Introduction

Ease of Use

Front of the Nikon Coolpix A1000

The new Nikon Coolpix A1000 replaces the previous A900 model from 2016, principally adding an EVF, two extra zoom controls, touchscreen control and RAW recording. In terms of size and weight, the A1000 is subsequently slightly bigger and heavier than its predecessor, measuring 114.2 x 71.7 x 40.5mm and weighing 330g, but we feel that this slight increase is worth it given the inclusion of the EVF.

Or it would be, if the EVF wasn't quite such a disappointment. Maybe we've been spoiled by the viewfinder on the admittedly much more expensive Sony Cyber-shot RX100 VI, but the one of the Coolpix A1000 only has half the resolution, 1166k-dots versus 2350k-dots on the Sony, in the same 0.5cm sized viewfinder. This results in a rather grainy display that is really only suitable for light, rather than all-day, use.

The EVF does feature a handy sensor that detects when you hold the camera up to your eye and automatically switches from the rear LCD screen to the EVF. Alternatively, you can use the button immediately to the right of the viewfinder to toggle between the two displays.

In addition to making the camera slight bigger and heavier, the addition of the EVF to the Nikon A1000 has also required a reworking of the tilting LCD screen on the rear, which in contrast to the A900 camera now flips below the camera for easier selfies, rather than above it as before. The screen can also be tilted to face downwards, which is useful if you’re holding the camera over your head to get a high angle shot.

From the front, the two cameras look very similar. The A1000 has gained a new customisable Function button which by default selects the Continuous Shooting mode (also including Interval Timer Shooting, but which can be configured to one of seven other different settings. We set it to ISO speed, as there's no dedicated control on this camera for that key setting.

Front of the Nikon Coolpix A1000

The Coolpix A1000 also has a subtly redesigned hand-grip, which we found easier to grip and general nicer to use than the one on the A900. On the rear of the camera there’s a small thumb rest area, which is also coated in a rubberised material. Other than those two changes, the cameras are very similar, with both using the same 35x, 24-840mm lens with variable maximum apertures of f/3.4-6.9, depending where you are in the focal range.

Moving to the top of the camera, the pop-up flash on the A1000 has been moved in-line with the centre of the lens in order to accommodate the new EVF. There’s a switch just below it which you need to slide across to make it pop up. When you’re done with it, you just have to push it back into place.

Alongside the pop-up flash unit is a dedicated Shooting Mode dial with exactly the same settings as offered by the A900, which allows you to quickly switch between the different exposure modes on offer. As well as the usual automatic and scene modes you might expect from a point-and-shoot, here you’ll also find P/A/S/M semi-automatic and manual modes. There’s also a “creative” mode found here, as well as the “Short Movie Show” mode.

Also on top of the Nikon Coolpix A1000 is a rectangular on/off button, which is found just below the shutter release button. Around the shutter release is the zoom rocker switch for controlling the zoom lens. It’s a little on the small side, but it feels relatively sturdy. Zooming the lens in and out is quite smooth, and it reaches the telephoto end of the optic pleasingly quickly.

Rear of the Nikon Coolpix A1000

You will see a zoom indicator on the display - if you attempt to go into the digital zoom (there are two available), then first it will change to a blue colour, and then afterwards it will change to a yellow colour. You have to hold down the zoom switch for a second before the digital zoom will activate - a noticeable pause to help you avoid using it if you don’t want to.

New to the Nikon A1000 are two controls located on the side of the lens barrel - the side zoom control and snap-back zoom button. The former control essentially replicates the function of the rocker switch on the top-plate with a slightly more convenient switch that's bigger and controlled by your left hand instead of your right.

The snap-back zoom button is handy when you're using the longer focal lengths - as its name suggests, it quickly zooms out back through the range to give a wider view, allowing you to find your subject more easily. It then either automatically returns to the previous focal length after about a second or so, or you can keep holding it down if you need longer to find the subject.

The final dial on top of the Nikon Coolpix A1000 is unmarked because it has different functions depending on when you’re using it. It is used to alter certain settings - for example aperture when in aperture priority, or shutter speed when in shutter priority. You can also use the dial to scroll through images in playback. If you’re shooting in manual mode, the dial on the top will be used to alter aperture, while the thumb-controlled dial on the back of the camera can be used to alter shutter speed.

Top of the Nikon Coolpix A1000

New to the A1000 is the ability to save your files in both JPEG and Raw formats (Nikon's NRW format), allowing for more flexibility during post-processing. Coupled with the fact that you can take full manual control of this camera, it makes the A1000 more appealing as a pocketable second camera for more serious enthusiasts.

Moving to the rear of the Nikon Coolpix A1000, there’s the usual array of buttons we’ve come to expect from cameras of this type - in fact, the A1000 is identical to the A900, with one exception - the snap-back zoom button, which is now on the side of the lens barrel, has changed to a very handy AE-L/AF-L button.

There’s a four-way navigational pad, with each directional key doubling up to a specific function, for example the left key is for the drive mode or timer, the up key is to alter flash mode, the down key is to switch on macro focusing (and off again), and the right key is to access the exposure compensation setting.

Other buttons on the rear of the A1000 include a video record button, a playback button, a delete button and the main menu button. There’s also an OK button in the middle of the four way navigational pad, which you can use for a variety of menu adjustments and so on.

Tilting LCD Screen

The previous A900 suffered in comparison to some of its rivals by not having a touchscreen - for 2019, Nikon have rectified that, so you can now use it to make changes to the camera's settings, change the AF point when shooting in any mode, and fire the shutter. You can also use the A1000's menu system by touching the screen too, something that is not always offered even by more recent cameras.

Just like its predecessor, the Nikon Coolpix A1000 is capable of shooting 4K video. To do this, you need to go into the Main Menu and change Movie Options to 2160/30p, because by default, the camera will record in 1080/60p. You can also change the frame rate to 25fps in order to record 25p 4K footage and 1080/50p footage. The camera has a Hybrid Vibration Reduction system when shooting video which combines optical and electronic VR to help keep your videos sharp and steady.

The Nikon Coolpix A1000 starts up very quickly, going from completely off to ready to shoot in approximately one second. Moving through the menu systems and playing back images is also very speedy, and the camera is also very responsive when shooting JPEG files. It can shoot up to 10 frames at 10fps, but this is only with AF/AE locked at the first exposure, and for JPEGs only. Note that the camera also becomes unresponsive for about 10 seconds while it clears the buffer.

The Nikon Coolpix A1000 In-hand

Sadly, though, things slow down even more when shooting RAW files, with a delay of least a couple of seconds before you can take the next image in single shot mode. You can also only take around 3-4 RAW frames in a burst before the camera locks up completely again in order to buffer them. Considering this is one of the major upgrades to the A1000, the slow performance when shooting RAW is a disappointment.

In good lighting conditions, the contrast-detection autofocus system is very quick and generally also accurate. However, it can struggle a little in lower light, even though there is a focus assist lamp to help things along. The macro mode allows you to get very close to your subject to fill the frame which is great - there is also almost no instances of a false confirmation of focus, too.

Like many of Nikon’s newest models, the Nikon Coolpix A1000 is equipped with Snapbridge. This means that once you’ve set it up, the camera can maintain a low-power bluetooth connection with your smartphone to automatically transfer images and video across to your phone without having any additional input. You can either have images send across at full size or at a reduced size to save time (transferring over bluetooth is slower than over Wi-Fi). It’s a very handy tool that works well to take the hassle out of transferring your images ready for uploading to social networking - this may be particularly appealing to those who want to use the camera while on holiday.

Image Quality

Nikon have used a 16 megapixel 1/2.3-inch type back-side illuminated CMOS sensor in the new A1000, which promises to deliver better image quality than the Coolpix A900's 20 megapixel CMOS sensor. Unfortunately, that doesn't really turn out to be the case.

The Nikon Coolpix A1000 performs best when the light is good, and not so well when it isn't. In these conditions, the camera is capable of producing some nicely detailed images that can be printed up to A3 in size. If you examine them at 100%, though, even at the lower ISO sensitivities, it’s possible too see some instances of image smoothing in the JPEGs and noise in the RAW files.

Images taken at up to ISO 400 are good, but somewhat suprisingly noise is already prevalent at the relatively slow setting of ISO 800. At ISO 1600, you will probably want to stick to A4 or smaller prints, while at ISO 3200 and 6400, the quality degrades a little more and are only suitable for printing or sharing at very small sizes. Noise is problematic from ISO 800 onwards and you can often see some severe image smoothing in the JPEGs which gives a painterly effect when shooting in low light.

All of this is exacerbated by the need to shoot at higher ISOs in order to achieve a fast enough shutter speed when using the longer end of the camera's zoom, again something that is particularly true in low-light situations. Switching on image stabilisation does help you to get a blur-free shots at longer focal lengths, but sadly it's not the answer to the noisy images.

General purpose metering does a good job to produce balanced exposures, only requiring a little exposure compensation in scenarios where we’d usually expect it - such as very high contrast scenes. Colours are also nice and vibrant, having a good amount of punch without straying into unrealistic territory. Automatic white balance does reasonably well in most conditions, but it can err ever so slightly towards warmer tones under artificial light. You may also want to switch to the Cloudy setting when photographing under grey skies and you want to boost colours slightly.

Noise

The Nikon Coolpix A1000 has seven sensitivity settings ranging from ISO 100 to ISO 6400 at full resolution, available in both JPEG and Raw file formats.

JPEG	RAW
ISO 100 (100% Crop)	ISO 100 (100% Crop)
ISO 200 (100% Crop)	ISO 200 (100% Crop)
ISO 400 (100% Crop)	ISO 400 (100% Crop)
ISO 800 (100% Crop)	ISO 800 (100% Crop)
ISO 1600 (100% Crop)	ISO 1600 (100% Crop)
ISO 3200 (100% Crop)	ISO 3200 (100% Crop)
ISO 6400 (100% Crop)	ISO 6400 (100% Crop)

Focal Range

The Nikon Coolpix A1000’s 35x zoom lens achieves a maximum wide-angle focal length equivalent to 24mm, and is capable of a telephoto reach of 840mm (in 35mm camera terms).

24mm

840mm

Chromatic Aberrations

Given the range of the zoom lens, the Nikon Coolpix A1000 shows some obvious purple fringing in areas of high contrast, as shown in the examples below.

Macro

The Nikon Coolpix A1000’s lens will focus as close as 1cm from a subject, however depth of field becomes very shallow at this extremely close distance.

Flash

The pop-up flash on the Nikon Coolpix A1000 has four settings: Auto, Auto with red-eye reduction, Fill flash & Slow sync. Shooting a white surface from a distance of 1.5m, the flash provides even coverage with the lens zoomed in, though some vignetting is visible in the wide-angle shot.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (24mm)

Flash On - Wide Angle (24mm)

Flash Off - Telephoto (840mm)

Flash On - Telephoto (840mm)

Whether the flash is set to standard Auto mode – or Auto with red-eye reduction – the camera successfully avoids any trace of red-eye.

Flash Off

Flash On

Flash On with Red-eye Reduction

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Nikon Coolpix A1000 camera, which were all taken using the 16 megapixel High JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample RAW Images

The Nikon Coolpix A1000 enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We've provided some Nikon RAW (NRW) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

Sample Movie & Video

Product Images

Conclusion

With the addition of an integrated electronic viewfinder, RAW file support, touchscreen operation, and a back-side illuminated CMOS, Nikon have attempted to make the new Coolpix A1000 more appealing to more serious photographers. Unfortunately, the EVF is hard to use, the RAW files slow the camera down too much, and the image quality from the tiny 1/2.3-inch sensor is no better than a smartphones. Add in a substantial price hike, and the Coolpix A1000 ends up being somehow less appealing than its predecessor, despite offering more on paper.

Its main attraction remains the 35x zoom lens. The Nikon Coolpix A1000 is a great compact camera if you’re looking for something to take on your travels, offering a lot in a reasonably small package, and if your main concern is a high zoom ratio, then it's a good choice. And once again, it produces high quality images under the right lighting conditions, and not only that, gives you full manual control if you desire it - making it a good choice for enthusiast photographers.

But the addition of two features that we asked for when reviewing the Coolpix A900 back in 2016 - RAW support and low-light performance - turn out to be something of a double-edged sword. Sure, you can now shoot RAW files on a camera that you can fit in your pocket, but the A1000 takes so long to process them, even in single-shot mode, that you'll probably find yourself just shooting JPEGs all the time. The new, more sensible, 16 megapixel back-side illuminated CMOS sensor does very little to improve the image quality, with smearing of fine detail and noise evident in JPEGs and RAW files respectively from ISO 800 upwards, performance that's only comparable to a decent modern smartphone.

Equally, the new electronic viewfinder looks like a great addition on paper, but actually looking through it fro any length of time turns out to be a literally painful experience. It's simply too small and too low-resolution to use for longer periods of time. Again this is a feature that more serious photographers should love, but considering its inclusion increases both the size and cost of the A1000, we kind of wish that Nikon hadn't bothered.

With a launch price tag that's £50 higher than the A900, the A1000 costs 13% more in order to accommodate the new features and weather the Brexit storm. If all of those new features worked well, we would have said that the price rise was a fair one, but given that they don't, the new Nikon A1000 is even more of a hefty investment than its predecessor was, at a time when compact cameras have all but been obliterated by smartphones.

Ultimately, the Nikon Coolpix A1000 falls between two stools - it's probably now too expensive and complex for people looking for a simpler travel-zoom, and too poor in terms of image quality and performance to satisfy more demanding photographers. We'd be very surprised if the Coolpix A1100 ever sees the light of day in 2022...

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	3.5
Features	4
Ease-of-use	3.5
Image quality	3
Value for money	3

Main Rivals

Listed below are some of the rivals of the Nikon Coolpix A1000.

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Nikon Coolpix A1000 from around the web.

Specifications

News

Nikon have announced a new super-zoom camera, the Coolpix A1000. The Nikon A1000 boasts a 35x optical zoom (24–840mm), a new built-in electronic viewfinder, a tilting touchscreen monitor, 4K movies and RAW image recording.

It will be available from 31st January 2019 in the UK priced at £409 and in March in the US at $479.95.

Nikon UK Press Release

MEET NIKON’S NEW COOLPIX SUPER-ZOOM THAT LOVES TO EXPLORE

RRP/Sales Start:

	UK(£)	IE(€)	On Sale
A1000	409	469	31/01/19

London, United Kingdom, 17^th January 2019: Nikon introduces two new COOLPIX super-zooms packed with powerful features and boasting NIKKOR optics for stunning images. From distant views to city streets, these lightweight, easy-to-use compact cameras deliver sharp wide-angle to super-telephoto images—even in low light.

The COOLPIX A1000 boasts a 35x optical zoom, a new built-in electronic viewfinder, and RAW image recording. A superb travel companion, this camera lets users move from atmospheric wide-angle to detailed super-telephoto shots with ease. It shoots 4K movies, and features a tilting touchscreen monitor that makes it easy to compose shots from intriguing angles.

Yoshihiro Katakami, Product Manager at Nikon UK, comments: “Both of these cameras are fantastic options for users who want to explore their creative side. The wide-angle to super-telephoto zoom range frees users to shoot almost any subject. Nikon’s 16 MP back-side illuminated CMOS sensor and Vibration Reduction help deliver superb results in low light. And SnapBridge makes it easy to share the best shots, or use a smart device to shoot remotely.” ¹

Nikon COOLPIX A1000 Key Features

NIKKOR 35x optical zoom lens. Focal length of 24–840mm.² Extends to approx. 1680 mm with Dynamic Fine Zoom.³ 

4K movies. Record stunning 4K/UHD 30p video footage, or Full HD at up to 60 fps.

Large electronic viewfinder. High-contrast, 1160k-dot electronic viewfinder (EVF) for clear visibility.

Tilting touchscreen. The bright 3 inch, 1036k-dot LCD monitor can be tilted in almost any direction.

Smooth zoom control. The side zoom control and snap-back zoom button make it easy to adjust the zoom quickly and smoothly.

RAW support. Users can save and export uncompressed image files to processing/editing programs.

Image Gallery

Click on a thumbnail to see the full version.

Preview Images

Ahead of our full review, here are some sample JPEG and Raw images taken with the new Nikon Coolpix A1000 compact camera. The Nikon Coolpix A1000 is a super-zoom compact camera that features a 35x zoom lens (24-800mm), electronic viewfinder, 4K video recording, a tilting 3-inch LCD display and a 16-megapixel sensor.

A gallery of sample images taken with the Nikon Coolpix A1000 compact camera.

Nikon Coolpix A1000 Sample Images

Sample RAW Images

The Nikon Coolpix A1000 enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We've provided some Nikon RAW (NRW) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

Sample Movie & Video

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