The Nikon COOLPIX P1000 is a bridge camera with an extremely long zoom lens. It has an outstanding 125x zoom that makes it a solid choice for sport and wildlife photography and gives you a ton of flexibility in framing, whether taking a landscape or zooming in close up on a faraway subject. It delivers fine-quality images in broad daylight, although it isn't the best option for low-light photography due to poor noise handling. Image stabilization is good, which is necessary when using the full zoom, even on a tripod. It feels well-built overall, although it's exceptionally bulky and heavy due to the size of the lens. That said, it comes with an array of inputs and outputs, including a microphone jack, hot shoe, and remote control input. Unfortunately, it's not well-suited to video, with bad overall autofocus performance and poor video quality.
Our Verdict
The Nikon P1000 is disappointing for travel photography. The image quality is good, particularly when it comes to noise handling, but image sharpness decreases significantly at higher ISO levels, so it's best suited to shooting in brighter conditions. It feels well-built, with robust materials and a sturdy grip. However, it's very big and heavy, so it's not very convenient to carry around while traveling. Battery life is okay, although this depends on settings and usage habits. The max aperture is also limited, so you have less flexibility in producing a shallow depth of field.
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Okay image quality for its class in bright conditions.
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Feels well-built.
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Okay battery life.
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Very big and heavy.
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Very poor low light performance.
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Maximum aperture is limited.
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Bad autofocus performance.
The Nikon COOLPIX P1000 isn't well-suited for landscape photography. It delivers relatively high-quality images, considering its sensor size and lens. However, it isn't recommended for low light because of its poor noise handling. On the upside, it feels well-built and fairly comfortable to use, although it's exceptionally bulky and heavy, making it harder to take to remote shooting locations. The incredibly long focal length gives you a lot of flexibility in framing, though it's less suited to very wide-angle shots.
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Okay image quality for its class in bright conditions.
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Extremely long focal length.
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Feels well-built.
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Very big and heavy.
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Very poor low light performance.
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Bad autofocus performance.
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Poor dynamic range.
The Nikon COOLPIX P1000 is okay for sport and wildlife photography. It has an extremely long built-in zoom lens that's great for capturing incredibly far-off subjects. The image quality is also decent for its class, although image quality degrades significantly in low light. Unfortunately, its burst shooting is mediocre. It can capture up to seven photos in a single burst, but it has to empty the buffer after each burst, slowing you down considerably. Its autofocus system also performs badly, so it can sometimes struggle to track moving subjects.
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Okay image quality for its class in bright conditions.
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Extremely long focal length.
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Feels well-built.
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Quick shutter speed.
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Very big and heavy.
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Very poor low light performance.
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Continuous shooting speed is limited by buffer.
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Bad autofocus performance.
The Nikon P1000 has poor RAW photo performance. Its dynamic range is very limited, so the range of highlight and shadow detail it can capture, especially in high-contrast scenes, is disappointing. Images also lack detail and sharpness when punching in because of the sensor's relatively low resolution. It also does a bad job of managing noise in low light, with a limiting max ISO of 6400 which gives you less flexibility. Considering the camera's sensor size and exceptionally long zoom lens, you can still get very usable results in broad daylight and bright lighting conditions.
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Okay image quality for its class in bright conditions.
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Very poor low light performance.
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Poor dynamic range.
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Images lack detail when cropping in.
The Nikon P1000 is inadequate for vlogging. The overall video quality is poor, especially in low light, where there's a lot of noticeable grain and loss of detail. It's also extremely bulky and heavy, making it difficult to carry around for long periods. Also, its video stabilization works well in FHD but performs much worse in 4k. That said, it does have a fully articulated screen, so you can monitor yourself as you record. Lastly, its autofocus system performs poorly and is especially bad at face tracking.
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Fully articulated screen.
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Good video stabilization in FHD.
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Terrible video autofocus performance.
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Poor overall video quality.
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Very big and heavy.
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Video stabilization does a poor job in 4k.
The Nikon P1000 is a poor choice for studio video. The video quality is poor overall, in both FHD and 4k, with a lot of visual noise in low light especially. That said, it looks okay in more controlled lighting conditions. Its autofocus performance is terrible, especially with tracking moving subjects. On the upside, it has a fairly straightforward menu system. It also includes a microphone jack and remote control port, and it supports clean HDMI output to use an external recorder without any overlays.
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Menu system is fairly simple.
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Terrible video autofocus performance.
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Poor overall video quality.
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Very big and heavy.
The Nikon P1000 isn't meant for action video. It's far too bulky and heavy to easily carry around and isn't designed to be mounted on a helmet or other accessory. It also lacks water resistance or weather-sealing, although this isn't something we currently test. The video quality is also poor overall, especially in low light. Finally, it doesn't support frame rates above 30 fps in 4k or 60 fps in FHD, so it's unsuited for capturing high-speed action or generating smooth slow-motion video.
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Good video stabilization in FHD.
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Feels well-built.
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Terrible video autofocus performance.
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Poor overall video quality.
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Very big and heavy.
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Not water-resistant.
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Doesn't support higher frame rates for fast action.
- 5.4 Travel Photography
- 5.2 Landscape Photography
- 6.6 Sport & Wildlife Photography
- 4.8 Raw Photo Performance
- 5.6 Vlogging
- 5.9 Studio Video
- 1.9 Action Video
- Updated Jan 29, 2024: Added text to the 'Raw Photo Performance' verdict box and updated other verdict boxes for accuracy and clarity.
- Updated Jan 29, 2024: Converted to Test Bench 0.12.1.
- Updated Apr 24, 2023: Converted to Test Bench 0.12.
- Updated Apr 12, 2023: Converted to Test Bench 0.11.
- Updated Oct 03, 2022: Converted to Test Bench 0.10.
- Updated Aug 05, 2022: Converted to Test Bench 0.9.
- Updated Apr 22, 2022: Converted to Test Bench 0.8.
- Updated Jun 25, 2021: Review published.
- Updated Jun 09, 2021: Early access published.
- Updated Jun 01, 2021: Our testers have started testing this product.
- Updated May 28, 2021: The product has arrived in our lab, and our testers will start evaluating it soon.
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Nikon COOLPIX P1000 only comes in 'Black'. You can see our unit's label here.
If you come across another variant, or your P1000 doesn't correspond to our review, let us know, and we'll update the review.
Test Results
- Body is made of plastic with rubber grips
- Screen sticks out from the body slightly and sits loosely in place, and it may get in the way when using the back dial
- Plastic on the backside of the screen has a lot of flex to it, but the hinge feels sturdy
- Flash mechanism is sturdy
- Buttons are large and provide good tactile feedback
- USB and other inputs are covered by a hinged rubber flap that feels secure, while the microphone jack is covered by a simpler rubber flap
- Battery/SD card compartment is covered with a hinged plastic door that locks into place
- Tripod socket is slightly shallower than the tripod mount on most other cameras we've tested. Our regular tripod fit without issue, but we couldn't secure the mounting plate when using our video tripod
- 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 camera is very big and heavy, making it difficult to hold in one hand
- Includes rubberized grips on the back and both sides of the body, and the grips are textured, non-slippery, and feel secure
- Rubber around viewfinder is stiff and uncomfortable, but viewfinder sticks out enough to provide ample space to comfortably look through
- Thumb rest can get uncomfortable after some time due to the camera's heavy weight
- Space between grip and lens is a bit tight, so fingers may feel a bit pinched if you have larger hands
- Dedicated dials make it easy to adjust aperture and shutter speed, but adjusting ISO is more difficult, whether using the Fn menu or if you've remapped the lens dial to adjust ISO
- Fully articulated screen helps when shooting from unconventional angles
- SD card is accessible while the camera is mounted on a tripod
- Menu system is basic and easy to navigate using the camera's controls
- No touchscreen
- Some settings are a bit confusing to find. For example, the 'Vibration Reduction' setting is in both the 'Settings' tab and the 'Photo' and 'Video' tabs.
- Fn menu acts as a quick settings menu, but it can be a bit difficult to configure
- Fn menu isn't available in 'Movie' mode.
Note: The camera's display has a 4:3 aspect ratio, but when connected to an external monitor over HDMI, it stretches the menu to a 16:9 aspect ratio. As such, the screenshot above may not be fully representative of the menu system as seen on the actual camera.
Note: ISO 3200 and 6400 are only available when using the Program, Shutter priority, Aperture priority, or Manual modes. Also, in 'Movie' Manual mode, the lowest ISO you can use is 125.
Note: We had some issues charging the camera with the included charging cable. At first, the cable didn't work. We ended up charging the battery using the Nikon COOLPIX P950 and a generic charging cable, but your experience may differ.
Note: This 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 a true continuous shooting mode.
Note: We were unable to follow our usual test methodology for the image stabilization test with this camera since setting ISO to Auto in 'Manual' mode fixes it at ISO 100, resulting in images that were too dark to use. As such, we tested image stabilization using 'Shutter Priority' mode. Consequently, the results may not be fully comparable to other cameras we've tested.
Note: 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.
Note: We deviated from our usual methodology when testing object tracking performance by placing the camera 50 cm away from the mug instead of the usual 23 cm to achieve the proper depth of field required for this test. As such, the results may not be fully comparable to other cameras we've tested.
Note: We deviated from our usual methodology when testing object tracking performance by placing the camera 50 cm away from the mug instead of the usual 23 cm to achieve the proper depth of field required for this test. As such, the results may not be fully comparable to other cameras we've tested.
Note: This camera also has an extra port to connect a remote control, which may be useful to some, especially if you want to adjust settings without disturbing the camera and introducing camera shake on an extremely zoomed-in shot.