Zooming with the Coolpix P1100: behind the scenes of ‘A View from a Bridge’

First impressions

How did Joe first become aware of Nikon’s Coolpix cameras? “It was while filming a Flat Earth conference in Birmingham,” he shares with a laugh. He noticed the participants repeatedly referenced the Coolpix P900 as a tool for their experiments to prove the earth was flat – due to its zoom capabilities. “I had been using the P900 for years before I upgraded to the P1000, and now the P1100,” he says. How’s it been treating him, since? “No one expects the stuff you can do with this off-the-shelf, all-in-one camera – it’s amazing.” It’s lightweight and easily fits in his travel bag with the rest of his gear (Manfrotto tripod, RØDE Wireless Pro mics, the telephone used in his videos and an additional phone).

Room to zoom

When conceptualising his series, Joe wanted to avoid unnecessarily quick transitions and cuts – an increasingly popular trend online. “I thought, ‘How can the variation be contextual? How can the variation help the tell the story and not distract from it?’ If we zoom, it’s a cut that never stops cutting – it’s constantly changing and opening,” he explains. “A new building, a new street or a new person will come into the scene and it offers variation – putting the person in a time in history. It feeds into this wider idea that this is being filmed right here, right now, and everything this person is saying is relatable in this exact moment in time.”

With an equivalent zoom range of 24-3000mm and an aperture range of f/2.8-8, the Coolpix P1100 shifts from wide angle to super-telephoto. If you want to get even closer, the Dynamic Fine Zoom increases the reach to 6000mm equivalent. “In every video, I zoom in increments, filming in 4K, and then overlay the audio in post-production,” Joe says. “If I’m very far away – I’ll use the handy digital zoom. It’s quite amazing that I’m capturing a person’s thoughts and you see the context in which it exists.”

Auto for the win

“My creative vision is stronger when I don’t have to panic about maintaining certain camera settings,” Joe says. “While I am learning to use Manual mode, for what I need to do and how I want to tell my stories – Auto is perfect. At any rate, Auto mode wasn’t made by chimpanzees! It was made by good engineers who put a lot of time and effort in making sure a setting looked just as good in every situation. That sounds good to me!”

Best for narrative filmmaking, landscapes and bird photography

Capturing detailed shots from far distances (helped by Nikon’s Expeed processor), its improved flexibility (the camera now comes with the addition of USB-C charging) and dedicated bird, moon and fireworks mode means the camera is perfect for bird, landscape and astrophotographers, plus filmmakers who want a camera that can do professional-level work without the significant financial investment of a full set-up. “The other day there was a full moon, and I took the Coolpix outside,” Joe says. “You can see the craters! It’s wild. It’s even better than a telescope.”

Read our quick guide to the latest Nikon Coolpix P1100 here.