A few days ago, I spotted a convoy of CH-46 Sea Knights flying overhead. The only camera I had was from an iPhone 4S.

iPhone 4S, ISO 50, 4.3 mm, f/2.4, 1/1,783s

Not bad, but a touch of noise. Today, I saw a lone CH-46 Sea Knight. I had a DSLR, but the lens was a bit short.

Nikon D800, AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 100, 70mm, f/2.8, 1/6,400s

Nikon D800, AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 100, 70mm, f/2.8, 1/8,000s

Disneyland is a man-made theme park in Anaheim, CA. Not the type of destination where you should spend much time pondering the one lens question. For fun, I brought along the 28-300mm and took some photos just to see how the camera and lens would perform.

In good light, the 28-300mm had no problems. For that matter, an iPhone could do the job for outside snapshots. Indoors, it’s all about trade-offs. The first task is finding the slowest acceptable shutter speed. The French can-can girls look acceptable when cropped and reduced. At 100%, the noise is quite noticeable.

Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 6400, 65mm, f/4.8, 1/50s

It’s a Small World-version of Cinderella.

Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 6400, 28mm, f/3.5, 1/50s

Disney waterfall in Toon Town. Would have been more fun with an ND filter and tripod. I did try to slow down the shutter speed as much as possible.

Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 100, 32mm, f/25, 1/5s

Construction crane towering above Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which was closed.

Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 100, 45mm, f/5.6, 1/640s

During each ride, there’s a series of initial adjustments. I wanted the shutter fast enough to stop movement. The boat was moving. The characters were moving. However, I didn’t want the shutter to be so fast that the resulting photo would end up completely underexposed. Pirates of the Caribbean was particularly challenging because the entire ride was dimly lit. I started the shutter speed at 1/100s, increased it to 1/50s, and again to 1/25s.

Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 6400, 28mm, f/3.5, 1/25s

While waiting in line for the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters ride, I saw the parade pass by.

Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 180, 300mm, f/5.6, 1/500s

At Innoventions, I sat through the Honda ASIMO robot presentation while waiting for my Autopia FASTPASS time to arrive. I was impressed by the mobility of ASIMO. However, I was underwhelmed when the host was video conferencing with his family. Facetime is already here. Video conferencing is the technology of today, not tomorrow. And, using Facetime certainly doesn’t trigger a ridiculous video and audio special effect. I guess the swirling effect was to make video conferencing appear futuristic.

Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 5600, 116mm, f/5.6, 1/500s

Sleeping Beauty’s Castle during that wonderful moment after the lights are turned on but before the sky has gone dark.

Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 6400, 105mm, f/5.6, 1/125s

Next time, I’ll bring a prime lens for fun.

From this morning’s flyover near NASA’s Ames Research Center.

Space Shuttle Endeavor, atop the NASA 747, flew directly above us. The air was a bit hazy, so I had to clean up the image a bit in Photoshop.

Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 100, 300 mm, f/9, 1/320

I headed to the Chabot Space & Science Center with the light lens, a 35-70mm f/3.3-4.5 Nikkor zoom that I had bought about 20 years ago. This small, plastic wonder was a delight to use since it was light and svelte, unlike its beastly f/2.8 cousins. Indoors, no flash, and letting auto ISO take care of whatever needs to be done. Not bad for ISO 4000.

Nikon D800, AF Zoom-Nikkor 35-70mm f/3.3-4.5 N, ISO 4000, 70 mm, f/4.5, 1/200