Insane lens

During different periods in my photography-filled life, I have discovered various gadgets that provided new perspectives to my world. Those included underwater housings for my camera, thermal imaging, telescopes and of course, my airplanes. Because I’m always trying to find new perspectives for my art that other people don’t see, I find these gadgets essential.

Like all serious photographers, wide angle to telephoto lenses have been essential to my daily routine. When a friend introduced me to his new Nikon P1000 I initially thought it must be amateur quality. Now after having been teased into testing its optical qualities, it’s hard for me to put it down.

With a zoom range of 24-3000 mm, it makes it a challenge to find subject matter that’s interesting.

To visualize that 3000 mm viewing angle, hold your arm up with elbow bent 90 degrees. Then bring your thumb and forefinger 3/16 of an inch apart. To me this is more like a telescope that shoots photos than a typical camera. Even more astonishing is its image stabilization electronics actually allow me to handhold a shot, like these images of the moon. True this camera will mostly appeal to wildlife photographers but I feel challenged to find other interesting artistic compositions.

I walked outside and took this moon photo, hand-held, from my driveway.