrigued by your experience using the E17ED on the P900. Since I won't carry a tripod, 2000mm is only useful to me when the bird is fairly close. With distant subjects, camera shake inevitably affects the image quality, and I've wondered if a TC could address this....kind of like the internal teleconverter on the SX50 does, but without the degradation in IQ that digital zoom causes.
For instance, when you shot something at 1200mm eq. with the teleconverter on, were the results better than if you'd shot the same thing with 2000mm optical with no TC?
Etudiant, any idea if the G3X is threaded for a TC?
I do not know, but this Q&A in DP review
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/56132197
indicates the camera is not threaded for a filter, so you must buy the adaptor/hood for $50 to have a thread.
Whether that will offer a proper base for a TC is iffy, at least imho.
Mzettie, The setup is a bit fraught with possible dangers; firstly you have to be very careful not to switch off with the TC attached...would probably overload and damage the zoom motor.
So I set the camera up on an aluminium rail and screwed the TC on after the lens was zoomed out, the TC resting on the rail so no weight on the camera. At 2000+TC the pic was OK (ish) all I can say is that it worked I did try it at 1200 but could see no point in that as it still only gave me 2040 with no improvement in IQ over the standard lens. I usually attach the TC to my Sony video camera with excellent results, rarely use it without it on, I am sure it gathers more light, almost 3.4" diameter maybe that would help sometimes on the 900.
I doubt I shall try any more experiments for fear of wrecking the camera, her indoors would never forgive me.
Den
So I set the camera up on an aluminium rail and screwed the TC on after the lens was zoomed out, the TC resting on the rail so no weight on the camera. At 2000+TC the pic was OK (ish) all I can say is that it worked
I did try it at 1200 but could see no point in that as it still only gave me 2040 with no improvement in IQ over the standard lens. I usually attach the TC to my Sony video camera with excellent results, rarely use it without it on, I am sure it gathers more light, almost 3.4" diameter maybe that would help sometimes on the 900.I doubt I shall try any more experiments for fear of wrecking the camera, her indoors would never forgive me.
Den
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Mzettie, The setup is a bit fraught with possible dangers; firstly you have to be very careful not to switch off with the TC attached...would probably overload and damage the zoom motor.
So I set the camera up on an aluminium rail and screwed the TC on after the lens was zoomed out, the TC resting on the rail so no weight on the camera. At 2000+TC the pic was OK (ish) all I can say is that it worked
I doubt I shall try any more experiments for fear of wrecking the camera, her indoors would never forgive me.
Den
Thanks, Den, doesn't sound (or look) practical at all on the P900. I do wonder if the E17ED would work on the G3X, though. That would hold a lot more appeal than using it on the FX300, since they're both 600mm capable but the G3X has a one inch sensor.
Just looking at the posted picture, I cringe.
Unfortunately, the Canon at full zoom has a similarly extended barrel, so the same concerns would apply.
There is a depiction of it in this French language review:
http://www.lemondedelaphoto.com/Canon-PowerShot-G3-X-plus-long-le,11019.html
Rats. Guess I'm going to have to be patient......
The P900 now in stock
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/nikon-coolpix-p900-16-0-megapixel-digital-camera-black/4961288.p?ref=199&loc=wpefAGf2g/g&acampID=1&siteID=wpefAGf2g_g-kIS4xRANg8r8xG2zoI8IHA
Think ime going to wait to see if the rumor about the new one with a even longer zoom is right.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/nikon-coolpix-p900-16-0-megapixel-digital-camera-black/4961288.p?ref=199&loc=wpefAGf2g/g&acampID=1&siteID=wpefAGf2g_g-kIS4xRANg8r8xG2zoI8IHA
Think ime going to wait to see if the rumor about the new one with a even longer zoom is right.
HermitIbis
Well-known member
Coolpix P4000 (rumour)
You probably refer to this:
Just a rumour, perhaps. The P900 is still unavailable in Germany (with rare exceptions). If the P4000 becomes reality, it might cost a lot more than the P900 though. And 1.5kg is more than I am willing to wear around my neck.
You probably refer to this:
Just a rumour, perhaps. The P900 is still unavailable in Germany (with rare exceptions). If the P4000 becomes reality, it might cost a lot more than the P900 though. And 1.5kg is more than I am willing to wear around my neck.
I am moving away from a 3kg DSLR rig so 1.5kg on a Black Rapid strap would be easy,not saying cost is irrelevant to me but if they have it right i would pay the same as the 150-600 Tamron i just got rid of.
