Nikon COOLPIX P1000 Camera Review

The Nikon P1000 is not a portable camera, but that mostly comes down to its bazooka of a lens. Considering how much focal reach it has, it's more portable than it would be carrying equivalent telephoto lenses with an interchangeable lens camera. Still, it's bulky and heavy, so it isn't the easiest to take on the go without a bag.

The camera feels pretty well-built. It's made mostly of plastic, with a rubberized grip around the hand grip and thumb rest. It feels solid for the most part, but some of the plastic on the back near the screen has a bit of flex to it. Overall, though, the screen mechanism feels sturdy, as does the built-in flash. The buttons also provide nice physical feedback, and most of the inputs are covered by hinged rubber flaps. Unfortunately, the camera doesn't have any weather-sealing.

• Nikon COOLPIX P1000 camera
• Shoulder strap
• Lens cap
• Lens hood
• USB-A to Micro-USB cable
• AC adapter
• 1x Nikon EN-EL20a battery
• Quick Start guide

The ergonomics are okay. Unfortunately, the camera is just very large and heavy, which makes it cumbersome to carry around and hold for long periods. Thankfully, the textured rubberized grip on the hand grip and back thumb rest provide a secure hold. The buttons are well-placed, and it's easy to adjust settings. That said, the space between the grip and the built-in lens is a bit tight, so it can feel somewhat cramped if you have larger hands.

The camera's electronic viewfinder (EVF) has a decent resolution. It isn't the highest but it gives you a sharp enough view. That said, the viewfinder is on the smaller side and the eyecup around it is a bit stiff and uncomfortable. 

The camera uses a fully articulated screen, though it doesn't support touch functionality. It doesn't have a very high resolution and doesn't get too bright, either, so it may be harder to review images or shoot with the screen on very bright sunny days.

The menu system is pretty basic and easy to navigate using the camera's controls. However, some settings are a bit confusingly organized. For example, the 'Vibration Reduction' setting is in both the 'Settings' tab and the 'Photo' and 'Video' tabs. There's an 'Fn' quick menu to access commonly used settings, but it isn't the easiest to customize and isn't available in video mode.

The Nikon P1000's built-in zoom lens has an exceptional max 3,000 mm full-frame equivalent focal length. It's long enough to see details on the surface of the moon, for example. Even with optical stabilization, however, you'll likely need a tripod when shooting at the tail end of its zoom range. Its variable aperture, combined with the camera's small sense, also mean that it isn't well-suited to shooting in low light conditions.

The Nikon COOLPIX P1000 uses a small 1/2.3-inch sensor, though it uses a backside illuminated design to improve its light gathering efficiency. It doesn't have the highest resolution, but it's enough for casual photography. The sensor's ISO range is also quite limited.

The camera's battery life is mediocre. It's CIPA-rated for about 250 shots on a full charge, which isn't very long. However, these ratings don't necessarily align with real-world usage, so your mileage can vary. 

In video mode, the battery lasts for about two hours of 4k video recording, though it's worth noting that the camera's video capabilities are quite limited, and so recording is less demanding on the battery than a more video-oriented model.

The camera only allows continuous shooting in 'High Speed' and 'Silent' modes in bursts of 7 fps before having to wait for the buffer to empty to shoot another seven frames. However, it does allow for 120 and 60 fps shooting in 'High Speed' with the image quality locked to VGA, although this feature is meant for time-lapse photography rather than being a true continuous shooting mode.

This camera doesn't have a typical continuous autofocus feature. There are two AF modes: 'Single AF' and 'Full-time AF'. 'Full-time AF' is the closest it has to AF-C, in that the camera will constantly adjust the focus before you press the shutter, but once you half-press or full press the shutter button, the focus locks. Since our test requires the camera to continuously adjust the focus on a moving subject while shooting continuously in burst mode, we can't evaluate its continuous AF performance.

The camera doesn't have sensor stabilization, but its built-in lens has some degree of optical stabilization. Overall, it works well and you can capture steady shots at slow shutter speeds. However, results can vary depending on how steady your hands are and what focal length you shoot at. For instance, shooting at very long focal lengths will require a tripod in most cases to ensure the camera is stable.

The Nikon P1000 has poor dynamic range. It struggles in low light and can't capture a wide range of detail, so you'll see clipping in the highlights, noisy shadows, or both in very high-contrast scenes.

The camera's small and relatively low-resolution sensor can't capture a lot of fine detail, though this is most apparent when cropping in heavily. 

The camera has poor noise handling in low light. Its small sensor isn't well-suited to low light at all, and noise is very apparent in low light conditions or with shorter exposures. Because its ISO range and max aperture are not suited to this, your flexibility to adjust the exposure or boost the gain is limited.

The Nikon COOLPIX P1000 is not intended for video, so its video features are limited. It can record up to 4k, but it doesn't support any advanced features like Log recording.

Note that clean HDMI output is only available when the camera is in 'Movie' mode. Once connected, the 'HDMI' settings menu is grayed out, meaning you have to select the resolution and enable clean HDMI output before you connect the HDMI cable to the camera.

The Nikon P1000 can only record 4k video at 30 fps, so options are limited if you want to record different styles of video.

The camera's internal recording capabilities are okay, considering this isn't primarily a video camera. Bit rates are limited, and it has a recording time limit, but the camera didn't overheat during testing.

The camera's autofocus does a poor job of tracking moving subjects in video. It struggles to maintain focus on moving subjects, with very sluggish transitions. The general tracking feature works a bit better on objects, though it's still quite slow to adjust and reacquire focus.

Video quality in 4k is disappointing. In brighter lighting conditions, it looks decent, but it's terrible in low light, with very noticeable noise and soft details.

The camera has a poor readout speed, resulting in very noticeable rolling shutter effect when panning the camera. This is especially distracting with faster camera movements.

The camera can record 1080p video at 30 or 60 fps, so it has a bit more versatility than in 4k. However, there's no 24 fps option, if you wanted to record more cinematic-looking footage.

The camera's internal recording capabilities are okay, considering this isn't primarily a video camera. Bit rates are limited, and it has a recording time limit.

The camera's autofocus does a poor job of tracking moving subjects in video. It struggles to maintain focus on moving subjects, with very sluggish transitions. The general tracking feature works a bit better on objects, though it's still quite slow to adjust and reacquire focus.

The FHD video quality is okay in more controlled lighting conditions, but it looks terrible in low light, with loss of detail and heavy noise.

Even in 1080p, rolling shutter distortion is very noticeable. This can be distracting when panning the camera, with skewed vertical lines.

The Nikon COOLPIX P1000 has limited dynamic range. It doesn't support Log recording, but using its standard video mode, you'll get around 9 stops of dynamic range. That isn't too bad, but you'll have trouble capturing the full range of highlights and shadows in high dynamic range scenes. With no Log recording, you'll also have very limited flexibility in post.

Tested settings:

• Resolution: 2160p
• Frame Rate: 30 fps
• Log Format: N/A

You'll have the most latitude above and below middle gray at ISO 1600. The camera is very limited by its small sensor and lens, which doesn't have a very wide max aperture. That means, to get more detail out of the shadows, you'll have to raise your ISO, and, as seen in our Video Dynamic Range slideshow, doing so introduces significant levels of noise, limiting your overall dynamic range and exposure leeway.

Tested settings:

• Resolution: 2160p
• Frame Rate: 30 fps
• Log Format: N/A

The Nikon P1000 has a single SD card slot, rated for UHS-I cards. It isn't the most convenient to reach, especially if you're shooting on a tripod, since it's in the battery compartment on the bottom of the camera.

The camera uses the older Micro USB standard. It also has a Micro Type D HDMI port, a microphone input, and a remote input. However, there's no headphone jack.