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Bridge camera for birding (1 Viewer)

wotterbed

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Hello! I am in search of my first bridge camera and am new to the world of bird photography. I will primarily be birding and taking pics in the NYC area, with the exception of bringing it on hiking and birding trips abroad about 2x a year. I do not plan on (for now) doing any post-processing to the pictures.

I'm interested in the Nikon P900 or the Nikon B700. I hear great things about the P900 but when I went to see it in store, the camera was heavier and bigger than I thought. The size and weight concern me because I typically spend the entire day outside birding. I enjoy the size and weight of the B700 more but is it a downgrade compared to the P900? The P900 looks like it beats the B700 is almost every category (reach, stabilization, IQ, etc.) except for weight, RAW, and 4k capabilities.

I would love to hear some thoughts about the P900 vs B700. Does the weight and size of the P900 bother anyone? Are there any other bridge cameras under $600 that are good contenders?

Thanks!
 
Hi Wotterbed and welcome to Birdforum. I've not used the Nikons myself so can't really comment. I did meet 3 birders viewing the Woodchat Shrike on the Gower last year, and all were using P900's. They seemed pretty pleased with them.

Hopefully others with firsthand experience will respond soon.

Rich
 
There are rumours that this year Nikon will release a new bridge camera - The Nikon P1000. I know some are waiting for the release rather than purchase the Nikon P900.
 
Had my P900 3 years now,I can even use it as a telescope :) seriously though, weight no problem, birds in flight no problem using EVF, close ups down to 1cm, moon at 2000mm.

Doesn't look so posy as those huge lenses, but you will get more pics than they ever will all in one package.

Go for it,

Den
 
I've been using the P900 since about July last year. I can carry it dawn to dusk with no problem whatsoever. Often, I'll also have a rucksack, tripod and scope (MM3), along with the camera and binoculars, without any real discomfort.

The camera has been brilliant for me. It has reached so many birds that I would not have identified otherwise. I can't now imagine going birding without it, unless I ever upgrade to a full digital SLR camera.

The only word of caution I will give is that in poor light, it gives poor photos. But that is probably true of most bridge cameras due to sensor size. It is something magnified a little because of the P900s range. For a few photo examples, take a look at my thread at https://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=334557&page=9 from June/July 2017 onwards.
 
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Hello! I am in search of my first bridge camera and am new to the world of bird photography. I will primarily be birding and taking pics in the NYC area, with the exception of bringing it on hiking and birding trips abroad about 2x a year. I do not plan on (for now) doing any post-processing to the pictures.

I'm interested in the Nikon P900 or the Nikon B700. I hear great things about the P900 but when I went to see it in store, the camera was heavier and bigger than I thought. The size and weight concern me because I typically spend the entire day outside birding. I enjoy the size and weight of the B700 more but is it a downgrade compared to the P900? The P900 looks like it beats the B700 is almost every category (reach, stabilization, IQ, etc.) except for weight, RAW, and 4k capabilities.

I would love to hear some thoughts about the P900 vs B700. Does the weight and size of the P900 bother anyone? Are there any other bridge cameras under $600 that are good contenders?

Thanks!

Not that much in it, the P900 has a longer zoom, the wider aperture is no benefit as it is at the wide end.
The B700 has more pixels and i was told it would shoot raw, not that i see raw as much benifit on a small sensor, modern jpeg engines are very good.

https://www.europe-nikon.com/en_GB/products/category_pages/digital_cameras/category_coolpix.page#
 
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