Comparison to a much more expensive Nikon camera, the D810A.
Posted on 07/03/2015 12:16:54 PM PDT by texas booster
The P900 is a bridge camera. I wasn’t familiar with the term until this week, but it makes perfect sense — it’s a bridge between the pocket camera & a full-blown DSLR.
The P900 is an all-in-one; it does not have interchangeable lenses. But the lens it has is a doozey.
The P900 is in a subcategory of cameras called super zooms..
The Nikkor ED VR (vibration reduction) lens is sharp at the lower end of the range and not too shabby at the high end. The autofocus speed is very fast. I found the shutter lag (the time between pushing the shutter button and taking the picture) to be quite good.
The lens has an aperture of f/2.8 at the wide end up to f/6.5 when zoomed fully. When fully extended, the lens doubles the length of the camera.
The P900 has a 16-megapixel CMOS sensor that measures 1/2.3-inch. Image size is 4,608x3,456 pixels.
The rear screen measures 3 inches with a resolution of 921,000 dots that swivels out and rotates to let you easily frame your shots from high or low angles. It’s not a touch screen. You make adjustments with buttons and dials...
Its ISO range is 100-1600 with program modes that extend the ISO range to 6400.
The camera’s motor can shoot at 7 frames per second.
The shutter range is 1/4000-second to 15 seconds.
There is no raw mode; photos are captured as JPEG only.
The P900 records 1080p HD video and has a dedicated video button on the rear. You can zoom during video recording, and the P900 also has built-in stereo microphones.
The P900 is no pocket camera. It’s similar in size and weight to my Canon DSLR camera with its lens. It weighs 31.8 oz with memory card and battery installed.
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
To respect copywrite I excerpted a few paragraphs, so please follow the link to Jim's excellent review.
Not that I have $600 laying around but this looks like it may be a very good long term investment for our family.
Other discussions about the P900.
Jim's Youtube review of the camera.
I remember being thrilled with my first superzoom, the Olympus C2100UZ at 380mm.. The advances are amazing.
Comparison to a much more expensive Nikon camera, the D810A.
Gee, I still have my film using Nikon F2.
forty five years ago I wish I had bought the Nikormat!
Pro: This would be great for a bird shooter like me who needs a long reach. My longest DSLR lens “only” goes as far as 450mm (35mm equivalent)
Con: It’s probably a lot slower to start and write to buffer than a DSLR is. Plus, I like having a viewfinder. Good thing I know how to crop. :)
I run Lumix GH4 and only one lens at the moment.
A zoom hopefully in the fall.
The improvements in digital really are getting to be off the charts, especially in ISO range.
I have a room full of 35 mm and medium frame cameras which will probably never be used again. I also have maybe 50 rolls of 35mm and 120 frozen in the freezer. They too will probably never be used.
Canon has announced a new body with a 50mp sensor. This is a 35mm size sensor too. I don’t know if it is on the market yet or not.
I am no longer really serious about photography and a basic DSLR will be fine. I even could get by with a auperzoom but please, it must have a viewfinder. I can get by with an evf but try taking pictures in the bright Sun with the lcd screen.
Oh, one more thing. Digital zoom is the same as no zoom. It has to be optical.
A superzoom can be a very good buy for the average photographer. A model one or two years old, or a refurb can save you some money.
Look through a free photo site like Pixabay to see what cameras are being used. It seems like the Panasonic superzooms are well represented.
The price comparison of the P900 and D810A is totally bogus. The D810A is a very specialized camera designed for astrophotography. The sensor is sensitive to wavelengths that are important for capturing Milky Way and deep-sky photographs. It has ultra-high ISOs. plus it has extended length shutter speeds and an intervalometer that has no relevance to the ordinary photographer.
I just got a camera few months ago, the Canon 7D MK 11. 70 x 300 Canon zoom lens L IS series. Rebel xsi will now sit on the shelf.
This camera is amazing for taking pictures of birds. My wife got one the day they were released.
She is getting better pictures of smaller birds, farther away than ever.
We actually took some pictures of Jupiter and you could see the moons.
Deal breaker.
since we’re talking cameras here, here’s a question:
I’d like to be able to transfer my pictures from the camera to the computer, bring up a program in the computer to rearrange, edit, and caption the pictures, and then transfer them to a site like Shutterfly for distribution.
Regarding Shutterfly, when captioned pictures in the computer are transferred there, the captions are lost.
The editor I’m now using in the computer won’t let me rearrange the pictures.
In other words I’d like the equivalent of the no-longer-available Kodak Easyshare.
Does someone know of a way of doing these simple things?
The 810A also is body only.
Nice shot!
I still have my Nikon F2 and all the accessories. It gave me my best personal and professional photos for over 30 years. I would still use it from time to time, but film, chemistry and /or processing labs are hard to find. I love my digital Nikons too. Lightroom beats dark rooms also.
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