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

Nikon CoolPix P900 Superzoom put to the test

For aviation photography, I'm being won over by the Nikon CoolPix P900, despite its small sensor size (a mere 6.2 x 4.6 mm compared to the 24x16mm on my Nikon D3300). It can turn out spectacular images, but its real strengths are to be seen at the long end of its lens' zooming range - and on a clear day.

Below: a LOT Polish Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner climbs away from Warsaw's Okęcie airport.

The CoolPix P900's sensor is tiny (see comparison below), yet bear in mind that while the FX-format Nikon D810 gets 36 million pixels into the full-frame sensor, and the DX-format Nikon D3300 gets 24 million pixels into its APS-C sensor, the CoolPix P900 manages to pack an amazing 16 million pixels onto its miniature sensor (a format called 1/2.3).

So - test time. The view from my balcony of the printing works on ul. Karczunkowska, taken on the CoolPix P900, zoomed out to the equivalent of 260mm on a full-frame lens. Which is greater than a typical telephoto zoom that reaches 200mm. Now, look at the red area in the image below.

Below: this is that area, the fullest extent of the P900's zoom (the equivalent of 2000mm on a full-frame lens). The full image size of this file is 4608 x 3456 pixels.

Below: the same area, shot on the D3300 with 55-300mm zoom fully extended (to the equivalent of 450mm on a full-frame lens). The image is cropped to the same area as the photo above. Now instead of  4608 x 3456 pixels, the image is a mere 1320 x 986 pixels. The degradation in image quality is evident, all the more so if you click to expand.

How do the two compare in real life situations? Below: A Turkish Airlines Boeing 777 over Jeziorki, at cruising altitude, taken with the D3300 with lens at 300mm, image then cropped. You can see chromatic aberration in the form of a red fringe by the image highlights - along the fuselage and engines.

Below: the same flight, same time, same place, 24 hours later, taken with the CoolPix P900, lens zoomed out all the way. Image cropped to show plane in similar size to that in above image.

Again, the CoolPix P900 wins hands down. Both photos very lightly Photoshopped - cropped, then auto tone - nothing more.

The onward march of miniaturisation of cameras means ever-better images become within reach of the average snapper's budget - and the weight of the lens is low enough for it to be worn with camera around the neck for hours on end.

Why are professionals still sticking to FX format? The bigger the sensor, the bigger the pixels, the better the light-gathering quality of the camera. My DX-format cameras - the D3300 and CoolPix A - will both beat the CoolPix P900 in low-light situations, and in taking wide-angle rather than telephoto pictures. I must say, I would like an FX-format camera for those special occasions... The Nikon D810 will soon be superseded by a newer model, and retail prices are falling... We shall see.

In the meanwhile, I'm happy with the P900. It could do with being faster in operation and more robust in build, as well as ergonomically improved (that on/off button!), but for amazing telephoto shots - it's great value.

This time last year:
A modest proposal regarding the zloty

This time two years ago:
Warsaw Spire getting higher and higher

This time three years ago:
Plac Zbawiciela, lunchtime, winter

This time four years ago:
Is this winter's end?

This time five years ago:
The other Jeziorki station

This time seven years ago:
Launching the General's book

This time eight years ago:
A pavement for ul. Karczunkowska?
This time nine years ago:
Taking off over Okęcie

Warsaw's Armed Forces day flypast - seen from Jeziorki

This year's Armed Forces day parade and flypast were not different enough to the event I attended two years ago (see link) and rain had been forecast, so I decided to see how much of the flypast at least I could catch from the ballast mountain in Jeziorki. Arriving with a few minutes to spare, knowing the aerial armada would be flying from north to south, I kept my eyes peeled. Sure enough - same as in 2014 - Iskra acrobatic trainers opened the parade with red-and-white smoke trailing; then helicopters (Puszczyki, Mi-8 transports then Mi-24 assault types) would be followed by trainers and transport aircraft with the fast jets served as the dessert.

Interestingly, I expected to see some of this aerial action on ADSB Exchange (like FlightRadar24.com, but with the ability to see military planes), but setting off just 20 minutes before the start of the flypast, I couldn't see a single aircraft. Transponders switched off?

Below: two Polish Air Force CASA C295s follow a Lockheed Hercules, following the Royal Route from the Old Town to the Belweder Palace. Two years ago, a pair of Hercules took part.

The fast jets filled the skies over Jeziorki with noise, even though they did not get within ten kilometres of where I was standing. Below, main photo: six F-16s (two more than in the 2014 flypast); inset three Sukhoi Su-22 ground attack planes followed by three MiG-29 fighters (again, just two of each in 2014). All pics taken with my Nikkor 55-300mm lens mounted on my Nikon D3300

The whole flypast was over in 15 minutes. Jeziorki was spared the downpour which fell on the parade. I walked home, and watched as one PZL M28 Skytruck turned in over Dawidy, executing a sharp 90-degree turn to land back at Okęcie - the rest of the aircraft returned to bases at Mińsk Mazowiecki, Dęblin and Łask.

This time two years ago:
The ground parade part one: 1939

The flypast

This time five years ago:
Dworzec Zachodni ('West Wailway Shtation') before the remont

This time sixr years ago:
90 years ago today - Bolsheviks stopped at the gates of Warsaw

This time seven years ago:
Kestrel

This time nine years ago:
Armed forces day parade in Warsaw

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...

Once in a blue moon

Thirteen full moons in 52 weeks - not all of them fitting within one calendar year - so when a month has two full moons - such as this July (2nd and 31st) - the second is called a 'blue moon' (not to be confused with a 'harvest moon', which occurs in August). And the fact that the night was cloudless gave me the chance to photograph the moon. Splendid!

Here it is - shot using a Nikkor 80-400mm lens, set to manual focus on a tripod with VR switched off, mounted on my Nikon D3300, with its 24 megapixel sensor. The moon truly is a thing of wonder - this huge lump of rock, our only natural satellite, progressing majestically about the heavens, over our heads, a quarter of a million miles away. Click to enlarge - it's fabulous. It makes the recent photos of Pluto and Ceres all the more remarkable - the feat of getting a probe all the way there to send back images to earth.

The last time I blogged the moon was in December 2008, when it came closer to the earth than in a long while. For those with an interest in photography and astronomy, here are the two images side by side, with today's image rotated to align with the one taken six and half years ago. Same lens - but attached that night to my old Nikon D80, which had a mere 12 megapixel sensor. Comparing the two photographs closely, the enhanced detail that the more modern sensor extracts from the image is clear to see. I look forward to snapping the moon with a 96 megapixel sensor within a few years. And maybe a 600mm lens!

Finally - an unexpected bonus - a photo of a plane coming into land at Warsaw Okęcie airport against a full moon. It's incredibly difficult to get a perfectly framed shot of an aircraft coming into land with a moon in the background. Never mind the focus and the motion blur - the trick is the framing. It's not easy to photomontage such an image either - the heat haze from the jet engines makes it very time-consuming to do right. Even if you know the flightpath and work out the orbit of the moon, being in the right place at the right time on a cloudless night requires years of patience or luck.

Catching the plane exactly in the middle is incredibly difficult. The moon is not stationary against the heavens. Have a look at Google Images' search results for 'plane against a full moon' - see how many images are Photoshopped and how few are real.

This time last year:
A return to Snowdon - Wales' highest peak

This time three years ago:
On the eve of Warsaw's Veturillo revolution

This time four years ago:
Getting ready for the 'W'-hour flypast

This time five years ago:
A century of Polish scouting

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