Nikon's P900 currently leads the market for optical zoom range, with
its 83x ratio equating to 24-2000mm in 35mm terms. Nikon claims this
allows you to see things not visible to the human eye - such as details
on the surface of the moon. There's also a digital zoom, which boosts
that reach to 166x, or 4000mm.A major issue with long zooms is image blur at the longest end of the zoom range, as the effects of camera shake are exaggerated. Nikon's solution is to include its latest Dual Detect Optical VR system, which it claims offers a 5-stop shutter speed advantage.
The P900 has the same 1/2.3-inch, 16 million-pixel sensor as Nikon's slightly cheaper P610 bridge camera. That's the same size sensor as in many compact cameras – and, despite appearances, the P900 is classed as a compact camera because the lens is fixed, not because the camera is small!
