Nikon Coolpix P1000 superzoom has a 125x zoom lens

With the exception of a few waterproof Panasonic’s, the only cameras I have owned and used are made by Canon – a company I follow religiously.  Way back in May 2015, when the most powerful compact superzooms had a 50x zoom, Canon filed Patent Publication No. 2013-242430,2013-242431 for a compact zoom lens with 100X optical zoom, the focal range of 3.6-340mm for a 1/2.3″ sensor, equivalent to a 18mm-1768mm lens.  September 2014 saw the launch of the Canon PowerShot SX60 IS, sporting a 65x zoom lens (21-1365mm), since when Canon has not dipped its toes into the compact superzoom waters.  Little more has been heard of the 100x superzoom and the long anticipated PowerShot SX70 IS has not surfaced.

Today saw Nikon blast through the 100x threshold, announcing a camera with a lens almost twice as powerful as Canon’s best offering.  The Nikoon Coolpix P1000 comes with an eyewatering 125x zoom lens (f/2.8-8.0) equivalent to a 24-3000mm lens.  With both ED and Super ED elements, the lens accepts 77mm filters.

With lens fully extended, the camera is 360mm (14″) long and weighs 1.4Kg (3.1 lbs).  It has the same 16MP, 1/2.3″ sensor as its predecessor the P900 and offers an ISO range of 100-6400, together with RAW support.

It can shoot continuously at 7fps, capture 4K video at 30p or 25p as well as 1080p at 60fps, and comes with both a fully articulated LCD and a 2.36M-dot OLED viewfinder.

It is inevitable that the lens will be very soft as it nears full zoom, but the continued development and stretching of such bounds can only be a good thing.

Available in September for $999.