Four years ago, the typical superzoom ‘bridge’ camera had a zoom power of around 50x. Over the years that number has slowly risen, before leveling out at 65x. And then came the Nikon Coolpix P900, whose 83x, 24-2000mm equiv. lens suddenly took zoom ranges from ‘really long’ to ‘absurd’.

Nikon’s new Coolpix P1000 has moved the zoom needle to ‘ludicrous,’ with an equivalent focal length of 24-3000mm. That’s right, 3000mm. This is a lens so long that we were able to fill the frame with a 1 meter (3.3 foot) tall monkey that’s 70 meters (230 feet) away.

This does come at a cost, though. For one thing, the P1000 is huge and its lens is challenged by a slow maximum aperture (and thus diffraction) and image quality can be compromised by the same thermal and atmospheric issues that are typical of images taken at extreme distances with any super telephoto lens.

Besides the lens, the P1000 features a 16MP 1/2.3″ BSI-CMOS sensor, a fully articulating LCD and high-res EVF, Raw support and the ability to capture 4K video.

Key features

• 16MP, 1/2.3″ BSI-CMOS sensor
• 24-3000mm equiv. F2.8-8 lens
• ‘Dual Detect’ optical image stabilization
• 3.2″, 921k-dot fully articulating LCD
• 2.36M-dot OLED electronic viewfinder with eye sensor
• Raw support
• UHD 4K/30p video capture
• Microphone input
• Hot shoe
• Wi-Fi + Bluetooth (SnapBridge)
• 250 shots per charge (CIPA standard)

ISO 100 | 1/250 sec | F3.2 | 47mm equiv.

The P1000 has a spec sheet almost as long as its lens. From Raw support to a high-res EVF, the camera has just about everything you’d want in a bridge camera, save for decent battery life and a touchscreen (a glaring omission). Image stabilization is a requirement on superzoom cameras, and Nikon’s ‘Dual Detect VR’ reduces shake by up to 5 stops (depending on focal length,) according to Nikon. Being 2018, it’s no surprise that Wi-FI and Bluetooth are also onboard.