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-   -   Nikon CoolPix P900 (https://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=143831)

Rich Z 07-19-2016 12:05 PM

Nikon CoolPix P900
 
OK, I just got this thing, and still learning the ropes with the settings, but I wanted to show a pic that I took last night with it...

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/pics...16_07_19_A.jpg

This thing has a lens on it with the 35mm equivalent of 24 to 2000mm. With a modest digital zoom boost of 4x, you now have a handheld camera package with an 8000mm lens on it. For only $600!!!

That is just outrageous!

I'll post more as I take more pics and feel I have the settings the way I want them. But initial impressions are that this is one darn impressive piece of equipment.

Dragonling 07-19-2016 12:47 PM

Digital zoom is basically just an image crop though, doesn't actually increase quality. If you want to include that, though, I can go up to 1764mm with my telephoto extender. :) I don't think it was expensive.

I should try and get some night sky photos. Love that shot, though it almost kind of sucks that the moon never changes.

daddio207 07-19-2016 02:50 PM

Great pic Rich !!!
I'm assuming you snapped that shot from the space station right ?? :crazy02:

Rich Z 07-19-2016 04:00 PM

Here's a pic at the highest magnification the camera could muster with the digital zoom.

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/pics...16_07_19_B.jpg

This one is not cropped from a larger image. That is "as is" from the camera.

And here's one when I backed off a bit even from the optical zoom.

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/pics...16_07_19_C.jpg

I ordered a beginner's astrophotography package which includes a tripod and motorized head to track the motion of the Earth and keep celestial objects in the center of the camera lens. Theoretically anyway. The package was only $170, so it's certainly not anything top of the line. I'll have to see how difficult it is aligning the thing and how accurate it is. If it's too time consuming and I have to stand out with the skeeters chewing on me for too long, then I'll have to figure out something else. But if it does work, I think I'll get a lot better pics using it. I did try a 1080P video with this P900, but it was obvious that my hands are introducing a lot of shake. So I at least need something that will allow me to take pics "hands off".

At least these initial photos I took showed me that I'm in the ballpark to getting some really nice photos if everything falls into place.

I've often though off an on that I wanted to get a decent telescope, but in reality I am in the middle of the woods and have a very limited view of the skyline. Pretty much straight up is all I've got. Fortunately I was able to get a view of the moon right over my house by standing in a small spot in my front yard. But it's a matter of being at the right place at the right time. Most of the time the moon is obscured by trees. Unfortunately, I don't think I will have another opportunity for a good moon view after that astro package comes in till maybe next month. The moon will be waning, and the spot it needs to be for my viewing will be in the wee hours of the morning till the next cycle.

Rich Z 07-19-2016 04:16 PM

From a practical standpoint, and showing what this camera can do with more mundane subjects, the following pics were taken HAND HELD from my porch.

This one is at 24mm and I was just shooting off hand to get a feel for the camera.
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/pics...lm_tree_01.jpg

Then I tried out the zoom and spotted a "subject" that I didn't see earlier.
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/pics...lm_tree_02.jpg

How about an even closer look?
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/pics...lm_tree_03.jpg

All the pics are "as is" from the camera without any cropping or other post processing. I just shrank them down to a more manageable size and put my copyright notice on them.

You can definitely see softness creeping into the pic at higher magnification, but I think at least some of that will be from the slight camera motion being hand held. The camera seems to have pretty decent optical stabilization, but still, probably nothing beats a tripod for those long shots. Still, not bad, all things considered.

Dragonling 07-19-2016 08:15 PM

I'm not saying you're cropping the image. The camera is doing it digitally, just cutting down the image it's seeing to a smaller area. That's all digital zoom is. It reminds me a lot of the magical "ENHANCE" on cop dramas like CSI. I wish it worked that way...

HerpsOfNM 07-19-2016 08:42 PM

Rich, a number of users over at Nikon Rumors we raving about this camera. I've been contemplating picking up one myself in the near future to use as a turtle and flighty lizard super-zoom.

Rich Z 07-19-2016 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dragonling (Post 1714393)
I'm not saying you're cropping the image. The camera is doing it digitally, just cutting down the image it's seeing to a smaller area. That's all digital zoom is. It reminds me a lot of the magical "ENHANCE" on cop dramas like CSI. I wish it worked that way...

I wasn't saying that you were. I just put that in the earlier post in case anyone thought that it was just a cropped image.

I didn't buy this camera for the digital zoom, I bought it for the optical zoom. The fact that it has digital zoom will have it's own uses. Enough so that it can be just considered as icing to the cake. But having 24-2000mm OPTICAL zoom in a single package is something that I don't think ANY other camera or separate lens can provide at this time.

And I agree with you. As far as I know, computer technology hasn't advanced to the point where information in a photo can actually magically be created out of thin air. All such things do is to basically extrapolate a pixel between two or more others, and make an assumption about what it THINKS it is. So if you have a black dot and a white dot being spread apart by digital zooming, and the algorithm fills in, it will likely put in a gray dot. If in reality there was a green line there that TRUE optical magnification would show, there is no way for the algorithm to know this and put it in there. That's a simplified explanation, anyway.

To show yourself an example (for those that aren't familiar with this sort of thing) load up a graphics package and choose an image. Most graphics packages have a zoom tool, so zoom in till you have passed 1:1 and keep on going. Notice how blocky the image becomes? That is basically digital zoom. Of course, a lot depends on how the algorithm has been written as to how coarse that digital zooming looks to the eye.

The digital zoom on the P900 actually looks pretty decent in that the image does get softer, but I haven't noticed any particular blockiness yet the few times I have tried it. So all in all, I would have to say that quite likely more people will like it than people who will not. Or at least find it acceptable enough.

Rich Z 07-19-2016 09:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HerpsOfNM (Post 1714404)
Rich, a number of users over at Nikon Rumors we raving about this camera. I've been contemplating picking up one myself in the near future to use as a turtle and flighty lizard super-zoom.

Can't say I have ever been to Nikon Rumors. If it's a Facebook page, I KNOW I haven't.

I'm curious to know if any upgraded models of the P900 have been mentioned. I'm really hoping a newer model will come out with 4K video. 60fps would be wonderful, but I would settle for 30fps. I have heard that Nikon filled a patent for a compact super zoom with 100x optical, but haven't heard much beyond that. I think Canon is breathing hard down Nikon's neck in the super zoom arena.

I'm kind of glad now that the D500 Nikon body I was looking hard at does so poorly with video autofocus, otherwise I never would have looked further for something else. Luckily I did a LOT of research before just placing an order for one. That would have been a pretty expensive disappointment for me.

HerpsOfNM 07-19-2016 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich Z (Post 1714410)
Can't say I have ever been to Nikon Rumors. If it's a Facebook page, I KNOW I haven't.

I'm curious to know if any upgraded models of the P900 have been mentioned. I'm really hoping a newer model will come out with 4K video. 60fps would be wonderful, but I would settle for 30fps. I have heard that Nikon filled a patent for a compact super zoom with 100x optical, but haven't heard much beyond that. I think Canon is breathing hard down Nikon's neck in the super zoom arena.

I'm kind of glad now that the D500 Nikon body I was looking hard at does so poorly with video autofocus, otherwise I never would have looked further for something else. Luckily I did a LOT of research before just placing an order for one. That would have been a pretty expensive disappointment for me.

Nikonrumors.com ...it's a blog-based forum basically. You can comment using Disqus and other means, probably FB too. I know they have a FB page, but I have been FB free going on 5 years now I believe.

I hadn't heard about the autofocus performance on the D500. I'm more after it from a stills aspect though, even though I'm in my mid-30s I still don't find the need to have video within an SLR body. The larger disappointment for me on the D500 is lack of pop-up flash to trigger my SB-800 and SB-600 remotely. I have to now dump more $$$ into a new creative lighting system (CLS), either in getting the new equipment to keep my flashes going or snag another sb-800/600/700 and pop my current sb-800 on the hotshoe to use as the commander. Either way, Nikon's milking me for more money, so for now I'll keep playing with my D300 - nevermind the lenses I still want/need.


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