Nikon P510 Offers Highest Zoom Ratio Ever Seen in a Compact Camera

PETAPIXEL ^ | Feb 03, 2012 | swampsniper

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Nikon has unveiled a new superzoom compact camera called the P510 that offers a ridiculous 42x optical zoom — the highest zoom ratio ever seen in such a camera. In 35mm terms, the lens goes from a 24mm on the wide-angle side to a 1000mm on the telephoto end. The 16.1MP camera also boasts a 3-inch LCD screen, 1080p video recording, GPS, 5fps continuous shooting, and ISO 3200. It’ll hit store shelves later this month with a price tag of $430.

[aruanan]

1000mm at f256.

Great for shooting photos of the sun.

If you're using film.

[Condor51]

SS. Here's a Review. From the 'place of all places' for camera reviews:
dpreview.com Nikon Coolpix P510
I found that website thanks to you. My digital SLR 'Obie-One' :-)

You know I love Nikon, but they're driving me crazy now with a new, 'better', camera coming out every 3 months. That aside, I'll never leave the SLR realm. Those are cameras, to me everything else is a 'picture taking box' for newbies.

[left that other site]

Oooooooooo! NICE!

[Condor51]

SS: "I'm no pro but I get by and I'm almost always around here somewhere. There are others here glad to help too, so just ask or PM someone.

Just mythoughts, note, SWAMPSNIPER is being modest. He's the best 'non pro' pro on FR. He is my 'Obie-One' for digital SLR Cameras and digital photography. It was thanks to him that I got back into Photography and went digital with a Nikon D3000 (I wanted that model specifically).

Anywho I've been shooting pics since 1955 when I got my 1st Brownie and pretty much grew up in a darkroom. I bought my 1st SLR around 1970₍₁₎ and 1st Nikon SLR₍₂₎ in '78. And then my Nikon D3000 in Oct of 2010, thanks to SS (Now my Digital Photos hang on our walls). So I may be able to answer some questions on photography too₍₃₎.

But as to Digital Photography here is a GREAT place to start learning about your camera and 'digital photography': www.dpreview.com. Enrollment is free and you don't get spammed. And they have more Camera info than the Library of Congress. ;-)

(1) Pentax Spotmatic II which I still have and it still works. It is a Tank.
(2) Nikon FE I got myself as a 30th B-Day present. Which I still have and use(d). I luv the 'Pro' Kodak Portra Film.
(3) I even went to Photography School and *could* have gotten a job at the Chicago Trib in 75-76 if I used an inside connection I had. But I chose to stick with Engineering and Construction as that put food on our newlywed table.

[PapaBear3625]

16MP and 42X zoom could be the finest camera for the price in history. Wow.

I think we've reached a good point in MP and zoom. The next frontier will be to increase bits/pixel and dynamic range, so as to improve picture taking in uneven lighting conditions.

[moonhawk]

http://www.kenrockwell.com/index.htm

My favorite photography. website

[SWAMPSNIPER]

I want to see some full size files I can blow up and see what's in them. All the pixels in the world are no good if they aren't good pixels.

One of my gripes with many reviews is testing cameras in urban settings, I want to see hair and feathers and details in tree bark. Small sensor superzooms in the past have had to use a lot of incamera processing to deal with noise and the results often look like lumps of melting ice cream.

[Condor51]

*** My favorite photography. website: http://www.kenrockwell.com/index.htm ***

Thanks for the link.
I know I've visited that site but never Bookmarked it. Which I just did.

Thanks again.

[BigCinBigD]

Good to know.

[aimhigh]

Pixdaus.com is my favorite photo site.
When I sold cameras, we used to say that with Nikons, you want to own two, because one will usually be in the repair shop.

[Condor51]

*** I want to see some full size files I can blow up and see what's in them. All the pixels in the world are no good if they aren't good pixels. ***

Yep, that's the place where digital still has to go. Where they can match the quality of an enlargement from a shot taken with say ... Kodachrome ASA 25 which would almost have zero noise (grain).

But for now I'm okay with my Nikon capable of an 'acceptable' 20x30(iirc) Portrait which I'll never print anyway. 8½ x 11 and 8 x 10 is all I print and they look just fine hanging on our walls. No 'noise' to be seen or found at all.

I've always went with the lowest and 'slowest' ASA number film, print or slide, I could get by with. And with my D3000 I still set my ISO to the lowest I can. One of the 1st things I did when I turned that dial off Auto Mode shortly after I bought it.

'Noise' with the first generation of digital cameras -- point & shoot and SLR -- was another reason I waited to switch from film and my Nikon FE. One and two mega-pixel sensors were good for an 'okay' 6x4 and that was about it. But when they finally hit 10+ and the camera wasn't $3K it was time. And the 'noiseless' quality of the Photos you posted sure helped seal the deal ;-)

[1] It cracks me up when I see photography newbies moaning in some 'Review' about 'noise' in their pictures when they say they shot them at an ISO 3200 or 6400 setting and that the camera is no good.]
[2] In a stairway at Chicago's Union Station Kodak had an ad and the picture used was about 10'lg x 3'high. It was captioned something like: *Taken with Kodachrome ASA 25*]

[Mount Athos]

I much prefer wide angle cameras, love it when the sensor tech improves a lot though

[SWAMPSNIPER]

My thing is wildlife, usually birds, so a wide angle is secondary to me. I can shoot at 27mm if I have to but that lens sits in the bag 99% of the time. I have a very good 50mm f1.4, which is 75mm equivalent on my Sony, and it sits around a lot, usually on my 35mm Minolta Maxxum XTSi.

[moonhawk]

I’ve owned quite a few Nikons over the years, beginning with a F3HP. The only time I’ve ever had one in the shop was when I dropped it, or wanted the sensor cleaned before I sold it.

[moonhawk]

Nice photos on Pixdaus. Thanks

[KC Burke]

I’m pretty dedicated to SLRs. I do have a small canon pocket camera with a good lens.

However my wife likes to shoot birds and other long lens items and I bought her a Canon “bridge” camera that telphotos to about 500 equivilent.

I found that I could get pretty good shots with it despite its limitations.

The noise and lens quality on this new Nikon will be the proof of the pudding.

[rustbucket]

The figures released with point and shoots usually don’t correlate with DSLR ratings, there is some hype involved. To find out how this Nikon really rates you’d have to compare it side by side with a known lens and see which one gets “closer”.

I have an apples and oranges comparison between my wife's point and shoot Nikon Coolpix camera and my old Canon EOS 20D equiped with a telephoto lens and a two-power teleconverter. Perhpas this will illustrate to some folks what you can to with a DSLR and good lenses.

I think my wife's point and shoot has about an 8mm focal length. It's good for inside flash pictures and outside closeups and landscape shots, but it is not very good for bird photography which is what I like to do.

Here's a picture my wife took with her point and shoot Nikon of a lake near Houston. I guess it is perhaps 40 yards across the lake. I've annotated the photo with arrows pointing out two birds in the tops of trees on the other side of the lake. My wife thought the bird on the right had some red on it and was perhaps a woodpecker. She was right.

In comparison, here are my pictures of the pileated woodpecker on the right and the tricolor heron on the left. These two shots were taken with an 8 megapixel Canon 20D at 1280mm focal length (1.6 from camera times 400mm from lens times 2 from teleconverter). I used a monopod to steady the camera. (The coot pictures I posted above were hand held.)

[N. Theknow]

Great picture(s)!

I took this guy at Flamingo, FL with my 18 megapixel Canon T3i with a 300mm lens and 2x converter braced against a tree.

[rustbucket]

That is an amazing shot. I like the detail captured by 18 megapixel cameras. One question though -- there seems to be a white outline around the eagle -- what caused that? It is not a cut and paste Photoshop image is it? Just asking. My shots do not have that feature.

Here are a couple of shots taken last week of some flying ducks taken with my 18 megapixel Canon 7d at 608mm effective focal length (first photo: green wing teal male; second photo: northern shoveler male). The birds were far away. These are crops from the original images.

[N. Theknow]

hmmmm? funny. I never noticed that until now. I will check the photo-finishing program and the other photos I have of the eagle to see if they do that with the others. I have one of him just sitting and staring and another of him letting out a scream.