Nikon P1100 | 24-3000mm | Who Is It For?

The Nikon P1100 boasts an incredible focal length of 24-3000mm thanks to its 125x optical zoom allowing you to capture objects that were previously out of reach with Nikon claiming that we can touch the stars or roost with Eagles.

But who is it for?

Watch the full video below to find out.

Design & Build

The Nikon P1100 is certainly not a subtle camera but it has been built for practicality and gives you easy access to everything you need. The camera features Nikon’s powerful EXPEED image-processing engine along with a 16MP backside-illuminated CMOS sensor and bright f/2.8 aperture lens to aid in low-light situations. It is also capable of auto focussing at up to 7fps and features RAW support so that you can save and export uncompressed image files for greater flexibility in post-processing.

You can adjust the focal length with your right hand thanks to a switch around the shutter button or you can use the switch on the other side to adjust with your left hand. A very handy feature is the snap-back zoom button which retracts the lens to a wider angle so that you can pick up subjects that have moved out of the frame easier.

There is a popup flash as well as a hot shoe so that you could mount a flash gun or external mic as we also have a 3.5mm jack and it features a fully articulating flip screen that allows you to take images from various perspectives with ease as well as a 2359k-dot OLED Electronic viewfinder with an eye sensor.

One of the upgrades from the previous model is USB-C charging meaning that you don’t have to remove the battery to charge it which is particularly handy when out and about. This also allows for easy transfer of your files which you can also do directly to your phone via the Nikon Snapbridge app.

Other connections include a HDMI micro connector (Type D), an accessory terminal with support for MC-DC2 Remote Cord which is sold separately. Lastly, there is room for a single SD card and the camera is powered by the EN-EL20a battery.

From A Distance

I was lucky enough to stumble upon a pair of swans with their cygnets and was able to utilise the vast focal reach of the P1100 immediatley by keeping a good distance while not be too obtrusive. I had the camera set to bird watching mode for optimal settings in this situation and I was very happy with the images that I was able to capture.

The camera has 4 stops of vibration reduction which helped but I found that once I went over the 1800mm zoom length it got a little more hit and miss with the keeper rate when shooting handheld.

I also found that the auto-focus struggled a little at times but using the burst mode increased my chance of sharper, well-composed images. However, while I am on the subject of burst modes, the only real negative that I found so far was how quickly the buffer filled up. It didn't take many images at all before I had to wait for the processor to catch up.

Not ideal but overall I was very happy with the images it produced, especially when you consider that this is only a 16MP sensor.

990mm | 1/500 | f/5.6 | ISO 100
920mm | 1/500 | f/5.6 | ISO 100
1800mm | 1/500 | f/6.3 | ISO 100
3000mm | 1/500 | f/8 | ISO 100

Macro capabilities

The P1100 allows you to get as close as 1cm to your subject while using the wide end of the zoom length and as close as 7 metres when extended to 3000mm which is very impressive.

24mm | 1/2000 | f/2.8 | ISO 100
24mm | 1/160 | f/2.8 | ISO 100

Shooting Modes

The Nikon P1100 comes with 5 built-in shooting modes that includes Moon mode, Bird-watching Mode, Bulb and time shooting mode, Fireworks Mode and multiple exposures mode. These modes automatically adjust the settings to achieve optimised results for each situation.

Video Specs

The P1100 is capabe at capturing video at up to 4K/UHD at 30p as well as Full HD recording at up to 60P. You can even capture video at frame rates as high as 100fps for slow motion footage but this is at 480P so how often you would use this is debatable.

The camera supports clean HDMI out, so you can output videos to an external monitor during recording. And the camera's built-in microphone jack allows use of an external microphone for sharper sound. It is also possible to use Superlapse and Time-lapse modes.

Conclusion

So, who is this camera for?

I think it is fair to say that at the wider end of the focal length it doesn’t offer anything special that you can’t get from any other camera. But let’s be honest, that’s not why you would buy a camera like this.

It is also not the best when it comes to action and fast moving subjects so wildlife photographers are likely to not get much use from it. The buffer fills up very quickly as well which did not help matters. Battery life is not great and does drain quicker than I would like but we do have the USB-C charging so I was able to keep it topped up throughout the day at least.

However, this is a great choice for beginners or birdwatchers who want to observe from a distance and capture your observations for the day. That goes for boats, airplanes and other subjects that are too far to observe with a regular camera.

Often I am less impressed with the image when I see it on the laptop but with the P1100 it was the opposite. The images didn’t look that great on the back of the screen but when I saw the image later I was pleasantly surprised at how much detail was caught.

The 3000mm focal length is just insane for the price that you are paying and I was very impressed with the image quality that it produces.

Key Features

16MP Sensor
Multiple Shooting Modes
125x Optical Zoom
f2.8 Lens
24-3000mm Reach
Ultra High Definition EVF
LCD Vari-angle Monitor
4K UHD Video up to 30p

Convinced yet?

The Nikon P1100 is available to pre-order now.

Thank you!

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By Ben Wright
30 May 2025