Is the Nikon COOLPIX P1000 an astronomy camera?

No. It is a bridge camera: a 1/2.3 inch, 16 megapixel sensor behind a built-in 24 to 3000 mm zoom, with no cooling and no way to fit it to a telescope.

Can the P1000 show Jupiter's moons and Saturn's rings?

Yes. I recorded Jupiter's four Galilean moons with the exposure turned up and faint bands on the disc with it turned down, and Saturn's rings at full zoom.

Can the P1000 photograph galaxies and nebulae?

Not usefully. Its longest exposure is 60 seconds in Bulb or Time at ISO 100, with no tracking, and dim but large objects such as the Andromeda Galaxy need long exposures through a telescope.

Is the P1000 better than a telescope for the planets?

Against a beginner telescope costing about the same, for observing the planets the camera wins. An 8 inch Newtonian with a Barlow lens goes well beyond it on the Moon, and for anything else the telescope triumphs dramatically.

Do you need a tripod for the P1000 at 3000 mm?

I shot Jupiter handheld, and at full zoom it is a real test of how steady your hands are: the planet jumps around the frame. The camera has a standard 1/4 inch tripod socket.

Can you still buy the Nikon COOLPIX P1000?

Not from Nikon: it is discontinued, and Nikon UK's refurbished unit is out of stock. Amazon US still lists it through a third-party seller. Nikon now sells the newer COOLPIX P1100, and the first buy link on this page goes to it.

What is the Nikon COOLPIX P1100?

The newer version of this camera: Nikon keeps the 16 megapixel sensor and the 24 to 3000 mm (125x) zoom, with 4K video and RAW stills. With the P1000 discontinued, it is the one to buy new.

What have I not tested on the P1000?

I did not shoot RAW, stack frames or put the P1000 on a tracking mount: every planet and Moon picture on this page is a single frame of its video.

Nikon COOLPIX P1000 review: 3000 mm for the Moon and planets

Where does it rank on our leaderboard

Nine of the 29 cameras on my board, against price
Rank	Camera	Stars for Your Buck	Recorded UK price
1	SVBONY SV705C	93 out of 100	£229
2	SVBONY SC571CC	90 out of 100	£1,029
4	ZWO ASI2600MC Air	88 out of 100	£2,149
12	ZWO ASI533MC	77 out of 100	£859
17	ZWO ASI120MM	75 out of 100	£199
20	ASI 4400MC	72 out of 100	£3,299
27	ZWO ASI6200MC	59 out of 100	£3,999
28	ZWO ASI183MC	38 out of 100	£549
29	Nikon COOLPIX P1000	32 out of 100	£787

Contents

01 Where does it rank on our leaderboard
02 Specifications and features
03 In the hand
04 Planets and the Moon
05 What is it for
06 Watch the review
07 Should you buy it?
08 Questions and more about this review

In 30 seconds

Stars for Your Buck 32/100

Reviewed 16 Feb 2023 Updated 26 Sep 2026

Rank: #29 of 29 cameras
Verdict: With reservations

Written by Damon Scotting 3 min read

Buy it if

You want the Moon's craters and the bright planets without a telescope, a mount or any setup.
You want one camera for travel, wildlife and the Moon: a 24 to 3000 mm zoom with 4K video and RAW stills.
You want it new: the COOLPIX P1100 replaced it with the same 125x zoom.

Skip it if

You want galaxies and nebulae: they need long exposures through a telescope on a tracking mount.
You want sharp planetary detail: a telescope with a planetary camera resolves far more.
You want a camera for your telescope: the lens is built in, so it cannot replace an astronomy camera.

“This isn't designed for stargazing. This isn't designed for looking at star clusters. It's just designed to be a camera. It does a fantastic job of that.”

Specifications and features

Nikon COOLPIX P1000 reviewed #29 of 29
Recorded UK price	£787
Sensor	1/2.3 inch type CMOS, about 16.79 million total pixels
Format	1/2.3 inch
Colour or mono	Colour
Resolution	4608 x 3456, 16.0 MP effective
Pixel size	Approximately 1.35 µm, geometrically estimated effective sampling pitch
Cooling	Uncooled
Read noise	Approximately 2.57 e- at ISO 100, derived from independent photon-transfer measurements
Full well	not recorded
ADC	not recorded
Weight	1,415 g with battery and memory card
Back focus	Not applicable: a built-in 4.3 to 539 mm lens (24 to 3000 mm equivalent), f/2.8 to f/8
Interface	Micro-USB (Hi-Speed USB), HDMI micro (Type D), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1
In the box	Strap, LC-77 lens cap, EN-EL20a battery, EH-73P charging AC adapter, UC-E21 USB cable, HB-CP1 lens hood

In the hand

Planets and the Moon

Four targets from my video

The Moon

Date: not recorded
Gear: Nikon COOLPIX P1000, no accessories

The detail you can make out of the craters on the Moon is very impressive from just a camera.

Jupiter

Date: not recorded
Gear: Nikon COOLPIX P1000, handheld

When I reduced the exposure, I could just faintly make out the bands on Jupiter as well as its Great Red Spot.

Saturn

Date: not recorded
Gear: Nikon COOLPIX P1000, handheld

That is our zoom maxed out: that's the limit we can see with this camera.

Mars

Date: not recorded
Gear: Nikon COOLPIX P1000

If we're being generous, with some squinting we can make out the tiniest bit of surface detail on the red planet. If we're being critical, it's just a red smudge.

What is it for

Four things it is for

24 to 3000 mm in one lens

Its focal length varies from 24 millimetres all the way up to 3,000, and then even further with four times digital zoom.

More than six times a small refractor's focal length

The William Optics Zenithstar 66 has a focal length of 460 millimetres; the Nikon P1000 can go all the way to 3,000 millimetres.

4K video and high resolution photos

This can shoot 4K and take very high resolution photos: four times the resolution of 1080p video.

The Moon with no accessories

With absolutely no accessories, the Nikon P1000 can achieve images like this.

Watch the review

This $600 CAMERA is BETTER than most TELESCOPES! · published 16 February 2023 · 12:14 · Watch on YouTube · 181,975 views, 3,088 likes on 2 Oct 2026

Jump to

1:16 The zoom by day
3:25 Jupiter, handheld
4:45 Saturn at full zoom
5:48 Against a 66 mm refractor
8:20 The Moon and Mars, no accessories
9:03 Where a telescope wins
9:55 Against an 8 inch Newtonian
11:34 My verdict

Transcript of the review video 2,106 words · 9 chapters · searchable

Press a time stamp to play from there.

0:00 The P1000's 24 to 3000 mm zoom

0:04 oh my God look at the size of this lens the magnification of this camera is absolutely ridiculous in today's video we're going to do something that might 0:09 seem quite silly we're going to compare what a $600 camera can see in our night sky versus a $600 state-of-the-art telescope now I know that might sound 0:20 quite absurd but this is no ordinary camera this is the Nikon P1000 its focal length varies from 24 millimetres which is the same as what this camera has 0:31 right now all the way up to three thousand so this camera can see six times further than this telescope but as we know size isn't everything behind me 0:42 right now is the largest planet in our solar system that bright point of light behind me is Jupiter that is going to be our first test subject I'm going to take 0:50 images with both the camera and the telescope and determine which of these is better but we have one small issue and that is that we're in England where 1:00 it is very cold and as you can tell very cloudy so what we're going to do instead is I'm going to fly a thousand 1:07 miles away to a warm Italian city known as Pisa I can't feel my toes and this is astronomical okay so I'm here in Pisa trying to get

1:16 The zoom by day

1:28 the greatest shot of the entire documentary I booked this gorgeous room that has a view straight onto the tower and using a super long lens camera I 1:36 intend to record a segment in which I am talking to the camera despite being really far away it will seem like I'm pretty close but then all of a sudden I 1:44 zoom out and pan around to my room to continue with the rest of the segment and what I hope will look really cool sounds easy enough to do by yourself in 1:52 a foreign country yeah of course it is so right now on the top of the tower but if we Zoom all the way in 1:58 should be able to see set up inside I think you just got a glimpse there of the actual camera and gimbal fantastic I doubt they're 2:10 recording anymore but as I've already learned so many times before shooting scenes solo is pretty much always a disaster you see I missed my mark 2:18 completely I ended up standing well too far to the right of where I needed to be and therefore all you can really see with the Nikon P1000 is my right arm 2:27 awesome Had I stood in the right spot though the shot would have continued on and looked a little like this okay so we now know there are other 2:35 galaxies in our universe so the next question is then where does it end where does the universe end so let's find out so now ten for effort, two out of ten 2:46 for application although I did immediately clock on to the fact that the Nikon P1000 wasn't actually pointed at me I didn't feel like spending 2:52 another 25 dollars to go back up to the top of the tower and record this again but I did use this time to showcase the 2:58 immense zoom capabilities of this unique camera but in order to put to a real test I was going to need to wait until night time to use it this way I could 3:06 point the camera towards objects that were a little less local instead of zooming in on subjects 200 meters away how about 1.6 billion kilometres that's 3:16 a billion miles away first up at 800 million kilometres away is the largest planet in our Solar System Jupiter if you're watching this right now and

3:25 Jupiter, handheld

3:26 you're thinking I'd love to go out and see Jupiter for myself I just wish it wasn't as light polluted where I live don't worry about it because light 3:33 pollution will not stop you from seeing the largest planet in our solar system you can see it in central London you can see it in central Pisa the only thing 3:42 that's going to stop you is clouds thankfully right now we don't have many clouds so we can see the planet Jupiter behind us it's very easy to find in the night 3:50 sky because it's one of the brightest things you will see okay so this is going to be a real test of how steady my 3:54 hands are because in order to make sure I can see Jupiter with such a long lens I'm going to have to keep this very 4:00 still so let's give it a shot I'm going to point it up towards Jupiter I'm going to zoom in I can see Jupiter I can see the bright point of light 4:11 I'm going to zoom in and I can see one Moon two yeah all I'm going to do is I'm going to take a still from that video so you can 4:28 see it better in both of the shots I originally took I had overexposed the video so that you could see the four dimmer points of light that are Jupiter's 4:35 four Galilean moons but it also washed out any of the visible detail on Jupiter's surface when I reduce the exposure I could just faintly make out 4:43 the bands on Jupiter as well as its Great Red Spot next up is the second largest planet in our solar system which also happens to be many people's

4:45 Saturn at full zoom

4:52 favourite and pointing my camera no my telescope I'm pointing my camera towards this bright point of light peeking from behind the Leaning Tower of Pisa 5:01 this is what myself and many of us refer to as a gem of our solar system the famous ringed planet Saturn and I'm just gonna take a snapshot just 5:18 there because the video itself was very shaky and that is our Zoom maxed out that's the limit we can see with this camera which to be honest as far as 5:25 technology goes is phenomenal the amount of detail we can make out with just this 5:33 it's phenomenal what we can see with just this and I can assure you that Galileo and Huygens would have absolutely killed 5:42 for something that was capable of doing this okay so in my right hand we have the Nikon P1000 and to my left we have

5:48 Against a 66 mm refractor

5:49 the William Optics Zenithstar 66 millimetre telescope its focal length is 460 millimetres compared to the Nikon P1000 which can go all the way to 3,000 6:01 millimetres and then even further with four times digital Zoom incredible but can it produce better quality images than this telescope in comparison the Zenithstar can achieve a much sharper 6:15 and cleaner image whilst the Nikon P1000's higher magnification allows it to resolve Jupiter's four largest moons much more clearly so as we can see from 6:24 the pictures of Jupiter it appears a lot smaller in a field of view with the telescope we are having to use a camera through the telescope itself so there's 6:33 a massive trade-off already the camera I'm using I'm trying to keep it as low cost as possible because then this isn't really a fair challenge so I'm using a 6:40 Canon 550D which has a dodgy screen I got it very cheap because the LCD screen doesn't work but I can still take pictures with it and that's good enough 6:48 for me I can still see through the eyepiece as well what I'm looking at so I've tried to keep this as close to $600 6:54 as possible without going too far beyond it this can shoot 4K this can take very high resolution photos as opposed to the Canon 550D which at its best shoots 7:03 1080p already this has taken four times higher resolution videos than this setup is so it's slightly handicapped by the fact that this is built in but that's 7:13 part of what makes this so incredible so the images we see through it are very good but in comparison to Nikon P1000 not as good so what can we do about this 7:22 telescope to make it up to scratch against a camera well it's very simple we increase the magnification but focal length is 460 millimetres which we know 7:32 it's inferior compared to the 3000 millimetres and four times visual Zoom of the Nikon P1000 so we're going to introduce something that will increase 7:40 the magnification we're going to add something called a Barlow lens now there's lots of different variations of this you can have two times three times 7:48 four times five times Barlow lenses you can have all sorts that increase the magnification by a set amount you can even have ones that reduce it so you get 7:57 a wider field of view as opposed to a more zoomed in picture so we are going to add a very high magnification Barlow lens we're going to add a five times 8:06 Barlow lens now we're cooking details such as Jupiter's bands can now be made out with ease increasing the magnification leads to a drop in 8:13 brightness of our image but that's okay because planets are very bright anyway the telescope provides a greater sharpness than a Nikon camera but let's

8:20 The Moon and Mars, no accessories

8:21 just remind ourselves that with absolutely no accessories the Nikon P1000 can achieve images like this the detail you can make out of the craters on the moon is very impressive 8:46 from just a camera I did also find time to point it at Mars which although it is a lot closer than the gas giants Jupiter 8:52 and Saturn it is a lot smaller if we're being generous you could say that with some squinting we can make out the tiniest bit of surface detail on the red 9:00 planet if we're being critical then it's just a red smudge now it's time to address the elephant in the room this is an incredible telescope but it is not

9:03 Where a telescope wins

9:10 intended for planetary Imaging which is to say its purpose is not to observe really small but bright Points of Light instead is great at taking long 9:19 exposures of dim but large objects in our night sky such as the Andromeda Galaxy here's another image I took with a telescope of the great globular cluster 9:29 in Hercules the Triangulum Galaxy now perhaps my favourite shot the Horsehead and Flame Nebula magnificent so looking beyond the planets the moons and 9:41 any very bright star clusters like the Pleiades this camera is very limited it can't see much else or produce much detail the telescope absolutely wipes the floor 9:52 of it when it comes to observing any other object in our night sky so in order to make this a fair contest I sold

9:55 Against an 8 inch Newtonian

9:58 the Zenithstar telescope and swapped it for a much more appropriate comparison this is an 8-inch Celestron Newtonian telescope mounted onto a CG5 go-to mount 10:07 it is one of the first astrophotography setups I ever owned due to its cheap cost and surprising capabilities it is a worthy comparison since the cost 10:18 of this setup was very similar to the Nikon P1000 camera okay so there it is this is my new telescope setup 10:29 this stunning view shows an incredible amount of detail the Shadows being cast by the craters and mountains 10:39 are easily visible and better yet with the addition of a Barlow lens we can see well beyond the capabilities of even the Nikon camera 10:52 I was still using a Canon 550D to image with and although it did produce some excellent shots of the Moon and some semi-decent shots of the Orion Nebula 10:58 when it came to the planet like Jupiter it struggled to produce a decent shot. You unfortunately cannot adjust the exposure when recording video with this camera so 11:06 from the beginning we knew this was going to happen but if you are using it for astronomy and stargazing the telescope wins hands down because 11:13 there's a variety of images you can see if you're looking at the planets and the Moon I'd lean more towards this of course but 11:21 anything else the telescope triumphs dramatically but that's because this isn't designed for stargazing this isn't designed for looking at Star clusters it's just designed to be a camera it 11:33 does a fantastic job of that so I will let you argue in the comments over which one you'd rather have in terms of multi-purpose uses but when it comes to

11:34 My verdict

11:42 observing the planets I'd say the $600 camera beats the $600 telescope and that is no small feat I'm Damon Scotting and this was astronomical

Should you buy it?

32/100 Stars for Your Buck

Pros

“The Nikon P1000's higher magnification allows it to resolve Jupiter's four largest moons much more clearly.”
“It's phenomenal what we can see with just this.”
“Light pollution will not stop you from seeing the largest planet in our solar system.”
One camera covers 24 mm wide angle to 3000 mm, with 4K video and RAW stills, at 1,415 g.

Cons

“Looking beyond the planets, the Moon and very bright star clusters like the Pleiades, this camera is very limited.”
A small 66 mm refractor with a camera gives a sharper, cleaner image of the planets, and with a 5x Barlow lens it shows Jupiter's bands with ease.
The lens is built in, so it cannot go on a telescope or stand in for an astronomy camera.
Nikon has discontinued it, so a new one is hard to find.

If you are using it for astronomy and stargazing, the telescope wins hands down.

Who the P1000 is for

Curious about the Moon and planets

Buy

It shows the Moon's craters, Jupiter's moons and Saturn's rings with no telescope to learn, and it is an ordinary camera by day.

Travel and wildlife photographer

Buy

One body covers 24 mm landscapes to 3000 mm wildlife and the Moon, in 4K video or RAW stills, with no second lens to carry.

Deep-sky imager

Skip

Galaxies and nebulae need long exposures through a telescope on a tracking mount. My recommendation is a smart telescope such as the Seestar S30 Pro.

Planetary imager

Skip

A telescope with a planetary camera such as the SVBONY SV705C gives far sharper planets than a 1/2.3 inch sensor behind a zoom lens.

Astronomy camera owner

Skip

The P1000 cannot go on a telescope, so it adds nothing to an imaging rig you already own.

Three alternatives I have reviewed

Questions and more about this review

Reviewed by

Damon Scotting

The Telescope Man Verified

BSc (Hons) Physics with Astrophysics and Cosmology, Loughborough University PGCE / QTS, University of Nottingham

About Damon About Damon Damon Scotting is The Telescope Man. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Physics with Astrophysics and Cosmology from Loughborough University and a PGCE with QTS from the University of Nottingham, and taught physics in secondary schools before becoming an astronomy creator. He is a contributing writer for BBC Sky at Night Magazine and the author of 42 Wonders of Our Night Sky, and his photograph of the galaxy M100 with the dwarf planet Ceres was Highly Commended in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2024 competition run by Royal Observatory Greenwich. He has appeared on the BBC's Blue Peter. More than 750,000 people follow his astronomy channels on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, and he has reviewed more than 140 telescopes, mounts, cameras, filters and accessories hands-on for this site. More about Damon · How I test · Damon's book

I review all kinds of gear: most of it I buy, some is gifted and some is loaned, and all of it is reviewed the same way. How this site is funded

Eight questions, answered

Questions about the Nikon COOLPIX P1000

Reviewed 16 February 2023 ·Updated 26 September 2026

I review all kinds of gear. Most of it I buy, some is gifted and some is loaned, and all of it is reviewed the same way: no company sees or approves a review before it is published. Shop links marked Ad are affiliate links: I earn a commission when you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. How this site is funded

Is the Nikon COOLPIX P1000 an astronomy camera? No. It is a bridge camera: a 1/2.3 inch, 16 megapixel sensor behind a built-in 24 to 3000 mm zoom, with no cooling and no way to fit it to a telescope. The specifications ↓
Can the P1000 show Jupiter's moons and Saturn's rings? Yes. I recorded Jupiter's four Galilean moons with the exposure turned up and faint bands on the disc with it turned down, and Saturn's rings at full zoom. Planets and the Moon ↓
Can the P1000 photograph galaxies and nebulae? Not usefully. Its longest exposure is 60 seconds in Bulb or Time at ISO 100, with no tracking, and dim but large objects such as the Andromeda Galaxy need long exposures through a telescope. Watch the review ↓
Is the P1000 better than a telescope for the planets? Against a beginner telescope costing about the same, for observing the planets the camera wins. An 8 inch Newtonian with a Barlow lens goes well beyond it on the Moon, and for anything else the telescope triumphs dramatically. Watch the review ↓
Do you need a tripod for the P1000 at 3000 mm? I shot Jupiter handheld, and at full zoom it is a real test of how steady your hands are: the planet jumps around the frame. The camera has a standard 1/4 inch tripod socket. Planets and the Moon ↓
Can you still buy the Nikon COOLPIX P1000? Not from Nikon: it is discontinued, and Nikon UK's refurbished unit is out of stock. Amazon US still lists it through a third-party seller. Nikon now sells the newer COOLPIX P1100, and the first buy link on this page goes to it. The verdict, the readers and the sellers ↓
What is the Nikon COOLPIX P1100? The newer version of this camera: Nikon keeps the 16 megapixel sensor and the 24 to 3000 mm (125x) zoom, with 4K video and RAW stills. With the P1000 discontinued, it is the one to buy new. The verdict, the readers and the sellers ↓
What have I not tested on the P1000? I did not shoot RAW, stack frames or put the P1000 on a tracking mount: every planet and Moon picture on this page is a single frame of its video.