The current Coolpix P models like the P1000 and the P900 have become tools of choice for some wildlife photogs and flat earth conspiracy theorists. That’s due to their bonkers zoom capability (x125 in the case of P1000). But these are well equipped cameras that have a a host of more genuine application. And you can still expect to pay a hefty price for a new or second hand one. So how about their 2011 predecessor the P500 ?

The Long Shots

The Coolpix P series bridge camera models have long offered mad zoom levels. This has led them in current to being the weapon of choice for budget conscious wildlife photogs and sadly flat earth conspiracy theorists. The latter as they can zoom in to make things appear back over the horizon whilst they forget a whole host of laws of physics and optics. and on a good day you can go from this wide image .

To this full zoom shot.

Yes that is that tiny sign on the original image

One actually wonders if the whole flat earth thing affect P1000 sales that Nikon pulled the plug given most flat earthers couldn’t afford to move out of their mum’s basement let alone buy a $1000 camera and other folks that could afford one, didn’t like the association and went to Panasonic et al for their ultra bridge zoom. But nope apparently according to illiterati, it was NASA, the government, the illuminati, Bill Gates and/or etc, (aka them™) that pulled the plug.

Although the likes of Nikon Rumours & DCW keep telling us the P1100 is just round the corner.

Nikon & the Consumer Digital Revolution

Nikon’s role in high end digital photography is well know with the Kodak DCS 100, the worlds first commercial truly digital SLR in 1991.. Kodak did the fancy electronics but the camera body was a modified Nikon F3> Further Nikon based DCS models would follow and Nikon also partnered Fujifilm for the E series dSLR. And of course the legd that is the Nikon D1 appeared by the end of the decade.

Nikon was also well prepared for the consumer market launching their first consumer digicam Coolpix 100 in 1995. Weird by anyother standard this dictaphone look alike was actually a ⅓ MP that incorporated a PCMCIA into the body.

The name would stick. Nikon’s 3rd model was much more conventional. This was the Coolpix 600 – with a 1.3MP, LCD and CF card slot and is seen as digicam classic.

The P series

The P series models are so called Performance models.
The models became known for it’s long zoom bridge cameras starting with the P80. But the P series started with the 2005 with the P1. This was a conventional X3.5 zoom compact with Brucie Bonus features like wi-fi connectivity. And many more non Ultra zoom cameras were in the line up until the mid 2010’s.

But it is the Ultra zoom bridge cameras that most folk know. The last model the P1000 being just frankly quite bonkers in spec with that X128 zoom for starters.

In the main the numbering follows dating. But although the P950 (2020) and the more legendary P1000 (2018) are the last sold models sold. There are actually several P non bridge models with 4 digit higher numbers that were sold in the late 2000’s and early 2010’s

Nikon Rumours have been predicting the return of the P series with the successor to the P1000 and Nikon have a product release announcement coming up…..

The P500 Headline figures

I’m not going to do a total tear down of this. This was a well reviewed camera at launch and you can find quite techy reviews on TechRadar, imaging resource and Photography Blog.

Launched in 2011, this was the successor to the P100. Interestingly it has a similar sized 1/2.3″ Backside illuminated (BSI) CMOS sensor. That’s the same sensor size and type on the P1000.

It upped the pixel count from 10MP to 12.1MP and increased the zoom range from X26 to X36 with a 4-144mm 1:3.4-5.7 lens. That’s equivalent to a full fame 22.5-810mm lens and is a 14 elements in 9 groups construction. This features ED glass and can focus as close as 1cm to infinity in macro mode (50cm normally). Obviously holding things on such a long throw is difficult. So you get both sensor-shift image stabilization and electronic image stabilization. In addition there is a mode called BSS (Best Shot Select) where you can take 10 shots together.

There’s 9 selectable AF points and metering is TTL with a 256 segment matrix with optional spot and centre-weighting. ISO options from 160-3200 although auto keeps it 800 or slower

There’s both an articulating 3″ LCD and EVF. The LCD offers a whopping 921,600 pixels although the EVF has a more typical 230,000. For Storage you get a single slot for up to SDXC cards plus over a 100MB internal memory. The EL-EH5 battery is 3.7V 1,100mhA. That’s good for only 220 shot according even to Nikon when new. You get a built in TTL flash but no option for external.

P500 Design

Reassuringly Nikon didn’t go all F70 here. You get what appears to be a tiny dSLR with typical layout except for the zoom switches (toggle collar around shutter button and toggle switch on lens). It’s plastic bodied but feels reassuringly solid. The LCD swings out but only in the vertical plane the screen is on a little cantilever which means you can tilt close in or out. It has just short of 180^o of movement going from completely flat when view from above to almost flat when seen underneath

You have the typical Nikon mode dial and rear thumb level command wheel. the top plate also has an on off button and a drive dial.

That doesn’t really do anything in full auto but in PSAM and some other modes you can select. You have a choice between single, BSS, 4 continuous modes a precaching mode (image captured before you fully depress and a timelapse mode. The continuous modes are 2 keeping 12MP for short burst and 2 providing much faster fps (up to 120) but much lower resolution,

On the rear you have a typical joypad set up plus a dedicated LCD/EVF switch. You also get a video record button (up to 1080p HD with 30fps) with a toggle ring to move to high speed (but lower res). That HS setting can also be used to select 720p 30fps and slow 15fps HD

The Sensor

1/2.3″ for a bridge in 2011 doesn’t feel too weird but maybe does on the P1000. But for context whilst 1/2.3″ is still bigger than most smart phones cameras sensors note the use of most. There are over a dozen high end phones with so called one inch sensors.

And compared to other digital cameras it does seem titchy

That said, the reason Nikon still uses a small sensor is the size & weight of a camera would need to astronomically increase if you used a bigger sensor. That was the case with X36 zoom P500 and still the case with the P1000 at X125.

The P500 sensor linked into the Expeed C2 image processor. This a slightly stripped back version of the Expeed 2 processor found in my D7000. It’s the reasons why we get full HD 30fps video here as well as enhancing image processing.

Connectivity & gear

you get a standard HDMI mini slot plus a proprietary combo USB/AV connector for charging, transfer and TV playback. The camera comes with AV, USB and charger as well as captive lens cap

The camera is provided with a proprietary USB lead which doubles as a charging cable. Yup Nikon provided only on camera charging. A Nikon branded standalone battery charger was an option accessory as was a AC power supply for studio use (not the same as the supplied one which just charges). Luckily you can pick up a 3rd party charger for less than a tenner and replacement batteries are easily sourced.

For video there’s no mic socket meaning you’re limited to the built in stereo mic

Modes & Settings

You get full Auto as well as the so called PSAM modes (program, AP, SP and manual). There is a user definable mode (U) as well as a smart face mode (uses facial detection and softens skins tine). For scenic modes the camera has 3 dedicated (backlight which also allows you to set HDR , night landscape, night portrait) and a scenic selectable mode. this allows you to select between 15 pre-sets from portrait to fireworks to snow to pet portrait !! or you can leave set to smart select and the camera will select what it thinks is the most suitable mode.

Macro is accessed on rear joypad

So you get all that you’d expect regards resolution, quality etc . In terms of nice to have , there’s EV comp (including flash EV adjust), bracketing and long exposure NR. In addition there’s Active D-lighting (bit like HDR). There is no RAW option however.

Choices available (mainly via Menu button) vary and depend on mode.

The P500 In Use

There’s good and bad new here.

For an quick shot, Boy is this easy to use. It starts up fast although you need to remember to remove it’s lens cap and it’s sensible from an ergonomic POV. You have both a zoom collar toggle around the shutter button and also a zoom toggle on the lens which will suit video minded folk more. The rear buttons are logical for macro flash and EV compensation and it’s nice to get Bracketing although you’ll need to dig into the menu to use that.

The drive mode options are a boon. You get the usual single shot , 2 continuous (5 shot at 8fps and 24 shots at 1.8fps). There’s also the Best Shot Selector(BSS). This burst shoots but camera selects sharpest shot to save. You do get other high speed modes up to a 120fps as well as a pre shot cache but these all drop the resolution to 2MP or less. There is a neat timelapse mode as well.

AF broadly locks well

But now the downside.

Finder woes

So the rear LCD is alright for it’s time and has the boon of just shy of 180

But this is the camera that made me rethink the Nikon 1 V1. It can’t compete with the finder and LCD on that camera with a much worse ergonomics (but otherwise an insanely good spec sheet). In fairness the $400 MRSP of the P500 was less than half the cost of a V1 with a X3 zoom kit lens. But the difference between the 1440K finder of the V1 v the 230K finder of the P500 is telling.

The P500 doesn’t even give you a VGA resolution compared to the V1 EVF that sits between HD ready 768p and full HD. The rear LCD despite having similar specs isn’t as bright as the V1 but it does articulate well in one plane. Although it’s frustrating, if you are shooting in mode it makes the V1 much more pleasant unlike.

The display shows the right amount of info and you can adjust, add 9 segment frame lines (as above).

..but the zoom

However the V1 can’t match that zoom. Take this shot of the Talkin Tarn near Brampton in Cumbria. If you squint on this wide shot you’ll just see the visitor centre cafe. Even at f/4.5 the flowers are in reasonable focus thanks to DoF being increased on such a small sensor. It’s equivalent to a full frame 22.5mm at ~f/25 😯😯)

And on the Tele end (144mm) we got this from the same spot. It looks great as a small image and highlights just how much zoom power this has but…

Although the image stabilisation is good for shorter lengths and really gives a go (you can hear it constantly). So you really need a tripod even with the VR on. that said although if you zoom in on this shot it’s still suitable for small print or web image use.

And on a good day if you brace hard enough, have good light and use things like BSS your chance of a sharper long shot improves. The shot below although does go soft on a pixel basis was much more suitable to larger sizes.

I was frustrated by the lack of RAW files. It would have been nice to have option especially for post work.

Results

Broadly images were quite good but not perfect

Exposure

Broadly the exposure was spot on. I did get the odd shot when it was off. Often it was the typical backlit scene that I should have swung the camera round to backlighting mode and used HDR or added an extra stop in compensation. These could be corrected easily as below but boy did I wish I was shooting RAW files

One or 2 shots were over exposed for no obvious reasons. It may be I just AEL locked early. But these were exceptions.

Colour testing/Dynamic Range

Broadly this does pretty well for it’s time. Nice naturalistic colours with hint of blue/red bias and red tend to be ever so slightly orangy. But it’s generally quite pleasing ana naturalistic

Here’s a Colour Grid natural light v a modern smartphone

You’ll notice on the grey scale we get about 11 or 12 points of separation where the HDR enable smartphone hits 15. It’s not a bad result for a 2011 camera however. And I had to say in practice this did a little better than I expected

This Like for like real world example below shows versus a modern HDR enabled smartphone you don’t get the full range

Distortion & focal plane Sharpness

The camera suffers from pincushion at both ends of the zoom as you can see below. It’s worse on near shot especially at 4mm but smooth off after about 10mm

We’ll discuss Image sharpness in a mo. But from a focal plane POV it was best centrally at both ends softening toward the corners. Whilst that’s subtle at wide it is quite noticeable on the tele end but I suppose it will suit the wild life shots this is likely to be used for

You don’t tend to notice it much on wide or mid zoom shots at all however

ISO

So interesting you only start at ISO 160 and in terms of noise whilst there is some at 160 it’s no more than you’d expect although the slight softness of the image (see belwo) is evident. 200 ISO is little different and 400 ISO whilst starting to show a little more noise. 800 ISO up becomes increasingly notable but not bad for a bridge camera of it’s era.

Although there is noise if you crop in on ISO 160 it really becomes noticeable at ISO 3200.

It is still usable at this range for small prints and web images

For lo light shooting this wasn’t the best I’ve used. It can drop down 8sec shooting time but even with VR on the wide and at 1600 ISO. The results go a bit oil painting hand held

I wasn’t expecting to match my 2020’s mobile but it’s way off the mark. Obviously with a Tripod and lower ISO night shoot can be done. Or if you have really steady hand like the shooter of the below image.

But even then you still get that slight softness.

Image quality

You’re probably thinking all is well here from the sample images but whilst they look good without editing here in VGA size samples they are a bit soft when you go in and that even in the well stabilised wide shots. It’s not awful but decidedly average

Take this shot of her Ladyship. Looks good bar the lead. This was taken on default settings at 12MP with normal sharpness etc

But here’s a 500×500 crop

It feel more like a sensor issue than optics.

There is another point worth noting the zoom end often appeared more washed out and that bit softer when taking very long point shots of distant objects. That’s probably a bit of movement plus atmospheric effects. I’m not getting inti the debate of the benefits of UV et al filters for this but blimey Nikon would it hurt to have included a filter ring

Macro

Macro is allows you to focus in on a tiny area much more than your average consumer cam of the era. It works really with the wide end of the zoom but you can literally get within a couple of inches. I’m not convinced about the listed 1cm.

That said it suffers from the foibles of many a consumer camera. Better central and worsening to edges and obvious distortion and chromatic aberration. Then there’s the P500 softness on detail as above. Just don’t use flash as close focusing means the lens barrel really gets in the way of the illumination. But it is not bad compared to run of the mill consumer and looks fine on web images like this or small prints.

Flash

Sticking with the flash, It’s okay but I think Nikon missed a trick here as you have no external options. that said captive only flash is common in the bridge class. You get focal point targeting which is good for exposure rather than area.

The flash isn’t that obstructed when the zoom is out but it’s hard to see why you would use zoom on a flash shot

Video

I’m no videographer so I’ll let you see some other

We begin with this clip which is not bad. It’s taken ion bright day light with no play on the zoom

Taken by David Di Franco whom does a pretty good longer 14+ minute review of the camera from predominately a videographer’s view point
à la 2011. If you don’t wanna watch the full thing I’d also advise you see it from about 10mins in to see a low light static shot David took.

But I’ve included another short video by Infosyncvideos. This is again in good light but more zooming happens and as you’ll definitely not is a bit more windy

Again static shots are not bad but that mic does pick up the wind and zooming the lens is noisy both in the zoom and in the mechanical optical image stabilisation. Focus lags and long video is softer.

That said on a non windy bright day this is not bad.

COST

I paid £45f or mines which turned up in very good nick with charger, a case, manual and a 32GB PNY card (micro SD but class 10 in adapter). I’ve seen a few go for less but often without charger and untested . You’ll commonly see Buy it now for about £59. CEX sells a B grade version with 2 year warranty for £100 at time of writing (Sept 2024)

For comparison the 2015 P900 (X83) sells for £460 grade B at CEX and the legendary to flat earthers P1000 (X125) is £900 at same grade. but there are other models that are nearer the P500 in cost as we’ll see in alternatives.

Final Verdict on the P500

There is a lot to like here with the a small bridge camera with for it’s time a massive zoom. But there is certainly some issues

What’s good

• Incredible zoom range
• Cheap for that zoom
• Good ergonomics
• AF good in good light
• Compact size
• Typical SLR like controls
• Articulating rear Screen
• Good exposure colour balance
• Useable images
• Full HD video with optical zoom
• Good range of modes and options
• Vibration reduction (2 modes)

What’s not so good

• Small sensor limitations
• Images soft
• No filter ring
• No RAW
• Captive flash only
• VR does great job but hand held shots at 32X are hard
• Zoom shots softer
• HD video is just 30fps
• No external mic
• Wide distorts
• EVF not great
• Battery titchy
• On camera charging out of box*

It’s complete overkill for most folk however. A travel zoom of the same era would offer X12 or more zoom which for most of us would be more than enough. And there would be much more compact.

The 2011 Nikon Coolpix S9100 had a X18 zoom but the same 12MP backlit CMOS 1/2.3″ sensor C2 EXPEED image processor and many of the same features such as VR all in a pocket sized package. My mainstay digicam was an older travel zoom Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ7 for many years. This was replaced a few years back by my TZ70 which whilst still being pocket sized offers almost the same zoom range (X30). Interestingly although a much newer camera Panasonic made the decision to drop the resolution back to 12.1MP on this and it solves much of my niggles with the P500 in a much smaller package.

But if you want a camera that has SLR like handling but comes with a whopping equivalent 22.5-810mm lens but without costing the bank or weighing a ton. You could do far worse if you can live with it’s foibles but you might wanna take a look at it’s tweaked version or it successor the P600 which we’ll get to in a minute. To kit out a dSLR or MILC to match you are going to pay way more as I’ll discuss in alternatives below.

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Other Sources

I’ve mention reviews as we go. Nikon still have a download centre for the P500 which allows you to download the “latest” 1.1 Firmware if you can call June 2011 as latest. My camera had this Firmware for reference. It also takes you to the NX studio which is imaging software and can be helpful with Nikon’s NEF RAW file processing. But given this don’t do RAW, it’s use is limited

Nikon do have the manual but it’s hard. Google gives you this direct link on Nikon’s download repository to the English language manual. But I can’t find the page it comes from Nikon USA’s P500 product page points weirdly to the Spanish version. Go Figure !

If these vanish Manual.lib has both the manual and the quick start guide.

Alternatives (On a Budget)

So weirdly I’m going to start with a new camera. I’ll discuss both older bridges and then kitting up interchangeable dSLR and MILC/Mirrorless in due course

Now Nikon had been king of what was left of the ultra zoom Bridge camera market. Nikon UK still list the P950 but that will set you back from them £849GBP. Hardly budget. Other big brands do have a travel zoom or bridge that might match or exceed the P500 for bit less.. Canon will sell you the PowerShot SX70 HS (X65 zoom and 4K video support) for £579 or their travel zoom PowerShot SX740HS for 200 quid less but bigger zoom range (X80)

But that still just £21 shy of £400

New

But actually you can buy 2 recognised branded ultra zoom quazi-bridge camera for less than £200,

That brand is Kodak although the name is just licenced.

First up there is the Kodak PIXPRO Astro Zoom AZ405 sold on amazon for £199 at the time of writing (I get commission on that link and other retailers are available). This has a 20MP 1/2.3-inch BSI CMOS sensor that is coupled with a X40 zoom. It can for a modern camera only do 1080p 30fps, lacks a EVF and has a poorer resolution rear 3″ LCD. DCW and Amateur Photography thought it was mediocre (2.5/5 and 3/5 respectively) but that’s by 2024 standards

For just £169 Amzon will sell you the AZ410’s little brother with 16MP and X30 zoom, the Astro Zoom AZ255 (again I get commission on that link and other retailers are available). Resolution drops to 16MP as does zoom (down to X30) but otherwise other similar. DCW and Amateur Photography both gave it a 2.5/5 and suggested paying the more for better Kodak models. and other makes.

However the AZ255 lags a little behind the P500 (30 v 39 score) on Camera decision. They don’t have a AZ405 matrix at the moment but one suspects the score would be between the P500 and AZ255

Old

If we stick to the zoom capabilities for the price there are few that match it’s raw range in a bridge format. Ironically the models that do are its own tweaked successors that offer incremental improvements like GPS. CEX will sell you them at B grade for

• P510 – 16MP X42 £100 (same) DPReview
• P520 – 18MP X42 £145 Tech Radar
• P530 – 16MP X42 (simplified) £110 Tech Radar
• P600 – 16MP X60 £180 Tech Radar

The Panasonic Lumix FZ47 which has a 16MP sensor but just a X24 zoom but CEX will sell you one for just £65. the Canon PowerShot SX40 HS is 12MP but does have a 35X zoom range These both were well received. Then there are the travel zooms mentioned above

To up the sensor size but keep the zoom range you’ll need to invest In a dSLR or MILC (aka mirrorless).

And the dSLR or Mirrorless ?

For brevity I am going to mention 2 Nikon’s and a Panasonic but trust me you can run these numbers on Canon M et all.

You can buy bodies like the APS-C Nikon D3100 dSLR, Nikon 1 V1 1″ MILC with EVF and a shed load of the Panasonic Lumix G series (G3 up for HD) and video oriented GH1 with their micro 4/3 sensor for under £100. And going with kit lens bundle may actually hit just that £100 mark

But it’s the Glass

Way more flexible bodies but you need the glass.

I’ll come out the bat with V1 There is a Nikkor VR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 Lens for Nikon 1. This is equivalent to the 189-810mm full frame. Not the commonest lens and CEX is out of stock. If the did have one they’d sell it for £410 (a ‘Bay mint boxed one from Japan cost ~ £150 more). So £410 for that lens plus the cost of the camera with the 10-30mm plus 30-110 to cover the range of the P500 (CEX will sell you the camera and those 2 for £220).

And it’s the same issue with the Lumix and dSLR. Panasonic’s Leica DG Vario-Elmar 100-400 mm (equiv 200-800mm) is a cheap VR enable long ‘un. It does cost twice that of the Nikon 1 long tele (~£800). Nikon don’t do any DX lenes that are equivalent but you could strap on the full frame AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR (on DX body equiv to a 300-750mm). Nikon will happily sell you one for around £1200. Granted second hand 3rd party lenses like Sigma and Tamron also can hit that sort of range with VR but still in the £300-500 mark second hand

And you need to swap out the other lens.