The world finally seems to be waking up to the fact that a dedicated camera’s zoom lens offers far more versatility than a smartphone camera. The problem? Few brands actually still make compacts that aren’t pricey high-end options with a fixed, non-zooming lens. I was excited to see Nikon refresh its bridge camera lineup last week with the P1100. But, if you ask me, the camera in Nikon’s past that deserves to be brought back from the dead to meet today’s trends is the Nikon Coolpix P7000.
Introduced in 2010, the Nikon Coolpix P7000 offers a 28-200mm equivalent lens that’s a bright f/2.8 at the wide end, though that narrows to an f/5.6 at the long end. Unlike the P1100, it's a compact camera with a pocketable design. The 1/1.7-inch sensor isn’t as impressive as some of the other high-end compacts of that era, but the zoom, compact size and mix of controls has a lot in common with the Canon G7X series popular among influencers for its flattering zoom lens.
