The world finally seems to be waking up to the fact that a dedicated camera’s zoom lens offers far more versatility than a smartphone camera. The problem? Few brands actually still make compacts that aren’t pricey high-end options with a fixed, non-zooming lens. I was excited to see Nikon refresh its bridge camera lineup last week with the P1100. But, if you ask me, the camera in Nikon’s past that deserves to be brought back from the dead to meet today’s trends is the Nikon Coolpix P7000.
Introduced in 2010, the Nikon Coolpix P7000 offers a 28-200mm equivalent lens that’s a bright f/2.8 at the wide end, though that narrows to an f/5.6 at the long end. Unlike the P1100, it's a compact camera with a pocketable design. The 1/1.7-inch sensor isn’t as impressive as some of the other high-end compacts of that era, but the zoom, compact size and mix of controls has a lot in common with the Canon G7X series popular among influencers for its flattering zoom lens.
Nikon updated the P7000 in 2012 with the Nikon Coolpix P7700, but I’m specifically wishing for the original Coolpix P7000 for one key reason: it still had a viewfinder. Only a few high-end compacts retain that viewfinder. But I recently took a compact camera without a viewfinder on vacation only to realize I couldn’t see a thing on the screen with my sunglasses on, an issue I don’t have when using a viewfinder.
I think a compact camera with a versatile, flattering zoom lens would be poised for success based on the compact cameras that are trending right now. In particular, I think the Coolpix P7000 update should keep a somewhat smaller sensor to keep the cost down. A 1/1.7-inch sensor would still be relatively affordable, but larger than options like the Panasonic ZS99.
There are a lot of cheap cameras out there and a lot of excellent $1,600 / £1,290 / AU$2,545 compacts out there. But the camera industry desperately needs something in between, with decent image quality, a versatile zoom lens and a price that doesn’t breach the four figure price point.
If you’re lucky, you can find a used Nikon Coolpix P7000 for around $250 / £200 / AU$398. But a lot has changed in the past fifteen years and I fully expect the camera to deliver a sluggish performance and “meh” 10MP images compared to today’s standards. A refresh would be perfectly poised to fill the gap between the high-end compact cameras photographers are craving and the cost and features that Gen Z and influencers are looking for.
Of course, just because an updated P7000 would make a lot of sense doesn’t mean that it's going to happen. The dozen or so years since the P7700 is a long time to wait for a successor – I’m doubtful that we’d see a new model after this long. But, I don’t think it’s a terrible idea.
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