Rating of the best Nikon cameras for 2022

It would be great to be able to use your memory like folders on a computer or smartphone: if you want to remember any moment in your life, just open the desired folder with an image and plunge into the past, viewing the image with all the details. But, alas, our memory is not so phenomenal, in order to resume any of the moments lived to the smallest detail. Fortunately, a camera comes to the rescue, the main task of which is to capture any moment.

Our article presents a rating of the best and highest quality cameras from Nikon. For beginners, we will provide recommendations that will help you choose the type of camera you need.

A bit of history

People were able to get the first image back in the 4th-5th century BC.In the role of the camera was a camera obscura, which is a light-tight box with a small hole in one of the four walls. The result was an inverted photograph of a small format. And the first color photograph was obtained only in 1861, James Maxwell became the “pioneer”.

What are the cameras

Digital cameras can be divided into 5 types:

• Ultra-compact. There are many people who want to capture as many moments as possible during the day, but few of them want to carry around a standard-sized camera that takes up a lot of space and at the same time has a lot of weight. It is for such people that ultra-compact cameras are suitable, which, despite their compact size, have a fairly large LCD screen. The screen size can reach up to 2.5 inches. The ultra-compact device has a beautiful and bright appearance.
  If we talk about the minuses of an ultra-compact device, then there are a lot of them, but at the same time the user will be able to get very good photos. Of the minuses, we highlight the following: the lack of a variety of manual settings, the small size of the matrix, the proximity of the buttons, the small battery capacity.
• Compact. Compact cameras, they are also "Soap dishes" - this is an excellent option for reproducing amateur photography. The larger size, in contrast to ultra-compact cameras, only wins. Since the large dimensions allow you to easily place the buttons of the device at an acceptable distance from each other, in order to exclude accidental pressing and simply inconvenient use.
  Also, the compact device has a number of other advantages: a variety of manual settings, improved optics, the ability to use a tripod to stabilize the image.Also, the presence of models with a swivel screen, macro mode, good battery capacity.
  Compact cameras perform well in good lighting conditions, but at night or in poor lighting conditions in the evening, the user will have to work hard to get an average image quality.
• Ultrazooms. Ultrazooms have a very impressive appearance. From a distance it may seem that in the hands of a professional expensive camera. This effect gives a large lens, there are also large bodies. Basically, ultrazooms have similar parameters to compact cameras. Their main difference is a wide zoom range and more functional optics. This type of device is an excellent, inexpensive, alternative to SLR cameras. Expensive cameras have a minimum focal length of 50x, budget options - 20x.
  Ultrazooms are far from SLR cameras, they cannot boast of a large sensor size and create photographs of the highest quality. But for representatives of their price segment, the devices do their job perfectly, showing very good image quality.
• Semi-professional mirrorless. Semi-professional cameras are designed for beginner photographers as well as for experienced amateurs. Mirrorless cameras have high sensor characteristics, it is possible to change the lens, support for saving photos in RAW format and large flash cards, good battery capacity, as well as advanced manual settings. With proper use, shots taken with a mirrorless camera are extremely difficult to distinguish from professional shots.
• Mirrored. Cameras for professionals are able to make shots of the highest quality.The devices have high resolution, a large memory buffer, an optical viewfinder, a large fleet of optics, interchangeable lenses, fast focusing, high-speed shooting, excellent ergonomics and a huge list of possible manual settings.

Rating of the best Nikon cameras

The rating includes cameras of the following categories:

• The best professional SLR cameras are Nikon D850 Body and Nikon D750 Body;
• Best mirrorless camera - Nikon Z 6 Kit;
• Best superzoom camera - Nikon Coolpix P1000;
• The best compact camera is Nikon Coolpix P310.

Nikon D850 Body

The flagship SLR camera supports interchangeable lenses, Nikon F mount. The CMOS sensor is a full frame 35.9 x 23.9 mm, with a resolution of 45 megapixels, backlight support and cleaning function. The camera has an extensive range of light sensitivity - from 64 to 25600, it is possible to expand up to 102400. The shooting speed is up to 7 frames per second as standard, when using the battery grip, the shooting speed increases to 9 frames per second.

The D850 features a 2.359k-dot tilting touchscreen display. The display angle is about 120 degrees up and 90 degrees down. The 3.2-inch LCD screen has good color reproduction and brightness.When using the Live View mode, you can display the grid, basic settings, virtual horizon and histogram on the screen. In tracking mode, the focus points, the horizon grid are displayed in the viewfinders. The mirror TTL viewfinder has a 100% field of view.

SLR camera features:

• Support for photos in JPEG, TIFF and RAW formats, video - MP4 and MOV. Frame size is supported up to 8256 x 5504 pixels, video resolution up to 3840 x 2160 pixels;
• Support for low-resolution shooting up to 26 or 11 megapixels;
• Support SDHC, SDXC, SD and XQD memory cards;
• Silent electronic shutter mode in Live View mode;
• Phase detection autofocus has 153 AF points, of which 99 are cross-type. Only 55 points are available for use, the remaining 98 points are used as auxiliary points to increase the accuracy of focusing. Live View uses contrast focusing;
• For night shooting, the buttons are backlit;
• Exposure with exposure and exposure X-Sync, manual adjustment, automatic processing, exposure compensation, metering and bracketing;
• Video recording in 4K format without crop, at up to 30 frames per second;
• SnapBridge application, for transferring finished images of the original format to a smartphone;
• One-piece magnesium alloy body with dust and splash resistance.

Nikon D850 Body takes pictures of the highest quality, with excellent color reproduction and detail. The camera shows minimal noise when ISO is set to 25600 (below is an example photo taken at ISO 6400 at night). Focusing works at lightning speed even in the dark.

Nikon D850 Body - suitable for professional shooting of any format, whether it's landscape or portrait shooting. This model will be an excellent partner for professionals.

• ease of use;
• silent shooting mode;
• high ISO range;
• excellent burst shooting speed;
• fast and high-quality autofocus;
• button illumination;
• tilt display;
• high quality footage.

• in Live View mode, focusing is somewhat slower.

Nikon D750 Body

The Nikon D750 Body full-frame DSLR is a cheaper representative of the Body line, which has a number of high performance. The D750 has a good build quality: the body is made of high-strength plastic and magnesium alloy. There is protection against dust and splashes.

The device has a 3.2-inch tilting LCD display with a resolution of 1,230,000 pixels. The viewfinder field of view is 100%, the magnification is 0.7x.

The full-frame CMOS sensor is expressed in size of 35.9 x 24 mm and a resolution of 24.3 megapixels. The matrix has a cleaning function. The maximum possible resolution is 6,016 x 4,016 dots. Light sensitivity range from ISO 100 to ISO 51200, color depth - 42 bits.The camera shows great results at high ISOs: up to 1600 the picture is perfect, as well as at 100, when choosing 3200 you can notice a little noise. From ISO 12 800 it is necessary to set manual noise reduction (below is an example photo when choosing ISO 100 and ISO 1 600).

The Multi-CAM 3500 II autofocus system consists of 51 points, 15 of which are cross points. The speed and accuracy of phase detection autofocus is excellent even in the dark. However, the speed of autofocus can be somewhat frustrating when choosing Live View mode, but the quality will not suffer. The burst rate is 6.5 frames per second.

The D750 not only takes very high-quality photos, but also excels in video shooting. Stereo sound recording is available, Full HD, Flat mode. Photo and video settings are separated. Conveniently, the camera remembers all video settings, so you do not need to change the settings the next time you switch from photo to video.

Nikon D750 Body is an affordable, high-quality device that meets the declared characteristics and will perfectly cope with photo and video shooting at any time of the day.

• affordable price;
• compactness and lightness;
• accurate and fast phase autofocus;
• good ISO range;
• high quality photo and video filming;
• decent autonomy of work;
• vari-angle display.

• small memory buffer;
• slow autofocus in Live View;
• The camera is quite noisy in silent mode.

Nikon Z 6 Kit

The appearance of the Z 6 is practically no different from Nikon's SLR cameras. The device is easy to use and very light, as it is made of high-quality plastic. The case is protected from moisture and dust. On the back of the device is a 3.2-inch LCD screen. The display is rotatable, moves in a vertical plane and has 2,100,000 dots. The electronic viewfinder with 3.69 million dots covers 100% of the field of view.

A full frame CMOS sensor has 24.5 effective pixels. The maximum resolution is 6,048 by 4,024, the color depth is 42 bits, the crop factor is 1. There is a matrix cleaning function.

Nikon Z 6 Kit has an excellent 5-axis stabilization system. Pictures are as clear as possible even at a shutter speed of 1/20. Also, the camera has excellent shooting speed, the maximum possible number is 12 frames per second.

The 273-point hybrid autofocus system quickly focuses on both moving and non-moving subjects. Frames are clear. Difficulties in the operation of autofocus arise in low light and in 3D tracking.

The camera has a wide sensitivity range: from ISO 50 to ISO 204800. When choosing ISO up to 800, there is no noise, ISO 1600 will have a little noise, and at 3200 and 6400 the noise will become much stronger, but the photo will be of good enough quality , especially in post-processing.
When externally recording via HDMI, you can use the advanced recording mode: 10-bit video, logarithmic tone curve.

Nikon Z 6 Kit is suitable for both professionals and experienced amateurs. The camera shows decent results in video and photography.

• excellent stabilization system;
• high working ISO;
• ergonomics;
• full-frame matrix;
• high speed and good clarity of autofocus;
• rotary display;
• excellent image quality;
• good autonomy.

• lack of a second slot for a memory card and support only for XQD format;
• AF performance is not good enough in low light.

Nikon Coolpix P1000

The Nikon Coolpix P1000 offers the best optical zoom in its class to date with a 125x 3000mm lens.

This model is very heavy, so when working with a tripod, be careful not to drop the camera. In addition, the weight of 1,415 g will not be comfortable for long-term use.

The camera is easy to operate, all elements are located within easy reach. On the back is a 3.2 inch LCD screen. The display can rotate sideways and vertically by 180 degrees.The built-in electronic viewfinder has 2,359,000 pixels. Below is a photo of the moon taken with the Nikon Coolpix P1000.

The device has a CMOS matrix with 16 effective megapixels. The pixel pitch is 1.34 microns, the crop factor is 5.62, the matrix size is 1/2.3. The maximum available resolution is 4608 by 3456.
To get a good result using the full capabilities of the camera at a focal length of 3000 mm, good lighting is necessary and the use of a tripod is mandatory. With insufficient lighting, unfortunately, it will be impossible to get a high-quality frame. Autofocus also performs well in sufficient light, but in low light there are problems.

The Nikon Coolpix P1000 has a macro mode, with a shooting speed of 7 frames per second and a minimum distance of 1 cm.

The minimum sensitivity range is 100, the maximum is 6400. But you won’t be able to use the entire range at the maximum focal length, since there is quite high noise up to ISO 800, and at ISO 1600 the quality is completely unsatisfactory.

The P1000 does a great job of shooting video, and the quality of the footage is excellent. The only thing is that there is no way to use the maximum approximation.

Please note that this model is not suitable for those who want to get perfect shots in any lighting with a maximum number of pixels. The Nikon Coolpix P1000 is a marvel for shooting wildlife, the planets of the solar system, and other shooting that requires maximum zoom.

• good photo quality with sufficient lighting;
• excellent stabilization system;
• high-quality work of the viewfinder and flash;
• unique optical zoom;
• good build quality.

• slow and noisy sensor;
• unsatisfactory photo quality in low light.

Nikon Coolpix P310

The compact camera is made of metal and plastic and has a matte paint finish on top that protects the camera from fingerprints and scratches. There are rubberized inserts for comfortable use.

Included with the camera are: strap, battery, AC adapter, video/audio cable, USB cable and software CD.

The BSI CMOS matrix is ​​expressed by 16.1 million effective pixels, the size is 1/2.3, the crop factor is 5.52. The maximum resolution is 4608 by 3456, which will allow you to print photos in fairly large sizes. Among the functionality of the device: built-in flash, automatic white balance and sync contact. There is an image stabilizer.

The camera lens has a high aperture ratio - f / 1.8-4.9, which, together with a good stabilization system, allows you to take high-quality pictures in any lighting conditions. The focal length of the camera is from 24 to 100.80 mm, the optical zoom is 4.20x. The shots are good. Movies recorded on the Nikon Coolpix P310 are also of good quality.

The focusing system makes an excellent statement during the day, but in low light, sharpness and speed are significantly reduced.The maximum speed for continuous shooting is 6 frames per second. The series consists of 5 shots. With a small resolution, you can get 60 and 120 frames per second.

The sensitivity range is from 100 to 12800. At ISO up to 400, the photos are practically absent, the detail is good, in the range of 800 - 1600 the noise increases significantly, the detail deteriorates. At the maximum range, there is a high level of noise and extremely unsatisfactory detail. Sample photo taken by Nikon Coolpix P310 below.

On the back of the device is a 921k-dot LCD screen. The image on the display is clear, manual focus is highly accurate. The screen has wide viewing angles, and for good visibility in sunny weather, an anti-reflective coating is provided.

Nikon Coolpix P310 shows good results, both photography and video. With a fairly low price, this is a great option for those who like to capture important or simply beautiful moments in life.

• effective operation of the optical stabilizer;
• high rates of luminosity;
• low noise level when choosing high ISO;
• many modes;
• good build quality;
• high quality photos and videos.

• in low light it is difficult to achieve good quality;
• low autonomy.

Conclusion

The review presented the best representatives of SLR, mirrorless, compact cameras, as well as ultrazooms from Nikon. Based on your needs and capabilities, you can choose the most suitable option for yourself.