It is telling that Nikon does not package or even sell an optional hood for the P900! But with a field of view equivalent to a 24 - 2000 mm focal length it is hard to imagine a hood the could be at all effective through the entire range, particularly if the front element rotates (I'm not familiar with this camera), eliminating a petal style hood.

Lots of luck.

Congratulations on a spectacular trip and some great photos from one of my most favorite places in the world. Two decades ago, my son and I embarked on what turned out to be our last backpacking trip (he is now introducing backpacking to his 10 year old boy, but at 77, I can no longer keep up - maybe a canoe trip instead). Due in part to the logistics of our cross country flight to get there, we too were a bit overloaded, plus, I was carrying so much camera gear. And during this period of time, my corporation was in the throws of serious dislocation, resulting in overload for those of us trying to hold things together, which prevented me from doing the pre-trip training required for this effort.

So, overloaded and unprepared, we hiked along the Hoh River from the visitor center to the ranger station where a climbing club was preparing to assault Mount Olympus. We wished them well and went the other way up towards Hoh Lake. The elevation gain on that trail was a little less than a mile, but more than my knees were prepared to carry my overloaded pack. By the time we reached our campsite at Hoh Lake, my knees were screaming! It felt as if there was no cartilage left at all. Bone on bone! (Evidently, it felt worse than it was as I eventually recovered and have covered a lot of ground since on those same, unreconstructed knees.) But for the remainder of our Olympic National Park adventure, and several months thereafter, I could walk on level ground only with considerable pain, uphill with great pain, and downhill with excruciating pain.

The lesson I would pass on is that backpack load does matter, and pre-trip conditioning matters even more.

But, not-with-standing the considerable discomfort from my knees; the disappointment of having to abandon our time on the mountain trail, leaving at Sol Duc when our water filter failed and we discovered our backup iodine pills had gone bad; and having my Nikon N8008 quit working due to the rainforest moisture getting into the works through a crack in the body from a previous fall; that trip remains one of my fondest memories of all time. And, yes, before my camera failed (and using my sons rangefinder backup) I have many spectacular Velvia slides of the trail, Mount Olympus, Hoh Lake, black tailed deer, Roosevelt Elk, Hurricane Ridge, and Hole-In-The-Wall, and sea stacks above Rialto Beach.

I love that Park!

Because I was pretty good at it! What's your excuse?

Ah yes, let me recount all the things I miss from the days of shooting film:

stopping to change film;

missing a really great action shot as I change film;

the cost of film and processing;

the “Film Budget”, limiting the number of shots I can take of an event because of concerns about the cost of film and processing;

having the wrong speed film in the camera;

having only the wrong speed film;

waiting for days, or longer, for the film to be processed and see the results;

the smell of film developing chemicals;

the environmental cost of film developing chemicals (be very, very careful dumping them down the drain if you have a septic tank);

running to the processor every few days;

trying to keep a temporary darkroom dark;

locating a specific slide or negative years later;

maintaining a relevant stock of film on hand;

having a specific supply of a particular film sit idly in the refrigerator for years, eventually to be discarded;

explaining to my bitter half why I’m taking up valuable refrigerator space with that damn film!

Of course they can. The trick is to tell a more complicated or nuanced story with a single photo!

Pardon me, Skiman, for butting in, but I have done this. When I first started shooting high school and college sports it was with Tri-X (ASA/ISO 400). Indoor sports were shot with flash! (Some like Gymnastics, Diving & Volleyball where flash would be too much of a distraction during competition, were shot with flash during warm up.) Night football was the one sport not shot with flash where ISO 400 was sometimes not enough because of inadequate field lights. There we sometimes had to push the Tri-X to ISO 800 or 1600. When I went digital I held to the same standard; those early DSLR's were not any better than Tri-X at higher ISO's.

To answer your question, shoot with your 70 - 200 wide open at the lowest ISO rating that works consistently. That should be 400, or 800 or possibly 1600, or if the field is really poorly lit 3200, but I only went that high once in hundreds of assignments.

I measure 9" from the top of the tripod platform to the camera view port for a Nikon D800 on a typical small ball head. My somewhat antiquated Bogen (Manfrotto) tripod requires use of a ladder to use it at full extension (I'm the typical 5' 10"). There are many tripods someone your height will not find tall enough, but there are a lot you will find just fine! Find a good well equipped camera store and try some tripod setups out using the head, et al of your choice. Then buy from that store - keeps them available for us!

Post Script: Change Mode to Aperture Preferred ("A" on my Nikons), and set aperture to f/5.6 (I've shot thousands of groups at f/5.6) but review resulting shutter speed and adjust if it's too high to use with speed light! It'll work.

The above advice about shooting from a [step] ladder and having the group face away from the light is very good. The accompanying aperture advice not so much! An aperture of f/5.6 or maybe f/8 will do great. (Plenty of DOF with this group.) Twenty-five people in three or four rows, staggered so you can see every face; keep them close together (not always easy if they are related), and focus on someone in the middle of the second row! If you have a good speed light, set it for fill flash (Nikon is great at this).

Your biggest problems will be getting them all lined up and together, and paying attention to you, and getting the children to stay still! Practice what you are going to do. Have your equipment all set up so you can work quickly (fiddling with adjustments will lose their attention immediately)! You want unequal rows, expanding (more people) towards the back; unequal so those in each successive row is between those immediately in front - staggered! Taller people to the rear, short ones up front! Chairs for elderly, etc. (2nd row.) Children in front, maybe bigger kids on a knee, infants in mothers arms in 2nd row if possible. Lots of luck. Don't forget to have fun!

Like many of the other responders, I have a couple of previous versions of Photoshop on disc. But I am unable to install them (I can, or could, for 30 day trials, but I do not feature re-installing these 30 day trials monthly) on my latest computer. I also have multiple versions of Corel Paintshop Pro, which I can re-install to my hearts content - though I have no need to. And the cost is so low that buying the next version is a no-brainer! Because I do (did) a lot of sports photography where the turn around of lots of jpeg images is what pays the bills, I use ACDSee to upload, select, and write a days work to disc. Paintshop is useful to correct problems (save my screw ups)! The $120.00 (US - soon to be $174.00, I hear), is not outrageous, but a lot more than I'm spending for two programs that work for me.

Photoshop became the default photographers program decades ago when it became the defacto program in the publishing industry. Photoshop has many features required for the publishing industry, I am told, that are useless for photography, but must be included in the price we all have to pay to use this program. If I wasn't so damn lazy, I'd be proficient in Gimp, and never again pay for any photo editing programs!

And, probably, one of the better paid!

I have way too many passwords!!! Even this damn computer requires a 9 digit password to turn it on. (Why? It's my personal computer at my house where no unauthorized person can access it.) I went on E-Bay years ago; had a password. Then years later I lost a battery charger in a Delaware River flood and the only place I could get a replacement was on E-Bay. Great! Make a deal, good price, and then I go to pay. Need my password! Can't remember the damned password!! E-Bay recognizes my e-mail and won't let me create a new identity with a new password!!!

Lost the deal. Got booted off E-Bay. (Far as I know I am still persona non grata.) Eventually threw away an excellent cordless drill set because I had no charger. Damn Passwords!

And you will help keep that local store in business! Low prices and excellent service of the better mail order houses aside (B&H here in the US), it is awfully nice to be able to go somewhere local. discuss your needs with a knowledgeable salesperson, and actually hold the item in your hand before purchasing.

Enjoy your new purchase!

Yes, it requires a retrofocus, or inverted telephoto lens configuration, essentially adding elements to the lens design.

I currently have (Nikon) an 18-35, an ancient 24 mm that is just taking up space, 24-85, 28-105, 70-300, 70-200 f/2.8, a 2X tele extender, and a Tamron 500 Mirror lens. I am about to purchase (shhhh, don't tell whats-her-name) the 200-500. I also need to get something in the 90 to 105 macro range, but the one that really gives me gas is the 85mm f/1.4, but I just cannot justify the cost for the little use I would actually get from it.