The Coolpix P1100 ($1,099.95) is the follow-up to the P1000, Nikon's brazen attempt to put as much zoom power into a bridge camera as is technically feasible. The P1100 moves to an EU-regulated USB-C charging port and adds a couple of scene modes, but that's pretty much it as far as changes. That's a shame, because its marvelous 24-3,000mm zoom lens is held back by the same slow performance as before, and the autofocus is still frustrating to use for wildlife and bird photography. If you're a wildlife photographer who wants to carry a bridge camera instead of a huge full-frame mirrorless kit, you will be better served by our Editors' Choice winner, the Canon PowerShot SX70 HS. Its 1,365mm zoom lens isn't as ambitious, but it's more reasonably sized, has a more useful burst capture mode, and costs less at $749.99.

Design: Unmatched Zoom Power

The P1100's defining feature is its zoom lens, a huge 125x optic that covers the same angle of view as a theoretical 24-3,000mm lens on a full-frame camera. That much zoom power is unheard of in interchangeable lens cameras, but made possible since the P1100 uses a far smaller image sensor. Even so, the lens is huge. It makes the P1100 look as much like a handheld telescope as it does a camera.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The body is equally big. It has to be from a practical standpoint—the lens would be way too front-heavy if attached to a tiny camera. Regardless, the P1100 is a large camera by any measure. Discounting the lens, its body is about the same size as the full-frame Z5II. By the numbers, the P1100 measures 4.7 by 5.8 by 7.1 inches (HWD) when powered down, and is 11.5 inches deep with its lens at the 3,000mm setting. It's a hefty camera to carry at 3.1 pounds. It's easily the largest camera in its class, which is a direct consequence of the 125x zoom lens.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Do you need the 3,000mm zoom power? It's enough to put the moon prominently in frame without having to crop, and can bring a bluebird into close view from around 100 feet away. Still, it's overkill for many situations, and using full zoom often takes context out of a scene. If your goal is to fill a frame with a small bird, it's a useful tool, but if you want to make a good, aesthetically pleasing photo of a critter, you'll find a less extreme focal length is usually the better choice. For those reasons, I rate Nikon's 83x (24-2,000mm) zooming Coolpix P950 a little higher. The P950 is smaller (4.3 by 5.5 by 5.9 inches), lighter (2.2 pounds), and zooms in to 2,000mm, still plenty long for wildlife, and costs less than the P1100 at $799.95. The Canon SX70 HS starts at a wider angle than either (21mm), zooms to a more than respectable 1,365mm, and is the smallest of the trio (3.6 by 5.0 by 4.6 inches, 1.3 pounds).

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The lens is a power zoom, which means that it makes some sound and takes time to move between focal lengths. This may turn you off if you're used to mechanical zoom lenses that can whip between focal lengths in a split second, but is par for the course with a bridge camera. It takes roughly 3.8 seconds for the lens to zoom from 24 to 3,000mm.

Nikon uses quality materials for the body. The P1100's exterior is sturdy plastic, with a leatherette wrap to provide a healthy, comfortable grip. However, it omits full dust and splash protection, which is a downer for a camera that'll get most of its use in the great outdoors. I wouldn't fret if you get caught in a drizzle or light shower, but it's wise to stow the camera in a bag if you get caught in umbrella weather.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Controls and Interface: Good Ergonomics, Apart From Clumsy Autofocus

I reviewed the P1100 at the same time as another Nikon, the full-frame Z5II. The two are drastically different in concept and execution, but one thing that struck me is just how similar the P1100's body style is to its full-frame cousin, contrasted with a vastly different user interface. The Z5II not only has a ton of on-body controls, it also lets you remap many of them to suit your requirements, while the P1100 isn't as configurable.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

On the positive side, Nikon puts a healthy number of controls on the camera body. It includes two zoom rockers, one near the shutter and a second on the left side of the lens, which is right next to a useful framing assist button. If you're zoomed in and can't find the bird you're trying to photograph in the leaves, framing assist zooms back out to a wider angle and shows a frame marker for the previous zoomed-in view so you can center your camera. When you release the button, the camera zooms back in. It also has a menu setting that lets you choose whether or not the camera remembers the last zoom setting on power up, or lets you select a default focal length for startup. By default, the lens defaults to its widest 24mm angle on boot.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The lens includes a control ring, another positive. It is set to control exposure value compensation (EV) by default, which is handy for the mixed lighting you encounter in nature. A perfect example is a sunbeam brightly shining on a branch, with the rest of the scene in relative shadow—any camera will overexpose the branch. EV compensation lets you override this on the fly. Twist the control ring counterclockwise and the overall exposure dims, and if an animal decides to pose in the sunlight, you're ready to get the picture. The control ring can also be set for white balance or ISO adjustment, but those are less useful options for this camera, so you're better off leaving both set to auto.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

In addition to the on-lens controls, the P1100 has the typical array of top and rear buttons. The shutter release, drive mode selection (Fn) button, Mode dial, and aperture/shutter dial are all on the top plate. The rear has a button to toggle the EVF mode, an AE-L/AF-L button to lock focus and exposure, an AF/MF toggle switch, a Record button for movies, along with Delete, Display, Menu, and Play buttons. A rear control dial with a center OK button and four direction press functions (Flash, EV, Macro, and Self-Timer) round things out.

There are aspects of the control scheme that I find quite frustrating. It's not easy to move the focus point around, for one; you'll first need to press the rear OK button and then use the four-way control pad that surrounds it to manipulate the area of interest for focus. The focus point stays in this mode until you press OK again, even after you take a picture, which is handy because I frequently had to move the focus box around when trying to get photos of birds hiding in brush and branches.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The P1100 doesn't include any sort of smart subject recognition for animals, so it's often necessary to use a smaller focus area. When you let the camera pick its own focus point, it typically jumps to objects closer to the lens. This is particularly troublesome for finding birds among branches, but I noticed it with wide-angle images, too. I tried to get some photos of my cat sleeping with the wide focus area set, and the P1100 kept jumping to her outstretched paw, not her face.

Unfortunately, the EV control ring does not work when adjusting the focus point, which is frustrating and makes you press extra buttons to get the focus and exposure set properly. It feels silly to me that a 2025 release does not simply support direct focus adjustment via the d-pad at all times. It would be less of a sticking point if the autofocus system was smart enough to find subjects on its own (more on that later), but the P1100 puts the onus on you to put the focus box in the right place.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

If you're frustrated, you can simply leave the focus point centered in place and recompose images once focus is locked in. This is how the P1100 works in its Bird Watching mode, accessible via the bird icon on the Mode dial. This is a new feature for the P1100 that uses a small central focus point only and remaps the "OK" button to zoom the lens to a setting between 500mm and 3,000mm, set via the menu. On the downside, this mode disables Raw image capture, which can be a turnoff for shutterbugs who want more leeway to edit pictures after capture than you get from a JPG.

Viewfinder and Display: Wait, That's Not a Touch Screen?

I'm quite impressed with the P1100's electronic viewfinder (EVF). It's pretty large to the eye—Nikon doesn't list a magnification specification, just that it uses a 0.39-inch EVF, not that much smaller than the Z5II's 0.8x EVF, though is not nearly as sharp at 2.4 million dots. It's not fair to compare it with a full-frame camera, though. The P1100's EVF specs match up with the Canon SX70 HS and Coolpix P950.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

I'm disappointed to see Nikon continue to use a basic rear LCD, though. The 3.0-inch, 921k-dot display is mounted on a vari-angle hinge but is not a touch screen. It feels out of step, especially since many cameras with touch screens use them to set the focus point. Some even let you use the touch screen as a focus control pad when using the EVF, a feature that would be perfect for the P1100, but alas, is not included.

Similar Products

Our Current Picks for The Best Bridge Cameras for 2026

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ80 Review

4.0 Excellent

Best Deal£379.99

Buy It Now

Amazon UK

£379.99

Read Our Review

Nikon Coolpix P950

3.5 Good

Best Deal£662

Buy It Now

Amazon UK

£662

Read Our Review

Nikon Coolpix P1100

3.0 Average

Buy It Now

Read Our Review

Power and Connectivity: Solid Battery Life, Plus External Flash Support

The P1100 uses an EN-EL20a battery that's rated for 260 photos per charge or about 70 minutes of video capture using CIPA testing standards. It's a pretty typical figure for the class; the Canon SX70 HS is good for around 255 photos per the same standards. In my experience, the CIPA figure is conservative, so you should be able to get through a typical outing with battery life to spare. I took around 250 photos with the camera over a few weeks in testing and didn't even see the battery meter dip until I was past the 200 mark. The battery charges in-body via USB-C, so you can recharge from a power bank if you're out in the wild. A spare EN-EL20a costs $54.95.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

In addition to USB-C, which replaces the P1000's micro USB port, the P1100 has a micro HDMI port, a 3.5mm microphone input, an MB-DC2 remote interface port, and a UHS-I SDXC memory card slot. The camera also has a built-in flash and a hot shoe that works with Nikon Speedlight and other external flashes.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The camera pairs with the Nikon SnapBridge app for Android and iOS via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. SnapBridge supports automatic or on-demand wireless transfer and wireless remote control. 

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Autofocus: Struggles to Capture Subjects in Motion

The P1100 features a rudimentary autofocus system with face detection for people only, an odd choice for a camera designed and marketed for wildlife photography. I mentioned my gripes with the focus interface when discussing the camera controls, so I won't echo them here.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Burst capture is also an important concern for catching pictures of animals in nature. And while it's entirely competent for perched or mostly static critters, the autofocus proves too slow for reliable results of birds in flight. For instance, I got fantastic pictures of a red-shouldered hawk that landed in a tree in my yard and stuck around for a fifteen-minute portrait session, but struggled to get a decent image of active cedar waxwings catching flies at my local trail.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The P1100 supports a few different continuous drive modes, with full quality Raw and JPG capture available in low (1fps) or high (7fps), plus lower resolution JPGs available at 60fps (2MP) or 120fps (0.3MP), with a pre-shooting cache mode at 60fps/1MP as well. It's a slightly odd mix, but at full resolution, the 7fps burst rate is useful, though hampered by the fact that it's limited to capturing one second of action per burst. The Canon SX70 HS's faster 10fps continuous drive and deeper 47-image JPG buffer are more useful for action scenes.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

There's very little delay between bursts when using either Raw or JPG capture along with a fast UHS-I memory card. I warn against using combined Raw+JPG capture with this camera, however, as doing so makes the P1100 lock up for a couple of seconds in either low- or high-speed continuous drive.

Overall, the P1100 just feels underpowered when it comes to autofocus and burst capture, two features that go hand in hand with long-lens photography. It's a real shame, given the versatile lens. The P1100 can capture pretty much everything, from macros to telephoto, as long as you have enough light. Its zoom power may be excessive, but it's nonetheless an impressive feat of optical engineering.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Unfortunately, there are no bridge cameras made today that focus fast enough for field sports, birds in flight, and other action scenes. Sony discontinued its last premium Type 1 sensor model, the RX10 IV, with no replacement, and I question if we'll see another model in the line. You may still be able to find one at retail with some luck, or go used, if you are interested in a fixed lens camera with phase detect focus. It uses a 24-600mm F2.4-4.0 lens, but its larger sensor, brighter aperture, and faster focus make it my personal favorite bridge-style camera for wildlife. Granted, when the RX10 IV was available, it cost more than the P1100; its most recent retail price was $1,699.99.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Image and Video Quality: Best Results in Bright Light

The P1100 uses the same lens, sensor, and image processor as the P1000, so there's no change to picture quality. It captures clean, clear 16MP images at the lower sensitivity settings (ISO 100-800) that it'll use in sunlight, but loses detail in the upper range (ISO 1600-6400) necessary to get a good telephoto image in dimmer light. I only saw the camera range up to ISO 1600 when photographing birds in trees on an overcast summer morning, so you're more likely to use the highest ISO settings in twilight.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

You may find it worthwhile to use Raw capture when pushing to higher ISOs, as you'll enjoy better noise reduction from desktop software than what's built into the camera. The P1100's JPG output is waxy at higher ISOs, while images processed with Adobe Lightroom Classic show more texture, along with a hearty amount of grain. Still, understand the P1100's sensor is quite small, and won't deliver the high ISO quality you can get from an interchangeable lens option like the Nikon Z50II.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The 4.3-539mm (24-3,000mm equivalent) F2.8-8 zoom lens is unlike any that you'll find among interchangeable lenses, however, and is made possible because of the small sensor. It delivers clear, crisp images, showing excellent results (2,300-2,700 lines) through the range I'm able to reasonably test in the studio, up to around the 800mm equivalent. The Type 1/2.3 image sensor is quicker to show diffraction than larger chips, which means that picture quality starts to drop off as the lens narrows beyond f/5.6, or around 1,500mm. The maximum aperture is f/6.3 up to 2,000mm, f/7.1 up to 2,800mm, and f/8 beyond through its maximum 3,000mm equivalency. Digital zoom is available to get even closer, but since it's just cropping into an image, it further softens the results.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Diffraction and light gathering aren't the only factors that affect picture quality. With such an extreme telephoto lens, you also have to account for air quality. Atmospheric haze and heat lines are all real-world concerns that can affect picture quality. You'll get clearer photos at a distance on a dry, cold day than you will in hot, humid weather.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The lens can capture pictures with softened, blurred backgrounds (bokeh) when focusing close for macros or when zooming in close. You don't always associate bokeh with small sensors, but the extreme telephoto focal length makes it possible. Generally speaking, the bokeh has a characterful, impressionistic quality, but it will vary based on distance to subject, focal length, and the actual backdrop.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

If you're interested in trying your hand at wildlife videography, the P1100 includes a competent toolkit with 4K30, 1080p60, and 720p60 recording with sound, along with 480p120 slowed down to 30fps for a four-time slow-motion effect. The video looks as good as the photos, but there are some challenges in recording with such a long lens. I am happy to see that I can get smooth clips recording handheld at around 800mm from a seated position, but beyond that, everything looks shaky. For serious video work, a tripod is a must-have, and you'll want to use a good one, as a strong breeze is enough to introduce jitters into footage when recording toward the maximum zoom. You'll also want to grab an external mic with a wind screen if you're recording outdoors, as the built-in mic picks up a lot of ambient noise.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)