Ian's-tagram

This dreadfully grubby image is proof that iPhones CAN take crap photos – well, be fair, it’s down to the photographer 99% of the time – and that was me!

This is the new NIKON Z6lll (the fuzzy bit) with my 24-70mm f/2.8 lens (in focus) just to show I did actually go and play. It doesn’t actually matter – it’s 99% identical to the previous Z6ll anyway.

The presentation was total crap – I’m sorry NIKON but one of the first rules of public presentations is NOT to read out the printing on the slides – the public have already done that, you’re there to develop, enhance, make it interesting.

This was followed by a step by step, sorry, line by line ‘reading’ of the Photo Shooting Menu – the idea being to show how to select and setup basic autofocus settings etc. What seemed to be missed by the two (really nice and well informed Nikon representatives) was that everyone in the room knew precisely how to do this – being as we were NIKON Pro camera body owners. I think this was simply a waste of time. When this had all ended and people were moving away, I had to ask one of the guys if I could actually see/handle what we were all there to play with…

I can’t help thinking this was a slight waste of time – NIKON launch things on a fairly regular basis, and these get togethers need to be a bit more polished – show a video, not just the teaser for the launch of the camera, get the participants to take a photo or two, bring a backdrop and a bit of lighting and beef things up a bit.

NUMERIPHOT in Toulouse can’t be blamed – aside from the fact that the coffee machine decided to go into ‘I need to be descaled ‘mode just before we wanted coffee – they were there (obviously – it’s their shop!) with a huge variety of lenses and some accessories for us all to pretend we needed….

Not a totally wasted morning, but I do feel NIKON were taking the piss a little – I discovered there were actually only two new bodies there today (this thing has been out in the field for the past 4 months being tested by ‘trusted’ pros – I feel sure they could have got hold of a few more) – good job there were only 12 of us.

Coming back down to Earth – the main differences between the Z6lll and the previous model are:

EXCEED7 (the same processing engine as in the Z8/9)

New sensor – same size, but giving the possibility of more AF points

Pixel Shift (like in the Zf and Z8)

Access to the NIKON Imaging Cloud (in a months time) – this will be (initially) uniquely for Z6lll owners with an unlimited 20Gb (yes we all laughed at that) to upload images etc. In addition, firmware updates will be available to be streamed by WiFi directly to the camera and installed (or not – there is a choice) automatically.

A lot of play on how wonderful it is for video

Not much else – aside from a brilliant new invention – the twisty screen mount! Finally NIKON have got around to changing from the strange screen mounting systems used up until now, and the Z6lll (as indeed the Zf before it) uses a foldable pivoting screen that can now be turned round to be seen from the front of the camera. Personally ‘selfies’ are far from my thing, but this could be very useful in a number of situations – let’s hope user feedback from this and the Zf cameras will encourage NIKON to use this mount in future iterations of all the camera bodies.

A very nice, up-to-date and competent image making machine, with still and video capture, and if you’ve never owned one before, worth the purchase, but hardly worth trading in the previous model. And don’t get me started on the Zf….

Yes, and this is a photo of a REAL one (published by NIKON) the Z6lll is here. Oh whoopee.

I really wish I could be more enthusiastic, but this is just another iteration – there’s nothing fundamentally new about any of it. Oh sure, it has a ‘partially stacked CMOS sensor’ whatever that’s supposed to mean. And there’s a button on the top to turn the top (and only the top) screen on/off.

Is that it? Does any of this actually HELP you make better images…?

Well yes or no – I can only suppose that NIKON in its wisdom are ‘saving’ the best bits (electronic shutter, sensor shield etc.) for it’s ‘pro’ cameras.

The funniest thing is reading the comments over on Nikon Rumors or the NikonGear forum – one of a long stream of mindless nonsense concerns the ‘speed’ of the sensor, and I quote « Apparently for Z6 III it was measured at 9.47ms for 6K N-Raw video » – what f*****g use is this to anyone? This is a still camera with video capability – so as video needs evolve, and sensor electronics evolve, it would seems logical to include these evolutions in updated bodies.

No-one in their right frame of mind would buy one of these as a dedicated video camera – there are plenty of video cameras out there designed and built just for that purpose. The fact that this model CAN shoot video is, I suppose an advantage, but I don’t see this as anything other than an additional advantage to a still camera body.

A sensor shield is missing, in my view – I don’t see this as exclusively a ‘pro’ facility – most people who own this kind of camera body change lenses, so why not reduce the risk of dust, crap etc. on the open throat of the camera while doing so… But this is relatively minor ask.

I’m actually glad to see the same sensor size maintained – 24Mpx – the Z7 (will there be a lll) and Z8/9 handle higher pixel density perfectly well – however one very good thing is the increased pixel viewfinder – apparently making it the highest density and brightest know to man.

But will it encourage you to buy one? 3000€ just for that is, frankly, out of my ‘desire’ range, but then this kind of thing isn’t aimed at me, particularly with the gear I already own.

I’ll know more on Friday after spending a morning with NIKON in Toulouse where they will be singing the merits of this new body – sadly my cheque book won’t be making the trip…

This could be seen as being slightly suggestive…but then I have a filthy mind.

This was recently published to indicate that a new iteration of the NIKON Z6 is probably going to be launched soon…

We’re talking about the NIKON Z6 lll here – the detectives out there seem to think the new body will evolve into a slightly larger form, but possibly not as large as the NIKON Z8.

Thom Hogans email inbox seems to show some interesting ‘anticipations’:

33mp sensor

12 bit video

EXPEED 7

electronic (no manual) shutter

increased pixel density viewfinder

pixel shift, pre-capture etc. etc.

Going back over Thoms list, I have to say I’m in two minds – half of me says YES this is an evolution, and for someone buying-in to a mirrorless system this is a great starting point, while the other half says, 24mp sensor, smaller form factor, etc.etc. seems to work – why change it. It’s a moot point anyway – I have all the bodies I need, so a purchase is unlikely.

Integrating EXPEED 7 over EXPEED 6 is logical, and will more than likely increase the buffer size. This is a good thing for people using ‘rafale’ – anything that gets the data off the sensor, through the processing chips and out to the memory cards faster is a good thing! The only thing that has to be taken into consideration is the effective ‘speed’ of the recording media – the CFExpress cards are pretty much up to speed, but the SD cards are not as fast – which brings into question putting both card slots…horses for courses…

The only thing I’m really keen on is the totally electronic shutter – it’s proved itself since the launch of the Z9 and, for me at least, is the only way to go. It’s reliable, silent – what more can you need. This said, I only use the electronic shutter in my Z6 ll anyway…my cameras are the quietest thing about me…

Another thing is the form factor – if the shape is changing, why does the name stay the same? To me it seems far more logical to either, keep the same name / form factor, or, change the name / form factor… (I’m easily confused)

The Z6/ll and Z7/ll are the smallest full frame NIKON cameras and albeit smaller than the Z8/9 I have no difficulty using them – the NIKON ergonomics work very well and button position etc. makes transitioning a breeze. I often take a couple of different bodies with me on jobs, and the fact I just do not have to worry which buttons my fingers fall on is a huge help – This said, I make very few adjustments when I’m shooting anyway….

No more than a few more days wait now….

PS – I’ve just received a personal invitation to ‘discover’ new NIKON products at my local dealer in TOULOUSE on the 21st June – hopefully I’ll come home with at least a few photos…

In this instance I’m not considering colored filters – pretty much useless since modern digital treatment of color images, but still quite useful for black and white film.

No, here I’m more concerned with protection for the front element of the lens. The front element has several coatings to protect it from spray, reduce internal reflections in the lens etc. but an important factor, IMHO, is physical ‘abuse’.

Anyone can fall over, or have objects projected against the lens and for a few €uros I think a protective filter is worth the effort.

Protection for your front lens element…

There are (obviously) people who refute this, saying that yet another glass-to-air surface between the world and the image sensor is just calling for additional reflections and a general reduction in image quality (IQ)

I’d be inclined to agree with cheap and cheerful ‘UV’ (Ultraviolet) filters, but nowadays the decent manufacturers (Hoya for example) know better than to chuck any old glass into a round frame and call it a filter. Modern protective filters are multicoated on both sides and manufactured from high quality materials – in addition the mounts are getting thinner and thinner.

It’s common to use a circular polariser and a neutral density filter together, but. adding too much ‘thickness’ on the front of the lens used to be a problem – these thinner filter mounts cause a lot less of a problem with the ‘vignette’ effect of stacking filters on, for example, wide-angle lenses.

There are obviously some exceptions to this ‘rule’ – extreme wide angle lens often have domed front elements which prevent using filters – this said, the lens designers seem to be coming to their senses and these are getting much less common.

Fish-eye lenses are another ‘speciality’ lens with a very pronounced front element…but I’m not going there!

My advice, use a protective filter – and save the front elements of your lenses.

Some modern digital cameras have very small batteries…these were fine for the DSLR type of camera, but a mirrorless camera uses a lot more power and as a consequence, tends to empty batteries faster than before.

It obviously helps to reduce the amount you use the rear screen, but the viewfinder also uses a lot of power, and it’s quite useful to be able to see what you’re aiming at…(although it’s fairly obvious to me that some people are pretty much incapable of even doing that…)

Nikon, in their great wisdom, have decided to provide us with horrendously expensive add-on battery packs for the full-frame Z series (Z6ll,7ll and 8) – these are essentially the same body, same battery tray, but different top plate to accommodate the different body formats (between the 6/7 and 8)

This is the MB-N11 for the Z6ll/7ll

This is the MB-N12 for the Z8

So can you spot the difference? Yes, the top plate on the lower model is very slightly wider…wouldn’t it be easier just to make a single model, but with add-on top plates? Of course it would, but they’d make 50% less cash on sales…

Anyway, Nikon have included a crafty battery tray which holds two EN-EL15 batteries (the EN-EL15c can be charged within the grip just plug in a charger with a USB-C cable and off you go.) The crafty bit is that when the tray is slid into position, the battery nearest the door can still be removed from the grip – which means that if you’re in a high battery use situation, when the camera automatically switches over to the second battery (keeping the camera power still on) the first battery can be replaced with a charged-up version without having to turn the camera off etc.

The first and by far the most contentious (IMHO) thing you spot is that Nikon have decided to go backwards (think D7000) and instead of a series of contacts on the bottom plate of the camera for connecting to accessories/battery packs such as this, there is now a stalk with the electrical connections on top.

I’m sure there are all sorts of great marketing ploys to justify this (kept dry, protects the delicate contacts etc.) but it makes the battery pack unwieldy and you can’t just slide it into a pocket, or your bag, as we did with previous (think D850) battery packs.

Oh, and it’s about three times the price of the older units !

UPDATE : NIKON have just released the MB-N14 battery pack for the newly released Z6lll – same old, same old – just the top plate changes to accommodate the slightly deeper body.

Simple question – I’ve often wondered, when I see people using their cameras with the lens hood in the reversed (storage) position, why they bother leaving it on the lens…

I mean…more often than not they prevent you getting to the ‘zoom’ ring, and hoods are meant to SHADE the front element, to reduce flair etc.

These two are both for 77mm diameter lenses – the 70-200 f/2.8 and the 100-400 f/4.5 – 5.6 – the one to the right is just slightly deeper (logical when you consider the range of the zoom it’s usually mounted on) I dare say you could actually use either one for both lenses – the point of this is to prevent ‘stray’ light hitting the front element and creating flair by bouncing around inside the lens.

Another oft forgotten use for a lens hood is to provide a physical protection to the front of the lens – you’re wandering around, concentrating on not falling off a cliff, and the end of your lens hits a tree/rock/person…much better that an easily replaceable plastic hood gets damaged rather than an expensive lens element/barrel, or worse.

I do alot of my work in an environment lit by powerful stage lights – for me, a lens hood is vital – you may not even notice the effect it has, until you don’t use one and wonder why your images are sometimes a bit soft…

And did I ever mention a protective filter?

Why is it that NIKON (and they’re not alone in this…) have so much difficulty listening to A: logic, and more importantly B: their buyers?

What’s the niggle this time? Tripod mounts.

Simple thing, or at least, one would have thought. For some years now tripod and accessory manufacturers have been using the chamfered adjustable quick-release system originaly designed by ARCA-SWISS. This allows cameras with a suitable ‘male’ mounting plate to be mounted/unmounted easily from tripods equiped with the ‘female’ mounting plate.

Tripod head and seperate camera mounting plate.

It would seem logical to build into the baseplate of a camera an ARCA style slot so that it could be quickly and easily mounted onto a tripod head (as in the above example)

However, for over 80 years all we have to show for camera ‘evolution’ is the constant use of a treaded 1/4 inch diameter hole so that the camera has to either be fixed directly to the tripod head, or an additional plate purchased to enable the two systems to work together.

Ridiculous.

It gets worse – NIKON include a tripod mounting arm on many of their longer/larger telephoto lenses. Two of these – the 70-200 and the 100-400 share the same ‘arm’ and of course, all it has is a 1/4 inch threaded socket…why not simply build-in the ARCA mount?

No – we must buy a new ‘arm’ – luckily a number of these exists, for only 30€ or so, but it does seem slightly ridiculous that we’re obliged to do this….

When I started this particular ball rolling back in 2011 I was a long way from imagining that it would last this long – I was fairly sure it would run out of steam after a couple of years…how nice to have been proven WRONG!

As you can read in this years poster, we’ve got to ’14’, which I think is pretty damn good.

As with each of the other years posters, the image used was one from the previous year – more often than not one which wasn’t chosen by the jury, or awarded a prize. There’s a simple reason for this, the image is chosen with the text overlay in mind, and this one suited it’s purpose in many ways – the reflection (looking back) the location (the cathedral) etc. etc.

One very sad element was that just after finalizing the poster, and sending a copy to the author, we discovered he had just recently passed away – as a participant in our little marathon this hit hard as we spend time chatting with the people taking part each year, and over the years he had taken part, we’d grown friendly. This poster will be our tribute to his regular contributions to Déclic, and our thoughts go out to his wife and son and the rest of his family in this very difficult time.

This years event will be on the 25th of May and the participants are in for a radical change – as the marathon is not taking place in Auch. For once we have been invited by one of the community of communes around Auch to spend the whole day with them – they have also proposed to offer us all lunch – now that’s the way to do it !

The name of the commune won’t be released until two weeks before the date of the marathon, at the same time as the 5th ‘optional’ theme is announced on the 11th of May.

So far, two weeks after opening the inscriptions, we have 25 participants – four more weeks to go…

I’m thinking uniquely of NIKON here, as in the last couple of weeks we’ve had a slew of firmware updates for different cameras.

The latest is for the D6 – yes, this camera body is still current and available new – and there have been minor updates for the mirrorless Z30 & Z50 too.

The last important firmware update was the ‘2.0’ for the Z8 in February. This activates the ‘Pixel Shift‘ options which are linked basically to the sensor software. (See below)

As the sensor is the same as the Z9 we’re now waiting to see if this will also be available as a firmware update sometime soon on this model.

How Pixel Shift works. (Taken from Nikon Technical Article/Z8 tips)

The resulting images are then vertically ‘merged’ (Photoshop, NX Studio etc.) to create a much higher pixel density image.

Hasselblad offer this possibility on their 100MP sensor and the resulting files are HUGE! NIKON offer the possibility to record 4, 8, 16 or 32 images. Treatment of the images does not interpolate between pixels. Worth remembering that each RAW image ‘weighs’ around 35Mo (depending on content, camera settings) which would make a whopping 1120Mo of data (before the merge) – I’m keen to test this !

This obviously rather largely depends on what we’re comparing, but in terms of modern digital cameras, sizes vary enormously.

I dug up a tape measure and got to work…

I should mention that these images were stolen from Nikon Rumors – there’s are much better than mine…

These are my NIKON digital bodies, from the left a Z6ll, the Z8 and the Z9.

It’s not too surprising that there are small differences in size between different models, but in this example all three bodies house full frame (24×36) sensors, and even the Z6 and Z8 use the same battery.

So why the differences in size? The principal, and most obvious, is the size of the Z9 – this is mainly due to the integrated grip (which allows a much larger capacity battery).

Despite inaccuracies in my photo montage, the rear screens are all identical 3.2inch diagonal.

A new functionality in the Z8 (which will no doubt soon feature in a firmware update for the Z9 which has the same sensor) is Pixel Shift – this may account for NIKON needing a bit more room around the sensor mount.

The single most important factor for me is the ergonomics of any camera body. I personally can’t get used to Canon, but it’s the shape and button layout and not the capacity of the camera that puts me off. I wouldn’t ever say that I would NEVER be able to use a Canon camera, but after so many years with a NIKON in my hand, I’m used to where everything falls and I can use the camera without looking to see where things are. (To some extent this is moot as I only rarely use anything other than the on/off switch when I’m out and about with a camera !)

I suppose it’s back (again) to horses for courses – if you’re comfortable with the size, shape and weight, then where’s the problem? The increased capacity battery pack of the Z9 is a very positive advantage for some shooting situations, particularly when you have a days shooting a long way from a charging point.

As for size, the street photographers would obviously appreciate a smaller, more discrete, camera body. And I shouldn’t think landscape photographers cared one way or the other, given that for most of the time their cameras are mounted on a tripod.

On a personal level I have to say that in the past I prefered a larger DSLR camera body as I felt it absorbed the mirror vibrations etc. better. But given that two out of my three current bodies don’t even have shutters (or mirrors!) this is less of a concern.