COOLPIX P950

I have been using cameras since the early 60s and grew up with Brownies, Exactas, Mamiya-Sekor, Yashica, and Nikons. I have owned three of the Coolpix P series. Photos taken with the P950 are superb. The range of built-in functions is dazzling (moon and bird settings are great). The ability to customize the controls means I can switch from auto to manual focus and fine-tune the image with ease. I have taken photos of the National Cathedral from Fort Washington - a distance of 15 miles. I have taken a video of Saturn slowly moving across the view. I have captured images of the Straight Wall on the moon, and cloud bands on Jupiter. I can zoom in on a single autumn leaf 200' away. I can use the macro feature to photograph bees-eye views of flowers, fungi, and insects.

Surprisingly nice to use and the lens is amazing. Would like to see a larger sensor to allow a better crop when in photoshop. Little soft on the long end but great overall.

I’ve been using the Nikon Coolpix point and shoot cameras for years. I find navigating through the shooting modes (portrait, landscape, backlit, etc.) to be more intuitive than other point and shoot brands and quicker to access when you need to change modes quickly. I recently upgraded to the P950 for a vacation and I’m blown away with the quality and features. My husband, new to photography, inherited my coolpix b500, and was able to immediately start taking beautiful pictures with the easy to navigate shooting modes and AF.

I bought this camera as a second camera to my mirrorless. I wanted a long zoom for bird photography. I am amazed at the autofocus speed and sharpness of lens. The bird photos I take are excellent and much better than I expected for a small sensor camera. I highly recommend this camera for anyone who likes to photograph wildlife. The 2000mm make it easy to capture birds and other wildlife from a good distance.

Beyond what I’d hoped for. Absolutely love the clarity on the high zoom settings. My favorite is the bird mode. I am a birdwatcher and don’t have to take time for settings before the bird flies.

Purchased the P950, in April 2020 from B&H Photo. The reason for purchasing the Nikon P950, is the competitive price & the lens. Let's get one thing clear, you are not going to hold the P950 (or any bridge camera with a mega-lens zoom), in your hands using full zoom, and take awesome images. Ya need a tripod! The purpose of a mega-zoom bridge camera, is video recording. And the Nikon P950, is truly the leader. The 1080HD video quality is better than any action camera(and I own many). The 4K quality, is spectacular as is the camera's ability to capture the faintest of sounds without a additional microphone. The P950 Aperture mode(which I use frequently), is astonishing. The color and crisp vibrance of the image from the P950 gives one little room for improvement using photo-editing software. Keep-in-mind the P950, has a processor, that is identical to those used in pricey smartphones, with a big lens and more features than a smartphone can offer. If ya love taking pictures & video, and want high quality without a DSLR and multiple lenses, then the Nikon P950 is for you. My camera bag consists of the Nikon D3200, D5300, D780. Vexingly, the P950, is the camera I tend to grab the most. Perhaps 5 stars, may seem over-rated. After all, in science, a one-hundred percent probability does not exist. The comfort, style, lens, 4K video, and reliability of the Nikon P950, has made this the everyday camera. No need to be finicky of what lenses to bring, what filters to use(You can attach filters to the P950). The ergonomics are efficient for those with small or big hands. And it's quite impressive. The P950, grabs many eyes at a airport, as I like to do my typical...people watching. Flaws? Of course. I don't know if manufacturers do this deliberately or mistakenly. Quite odd a camera can have five model updates in a couple years time. They just can't develop a worthy product, or don't want to. That stated, the P950 does a a few flaws, however not bothersome enough to make ya throw the camera in a lake. First, is the auto-focus mode when recording video. Yip. It is not smooth as a action camera or DSLR. I do find it to be very quiet, as the Nikon D5300 is quite noisy when focusing. Many will post lame reviews that the P950, just does not focus. These are the reviewers who do not read the manual. There is a focus tab. Quite awkward to locate when dark(a very dim blue LED on the control panel would be nice, Nikon). But pressing the focus tab, easily brings clarity to any image. If you suddenly move the camera to a new subject, closer or farther, you may need to press that focus tab once again. It's not annoying. But we expect a little better auto-focus, from Nikon. That mega-zoom, can be considered an issue to resolve. For the price of the P950, don't complain. You're not gonna get vibrant images at maximum zoom, even using a tripod, as you would with a DSLR telephoto lens. DF-M1 dot sight, to keep track of your subject is not necessary unless you are planning on an epic adventure or a vacation to some wildlife refuge, or operate a vlog website. At full zoom, even I can lose track and not relocate the Moon. Yip...the Moon. So I simply retract the zoom, relocate the moon, and zoom-in. Keep-in-mind, any images of the moon must be with a tripod or any object that keeps the camera steady(I've used rocks as a tripod with fascinating results). The processor. Yip. It's about the same ya find in a smartphone camera. Many smartphones, take incredible images. The drawback is that smartphones do not have a great zoom-in capability. And with these phones costing much more than the Nikon P950, ya got to wonder what you are really getting other than paying for that "Brand name." Processors are being made smaller & smaller. Size, will very abruptly not be a concern when it comes to image quality. The Nikon P950 processor, keeps the price affordable and is reliable. I have even used the P950, in temperatures as low as 10F degrees, recording for a half hour, with no issues. That stated, as with any recording device, the lithium-ion battery can get hot. And the focusing of the camera can suddenly stop. When it does, shut-off the camera, pull-out the battery for a few minutes and re-install or install a back-up battery. One of the top five issues manufacturers must do is replace those not so environmentally friendly Li-Ion batteries. Lastly, really hope someone offers a external flash with the camera. I tend to take fungi(mushroom) images. The P950 macro capability is astonishingly good for a bridge camera. The P950's equipped flash does a commendable job, except that you can get a shadow of the lens tube, on your image, which is quite annoying.Phew! Way longer than I thought. So, if ya are in-the-need for 4K video, keeping close to your subject(s), and a reliable camera that takes awesome images, with a down-to-earth price, get to a camera store and check-out the Nikon P950.