Nikon P510 Advice Please.

Hi All,

First a little back ground, I love taking photos of things but am far from even being an amateur photographer. I Like travelling to places and went to Las Vegas towards the end of last year. Annoyingly, I felt I missed out on many great photos due to lack of decent equipment. I currently use a Kodak Playsport and an Olympus point and shoot.

Whilst I could often get decent photos in the day, any photo and video I shot at night was naturally rubbish, due to the harsh contrast of low light/bright lights.

So I'm looking at buying a Nikon P510, it's currently ~£240, and this is about the most I can justify spending on a camera.

I've read plenty of reviews and opinions and think this camera offers the best value for the money I'm willing to pay.

But there's a few questions I can't seem to find answers too and thought I'd sign up here and see if anyone can help. Especially, since I'm re-visiting Las Vegas and visiting New York for the first time later this year, I want to make sure I get the right camera for me and know how to use it!

1 - Presumably, this camera will be fully capable of shooting decent/good photos of well light cities/cityscapes?
2 - I am looking at getting a Gorillapod however it's not clear which one I can get that will support the P510. I've seen websites claiming the Original (GP1?) will be fine. However, the max weight for the GP1 is supposed to be 200-something grams, and the P510 weights 500+ grams. Does anyone have any experience with these?
3 - Does anyone have any (free ideally) recommended reading for photography beginners?

Many thanks for any help/advice in advance.
Dex

Dexter1759 wrote: 1 - Presumably, this camera will be fully capable of shooting decent/good photos of well light cities/cityscapes?
2 - I am looking at getting a Gorillapod however it's not clear which one I can get that will support the P510. I've seen websites claiming the Original (GP1?) will be fine. However, the max weight for the GP1 is supposed to be 200-something grams, and the P510 weights 500+ grams. Does anyone have any experience with these?
3 - Does anyone have any (free ideally) recommended reading for photography beginners?

1) Hard to say, as I don't own one. And it's not the camera, it's the photographer. That model looks to have some flexibility allowing for growth, which seems a reasonable entry point for a new photographer.

2) I wouldn't risk it. The specs on the GP1 say 362 grams, but the P510's 550 grams is quite a bit more than that.

3) There is tons of free material on this site, as well as on the interweb. Figure out your starting point (exposure, aperture, focus, composition, etc) and google for tutorials on that subject. It's unlikely you'll find a free book, but it may be more beneficial to locate information on a specific area as you progress.

Dex welcome to the site. I own a P510 and love the camera. it has quite a bit of low light capability as you will see from my examples. It has a wide array of features and user friendly settings for 99% of your shooting situations.
Daylight

Dusk

Night with fireworks



Indooors

As you can see it has a lot that it can do well and will allow your growth as a photographer so it should serve you well in Las Vegas and New York.

I used the P510 exclusively for about 8 months last year. So this ... www.flickr.com/photos/bobmitchellphoto/ ... could be considered a P510 portfolio.

It's a good, versatile, little camera. You can do a lot with it. It does have its limitations.
a) The lens won't accept a filter. Only a problem when you would really like to use a polarizer or ND.
b) It won't go slower than 8 seconds. So for night shots you pretty much have to use its "night landscape" scene mode. That feature works very well but, still, there are some types of night shots that you just cannot do.
c) It's a really tiny sensor so you're not going to get really sharp (large) images if you have to crop severely. The other side of that coin is that the tiny sensor gets you that great zoom reach so maybe you can frame the shot to avoid severe cropping.
d) Since you're always using either the EVF or the LCD, it's always draining juice. Four hours or 150-160 shots is the most I got from a charge. Always carry at least one spare battery.

1) Check my "Boston" set on flickr. There's a mix of day & night shots there. You judge.

2) It's too heavy for the original Gorillapod.

3) What Gary said

The Nikon P7100 and Olympus XZ-1 both sell for about the same price. Both have a larger sensor and a faster lens. Some links that may be helpful -

www.photographytalk.com/forum/photograph...ually-focus-at-night

www.photographytalk.com/forum/landscape-...t-time-long-exposure

www.photographytalk.com/photography-arti...g-the-perfect-tripod

www.picturecorrect.com/tips/how-to-take-great-photos-at-night/

www.expertphotography.com/4-steps-to-mas...e-night-photography/

www.digital-photo-secrets.com/tip/1579/n...-the-world-at-night/

Kelly Cook

Wow thanks for the advice/links/photos. Much appreciated.

I forgot to say one of the things that appeals to me is the long zoom lens, and 1080p video recording, so the P71000 and XZ-1 are ruled out.

Some of the photos above are amazing, I didn't realise the P510 would manage shots as good as some of them.

All,

Thanks again for your help. After much, much reading I've just ordered my P510, case and 32GB SD card. I'm sure I'll be taking and sharing lots of photos.

Quite excited, this is my first "proper/grown-up" camera, only ever had compact point and shoots before.

Dex