Nikon P900 vs Canon SX60

Introduction

The Nikon P900 and the Canon SX60 HS, are two small sensor superzoom cameras that were introduced to the market in March 2015 and September 2014 respectively, but from the moment they’ve entered the market, photographers who had an opportunity to try them, have already witnessed their tremendously good capabilities!

Although there is an 18-month gap between them, the time frame isn’t that long to make a huge difference regarding their performance and technologies, hence, as you’re reading this review, you will notice that they share multiple similarities as well as differences which by default means that choosing which one is better will not be the easiest job in the world!

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Head To Head Comparison

Nikon P900

To begin with, the Nikon P900 has a well-built, mostly plastic construction that is followed by a deep secure grip that will offer you a stable and comfortable hold once you have the camera in your hands. Otherwise, the P900 is fairly robust, because it measures 4.1 x 5.5 x 5.5″ (HWD), weighs 2 pounds, and if you take a closer inspection at these dimensions, you may notice that this camera is even larger and heavier than some SLRs who employ kit lens on them!

On the top, there is a small function button of which you can take advantage in order to gain a quick access to a wide variety of different options, a Mode dial, On/Off button and a shutter-release button, while on the rear, you can notice that the controls are spread mostly on the right and that the left part is free. The reason behind this is the presence of the 3″ fully articulating screen with a resolution of 921k-dots that will let you shoot from awkward angles, while on the other side, since you can fold it when not in use, the screen will remain protected in long-term which is awesome.

The electronic viewfinder is positioned slightly above, and in my opinion, I think that you will be satisfied by it because your eyesight will be pretty adequate for framing shots, but what got my attention as well, is the presence of an eye sensor, something that does not happen often with cameras in this range.

Moreover, the connection ports consist of a micro HDMI port, standard micro USB port, single memory card slot that supports SD/SDHC/SDXC cards, and it has a built-in Wi-Fi, NFC and GPS support which is surely one of the biggest highlights about this camera, because you will never face difficulties when it comes to transferring your photos and videos with compatible devices!

Speaking of the performance, the P900 employs a 16MP CMOS sensor, an 83x optical zoom which is indeed impressive, native ISO sensitivity of 100-6400 that is expandable up to 100-12,800, and a burst shooting speed of 7 fps!

For your information, the P900 is a truly versatile performer that captures lifelike imagery in day and night, and it will let you experiment with the ISO sensitivity while maintaining the presence of blur in an appropriate manner.

To be more precise, if you shoot at lower ISO settings, you will be impressed without a doubt, due to the fact that the details are really preserved, they look strong and the overall quality is superb! At ISO 1600, blur becomes more pronounced, but still, images look sharp and will maintain being so, if you don’t try to reach the ISO 6400 which decreases the picture quality, and if you’re not situated at extremely poor light levels, I would not recommend you going this far.

Unfortunately, you will be restricted to shoot JPEGs only which is a huge disadvantage for advanced users who would like to try themselves capturing RAW images, but still, if you’re new in photography, you won’t have problems at all.

Before we move to the next section, I’d like to note that I wouldn’t recommend you shoot portrait photography with this camera because of its small 1/2.3″ sensor, but this does not apply only to the P900 but also with any other camera with such a small sensor. But, feel free to capture street photography because the results are very good, whereas, for sports and landscape photography, keep in mind that the results are average for sports, and below average for landscape photography.

Last but not least, the P900 records videos at 1080p60 quality in QuickTime format, and to be honest, the footage is crisp enough to keep you satisfied most of the time, however, be prepared to notice some jitter to the footage especially if tripod is something that you usually work with. Otherwise, the stabilization system is adequate for handheld video recording and I don’t have remarks regarding this part.

Nikon Coolpix P900 Sample Images:

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Canon SX60

The Canon SX60 HS as was the case with its opponent, the P900, boasts a robust body that measures 3.6 x 4.5 x 5″ and weighs approximately 1.4 pounds, however, it is a bit more lightweight and compact.

In addition, I really like its deep grip which is textured as well, mainly because of the fact that even though it is robust, you may unlikely have difficulties holding it in your hands because the textured material adds a higher level of security and comfort for your ultimate user experience!

If you take a look at the top part of the body, you can see a Mode dial, a shutter release button, a scrolling dial which is set in front of the mode dial, a multi-functional Shortcut button that will grant you an access to 18 different functions, and a hot shoe that occupies the top-center part of the body. In comparison to the P900 who lacks hot shoe, the presence of hot shoe makes the Canon SX60 receive more credits in my honest opinion.

On the rear, the controls are spread on the right side of the body and there’s also a single button on the front. The control layout is kind of compressed and this is nothing to be surprised of, due to the fact that as was the case with the P900, this camera also has a 3″ vari-angle LCD screen. Thanks to its presence, users will never have issues shooting at unusual angles because this screen will offer you a huge freedom in terms of making adjustments, while on the other hand, the resolution of 922k-dot plus its brightness, will undoubtedly set your shooting experience to a whole new level!

Moreover, the electronic viewfinder of the SX60 is somewhat better than the P900, not only because of the 922k-dot resolution which beats the P900 by 1000dots, but also because it is bright enough to offer you a crystal clear sight when capturing subjects even in very bright sunlight!

The connections options are composed of an HDMI port, USB 2.0 port, memory card slot that supports SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards, external mic jack, and has a built-in support for Wi-Fi and NFC. If we make a quick comparison to the P900 who is Wi-Fi, NFC and GPS-enabled, the Canon SX600 HS lacks only GPS, and I will leave this up to you to decide whether P900 or SX60 HS is better at this point. Personally, I think that the key aspect of connections is that a typical camera should be Wi-FI/Bluetooth/NFC-enabled, and GPS may not offer you a huge advantage, although this is just a personal opinion.

Speaking of the performance, the SX60 HS incorporates a 16.1MP, 1/2.3″ CMOS sensor, a DIGIC 6 image processor, an optical zoom of 65x, has a continuous shooting rate of 6.3fps and has native ISO range of 100-3200 that is expandable to 6400 in low light mode at low resolution).

At a glance, the SX60 HS and P900 do really share similar components, but let’s see what you can expect from the SX60 HS once you start shooting.

First of all, I would like to inform you that this camera produces images of exceptional quality, regarding if you’re shooting during the day or night. Colors are vibrant and details are indeed delightful, they look sharp even if the pictures are taken in close-ups.

Moving on, you can achieve great results with the SX60 HS if you shot between ISO 100-400, because noise is set to the minimum, but, if you reach ISO 800, you will notice that the noise is getting more pronounced and reaches its peak at ISO 1600-3200, and therefore, I’d not recommend you reach the ISO 1600-3200 levels.

In comparison to the P900, the SX60 outputs a poor performance for shooting portrait photography because of its small sensor, however, its sensor is capable of capturing images in RAW format, which is a great advantage on the contrary d to the P900 who lacks this.

Furthermore, results of landscape photography are below average, but slightly better than the P900, whereas, for sports photography, both cameras are close to each other, but the SX60 outputs a bit better performance.

Finally, this camera will let you record Full HD videos at 60 fps, and yet again, the main advantage that SX60 has is the inclusion of a microphone and the external mic input which may cause your video footage to have a way better sound. If we take this aside, the footage quality is really good, and it looks wonderful at high zoom as well, however, the quality is somehow lost in low light, but not that much to disappoint you.

Canon SX60 Sample Footage:

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Nikon P900 vs Canon SX60 Feature Comparison

	Nikon P900	Canon SX60
Camera Type	Bridge(DSLR-like)	Bridge(DSLR-like)
Megapixels	16.0	16.1
ISO Range	100-3200; 6400	100-3200;6400
Flip-Out Screen	Yes	Yes
AF Points	99 AF points	9 AF Points
Viewfinder	Yes	Yes
Touchscreen	No	No
Video Recording	Yes	Yes
Sensor Size	BSI-CMOS	BSI-CMOS

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Conclusion

Since we reach to this point, I’m sure that you are still in doubt regarding which camera is better because both of them are very similar to each other, but also, I’m convinced that you are familiar with the advantages that each camera offers opposed to the other.

In order to simplify and help you bring the best decision, I would like to inform you about the key aspects of each camera, and the area where one of them beats the other.

For instance, the Nikon Coolpix P900 has a better max shutter speed ( 1/4000s vs 1/2000s) and a better continuous shooting rate (7fps vs 6.4fps). The battery life is similar, both cameras aren’t spectacular, but the P900 will let you capture up to 360 pictures, whereas the SX60 HS can handle up to 340 shots. Finally, the P600 has an optical zoom of 83x while the SX60 HS has 65x.

On the other side, the SX60 HS employs an external hot shoe that comes handy especially if you opt to capture flash photography, and the P900 lacks this.

Also, the SX60 HS can shoot RAW format, while the SX60 can’t, and the inclusion of a microphone port may offer you a better experience if you want to try yourself recording quality footage.

What both of them have in common is the resolution of the viewfinder, the lack of 4K, and the fact that both of them share an articulating screen and are Wi-Fi enabled.

If you ask me, I’d give a chance to the P900 because it is newer and its performance is a bit better than the P900.

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