In Thursday’s post documenting Wednesday’s Erculean photography effort, I posted a few photos snapped with my Nikon P900 camera. I don’t use the camera as much primarily because most of my subjects are fairly close. Also, because I’m sitting on a chair on my patio, the weight of the equipment isn’t a concern.
Still, I usually have the P900 out there with me, and for every ten or so photos with the D7500, I’ll snap one or two photos with the P900.
Gray Catbird
The advantage of shooting with the P900 is that I don’t have to crop the photo much (if any) to fill the frame with the subject.
This post has photographs, but the main impetus is photography equipment. Reader beware, some might find it a long slog unless interested in the topic.
For them not interested in reading, you can see the photos in THIS<<link SmugMug Gallery.
For a SmugMug slideshow, click HERE<<link. When you click the link, it will open in a new window, and you have two options: 1) Manually scroll through the photos by clicking the “<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos. 2) There’s a PLAY/PAUSE button at the top-left of the screen with the transition set at about 5 seconds. Note: clicking the PLAY arrow will run a full-screen slideshow. You can then still use the”<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos (this will pause the slideshow).
If you want the full experience, keep reading.
I purchased the Nikon P900 in 2017 and for that year, it was my primary camera. Meaning, I took twice as many photos with the P900 than my then camera, the Nikon D7000, including using it almost exclusively on our 2017 Alaska cruise (which, I’m still documenting!), and wrote a lot about it.
For the next few years — until 2020 — I managed at least as many photos with the P900 as with the DSLR. And, I wrote about it (LINK). I especially revisited the issue of cameras at the beginning of 2019 when I was looking to make a change to my DSLR … and wrote about it …
Yes, I’ve been remiss in reminding people to vote for your favorite of the “E” stories HERE. That’s also where you can find links to the stories so that — you know — you can read them before you vote, and find a link to an explanation of the Alphabet Challenge.
Mind you, most of us are glued to the news and the fast-pace information cycle of this COVID-19 event. Still, you can’t immerse yourself too much or you’ll go crazy.
Sure, I’d prefer it if you take a break by reading my blog (lots and lots of different content), but really, do anything that takes your mind off the subject, if only for a little while.
This is primarily about photography and camera (Nikon P900) and post-processing. There are photos but if you’re not interested, watch this video and then go look elsewhere for something that interests you more.
If you read a post of mine and it looks like I’m talking about photos that are not there, it probably means WordPress is messing with me again and wiped my links. In that case, let me know. In any case, the linked SmugMug Gallery will have all the photos.
For them not interested in reading, you can go directly to the SmugMug Gallery HERE.
For a slideshow click HERE. When you click the link, it will open in a new window and you have two options:
1) Manually scroll through the photos by clicking the “<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos. 2) There’s a PLAY/PAUSE button at the bottom-left of the screen with the transition set at about 5 seconds. Note: clicking the PLAY arrow will run a full-screen slideshow. You can then still use the”<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos as this will pause the slideshow.
If you want the full experience, keep reading
This is primarily about photography and camera (Nikon P900) and post-processing. There are photos but if you’re not interested, watch this video and then go look elsewhere for something that interests you more.
WARNING: lots of photos mixed in with banalities. Nothing of importance. Best pass on this one unless you like lots of photos about nothing in particular. Also, beware; reverse psychology in use.
It’s been a while since I did a photo dump. Just so people know, as of the first of the year I’ve shot about 1,500 photos with my Nikon P900 (some of those are videos). I’ve also shot about 2,600 photos with my Nikon D7000. And, of course, let’s not forget the Samsung Note 8 — another 1,600 photos (some of those are also videos).
I mention all that because I get a fair amount of pushback on the number of photos I post. As can be seen, I’m actually fairly restrained when it comes to sharing stuff I capture. This post, for instance, will only have forty-two photos . . . which, coincidentally, happens to be the answer to the meaning of Life, The Universe, and Everything. Right! Here we go.
That’s a photo from March . . . a similar photo was used for my Project 313 series. I’m continually impressed by the capability of the P900. What it does, it does well. That’s at an equivalent zoom of 2,000mm.
This next photo is snapped from the balcony of the condo we’re renting and is at an equivalent zoom of 857mm.
So, here’s the thing . . . I knew the P900 had slow motion. I mean, I’d read it had slow motion capabilities. But, I’m old. I’m old, and I have a lot on my mind. Stuff like where’s the next malasada coming from, why does the hair in my ears grow so fast, and what’s up with my eyebrows? It’s like they’re on some sort of acid trip. Honest, it’s all I can do to keep them from looking like mini-antlers above my eyes.
The point is, it slipped my mind, see? And, I can tell you why.
640 x 480 (120p mode)
For them who don’t know what that means, 60p is regular motion; real world; what we experience when we look around and say “What was that? Did you see that?”
120p shoots twice as fast so that when you play it back it’s at half speed. Now, that sounds pretty good, right? Except for the 640 x 480 part. Those numbers are the width and height of the frame in pixels, and for them who were born after 1980, that’s what’s known as VGA.
VGA is fine when viewed as no larger than the above. So, if you click on the YouTube logo, the video opens up in another tab and will play with a couple of large black bars on either side of the picture. Try to view it as a full screen, and it will look like crap.
I know, I know . . . everyone is tired of these kinds of posts. Sure, there’s my witty writing, and sure, there are amazing photos, but, honestly, can’t we just forego all of this and get on with life?
No; no, we can’t.
All these photos were snapped at the Old Kona Airport Park showcased in many previous posts. I would link them — the posts — but it’s just as easy to use the search box on the sidebar and find them all.
I debated how to do this and what I decided is to show the P900 photos first, and then show the Note 8 photos. The gallery at the bottom will have the photos in a random order, and the SmugMug Gallery HERE will have them in order that they were shot.
All of the photos here are a maximum of 1280 pixels at their longest side. If you want to see the original size, you need to go to SmugMug. The P900 outputs 16 MP photos while the Note 8 sports a 12MP camera (actually, twin 12 MP cameras).
All of the P900 photos have a border similar to the first photo above. All of the Note 8 photos are as they came out of the phone and have no border, like the second photo. That, by the way, are the two plants I used to water every day. They are doing fine without me. For new readers, read about them HERE.
On any given year, readers of this blog would be treated to a slew of flower photos in posts that span the timeframe between June and October. That was the case for most years of this blog’s existence with the majority of photos coming from the flower beds at what used to be our house in Monument, Colorado.
Those who miss my regular flower posts can easily find them either by clicking on the category that’s under the “Photography” topic on my menu (right under the header photo) or by making use of the calendar function on the side and picking any summer months or by choosing “flowers” from the category cloud on the sidebar.
With a few exceptions, most of the flower shots were macros shot with my D7000 and either my 70-200mm f/2.8 or my 105mm f/2.8 macro lens. The exceptions are shots from my phone, the Samsun Note II (yes, I’m way behind the times; the Note 8 just came out, but I tend to resist the temptation to own the latest and newest when what I have still works).
Of course, I now also have the Nikon P900, and I once again went out to test it out in the midday sun, here in Hawaiʻi.
There is a SmugMug gallery for these shots HERE where one can get down to the pixel level. The gallery at the bottom of this post or clicking on any photo will get you a version with the maximum side length of 1280 pixels. The galleries (either one) is probably the best way to look at the 101 photos I took.
Don’t worry, I won’t put all of them in the body of this post . . . probably.
We were gone from August 30th to September 16th and — as mentioned in THIS post — of the 8,859 photos I shot, 4,273 were shot with the Nikon P900. In fact, up to the very last, I had considered not even bringing my D7000 and associated lenses.
I compromised by bringing only a couple of the lenses. I did use the D7000 and the individual lenses mostly to compare their photos to those of the P900. I’ll explore those comparisons in future posts about the trip, but this post is about photos that while taken on my way to, or while in, Alaska, are not necessarily tied to the Alaska experience.
All of the photos on this post are from the P900 (116 photos in all) and they are presented as a service to those who might — as I am — increasingly consider using “less capable” equipment than the prosumer offerings out there.
Each section will have its own gallery so as to “split up” the onslaught of visual goodness. It should go without mention — but it won’t — this is not a short post.
I’m screwed. Two days ago, I was writing the last scene of my Michelle Maul short story. As I write, I’m happy with the plot, with the twist, with the progression of the story and looking forward to putting it up on the blog . . . and then it hits me; a huge frigging problem with the ending. The character I had pegged as the bad guy (“guy” used as a general placeholder term not indicative of actual gender) had leverage (rather, would have leverage in real life were it an analogous situation) that would undermine the conclusion of the story.
I looked at it for a number of hours and there’s no escaping it . . . I wrote myself into the equivalent of a corner. Rare for me, but I’ll have to scrap a large portion of the story and re-write it. OR . . . introduce a new character and weave them into the plot from about halfway through.
Either way, I’m not only not done, I’m a long way from being done. Honest, as much as I enjoyed writing this short story, it’s caused me more headaches than almost anything I’ve written.
So, instead, I decided to catch up with some of my P900 photographs snapped since my last P900 update.
It’s the end of the day . . . just a regular day. We exercised, cleaned, ate, and watched $56M worth of armament hit a base in Syria. Lots of opinions expressed forcefully and with passion.
Perfect time for me to look back at photos that are lounging around my drive, waiting to be launched onto the Internet. These are free. Well, quasi-free. I spent some time on them but since it’s part of what keeps me level, it’s not a burden.
This one immediately had me thinking of our elected politicians and various pundits . . .
So, out for a drive, we passed a small herd of foraging goats. This is where I was glad of the long zoom . . . I mean, just look at them horns.
Yesterday, we drove to the Volcano National Park. The only camera I used was the Nikon P900. Got me some photos to share. I’ll post some, but the full gallery and associated video playlists are at the bottom of the post.
We start out with macros shot at and near the Visitor Center.
Wait, these next shots are not macros . . .
There is no SmugMug gallery of these shots. You can get a larger version by clicking on the individual shots or going to the gallery at the bottom, but these are not “original size” shots. The Nikon P900 takes a different mindset — or so I concluded — than the photos I take with the Nikon D7000 and my assorted lenses.
Namely, present the photo as it is. If I want a “larger” or “closer” shot, I just zoom in and take the shot.
Disperser Tracks 