Back on par with gear talk. Once you get a couple of photographers and videographers together, it an endless conversation about what we own, what we used to own and what we would like to one day own. This year, for me I managed to rebuild my kit to go fully mirrorless. I took a chance on the new Nikon Z6 at the end of last year and soon after, I dropped the Nikon D4 for another Z6. I know the cameras don’t look like much when you compare them to their parents, but it’s better in every way. Along with smaller more flexible cameras came the new series of lenses that deliver on their promises to be Better and sharper then their f-mount ancestors.
The new Nikkor Z 85mm f/1.8 S has been a masterpiece on the couple of jobs I’ve worked with it. The weight, the sharpness and bokeh has been outstanding. The 5-axis stabilization makes for smooth experience when compared to DSLRs. One of the best features of shooting mirrorless, apart from the size is seeing is believing. By that, when you look at your monitor and set your exposure, what you see is what you get. Nailing your exposure right out of camera is a huge time saver.
Because what you see is what you get, I have begun using more content light over slash in darker situations. Flash still has its roll in my work, especially in studio. In studio, it can be a bit of a challenge seeing when you have the aperture stopped down, but there’s a setting in camera to help with those situations. The image above is shot with a Aputure 300D MKii with a small octabank on it camera left. The best thing about constant light is seeing exactly what the photo will look like between shots. I find that you can also balance your lighting with ambient light to either build interest or highlight your subject.
I don’t usually bad mouth my Fujifilm GFX50S because its a great camera that produces amazing photos but, that continuous focus option should just not exist. The most simple tracking focus tasks end up failing and you are left with 1 GB of out of focus shots. The Nikon Z6 has this down pat, like all my past DSLRs. Being able to track, even at long focal lens is a godsend. The new S lenses from Nikon are quick to focus an for video purposes, super quiet. Nikon did a great job with the new 85mm f/1.8 S and I can’t wait for the what’s coming next year.