As we cruised up the canal, I observed the archetypal Dutch countryside, which was for short spell largely agrarian until the outskirts of Amsterdam at which point the landscape changed dramatically to one of docklands and industries. I decided to keep myself amused by photographing small fragments of it.

I took just one lens with me, the Nikon 24-200 Z lens. Superzooms have never really got a good press, and I’ve tended to avoid them but this got surprisingly good reviews so as I’ve got a 3 week holiday in Japan coming up in 2024 I decided to buy one and test it out on my short trip to Amsterdam.

I have the 24-70 and 24-120 Z lenses already so I was in two minds about yet another lens that covered this focal length, but while the other lenses are optically superior, I felt that they didn’t quite cover the focal length I’d want and I didn’t want to be carrying round a bag full of lenses with me. And this is where a superzoom comes in – you’re compromising ultimate image quality for flexibility but as I won’t be printing off A1 or A2 exhibition prints from this lens, good enough is good enough.

The ability to zoom in and isolate detail is what I like about this lens and these were all shot at 200mm. A telephoto is also good for compressing perspective although that’s not something I’ve done in these.