One of the tasks on the Icelandic Northern Challenge exercise was to make some pictures during a night operation. Easy enough I thought as a gathered a Nikon D800 and a couple of fast 2.8F lenses. It was very windy, rainy, cold and … DARK! When I arrived on the site, I had expected that there would be at least some light to get that moody feel. What an understatement! The mood would of been there if you could at least see it” The entire operation was being conducted in complete darkness!. Everyone else had night vision equipment and I was standing there with $10,000 worth of Nikon equipment that couldn’t see much more than I could!! Absolute total darkness! Using a flash would of looked just like it was – someone using a flash. I was startled with a tap on my shoulder from an unseen military observer. (Obviously he could see me in with his night vision gear a LOT better than I could see him.) He handed me a night vision monocular. Big Nikon lenses – small monocular! Not quite the fit! But – as they say, the best camera is the one you have with you!! Digging deep into my rain gear, I pulled out and shot the entire night assignment with an iPhone 4S – through the monocular!!! I really started contemplating bringing 3 Iphones with me next time and saving myself an over weight baggage charge when flying. But – the bottom line was the client was happy as the shots conveyed the feelings of a night operation on a very miserable cold and rainy night. You go with the camera that works!!
