Lerxst
Well-known member
My Nikon P900 has mostly served me well, but it has suffered some dings of late and after 2.5 years of constant use and abuse I think I may move on. I would like another bridge camera because:
1. I am not a serious photographer, I am a birder that likes to use a camera as a tool. A tool to help with a tricky ID, or to document a rarity, or to use via lots of zoom to basically function as a small scope and get me birds that my bins cannot.
2. I have no interest in carrying a large telephoto lens / heavy camera around. This was why the P900 was so attractive. It seems tailor-made to my uses above.
3. Several drawbacks of the P900 - the lengthy time needed for the internal motors to zoom (not a show-stopper), but far worse, the poor perfrormance of the autofocus when dealing with a bird that is far back and behind layers of branches and leaves, etc. There is a manual focus override but I found it too slow and tough to use, as there is no focus ring on te lens. I have a long list of lovely birds that where just sitting there for the photo, but which the P900 could not get a decent focus on before they flew off. I kept reaching for a focus ring to rapidly make the image crisp. Frustrating to watch it go from one blur of the bird to a different blur as you pray it finds the focus before the bird leaves.
The P1000 is the natural, if $$$, candidate for me to go with as a replacement, because it keeps all the good features of the P900, extends the zoom, and adds a ring for manual focus (!). I have had the opportunity to hold one, though, and the massive bulk and weight of this thing makes me a bit less enthused about it. Also not excited about the reported poor battery performance.
So I keep looking for a Canon, or Panasonic, or anything, that can give at least moderate zoom (60x please, I am used to 83x after all), a manual focusing ring, and relative light weight. After hours of searching, I am convinced that this camera does not exist. This post is a humble query to see if anyone knows of something I may have missed.
Thanks,
1. I am not a serious photographer, I am a birder that likes to use a camera as a tool. A tool to help with a tricky ID, or to document a rarity, or to use via lots of zoom to basically function as a small scope and get me birds that my bins cannot.
2. I have no interest in carrying a large telephoto lens / heavy camera around. This was why the P900 was so attractive. It seems tailor-made to my uses above.
3. Several drawbacks of the P900 - the lengthy time needed for the internal motors to zoom (not a show-stopper), but far worse, the poor perfrormance of the autofocus when dealing with a bird that is far back and behind layers of branches and leaves, etc. There is a manual focus override but I found it too slow and tough to use, as there is no focus ring on te lens. I have a long list of lovely birds that where just sitting there for the photo, but which the P900 could not get a decent focus on before they flew off. I kept reaching for a focus ring to rapidly make the image crisp. Frustrating to watch it go from one blur of the bird to a different blur as you pray it finds the focus before the bird leaves.
The P1000 is the natural, if $$$, candidate for me to go with as a replacement, because it keeps all the good features of the P900, extends the zoom, and adds a ring for manual focus (!). I have had the opportunity to hold one, though, and the massive bulk and weight of this thing makes me a bit less enthused about it. Also not excited about the reported poor battery performance.
So I keep looking for a Canon, or Panasonic, or anything, that can give at least moderate zoom (60x please, I am used to 83x after all), a manual focusing ring, and relative light weight. After hours of searching, I am convinced that this camera does not exist. This post is a humble query to see if anyone knows of something I may have missed.
Thanks,
