The Nikon COOLPIX P1100 captures SWISS airlines Boeing 777-300 at 37,000 ft
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I was finally able to take out the new Nikon COOLPIX P1100 for a test ride at high altitude plane spotting, one of my favorite uses of Nikon’s super telephoto cameras. The SWISS airliner ( flight SWR38K) that was flying high overhead Idaho was traveling from Zurich to San Francisco.
As you can imagine, the plane at 37,000 feet was a tiny spec in the clear blue sky. At 3000mm, I was able to pull it in for a closer inspection by utilizing the P1100 continues auto focus to follow the plane. Even with stabilization enabled, the image in the EVF was bouncing around as if I was on a ship in a storm. Despite the erratic view, I was able to capture several photos that were sharp and clear. I think what helped was that I used shutter priority at a high shutter speed to help eliminate blurring from camera shake.
Overall, for my first plane spotting adventure with the Nikon COOLPIX P1100, I’m pleased with the results but this is only the beginning. I have many other test to run and will eventually post a full review of the P1100.
Let me know in the comment section below if you have the P1100 and if so, what your thoughts are on the camera and if you have any questions for me.
I just learned that a person who I have followed for many years in the photography world and who had a brief stint in my home town of Rochester New York (he attended Rochester Institute of Technology), has passed away.
The Nikon’s Zfc DX mirrorless retro camera has received a small firmware update with the following changes:
I’m fortunate that I live close to a nature trail that runs along a small creek, just a few minutes’ drive away from my home. It’s during this time of year that you are more likely to find interesting things to photograph along the trail.
One of my favorite lenses, the Nikon NIKKOR Z 24-120mm f/4 S line lens receives a minor firmware update, going from version 1.10 to 1.20. These are the changes:
One of my all time favorite lens for portraits was the Nikon Nikkor AF-S NIKKOR 300mm f/2.8G ED VR II F- mount lens. If this new Z lens is even close to the performance of the older lens (which I’m sure it will be or better), this is sure to be a popular addition to the Z line of optics.
On there website today, they posted the following message:
It is with great disappointment that on May 2, 2026, Spirit Airlines started an orderly wind-down of our operations, effective immediately. To our Guests: all flights have been cancelled, and customer service is no longer available. We are proud of the impact of our ultra-low-cost model on the industry over the last 33 years and had hoped to serve our Guests for many years to come.
The Flower Moon was in full bloom last evening. The first of the full moons in May, it’s called the Flower Moon because it appears when the spring flowers are starting to blossom.
On a clear blue sky day, I was working in my backyard and noticed a few contrails overhead. I decided to take a look at the site Flight radar 24 to see if anything interesting was approaching the Idaho area. Wow, what luck! Not one but 2 Airbus A380s, the world’s largest passenger airplanes, were heading straight for Idaho.
As you can see, Dixie is not the first to move on from Nikon. Keith Ladzinski was also poached by canon. When you are a distance 3rd place in market share, these types of embarrassments will continue to happen to Nikon.
At some point, I will be done with my event photography business. And when that happens, I plan on exploring other photography topics more fully (that I have been putting on hold due to time constraints) such as food, landscapes and sports. Along with my plan on taking more sports photos, I thought I would expand my Nikon mirrorless camera body portfolio with a body that aligns more closely with that goal.
Today, NASA released a new photo of earth as the crew of the Artemis II speeds towards the moon. It was taken with the Nikon D5 with the Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 F mount lens at 22mm
Welcome to Robert G Allen Photography. I'm a professional multi-disciplinary commercial freelance photographer based in the Pacific Northwest and a Nikon DSLR Enthusiast.
While my career has primarily been as an event photographer, this website represents other areas of photography for which I have professional competency and enjoyment. The resulting front page gallery and single subject galleries are the result of a combination of client assignments and personal areas of interest.
I thought it was time to do a refresh of the blog header photo collage. At first, I was only going to replace a few of the photos. But upon further thought, I decided to replace them all. So, I went into my Capture One 250,000 photo archive and looked for 7 replacements that would adapt to a vertical slanted format.