Nikon P900 - Initial Steps

Disclaimer: I am not a photographer. Photography is not one of my hobbies. Some of what follows might inadvertantly be utter tosh.

In which case, why on earth be so presumptuous as to write a 'How To' kind of post about the Nikon Coolpix P900? Well, because I'll bet there are loads of birders out there who own and use a P900 or other bridge camera for exactly the same reasons as me, but know even less about using it than I do. So, if you bought such a camera in order to take record shots (or better) of the birds you encounter, and are struggling a bit, there is a slim chance you might learn something from this post.

Almost all the pics on NQS in the last two months were taken with the Nikon P900. A quick scroll through recent posts will soon tell you whether it's worth reading beyond this next full stop.

Nikon Coolpix P900. Quite a handful, but even with its bag weighs only 3lb 8oz (1.6kg)

I'm going to avoid technical stuff as much as possible, but in a few areas it is useful to understand a photographic principle or two, so be warned.

When I point my camera at a bird I basically want the resultant image to be

• As sharp as possible
• As well-exposed as possible

And that's it. So what I'll do now is talk through the one and only setting that I've been using for almost everything so far. In time I'll muck about with other settings and experiment a bit, but for the moment I just want to keep things as simple as possible. This is about as close as I can get to 'point and shoot'...

Turn the mode dial to 'A' for Aperture Priority. The aperture, or f-number (f2.8, f5.6, f8 etc) tells you how far open the camera's iris is. The smaller the number, the wider it is, and the more light is reaching the sensor. Mostly I will set the aperture to as small a number as it will allow, and leave it there. Aperture Priority mode means the camera won't alter the f-number without your say-so.

When you point the camera at a bird in Aperture Priority mode it will do its level best to give you a well-exposed image by adjusting the only other parameters it's allowed to: the ISO and the shutter speed.

For us bird-snappers, here are a couple of photographic principles:

1. The lower the ISO number, the less noisy the picture. For anyone old-school enough to remember actual film, for 'noisy' think 'grainy'.
2. The faster the shutter speed, the more likely you are to 'freeze' movement. In other words, the more likely you are to get a sharp, unblurred image.

So, what you're after is a low ISO and a high shutter speed. Sadly, what you need for such an ideal-world scenario is a great deal of light. Like, not a dull winter's day. However, modern cameras like the P900 have a miraculous something called 'Vibration Reduction' technology, which negates a great deal of the dreaded 'camera shake', that merciless killer of sharpness. Because of this feature, I am happier to sacrifice shutter speed before ISO. My reasoning goes like this. If you set a high ISO (800 or 1600 or worse) you are absolutely guaranteed to get the 'noise' that goes with it; there's nothing you can do. On the other hand, the risk of camera shake because of a slow shutter speed (anything below 1/100sec, say) can be at least partially offset by the VR system and a steady hand/solid support, especially with close birds. It's a risk, but one I'm mostly willing to take. So, here's what I've done...


Select 'A' mode. Press the 'menu' button, select 'A' ('shooting menu') and set as follows:


   Image Quality - FINE
   Image size - 16M (4608x3456)
   Picture Control - Standard (with default values)
   White Balance - Auto1
   Metering - Spot
   Continuous - Single
   ISO Sensitivity - ISO Auto 400
   Exposure bracketing - OFF
   AF area mode -  Manual (spot)
   Autofocus mode - AF-F
   Flash exp. comp. - 0.0
   Noise reduction filter - NR- (low)
   Active D-Lighting - OFF
   Multiple exposure - OFF
   Zoom memory - ON (and I've set 800, 1200, 1600 and 2000)
   Startup zoom position - 50
   M exposure preview - OFF

Most of the above are default settings, but not all. I'll briefly explain the thinking behind some of my custom settings here...

Metering and AF area mode
The idea here is to focus and measure the exposure requirements on the smallest area possible. Hopefully it gives me the best chance of getting the bird (rather than an intervening branch) in focus and correctly exposed. Which reminds me, I mostly have the 'exposure compensation' (multi selector dial on back of camera) set to -0.3, which gives slightly faster shutter speed for little loss of brightness. A doddle to correct in image processing, and often necessary anyway to prevent over-exposure of white bits on some birds. Gulls, for example...

ISO Sensitivity
This setting automatically changes the ISO sensitivity as needed, up to a maximum of ISO400. In other words, in low light conditions it'll give me 400, plus whatever shutter speed it has to. Warning: in really dull conditions the shutter speed can be dire, like 1/30sec or worse. As the light improves, the shutter speed will get faster and faster, up to (I think) 1/500sec, then the ISO will switch to a smaller number (320?). Again, once a certain shutter speed is achieved, it will automatically switch to a less-noisy ISO still, and so on. To be frank, I am not sure this is the optimum way to play things, but I'll stick with it for the time being.

Zoom memory
When I switch the camera on, and trigger the zoom control (next to the shutter button) I want the camera to be ready for action asap. By setting these zoom memory values I know my initial prod will take it straight to 800mm, and each prod thereafter to the other preset values. Also, it will not venture accidentally into 'digital zoom' territory, which is somewhere I do not wish to explore right now. Any tweaking away from these presets can be achieved with the zoom control on the side of the lens (photo above).

Personally I find that a great deal of photo quality is achieved via image processing on the laptop, but hopefully some of the foregoing will get things rolling in the right direction. Sorry if some of it was a bit technical (or not technical enough!) but I am what I am, and that ain't no photographer...

It was quite good light when I took this photo just recently. Note camera settings. It still wasn't bright enough to do better than ISO400 at 2000mm of full optical zoom.

There are countless possible settings with this camera, and I have barely scratched the surface yet. Every time I play around with it I learn something new. Can I recommend that you invest in a printed version of the manual. I acquired mine through eBay. It is enormously helpful...

Depicted here in cool B&W, and, so you can gauge its size, I perched it upon an even more essential tome

By the way, the P900 has an 'Auto' mode (the little green camera icon on the mode dial) and a 'Birdwatching' mode within the 'SCENE' options. I am sure they will give you decent bird photos on occasions. But I guarantee you will generally do better by getting away from any kind of 'Auto' as fast as possible. Have fun.