Nikon P510: A(nother) Record-Breaking Zoom!

One metre—that's the equivalent maximum focal length of Nikon's freshly announced Coolpix P510! But while the race for the most powerful zoom is still going strong, Nikon hasn't forgotten about the ongoing quest for more Megapixels either, boosting the P510 to 16 MP. It remains to be seen whether that'll make any noticeable difference in picture quality ...

As you've probably gathered, the two main new features of the Coolpix P510 are its record-breaking 42x zoom lens and its 16-Megapixel sensor.

While switching from a CCD sensor to a BSI CMOS can make a big difference, boosting sensitivity and performances (video mode, continuous shooting etc.), moving from 12 to 16 Megapixels with the same kind of sensor technology doesn't have much impact—especially when you're mainly printing 4" x 6" photos or looking at pictures on a computer screen with a resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels (which equates to barely over 2 Megapixels).

So maybe it's about time we started saying the same about zoom lenses. While the difference between a 24 mm setting and a 28 mm settings is plain to see, the difference between 600 mm and 800 mm is much less striking. So by pushing the focal range of its latest bridge to 1000 mm, Nikon hasn't changed much in terms of the field of view—a 1000 mm setting covers a field of view of about 2°, while a 810 mm setting (like in the P500) covers around 2.5°. Only a few highly specialist users like animal photographers and plane-spotters will be able to tell the difference and, even then, such users are likely to prioritise a good autofocus and general sharpness over a slightly bigger maximum focal length (as soon as this gets past 600 mm, in any case).

Otherwise, the P510 is pretty much the same as the P500, with a very similar body and swivel VGA screen. The button for switching between high-def and high-speed video has been ditched, though, which is a shame, and a GPS has been added for geo-tagging photos.

For around £400 (UK pricing TBC), the P510 doesn't really stand out from other bridges—it's even missing a few nice features like a RAW mode for post-editing. It's no doubt counting on its record-breaking zoom to catch a few eyes ...