Telephoto Lens Camera

The most powerful telephoto lens bridge camera today is Nikon Coolpix P510. It is powered by 42x optical zoom lens(or equivalent to 1,000 mm in 35mm lens format). Because the Nikon Coolpix P510 will only be available on March 2012, I haven't been able to buy it.

What I use every day is the Nikon Coolpix P500. Its 36 x optical zoom is strong enough to magnify distant tiny subjects. I bought a digital camera with telephoto lens capability last month. I like it very much because now I can shoot distant objects such as birds or wild animals. As a tourist guide, I often travel to places whose surrounding environments are still in pristine condition. People often think that a telephoto camera must be an expensive investment because the price of a high quality 600 mm lens SLR camera can reach up to 10,000 US dollars or even more. Nikon as a leading manufacturer of optic products launched a digital camera called Coolpix P500. It has 36 x optical zoom capability.

For example, the photograph of the butterflies which I made last week when I went hiking with 3 Dutch tourists to the rainforest of Kwau village in Arfak mountains of Manokwari regency - West Papua. The Nikon Coolpix P500 can be used for taking pictures close subjects in macro mode. When shooting closer subjects, the telephoto zoom capability should not be active. If the zoom lens is not off, the lens cannot focus automatically. As a result the picture or image will look blurred.

I bought this camera from an online store in Jakarta. When it arrived in Manokwari, I immediately opened its package box. There was a manual book inside the box but it was written in Chinese language. I could not find the Bahasa Indonesia or English version. So, it's difficult for me to operate the new camera. Fortunately, there was a CD inside the box. I inserted it into my Toshiba satellite laptop and inspected its content. I found the English language version of the manual book in pdf file inside the CD. So, I copied the file into my computer and began learning it. Although I haven't read the whole pages of the manual book, I feel that now I am able to operate that digital camera well.

During my hiking tour in Arfak mountains of Manokwari regency, I had some chances in shooting magnificent birds of paradise (cincinnurus magnificus) both the male and female. They usually came in the morning to a place near the tourist house. In the place which is their play ground, a male bird calls his female birds. Nikon as the manufacturer of Coolpix P500 knows that a lot of birders need a telephoto camera that is affordable but powerful enough to shoot such birds. I had to walk to the birdwatching hut early in the morning at around 6 a.m. before the birds come. I was happy to see that the pictures that I made were very good. This Nikon Coolpix P500 is really a powerful camera that birders with limited budget like me can buy without having to empty all of our pockets. Although it is not an SLR camera, the quality of the pictures it produces is fantastic. I hope that in the coming years, I will still be able to make thousands of high quality photographs using this telephoto camera. One more equipment that I plan to buy is a tripod. I really need a tripod to make pictures of distant subjects that are free from vibration or shakes. As a digital camera that can shoot both macro and telephoto subjects, Nikon Coolpix P500 has a fast auto focus capability - a very important feature that photographers need to capture flying birds, or moving cars. When taking only photographs is not enough, the camera can be used to record full HD movies just by pressing the one touch record button.

by Charles Roring