Wetlands between Sułkowice and Gabryelin

Between Sułkowice and Gabryelin with its misnamed station lies swampy land lying alongside the Czarna ('black') river. A small part of this wetland is owned by Polish state forestry operator, Lasy Państwowe - the rest is unclaimed marsh. You can see this clearly from the train as it rushes past; recent track modernisation has focused on proper drainage to ensure the rail bed won't be washed away from underneath. The village that lies to the west of the tracks is called Ławki (ława = bench, ławka, diminutive of ława, therefore 'little bench', ławki, plural =little benches).

Below: the Czarna river demarcating the border between Sułkowice and Ławki, a Warsaw-bound Koleje Mazowieckie train heading north. I like the colour of the land at this time of year - burnt umber, yellow ochre, black, grey and white.

Below: across the Czarna, across the tracks, and into Little Benches from the north side. This is ulica Południowa ('South Street'); no asphalt.

I have long intended to explore this wetland when it ices over - sadly, the past week, which saw night-time temperatures reach lows of -9C, ended with a thaw, and there weren't enough consecutive days of deep frost for the whole area to freeze over. But I did manage to walk alongside the track on the dirt road restored (for access to the new pumping station) during the modernisation of the Warsaw-Radom railway line. Below: this is what I'm talking about - it would be brilliant to have ice thick enough to stroll out into these wetlands. Only deep in mid-winter can one have a nose around this submerged terrain. I'd be interested to see what wildlife I'd spot, even at this time of year.

Below: this is an extensive - some 30 hectares - area of no-man's land, too wet for trees, too wet to farm, between the railway line and the houses of Ławki.

Below: Ławki from the north. This is ul. Główna ('Main Street'), which received asphalt and a (very narrow) pavement around the time the railway modernisation reached these parts. Note the bus stop; from here, you can catch the L19 local service to Pieczyska. The next stop along, Ławki, is the nearest bus stop to my działka (5km as the crow flies); going the other way, the L19 runs all the way to Piaseczno. 'Gimbus', by the way, is the school bus to the local gimnazjum ('junior high').

Below: approaching Czachówek Południowy station, a southbound InterCity train on its way to Kraków. For some reason, around here, I'm getting a consistent flashback vibe to a day in the early 1960s when my parents and I visited friends of theirs who lived in Leytonstone, East London. I'm not sure what triggered this, but I could feel the klimat of that journey, right across London and back, quite clearly; I remember being struck by how comparatively poor the East End felt compared to West London.

Below: roadsign in Gabryelin; is it not time to change the icon for 'station' to something more modern than a steam loco? I associate this pictogram with a heritage railway site... Anyway, the building on the left in the distance is the local Carrefour Express. Last time I was here, in the summer, it was a Sunday, so it was closed. Today, I shall pop in to do a small shop. My hopes are for a decent sélection of French fromages and charcuterie...

But no. Another disappointing rural retail experience - Gabryelin's Carrefour Express has far more modest fare than Chynów's Top Market and is slightly more expensive. Small-format Żabka stores in Warsaw have a more varied and interesting range. So I buy some fruit and veg (no cheese - no choice!) then back to Czachówek Południowy station for the train back to Chynów. With over 60s discount, I pay 4.87zł (90p) for the 6km journey.

Below: stepping from a cold platform into a warm carriage for a short ride meant that the lens of my Nikon Coolpix A was fogged over as the train headed back past the lands I'd just walked over, yielding a pleasant Impressionist image. Everything between the tracks in the foreground to the distant treeline is boggy ground.

I hope there will yet be winters to come when these wetlands freeze over sufficiently for a full exploration deep into the reeds. I doubt such an opportunity will come before this spring.

This time three years ago:
Dark, wet, gloomy February - but no winter.

This time four years ago:
The filth and the fury

This time seven years ago:
Defining the human experience

This time nine years ago:
The City of Warsaw wants you to complain

This time ten years ago:
Czachówek's wild woods in winter

This time 11 years ago:
Vistula freezes over downstream of Warsaw 

This time 12 years ago:
Twilight of the Ikars

This time 13 year ago:
Polish TV adverts for parapharmaceuticals

This time 14 years ago:
Jeziorki wetlands in winter

This time 15 years ago:
A week into Lent

Night Crossings

Level crossings play their part in the aesthetics of railway travel. Every now and then, the regular rhythm of local comings and goings is disturbed by the clanging of bells, flashing of red lights and the dropping of barriers, announcing the imminent arrival of a train. The lights and bells begin more than three minutes before the train comes through, the barriers descend soon after. Few drivers bother to switch their engines off (it would save 2,400 revolutions of the typical engine idling at 800rpm - for a car with a two-litre engine that's 4,800 litres of emissions cut out, not to mention reduced fuel consumption and wear and tear on the cylinders). The train passes, the barriers rise, and several cars accelerate away. 

With an instinctive knowledge of train timetables, it's possible to judge which times to avoid - or when to come and snap some photos. Chynów station experiences a rush of trains around the half-past the hour mark, both local and express services passing both ways.

Now the Warsaw-Radom line is complete, nearly all ungated level crossings have been upgraded to the latest standards, even pedestrian-only crossings, such as the ones at Ustanówek or Krężel have little barriers and flashing lights. This makes things safer for local traffic. Accidents at level crossings are mercifully falling thanks to the EU-funded railway modernisation programme.

Darkness falls early; all the commuter trains to and from Warsaw pass through Chynów at night. Now's the time to get night shots from the local level crossings.

Below: the crossing between Chynów (in the foreground) and Węszelówka (across the tracks).  A double-decker przyspieszony (literally 'rushed' or 'hurried') limited-stop Koleje Mazowieckie train on its way to Skarżysko-Kamienna via Radom. When running to time, this services gets from W-wa Śródmieście to Chynów in just 39 minutes.

Below: the crossing between Chynów (foreground) and Widok across the tracks. In the distance, the lights of Chynów station. The passing train is the Koleje Mazowieckie all-stations service from Warsaw to Radom. It's often late as it has to make way for prioritised express trains, being held at stations with an extra track - Piaseczno, Czachówek Południowy, Chynów or Warka on this stretch.

Below: the crossing between Widok (foreground) and Chynów opposite. The InterCity express Orłowicz is on its way from Kraków to Olsztyn. This is the same crossing as the one above, taken minutes later from the other side of the tracks. In the distance, the lights of Chynów station.

Below: the crossing between Jakubowizna (foreground) and Chynów on the other side. A loco-hauled InterCity express, the San, bound for Przemyśl rushes through, approaching Chynów station.

All photos taken with my Nikon Coolpix A, hand-held with a one-second exposure (braced but no tripod) at f/2.8. This long-discontinued camera is excellent for nocturnal photography.

This time seven years ago:
Catesby Tunnel

This time nine years ago:
Crumbling King Coal, Katowice

This time ten years ago:
Street cries of Old Poland

This time 11 years ago:
The gorgeousness of Warsaw at dusk

This time 12 years ago:
I'm so glad I'm living in Warsaw

This time 13 years ago:
Candid photography

This time 14 years ago:
Archival photos of Jeziorki's Rampa in action

This time 15 years ago:
Red sky in the morning...

No new Nikon mirrorless for me, jednak

The hype has been relentless. Nikon Rumors website has been bashing on about this for a year and half, and finally on Thursday 23 August the swirling rumours were finally confirmed - Nikon is releasing two mirrorless cameras with interchangeable lenses and a full-size (35mm equivalent) sensors. Before the announcement, leaks, speculations, mock-ups, grainy approximations of the real thing - the Nikon world (that is those of us who are neither Canon nor non-photographers) was alight with heated discussion.

The two Nikons (Z7 with 46 megapixel sensor and Z6 with 25 MP) are intended to compete with a new generation of high-end cameras that dispense with the bulky mirror box of the single-lens reflex design. By doing so, the body is smaller and lighter, and the lens can be brought nearer the focal point. Many professional photographers, weighed down by the inherently large size of a DSLR camera, which is neither discrete nor silent, have been yearning for something smaller. Sony and Fuji have both developed very capable cameras in the mirrorless category that look likely to threaten the duopoly of Nikon and Canon. And so Nikon's response, a long time coming and much heralded.

So now we know more about these cameras - will I buy? Sadly no. As I wrote here six weeks ago, I do want a mirrorless camera with full-size sensor that takes interchangeable Nikon lenses. Below: a comparison of the relative sizes of sensors. The bigger the sensor, the greater the dynamic range (between absolute white - washed-out highlights - and absolute black - and densest shadow - where no more detail can be resolved).

But not one whose body alone weighs more more than twice as much as my current non-interchangeable-lensed, DX-sensored Nikon CoolPix A. Once a lens is added (one that has the same wide-angle coverage as the CoolPix A), the weight becomes over four times as much. (See chart below, click to enlarge).

Not to mention the price; the UK launch price for the Z7 with 24-70mm f4 kit lens will be £4,000, another £100 for the F-mount adaptor that allows the use of most Nikon lenses going back to 1959. (That's the best part of the Nikon system, almost total reverse compatibility.) But the money - it's nearly 20,000 złotys - will be better spent investing in the house on my działka.

However, it's difficult to shake off the camera fever going round the internet right now, so I upgraded the CoolPix A with the addition of an optical viewfinder, which saves me from having to pull out my reading glasses to compose on the camera's back screen. The simple optical viewfinder makes the CoolPix A handier in use, especially for grab-shots. Ah, yes, and a lens hood.

And so, Nikon, I wait. If Leica can make a full-frame mirrorless camera with interchangeable lenses and keep the weight down to just over 900g with 35mm f2 lens, why can't you.

This time four years ago:
Short, sharp diet proves I'm allergy-free

This time five years ago:
More photos from Radom Air Show

This time six years ago:
Twilight on ul. Karczunkowska 

This time nine years ago:
First hints of autumn in the air

This time ten years ago:
Slovakia - we were not impressed

This time 11 years ago:
Jeziorki - late August cultivation

New Nikons on the way!

Very excited by news that Nikon,  my camera-maker of choice, is about to release new models. Thanks to my neighbour Tomek for flagging up the impending release of the CoolPix P1000 superzoom with an amazing 24-3000mm (equivalent) lens. If its predecessor was impressive in the superzoom stakes with its 24-2000mm (equivalent) lens, the new beast will get you closer still to that wildlife, planes at cruising altitude, moon and distant objects. This will be an extreme piece of kit.

However... with such a narrow field of view when zoomed right out, it becomes tricky to hand-hold (despite the five-stop vibration reduction giving the sharpness of 1/3000th of a second shutter speed at 1/125th sec). Hunting around the sky or the pond for your subject can be frustrating at 2000mm (like trying to spot the moon with a straw held to your eye), let alone at 3000mm.

The other major downside of the P1000 is its size and weight; it weighs 1.4kg (compared to the 900g of the P900) and is longer, wider and taller. Having that extra half-kilo around your neck for any length of time becomes tiresome.

At the end of the day, both camera share the same tiny sensor (see this post for a comparison of Nikon sensors and what that means for image quality). Wide angle shots taken with superzooms are generally poor in terms of dynamic range - the bigger the sensor, the better it performs in low-light and with wide-angle lenses. Having said that, on a bright, sunny day, the results at the long end of the zoom are little short of miraculous, and the alternative (having to drag around real 3000mm lens for a full-frame sensored camera or a 2000mm lens for an APS-C sensored camera) is a task for weightlifters.

I think for my needs, I shall stick with the P900. With it, I've taken my best bird photos; for walks around Jeziorki's lakes on sunny days, it is unbeatable. I don't think that extra zooming ability compensates for the P1000's extra weight.

Below: photograph of today's half moon. Nikon CoolPix P900, lens at 357mm (2000mm equivalent), 1/160 sec, no tripod, f6.5, ISO 400. Quite amazing really. With the P1000, you'll be 50% closer to the moon, the ability to shoot .RAW means you'll be able to pull more detail out of the highlights (and shadows). More a demonstration of what's possible than anything arty or sciency.

On to the next Nikons due to appear soon. These I have been waiting for ever since I tested the Fuji X100; digital mirrorless cameras with full-frame sensors and interchangeable lenses. It's been a long wait! (blog post from last September here).

Rumoured to be called Nikon's Z-series cameras, these will dispense with the flip-up mirror arrangement of single-lens reflex cameras (such as my Nikon D3300). This makes - in theory, anyway - the camera smaller and lighter. Going back to the era of film cameras, this is visible in the size and weight of the Leica M-series rangefinder camera and the much bulkier professional Nikon and Canon SLR models. The Leica M is more discrete, happier in a street-photography environment than great big SLRs with motordrives and huge lenses.

Because there's no mirror in a rangefinder/mirrorless camera, the lenses can be placed nearer the film/sensor and thus be designed smaller and lighter. The promise of a smaller body and smaller lens is appealing to someone like me who can spend many hours walking with a camera hanging from the neck. Plus - the 'step up' to full-frame means higher image quality, more rewarding photos. I greatly enjoy using my Nikon CoolPix A mirrorless camera - it's compact and has a great lens - but the new cameras will have interchangeable lenses and a full-frame sensor. However - if it's too heavy - I'll not buy. Body and standard kit zoom lens together should weigh no more than 900g.

There are said to be two Z-series Nikons at launch; one will have a 45 megapixel sensor, the second a more-modest 24 MP sensor. I'd go the whole hog and spend the extra on the better-specced model, despite the price; it will have professional-quality robustness and should last for ages, plus (through a converter) it will be able to take all my old 35mm Nikkor lenses (28mm, 105mm f1.8, 55mm macro, 135mm and 35-70mm zoom). I'm looking forward to more news!

I have been reviewing my digital photos from the last few years and regret not having taken more using the .RAW format option. This allows you to extract more detail from the shadow and highlight areas of the photo than is possible in the compressed .jpg format. While .jpg is more than adequate for blogging, the quality is suboptimal for making large prints and really getting the most from the photo. I started shooting .RAW and .jpg (each snap gives two files) last September. This takes up more space on the memory card and more space on my desktop computer and back-up hard drive, but it is really worth it, especially when using the latest versions of Adobe Photoshop. Sadly, the Nikon CoolPix P900 does not have a .RAW option (the new P1000 does, but this won't swing my decision not to buy).

This time six years ago:
Work continues on S2, going under the railway lines

This time seven years ago:
Stand Easy! - a short story

This time ten years ago:
God Save The Queen - I mean it, Ma'am

This time 11 years ago:
Legoland, Dawidy Poduchowne

Proceed with utmost caution

Warsaw's first proper snowfall of the winter. Fifth consecutive day of sub-zero temperatures, with an overnight low of -9C. Time for a first stroll across the frozen pond. In my previous post, I noted that the ice wasn't thick enough for walking on. Last night walking home I saw a group of three youths testing the ice by jumping up and down on it - no one fell in.

Walking on new ice needs to be done with caution. Never be the first - nor the last - person of the season to go on it. Look for signs that someone's been before; footprints and bicycle tracks. Listen all the time for tell-tale sounds of ice cracking (whenever a plane took off overhead, I'd stop and wait, so I could hear properly). Above all, know your lake or pond, keep to the edges at first. Last year, there were over 54 days of ice cover on the ponds - this year's ice season will be shorter.

Anyway, off I go. Gingerly. Below: to my left is the northernmost wooden walkway skirting the top pond. Should the ice show any signs of cracking, I can make it to safety. Black patches are ice from which the powdery snow has blow off from.

Below: the middle walkway. At this stage, all is solid and sound, at least at this distance from the shore. To my right (well out of shot on this pic) is the last stretch of open water still unfrozen.

Below: the pier at the south end of the middle pond. Ice totally solid here.

Below: view across the lower pond, ul. Dumki to the left, houses on ul. Trombity on the right. Again, the ice is solid, the wind whipping snow off the surface.

Below: looking along the canal leading to the drainage ditch. Open water right of centre - this is where my ice-bound journey ends, and where I take to terra firma. Still, no ominous sounds.

Below: a Vivian Maier-style selfie with my camera, the Nikon CoolPix A. I love this little camera, so solid, great battery life, fabulous lens; sadly discontinued (if you find one now for sale, chances are it'll be around the original list price of $1,100. I bought mine for around $400, at the time 1,500zł, in April 2015.

A hour or so earlier, I left the office in the middle of a steady snowfall, below.

This time last year:
In which I see a wild boar crossing the frozen ponds

This time two years ago:
Communicating the government's case in English

This time four years ago:
Thinking big, American style. Can Poles do it?

This time five years ago:
Inequality in an age of economic slowdown 

This time six years ago:
The Palace of Culture: Tear it down?

This time eight years ago:
Conquering Warsaw's highest snow mounds

This time nine years ago:
Flashback on way to Zielona Góra

This time ten years ago:
Ursynów, winter, before sunrise 

Warsaw-London-Ealing

Once again, backwards and forwards, the Warsaw where I live, the London where I was born and lived, catching that atmosphere...

Rather than get ofp the train at St Pancras, I continued for another three stops to change at Blackfriars Bridge station (below), for this splendid view of the Thames and the City of London, with Tower Bridge in the distance, the Shard to the right.

Change at Blackfriars for the District Line and straight through to Ealing Broadway. Below: Haven Green, the Baptist church in the distance, a view that's quite Edwardian in atmosphere, modern traffic regardless. In a year or two, the CrossRail (Elizabeth Line) project will be complete, and this will make Ealing Broadway an even more important transport hub.

Below: St Stephen's church, converted to flats, again, that Edwardian feeling is there - when Ealing was rightly regarded as the Queen of the Suburbs.

Night falls on Ealing. Below: Mortimer Road

Below: Amherst Road by night.

Gallic touch in Ealing; a Citroen 2CV van on St Stephen's Road.

Flying back to Warsaw from Luton, afternoon sunshine brings out the vivid colours of the corporate logos. WizzAir flies four times a day to Warsaw, using Airbus A321s, capable of carrying 234 passengers.

Bonus shot, below: a shunter in the livery of Trakcja PRKiI at W-wa Okęcie station. As work is coming to an end here, these engines will become a historic sight.

This time two years ago:
With my father and brother in Derbyshire

This time five years ago:
In praise of Warsaw's trams

This time seven years ago:
Setting sun in the mountains

This time eight years ago:
That learning moment

Times pass, things go, things remain

At the western end of ul. Świętokrzyska, the block of flats is being torn down to be replaced by the 155m-tall PHN/City Tower. Construction begins next year. Communist-era flats are coming down across Warsaw; their presence in the centre of the capital are de facto social housing, a reason why so many elderly people live right in the middle of town (something unthinkable in, say, London). While social diversity may be judged a good thing, these buildings are rigid with asbestos. This particular block was built in the mid-1960s for foreigners, and was home for many Western firms that set up offices in Warsaw in the early 1990s. This view, with the top of Spektrum tower (formerly TPSA Tower) reminds of Marineville from the 1960s children's TV series, Stingray. Photo taken from the bus stop outside Costa Coffee, Rondo 1 on 4 October. All pictures in this post: Nikon CoolPix A.

Below: update, photo taken two weeks later on 18 October. Here's the progress in the demolition for you...

An InterCity locomotive with interesting heritage. This is a retro-liveried EP07 at Warsaw Central station. Most InterCity EP07 locos are painted blue and grey like the carriages, but this one's paint scheme harks back to the 1980s. Back in 1962, Poland bought 20 electric locomotives from English Electric, serving PKP as EU06 (Elektryczna Uniwersalna 6), along with a licence to build more locally. These were the  EU07 series, built from 1963 on. Many were converted to EP07s (Elektryczna Pasażerska 7), with more powerful motors and different gearing appropriate to stop-start passenger work. Originally built in 1987 as EU07-442. it was converted to EP07-442 in 2003.

Rarely does one see a mode of transport that's nearly 140 years old - but here in Warsaw I chanced upon a penny-farthing based on original parts from a 1878 German bicycle.. I stopped and had a chat with the friendly owner, who told me that the Polish for penny-farthing is bicykl, while the Polish for bicycle is rower, from Rover, the British brand that had two wheels of equal size, the rear one chain-driven by pedals. Before Rover became such a language-changing hit in Poland, the word welocyped meant any human-powered two-wheeler without chain drive. So a bicykl is a welocyped, but a rower isn't!

Which reminds me that last week saw the 50th anniversary of the first airing of British TV of the cult series, The Prisoner, starring Patrick McGooghan. Shot in Portmeirion, the fictitious village featured in the series had as its logo a penny-farthing.

Left: Finally, the passing of time does not bypass me. On my way south to do some real-estate scouting - I'm looking for a działka to buy. Today, for the first time ever, I got a old folk's discount on train travel. All 35% of it. So instead of paying nearly 14zł for the return ticket from W-wa Jeziorki to Ustanówek, I paid 8.80zł. Neither did the conductor on the way out nor the ticket inspector on the way back want to check my ID to ensure that I wasn't lying about my age. Haven't done that since I was 17!

This time last year:
Feels like the U.S.A. again

This time four years ago:
Warsaw's craft ale revolution kicks off

This time six years ago:
Poland's president inaugurates Moni's academic year 

This time eight years ago:
Autumn evening, central Warsaw

This time nine years ago:
Short-term future of suburban development

This time ten years ago:
"You'll look funny when you're fifty"

Wildlife newcomer to Jeziorki

Another evening in which I make the most of the frozen ponds so that I can walk home across it from W-wa Dawidy station. A splendid walk; the new snowfall, temperature around zero, no one around, the ice rock solid. I cross from the retention ponds at the north end towards the wilderness section where the reedbeds were unreclaimed to allow the wildlife to live there undisturbed.

Right in the deepest part, where no human foot ever ventures when the ponds are not solidly iced over, I hear a sound, like a large animal among the rushes. Like a swan, beating its wings vigorously - except the swans have long gone. Maybe a dog... - Too big for a dog - then suddenly it emerges from the reedbeds - a wild boar! It may be seven, maybe eight metres away, hurtling across my path into denser vegetation between the pond and ul. Trombity.

Had it rushed at me, it would have been scary, but I could see it was charging at 90 degrees to my direction of travel, so I was not afraid, more fascinated.

I stood there for a second struck by a sense of awe. Wow! Its shape... like the cartoon Tasmanian Devil, its front end big and blunt, tapering to a disproportionately small rear.

Yes, I'd heard tell... A few months ago, returning home late from a TV studio, my taxi driver told me as we approached ul. Karczunkowska that the other night, around 2am, he'd just dropped off a passenger on ul. Sarabandy, and was continuing along that street towards ul. Karczunkowska, when in the glare of his headlights he saw an entire wild boar family - a sow and several young following her - cross the street.

I told the taxi driver that this was the first time I'd heard of a local sighting of wild boar in Jeziorki, that none of my neighbours had seen them - but I believed him, the details were right, and why should he tell porky pies?

Here in Jeziorki, I've seen foxes, hares and hedgehogs - no deer, though last Saturday week I saw three crossing the tracks ahead of me in Czachówek (the north-to-east spur).

Then, like today, I was armed with a Nikon Coolpix; both the Coolpix A and the Coolpix P900 need to be switched on and they both take a while to focus (the P900 also needs to be zoomed out electronically... s-l-o-w-l-y). In both cases, the three deer and the wild boar eluded my lenses. With a digital single lens reflex camera, like my Nikon D3300, I'd just bring the camera up to my eye, direct it at the beast(s), zoom a bit and snap. Much faster response time, which makes all the difference in capturing wildlife.

I looked at the tracks on the fresh snow. Trotters. I then scouted about, Tonto-like, for more boar prints. Quite different from the tracks of hares or foxes; cloven-hooved beasts. I could see only single sets of prints - a solitary individual, probably young. Maybe one of that litter that the taxi driver had seen crossing ul. Sarabandy that spring night, but several months older.

The boar's prints ran this way and that across the ice, into the undergrowth and back out again. I could see the pads of foxes' prints and the closely-spaced paws of hares that had bounded through the snow - nothing unusual, they'd been visible in the snow for over a week - and the jackdaws and crows - the backward-pointing arrows making a wavy trail. But the boar was new. Very interesting. Must watch out for it - armed with a faster camera! Will the boar disappear after the thaw, crossing the track to roam a larger area between Jeziorki and Dawidy Bankowe? Or is this a new addition to our local fauna?

Climate change or happenstance? (przypadek - any better word here?) It's certainly a snowier winter than the past two, but nothing out of the ordinary. Wild boar are proliferating in Poland's suburbs; out of Puszcza Kampinoska, pushing around the outskirts of Warsaw, advancing on Gdynia and Poznań... As long as they are not a threat to humans (they can get aggressive when protecting their young), live and let live, I say.

This time last year:
Communicating the government's case in English

This time three years ago:
Thinking big, American style. Can Poles do it?

This time four years ago:
Inequality in an age of economic slowdown

This time five years ago:
The Palace of Culture: Tear it down?

This time seven years ago:
Conquering Warsaw's highest snow mounds

This time eight years ago:
Flashback on way to Zielona Góra

This time nine years ago:
Ursynów, winter, before sunrise

Life at 14 below zero

Not the coldest I've experienced (my record - a two-hour walk at -20C). Today, an hour and quarter walk at -14C, good for the constitution, and testing out kit.

Footwear - my so-called 'Biedronka boots' (actually bought u Deichmanna) performed perfectly as ever. Despite walking on ice, my feet felt no discomfort whatsoever. Lambswool lined leather ankle boots, as long as the laces are tightly fastened, these are excellent for whatever winter can throw at them - mud included.

Overcoat - my US Army M-65 Parka, now nearly five years old - is unbeatable. It's best features are the massive hood and its deep, wool-lined pockets. Bury your hands in the pockets and they're soon warm as toast. And the parka, being longer than the M-65 field jacket, keeps your upper thighs warm too. Under the parka, a cable-knit Aran sweater and regular office shirt - just three layers and no cold problems whatever! Headwear - a Timberland lumberjack hat; under this and the parka hood my head is totally insulated against the biting frost. My face - despite beard - feels the cold, however.

Regular Levi's jeans - no long-johns needed for this temperature as long as I'm walking all the time. Gloves - suede with knitted sides - thin enough to operate camera, between shots hands are deep in the parka pockets, so again no problem.

So - well kitted out, I step out into the cold. As I left the house at 15:20, it was actually snowing lightly from a cloudless sky (below)!

Once again, I made the Most of the opportunity offered by the ponds being solidly frozen over, walking from one end to the other. Below: between the ponds, a narrow isthmus, which is usually under water.

Below: today I took my 55mm f3.5 macro Nikkor lens, to get a sharper image of the frozen swan feathers on the ice.

The sun, low in the sky, hovers over the middle section of the pond nearest ul. Trombity.

Local skaters have been benefiting from the massive rink on their doorstep. Below: the lightest dusting of snow on the icy surface of the pond shows their traces.

The row of trees towards the end of ul. Trombity (below). In the foreground the new gabion installed after the middle pond was dredged this summer when water levels fell due to lack of rain.

Below: ice crystals on seeds and twigs on the frozen pond surface.

Below: another photo that would normally be impossible - deep in the wetland, the dead forest where the herons and marsh harriers perch.

I was impressed by both my cameras' battery stamina - despite the manuals saying that they should not be used when the temperature falls below -10C. They kept snapping reliably, the D3300 and the Coolpix A.

Having got home, I put on the sauna and spent 15 mins at 90C, followed by a few minutes on the balcony at -14C (in towel and sheepskin slipper), admiring the night time sky, and then another 15 minutes back in the sauna. On days like this, a priceless experience.

This time last year:
Scenarios for Russia

This time four years ago:
Light show at the Presidential Palace

This time six years ago:
About juice - and empty supermarket shelves

This time seven years ago:
That's what I call Winter Vol. 12

This time eight years ago:
When the days start getting a little longer...

Cameras - you gotta justify the buy!

When a blogger buys a new piece of photographic equipment, you can bet there'll soon be a post justifying the purchase, comparing the old to the new and why that new bit of kit just HAD to have been bought.

So then - after writing recently that I'd not buy a Nikon Coolpix A - what did I do?

I bought a Nikon Coolpix A.

Why? The price was so utterly, unbelievably, right, well, I just couldn't walk away from the deal.

When the Coolpix A was launched less than two years ago, it was priced at $1,100. Now this is twice the price of the Nikon D3100, built around the same 16 megapixel sensor BUT - the D3100 is single-lens reflex with a 18-55mm zoom lens with vibration reduction; the Coolpix A doesn't have a viewfinder or any viewing system other than an LCD panel on the back wall. You compose your shot like you do on a mobile phone.

So why did Nikon decide to sell the Coolpix (dumb name) A for $1,100? It's a quality camera, with a metal - not polycarbonate - body, a quality fixed focal lens (18.5mm - equivalent to 29mm on a full-frame or 35mm camera) opening half a stop further than the kit lens of the D3100 to f2.8.

Er - and that's it. Other than the fact that the Coolpix A weighs less than half of what the D3100 does, slips into the pocket and, at 300g, hangs round the neck all day long without being noticed.

The Coolpix A is not a street-shooter's camera. It's too slow for catching people on the move. It's best for landscapes - the traveller's ideal companion. For me, a camera to take on rides, where the weight and bulk of a DSLR is too much, but where my smartphone's camera function is insufficient for reasons I'll go into.

Back to the price. When I saw a Coolpix A (recently discontinued by Nikon) on sale at 2,000 złotys ($550 - exactly half the launch price), I was still not tempted. But with a further 500 złotys rebate, the price tumbled to just over $400. 25% off half-price? Now this is a steal.

OK - justification time. Three pics to show how three camera compare.

Below: Nikon Coolpix A - a pleasing, warm colour cast (white balance on all camera set to auto).

To shoot with the Nikon Coolpix A:
1) Switch on,
2) Compose,
3) Press shutter button down halfway,
4) Wait for autofocus to latch onto subject, and when the little green box on the LCD shows you have a sharp image -
5) Depress the shutter button fully.

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Below: Nikon D3300 (with 24 megapixel sensor). Neutral hues, larger image thanks to more pixels crammed onto sensor. The D3300 replaced the D3200 in my fleet; it has the same 24MP sensor, but is lighter, has a smaller 18-55mm lens, and has a number of small improvements that got my thumbs up.

To shoot with the Nikon D3300:
1) Hold up to eye,
2) Compose,
3) Press shutter halfway down, wait a millisecond or two for focus and
4) Click. By far the fastest of the three.

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Below: as seen through my Samsung Galaxy S3's camera function. This is an 8-megapixel image.

To shoot with the Samsung Galaxy S3:
1) Switch on phone (button on the bottom),
2) Swipe screen to unlock,
3) Close whatever app is invariably up on the screen (typically during travel, it will be Google Maps, or Bilkom, or Strava),
4) Select 'camera' icon from among all the app icons on the home screen,
5) Wait for image to come up on screen, then compose (really difficult in strong sunlight),
6) Press the shutter-button icon at the bottom centre of screen.

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I've done a few bike journeys equipped with only a phone to take photos with - it's certainly suboptimal. But going for a long ride with a DSLR dangling around your neck - even a lightweight one like the D3300 - is not a viable alternative. A quality mirrorless camera like the Nikon Coolpix A is a good compromise. It has superb battery life. If you're more interested in people than landscapes, the Fujifilm X100T is a better bet than the Nikon Coolpix A. The lens is less wide (equivalent to 35mm on full-frame), shooting is faster, there's a viewfinder as well as an LCD screen. The X100T is the second incremental improvement on the original X100, which I tested a while back.

If you can find a Nikon Coolpix A at a Nikon dealer near you for 1,500 złotys (after cashback rebate), buy it; for the money it's a superb little camera.

This time last year:
More about the Ladder of Authority

This time two years ago:
By bike, south of Warsaw

This time four years ago:
Functionalist architecture in Warsaw

This time five years ago:
What's the Polish for 'to bully'?

This time six years ago:
Making plans

This time seven years ago:
The setting sun stirs my soul

This time eight years ago:
Rain ends the drought