Nikon cameras – Page 2 – frederikboving

Nikon Z6ii: Focus shift shooting for landscapes

Vary the focus

Focus shift shooting is not a new thing as such, but the automation of it is new to me, owning primarily DSLRs like the Nikon D4, D750 and D700. The Nikon Z6ii offers an automation of a series of shots where the focus is shifted a little bit for each – moving from near to far. When you do focus shift shooting, the Z6ii will produce a series of images to be merged in post processing.

It is a precondition that the camera is able to control the focus of the lens, so manual focus lenses of course cannot be used when shooting focus shift. As the Nikon ML cameras do not have mechanical AF motors built into them (nor does the FTZ adapter), this means that AF and AF-D lenses do not work, nor does AI and AIS lenses unfortunately.

Focus shift shooting enables you to have images where the depth of field is indefinite, as you in post processing combine the images into one image, picking the sharpest part from each. The only “price” you have to pay is that the shots need to be taken from the same viewpoint and angle (using a tripod) and that you cannot have any moving parts in the frame while the shots are taken. But both these are easy to fulfill as a landscape photographer.

Another thing to be aware of is the lens and if it suffers from focus breathing. If that is the case, then the images will be very difficult to merge in post processing, as you involuntarily will be zooming during the shots. Merging images with different angles of view is mission impossible. So make sure to use a lens that does not have focus breathing.

Best results are achieved shooting where the lens is the sharpest, typically around f/8 or f/5.6 – avoid very open apertures (e.g. f/1.8) and very closed apertures (e.g. f/22) as your lens most likely is not the sharpest in these extremes. Use a “middle of the road” aperture, where you know your lens is sharp.

Configuration

To initiate the shooting, you first have to find the “focus shift shooting” menu in the “photo shooting menu”. It is the second last item in a long list that spans across several pages.

After selecting that one, the “focus shift shooting” menu appears. When you hit “start” (highlighted in yellow below) the camera starts shooting a series of images according to the parameters set below.

The menu above looks a bit long and intimidating at first, but don’t worry, it is relatively few parameters you will be changing after the initial setup.

The number of focus shots can be set to a very high value, like 100. The camera stops shooting new images when it reaches infinity, so for landscapes you cannot really set this value too high. I think the large possible number here is intended for macro photography. In my experience 5-6 images are more than plenty for a landscape shot.

The focus step width is not very well documented in the Nikon manual, but it has to do with how large steps the camera takes between shots. Values range from 1 to 10. You have to give it a try here. I have set mine to 5 and it works fine. In my experience, the chosen aperture has more influence on the number of shots than this parameter.

The interval to next shot is intended to give flashes time to recycle power and for landscapes I do not use flashes, so it is set to 0″ in my case.

The first frame exposure lock is important to have switched on. It secures that the exposure values are not changed throughout the shots. Provided that there are no changes in ambient light during the series, you should get consistent exposure results across the images in a series. You can of course fix this in post processing if you really know your software, but IMHO it is much easier to get right in camera.

The silent photography is switched on in my case. I like that I can hear what the camera is doing when it shoots the series. This tells me how many images are there and when the shooting is done. It is of course a matter of personal preference, so entirely up to you. But the camera is not very informative when it is done shooting, so I like to have some sound to relate to.

The starting storage folder can be handy for separating the images from others, as you will be generating quite a lot of images.

Shooting

Be fore you give the camera green lights to shoot a series, it is important that you initially have focused on the closest part that you want to be sharp in the frame. So if you have a stone or the like in the foreground that you want to be sharp, make sure to focus here before initiating the shot. Once the shot is done, the camera leaves the focus to infinity.

Other than keeping the camera still using a tripod, shooting at a middle aperture and selecting a scene with no moving parts, there is actually not much more to it than that. Only remember to focus near every time before the first shot. And then pray that the ambient light stays constant throughout the series.

Post processing

The first time I read about focus shift shooting, I was hoping that it would also do the post processing in camera, just like your smartphone effortlessly merges several images together when you instruct it to shoot HDR. Unfortunately that is not the case – we “only” get a series of images and have to do the post processing ourselves.

If you open the images as layers in Photoshop, the process is not complicated at all: first ask photoshop to align the images, then ask photoshop to merge the images and finally you may want to crop the image a bit as the edges may look funny after the alignment is done. You find the items you need in the edit menu. The first item is named Auto-Align layers… and the second one is named Auto-Blend images. When you select these a menu appears in both cases – I just say OK to the default values.

Lightroom processing — Here the 2 images in the top of the series have been taken out, and you can see how Photoshop via masks join the images into one. The two images removed (no “eye” bottom right) are the ones focusing on the near part in the picture.

I recently shot a scene with a icicle in the foreground and a path in the woods leading to some trees in the background. When merging the series of images in Photoshop, you can see that photoshop uses masks to select the sharp parts from each image – black conceals, white reveals. In the example above I have deselected the two images that deliver the part closest to the camera (the white part).

So if you have managed to keep the camera still etc., the resulting image should be one with what appears to be infinite depth of field. Everything in the frame is sharp, from front to back.

If you like this kind of shooting is of course entirely up to you. Some think it looks a bit artificial, and prefer that sharpness is a function of the aperture and a single focus point. I have added it to my toolbox as an option that I sometimes use subject to – well – the subject. It is all up to you!

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Nikon FTZ adapter: Is it waterproof?

When it rains, it pours…

The other day I was out shooting, a happy camper that did not consult the weather forecast. I paid the price for my ignorance, and was soon caught in a heavy downpour in January. The problem with January in Denmark in combination with rain is that there are no leaves on the trees, and hence nowhere to seek shelter.

The Nikon FTZ adapter — I hope you can see here how heavy the rain came down. This is actually a quiet lake on a windless day, but the hard rain makes all the difference!

Towards the end of the shoot I arrived at a big lake where the rain came down as if I had stepped into my morning shower wearing all my clothes! I was wearing proper clothing for the weather fortunately, but my camera gave up just when I was about to take a shot of the dramatic lake.

Lucky for me, I was able to use my iPhone to take a shot. The iPhone was difficult to operate because there was so much water on the screen that the phone had difficulties figuring out what was rain and what was my fingers trying to give instructions! But I succeeded as you can see above. I am still today really annoyed that I was not able to take shots with the Nikon Z6ii that I had brought along with the Nikon AF-S 70-200mm VRii. But the camera had stopped working and the iPhone image is all I got.

If you remember mounting a lens on a DSLR without setting the aperture locked at the minimum value (say f/32), then you probably also know the “FE” error, where the camera tells you that you need to change the aperture on the lens. This is exactly the message I got in the top LCD, and a more elaborate version in the rear LCD. The camera had stopped working, and there was nothing I could do out in the rain. It was clear to me that the CPU contacts had been short-circuited by rain getting into the camera somehow.

Arriving at home I could get the Nikon Z6ii to work with a S-series lens, so the camera was fine. And I could get the Nikon AF-S 70-200mm VRii to work with my Nikon D4. So the problem was isolated to the FTZ adapter. And I found water inside the FTZ adapter, that should not be there, so no wonder the camera could not talk properly to the lens.

After drying the FTZ adapter for a few hours it all started to work again and I was very relieved. I would have been sorry to see my almost brand new Nikon Z6ii being damaged for obvious reasons, and also I would have hated my beloved Nikon AF-S 70-200mm VRii lens to stop working. I could have accepted the FTZ adapter to be damaged, but was so lucky that also this one got back in operation.

My solution to all this is to get a rain cover for the camera. They come in different sizes and price ranges, but I am sure they would have saved me for the watery experience. I know that both lens and camera are waterproof, but going forward I prefer to be better safe than sorry, and will bring a rain cover for eventualities.

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Nikon FTZ adapter: When is it relevant?

The go-between solution

When Nikon launched their mirrorless camera series, they did so introducing a new lens mount called the Z-mount. It was a brand new design with a larger diameter than the classic F-mount and also it had a much shorter flange distance, both – according to Nikon – to improve image quality.

The new Nikon Z-mount is only compatible with a brand new line of lenses, known as the Z-mount lenses or S-lenses. These lenses fit directly to the Z-mount. As all the S-lenses have motors built into them, there is no need for a focus motor in the mirrorless camera bodies.

In order to give some backward compatibility with all the good glass made from the middle of the former century and still being made today, Nikon decided to market an adapter, the so called FTZ adapter, or the F-mount to Z-mount adapter. It was probably also because the amount of glass available to the Z-mount was very limited when the ML series was new, so many focal lengths were simply not available for the Z-mount previously.

Nikon FTZ adapter — The back of the FTZ adapter shown to the left. This side faces the Nikon mirrorless camera when mounted.

The FTZ-adapter allows you to shoot with all the glass that is made for the F-mount, as the adapter takes F-mount glass on the front and fits to the Z-mount on the back. The only downside of this adapter, other than the price of it and that is slows down AF speed a little bit, is that it has no focus motor built into it. All the glass with mechanical auto focus is dependent upon a motor in the camera body, and hence you are left with manual focus for these lenses. AF-S glass with the motor built into the lens of course auto focuses as it should, but many will probably hold on to their DSLRs to maintain auto focus for AF and AF-D glass.

Many have speculated that Nikon would produce a FTZ-adapter with a motor built into it, but I doubt it will happen. Nikon did produce a FTZ adapter version 2, but this one is specifically designed for the Z9 camera body, and still has no motor built into it.

So my best guess – and it is a guess – is that we will not see mechanical auto focus motors in the FTZ-adapter. I think Nikon finds that you have lots of aid in focusing manually in the ML system, if you insist to use vintage glass with the mirrorless cameras.

So the FTZ-adapter is relevant if you have F-mount glass that you love and want to hold on to, and at the same time want to upgrade to a mirrorless camera body. Other than giving you the benefits of a mirrorless camera relative to a DSLR, it also opens up a new (and expensive) world of S-series glass that in most cases have got excellent reviews for stunning results.

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Nikon Z6ii: Manual exposure, how to

Manual exposure

Many find manual exposure a bit intimidating and stay with the automated mode or one of the semi automated modes like aperture priority or shutter priority. Good news is that manual exposure is not complicated at all and that you have a lot of room for making exposure mistakes and still be able to fix it in post, provided you shoot RAW, which I highly recommend. And you will understand your camera a lot better when you know how to operate in manual exposure mode.

You camera has a built in metering system, that constantly measures the available light. This system continues to work also when you set the camera in manual mode. Select the manual mode on the PASM dial top left on the Nikon Z6ii.

Manual exposure mode — Mode dial top left – here the mode “M” for manual is selected.

Once in manual mode, you will notice a little exposure indicator appearing, both in the viewfinder and in the rear LCD. This indicator will tell if the camera finds that the aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings will give a correctly exposed picture when you hit the shutter.

Metering scale. Rear LCD. — Notice the scale bottom right on the rear LCD. Here the metering system says the image will be significantly underexposed. The histogram seems to agree!

It is a good thing to keep an eye on the exposure indicator to make sure you get the exposure you are after. Sometimes you want deliberately to over- or underexpose your picture, and the exposure indicator is a good tool to make sure you get what you want.

exposure indicator guide — The exposure indicator shows if the picture will be over- or underexposed or correct exposed. Notice the difference between the viewfinder orientation and the rear LCD ditto. Credit: Nikon Z6ii manual.

Another way to see the same information as the exposure indicator is to use the histogram – you can make it appear by hitting the “disp” button on the center top rear on the camera. Finally, as you have WYSIWYG, you can simply notice if the LCD or electronic viewfinder turns very dark or very bright – a good indication something is off relative to a technically correct exposed picture.

Aperture and shutter speed

You control the aperture and the shutter speed by turning the front and rear command dials respectively.

The thumb is on the rear command dial that sets the shutter speed. The index finger is on the front command dial that controls the aperture.

As you do so, you will notice that the exposure indicator changes in accordance with the selected settings for the two.

If the camera flashes “FEE” in the top LCD when you mount the lens, it is probably because you have not locked the aperture on the lens to the highest f-stop number possible – the camera needs this setting to be so, in order for it to control the position of the aperture blades when shooting with AF or AF-D lenses.

If your lens is an older model (say AI or AIS) where you have an aperture ring on the lens, it is not always possible to change the aperture with the front command dial – instead you will have to set the aperture on the lens. The top LCD will not show the aperture but just a “F–” to indicate it cannot “see” the chosen aperture. The metering indicator works fine still though.

ISO

On a digital camera, ISO is actually not part of the exposure. The sensor has the sensitivity it had when it left the factory and it cannot be changed.

By setting the ISO to other values than the base ISO 100, you apply a gain to the values read by the sensor. It is camera internal post processing that happens from the sensor has read the light and until the image sits on the memory card. Just like in the old days when you turned up the radio, you both amplified the signal and the noise – the original signal remains the same. ISO works the same way, so the price for turning up the ISO is more noise and grain.

When you push the ISO button on top of the camera, you change the function of the front and rear command dial.

The ISO button is located on the top of the Nikon Z6ii.

Pushing the ISO button and at the same time turning the front and rear command dial, changes the ISO values. The front command dial switches between ISO and auto-ISO and the rear command dial shifts between ISO values, say from 100 to 140, and from 140 to 200, and so on.

Choosing the ISO on the Nikon Z6ii — Here the ISO button is pushed. Notice that the top LCD now shows the chosen ISO value.

When you have auto-ISO switched on, the camera will be in a – if not semi automatic – then quarter automatic mode. In other words, the camera will try to make the picture correctly exposed ALONE changing the ISO. So if you have a dark scene where the aperture is closed down and the shutter speed is fast, the camera will have to go to very high ISO values to compensate.

You can use auto-ISO to make sure you come home with images that show at least something, but be aware that grain and noise may be the price you pay for switching auto-ISO on. For starters, I would recommend that you have auto-ISO off, and keep an eye on the exposure indicator or the histogram to make sure the exposure is roughly right. Later, when you have some experience, auto-ISO can make you work faster.

Metering modes

The Nikon Z6ii has 4 metering modes. You can access these by pushing the little “i” in the rear of the camera (middle) and this shows a 6×2 menu where the 9th option (counting top left to right) is “metering”. Selecting that one, brings a sub-menu with 4 options.

Choosing the metering options on the Nikon Z6ii — The 4 metering options.

The metering mode does NOT change the amount of available light, rather it changes how the camera meters the light that passes through the lens. I shoot almost entirely in the “matrix metering” mode as it is the most advanced one, that tries to take in the entire scene and find a good compromise.

Second option is center weighted metering. This one is good if you shoot portraits where you don’t really care of the corners are exposed correct – the important is that the person in the frame is exposed correct. The manual also mentions this as a good mode if you shoot with filters.

The third option is spot metering, where the focus point is where the metering is done entirely. This is a good option of you know that a particular point in the image needs to be correct exposed, but you do not care too much about the rest of the frame. In the settings menu B3 you can set the size of this point.

The final option is highlight-weighted metering. This one many street photographers use as they are not afraid of loosing details in the shadows. I use it for shooting silhouette photography, where the details in the shadows are also less important.

All of these modes may seem confusing, so my advice is to use matrix metering. If you shoot RAW, then there are plenty of options for adjusting the exposure in post and hence I find that these 4 options are more for backward compatibility with older DSLRs than anything else.

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Nikon Z6ii: Manual focus is much easier than before!

Manual focus

Manual focus may not be the first you think of when considering the Nikon Z6ii as your next camera. But in this post I ask you to reconsider, as manual focus can be very rewarding and bring you closer to the shooting experience.

Manual focus of course has its limitations. Unless you are a photographer with almost supernatural skills, manual focus is not relevant for shooting fast moving subjects like birds in flight, events or sports. But for landscapes, architecture, product shoots, portraits and the like, manual focus can work just as well as auto focus.

Further, the Nikon Z6ii like the other mirrorless cameras from Nikon has no auto focus motor built into the camera body. As a consequence, AF and AF-D glass with mechanical auto focus does not work on mirrorless cameras, and you are left with manual focus. So if you are heavily invested in AF or AF-D glass with no appetite for changing your glass, and you want to switch to mirrorless, then you are left with manual focus. This is a step down from the most Nikon DSLRs (the 3×00 and 5×00 excluded) that has a focus motor built into the camera body and hence offers mechanical auto focus for AF and AF-D glass.

Mirrorless cameras offers some options for determining if you have obtained focus that DSLRs do not offer. And it actually helps you when working for example with a vintage lens with no auto focus system built into it. This has led to a revival of vintage lenses from Nikon (AI and AIS), as there is a lot of good (“oldie but goldie”) glass to be found. Nikon has produced glass since the 1950’s, and there is lots of options to choose from.

Now, without further ado, lets look at 4 different ways of focusing manually, 3 of them that are exclusive to the mirrorless cameras.

Focus peaking highlights

Focus peaking highlights mark in the electronic viewfinder with a red, yellow, white or blue color which areas that are in focus.

You will see this as coloring of your subject that is not there in real life, but is added to the image by the camera. You may know this from Live View on a DSLR, but here the great news is that it works both in the rear LCD (Live View) and in the electronic viewfinder.

Peaking highlights example. — The dark red edges around the petals of the flower shows the area in focus.

In the example above, you can see that there is a little bit of red around the both the petals and the stem of the flower . That’s the area in focus.

Zooming in

Another feature that you may know from Live View on a DSLR, is the ability to zoom in. The zoom function works both in Live View as you may know it from a DSLR, but also in the electronic viewfinder. I use this a lot, especially when shooting flowers or the like.

Viewfinder, zoomed in. — Here zoomed in on the flower. Notice the graphics bottom right that shows the size of the zoomed in area (yellow) relative to the entire frame.

You can zoom in to varying degrees using the plus and minus buttons bottom right on the rear of the camera. The max zoom is 200% and that is a lot! The graphics bottom right shows the size of the zoomed in area (yellow) relative to the entire frame (the dark grey box).

Focus confirmation

You probably know the focus confirmation “dot” and the associated arrows that show if the focus plane is too close to you or to far away.

With a mirrorless, the focus confirmation is provided two ways. First in the shape of the graphics illustrated above. In the image below, the focus confirmation dot is bottom left, just to the right of the battery level indicator.

Focus confirmation dot bottom left is in alignment with the green box showing the focus point. Both signal that the subject is in focus.

But also notice the green focus area selector in the center of the LCD. It can be moved around using the joystick. This box is red when the area in the box is out of focus, but turns green when focus is obtained. So you will see the dot appearing at the same time as the box turns green.

Availability

The focus peaking highlights works for all lenses, at least as far as I have been able to test, also AI and AIS lenses. However, mind you that if the subject is moving, for example waves on the ocean far away, the camera may have problems illustrating the peaking highlights as it cannot keep up with the movement. Also, when fully zoomed in, the peaking highlights do not work either.

Zooming in happens electronically, so this also works for all lenses.

The focus conformation dot requires distance information to work on a mirrorless, and this part only works for AF-D, AF-S and S-series lenses. It can seem a little strange as it works on ancient DSLRs with old lenses, but mind you that the focusing system of a mirrorless is very different from a DSLR.

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Nikon Z6ii: Any need for the Preview button?

Way back when…

Since the dawn of mankind, Nikon cameras have been equipped with a so called preview button. The image below shows the preview button of the D750, but I find a similar one on my old F100!

The role of the preview button on a camera. — The preview button (PV) on my trusty Nikon D750

Sadly, on the Nikon Z6ii that button is gone! Yep, it is no more. Replaced by two programable buttons instead.

But luckily it is possible to assign the function of preview to a range of buttons using the settings menu. I assigned it to the joystick when pushed, but you can assign it in many different ways.

The good question is of course if you no longer need this button? Is it a appendix from way back when todays grumpy old men were happy kids playing football in the yard? The boring answer is: it depends. Let me explain.

In order for the camera to receive sufficiently light to do all the complicated readings, calculations etc. associated with especially focusing, there are limits to how narrow the aperture can be. As you probably know, if you take a lens and close it down to say f/11 or even higher, it is a very small hole the aperture blades leaves to let light in. So what does your camera do? It cheats a bit. It keeps the aperture unchanged when you turn the front command dial, and waits to adjust the aperture blades until you hit the shutter. At that exact moment it moves the blades to the desired position (say f/11) takes the picture and moved the blades back out. So what you see is not what you get if you shoot with narrow apertures (above f/5.6).

The camera has no problems opening up wide, say to f/2.8 and adjusting the blades to let in a lot of light. You can see here that the blades are in the “correct” position at f/2.8 here.

But when you close down the aperture to say f/11, the camera secures a minimum of light inflow by stopping the blades at f/5.6 – so when you turn the front command wheel beyond f/5.6 the blades are not moved. The “hole” in the lens remains the same.

So from f/5.6 and upwards, what you see in the viewfinder and what the camera captures are drifting apart. More and more as you stop down.

The purpose of the preview button is to temporarily bring alignment between the camera aperture and the position of the blades in the lens. And as you have probably guessed, pushing the preview button will potentially dramatically change the depth of field.

The preview effect

The extremely poor image below shows my office captured through the electronic viewfinder. I am at f/16 camera setting wise, but the lens is at f/5.6.

When I then push the preview button, other than the grid disappearing, the lens now moves the blades from f/5.6 to f/16 (the ISO goes ballistic as I am shooting this at night during winter, but please ignore that).

Although the image is horrible, the legs on the chair shows the difference: Due to the increased depth of field, the red focus peaking highlights now show on the legs much more than in the first image. You will also notice the same bottom left on the computer screen.

To preview or not to preview

As a landscape photographer, I use preview a lot. I need to see that as much as possible of the landscape is in focus (I am not a fan of hyperfocal distance calculations); and the preview with focus peaking highlights is the only way to do so when shooting at small apertures.

If you seldom shoot beyond f/5.6 or the depth of field is not that important to your style of shooting, then I think you can have a great photography life without the preview function. And enjoy that what-you-see-is-what-you-get really is what-you-see-is-what-you-get.

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Nikon Z6ii: Ergonomics review

In this post I take you through some of the observations I have made during my first weeks of shooting with the Z6ii. I come from a long line of DSLRs including the Nikon D700, D750 and the D4 – all of which are still with me, so of course many of the things I observe are relative to these cameras. I only use the Z6 for photography, so I do not go into video shooting in this post.

Build quality

There is a lot of plastic in use when it comes to the Z6ii and you can get worried by that fact alone. Also, the camera is built in Thailand, and not good old solid Japan that we were used to, at least with some of the DSLRs back in the days. But I am happy to say that it to me feels and looks like a very solid built camera.

I don’t miss any metal anywhere. Command wheel and joystick works as it should, the same applies to the buttons on the rear of the camera. The rear LCD flips out without feeling wobbly and the rubber on the grip also leaves a good impression.

The only buttons that I don’t really like are the ones on the front right (FN1 and FN2) – I will return to these. You have to push them quite deep to activate them and they are a bit wobbly – like the manual gear shifter in a French car. But overall a very convincing first impression.

Deep hand grip

One of the first things I notice when I grab a camera is the camera body grip. I have fairly big hands, and if the grip is not deep, then this alone can be a reason to ditch the camera! Yes, I walk the talk: I sold the Fuji X-T3 because the ergonomics simply did not work for me. We are deep into personal preference territory here, but ergonomics is vital for me and I find that I simply leave a camera at home if the overall ergonomics do not work for me.

Nikon Z6ii ergonomics review — Buttons and dials concentrated on the right hand size of the Nikon Z6ii.

As I am a Nikonian, I am happy to report that the grip is plenty deep and gives me lots of real estate to hold the camera comfortably for extended periods of time. Phew – glad Nikon passed that showstopper with flying colors!

The button layout around the shutter release button is classic with both ISO, exposure compensation and a video record button. I am glad that ISO got its own button, so you can control the exposure triangle with buttons sitting on the top of the camera – that allows me to keep my eye in the viewfinder while adjusting the exposure settings at the same time. Brilliant.

Top LCD

When I first unboxed the camera, the top LCD was one of the first things that struck me as a surprise: It is much smaller than what I had expected.

I think it is because I put the size of the LCD relative to the size of the Z6ii, but forgot that the Z6ii is a more compact camera than what I am used to – it takes up significantly less space than say my trusty Nikon D750.

I have never considered the D750 to be a big camera, rather it is small when compared to say the D4. Yet, next to the Z6ii, it appears much bigger, both because of the built in flash and the room needed for the mirror just behind the lens mount. So the Z6ii truly is a more compact camera, and knowing this, I am even more happy to say that despite all this compactness, Nikon has managed to give us a good grip.

It feels different than a DSLR. The best way to describe it is if you have ever played guitar and moved from an acoustic guitar to an electric guitar . The Z6ii takes up less space, has less real estate and everything feels more compact (i.e. there is less room for your fingers).

So how is the top LCD? Excellent! It really is easy to read, also when shooting at night. But I really do miss my back lit buttons from the D4, so although the top LCD is easy to read, it is not always easy to find the buttons in the dark!

Buttons front right

The buttons front right don’t work for me. They are big and as such OK, but the position of the top one is so that I on a regular basis push this button without wanting to do so (brings up the white balance menu!). There is simply too little space between the hand grip and the top button for my fat fingers.

My second issue with these buttons is the feel. As you can see they are rather square and not round like in the good old days. I checked, and the equivalent buttons on my D4, D750 and D700 are round. The buttons on the Z6ii feels like I slightly cut my fingers on the buttons – or at least that they are simply not made for human beings. Do I dare say that it is the same feeling I get when operating the buttons on my Sony A7Rii? As you have probably guessed, I am not a big fan of these buttons.

Battery grip

One of the big changes from the Z6 to the Z6ii is the addition of contacts for the battery grip. The Z6 could take a battery grip, but there were no controls on the MB-N10 battery grip. That has now changed with the Z6ii and the updated grip MB-N11.

If you shoot a lot in portrait mode, then this is really good news and a vital update to the ergonomics. Many reviewers expressed very clearly their discontent with the lack of a battery grip with controls on the first version of the Z6, and the Z6ii clearly shows that Nikon has taken the feedback seriously and updated the camera accordingly.

USB-C charging

I am a big fan of industry standards, and hence I am a big fan of USB-C. I have so many chargers and battery types that it simply drives me nuts. Therefore I was so glad to see that Nikon with the Z6 added in camera charging. But it only works with the camera off, which will annoy some video shooters. Not me though, I am a happy camper: I can charge the camera on the go with my power bank. Wonderful!

Rear LCD and viewfinder

The rear LCD only flips up and down. I think most photographers are happy with this solution and won’t miss a fully articulating LCD. Only if you are a videographer I think you may sometimes miss this feature.

The screen is a pleasure to use. It is touch sensitive, and coming from an iPhone 12 I don’t miss any speed when I pinch, zoom, swipe and scroll through menu systems. It seems very responsive to me. I have not yet tested the LCD in bright sunlight – it is wintertime and here in Denmark we don’t see to much bright sunlight this time of year. But like most other LCD’s, I expect it to struggle in bright sunlight.

Relative to the mirrorless systems I have tried from Fuji and Sony, I’d say that the viewfinder is the best I have tried. Especially shooting at night, I find the viewfinder gives a very realistic image to work with. And the wonderful thing about the electronic viewfinder is that all the good stuff you are used to when shooting in Live View on a DSLR is available in the viewfinder now, e.g.:

Preview of the image exposure when shooting in manual mode (turns dark when under exposed)
Focus peaking highlights when focusing manually
A real time updated histogram
Ability to zoom in when focusing manually

Focus mode button gone!

On all my Nikon cameras, you will front left find a focus selector button. The design varies, but the basic function of that button is to switch between auto focus and manual focus, but moving the little pin driven by the AF motor in and out of the camera body. The secondary function is to select the focus mode and the focus area. This button is gone now – take a look below:

I think it makes sense not to have that button in the sense that there is no AF motor built into the Nikon Z6ii, nor the FTZ adapter, and hence the need to switch the motor in the body on and off is gone. However, the ability to change focus area and mode while keeping your eye in the viewfinder was a very pleasant side effect of that little button.

One way of changing focus mode is to hit the (i) button on the rear of the camera, and move the cursor to the rightmost options that gives access to the focus area and focus mode. In the image above the yellow cursor is over “MF” for manual focus, and just above that sits the focus area menu item. This is the cumbersome way. Alternatively you can hit the FN2 button, that works as the focus mode button did in the old days: you change the focus mode and focus area by turning the front and rear command dials.

When I shoot, my left hand holds the camera in the area of the now removed focus button used to be. Therefore it is super natural and easy for me to push that button with my left hand, and operate the front and rear command dials with my right hand. What I now have to do is to push FN2 with my right hand and then at the same time with my right hand operate the front and rear command dials. This feels awkward to me. It is as if Nikon has designed the camera to be right-hand operated only.

The button layout on the rear of the camera seems to confirm my suspicion – the most buttons are located to the right.

Another button that is gone, front right on the camera, is the depth of field preview button. I never use it to be quite honest, but you may, and then you will miss it. You should see the correct out of focus areas for wider apertures, but as soon as you stop down to and above f/5.6, then you won’t. Again, strange that Nikon removed this button if you ask me.

A third button that is no more is the bracketing button. It is on the left side of my D750 and on the top of my D4. Again, it seems that Nikon has really cleaned up most buttons to the left hand side.

Format shortcut gone!

I was really surprised that I could not find 2 red “format” signs on the Z6ii. That normally signals that if you push these two buttons for a few seconds and then re-confirm when the LCD flashes “format”, then the memory card is formatted. Super convenient. I use it very often.

Ok, it is not the end of the world – I have set-up the “my menu” so that the first item is formatting the memory card. But it is not as fast as the button based shortcut on my DSLRs unfortunately.

Zooming is wonderful, but…

One of the great features of a mirrorless is when you shoot with manual focus, you can zoom in, both in the electronic viewfinder and the rear LCD. The latter you have probably tried in Live View on a DSLR, but the new thing is to be able to zoom in with your eye in the viewfinder. Great!

So how do you zoom in? Well, you use the zoom buttons located next to the rear LCD, at the very bottom of the rear of the camera:

Zooming in and out is done using the + and – button on the rear of the camera. You have to move your thumb quite a distance to use these buttons.

Now, I don’t know how you work your camera, but my thumb always sits and either pushes the AF-ON button (back button focus) or operates the joystick just below it. In other words, my thumb is at the top of the camera. The zoom in and out buttons are at the very bottom.

Maybe practice will make me better, but I find it very hard to find the + and – buttons when I at the same time look in the viewfinder. I could of course re-program say the joystick so that hitting it in the center would be the same as zooming in, the only problem is that I cannot find zoom as an option. So I am stuck with these little buttons at the bottom of the camera.

Now, the world does not end because if this. But it is super annoying when you for the 30th time that day hit the menu button in attempt to find the + button while zooming to get the manual focus just right. The camera design clearly works against me, and not with me.

Summary

Thank you for making it this far, either reading or scrolling through my nerdy observations above. Bottom line here is that all the vitals are approved: the build quality, the deep hand grip, the electronic viewfinder, the rear LCD and the overall look and feel of the camera. Add to that, that the camera charges via USB-C and that a battery grip with controls is available, and the ergonomics of this camera looks like a winner.

However, there are a few things that annoys me. I am not a big fan of the “right hand operation” philosophy that is behind the button layout, nor the removal of buttons and shortcut combinations. The effect of these changes it that I cannot work as fast on the Z6ii as I can on my DSLRs. And what strikes me as even more odd is that all the buttons and shortcuts I have talked about above, as far as I can tell, are still there on the Z9. I hope future versions of the Z6ii will bring back some of the buttons and shortcuts. Please Nikon, please.

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Affiliate link: Nikon Z6ii.

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Nikon Z6ii vs Z6 – Which one for you?

A brand new camera

When the Z6ii came out, the world of reviewers agreed that the Z6ii was basically a Z6 with an additional processor and an additional memory slot. Probably because the cameras on the outside are almost similar. In other words, the Z6ii is not a major upgrade from the Nikon Z6, that many considered to be Nikons not-too-impressive entry into the mirrorless world. But Nikon gained some credit for actually listening to the critique raised towards the Z6, but still the Z6ii was positioned by many as a mild update of the Z6.

Nikon Z6ii with the Nikkor 50mm 1.8G lens (and the FTZ adapter in between)

I could not disagree more. I will go to the other extreme and say that the Nikon Z6ii is at a whole new league relative to the Z6. The heart of my argument is the extra EXPEED processor that Nikon added to the Z6ii. If you think about it: Why did Nikon add an additional processor? Was it just to make the spec list look better or is there a bigger picture behind this move? In a world that lacks semiconductors (November 2021), would it not be strange that Nikon added an additional CPU to their camera unless there was a compelling reason?

What many don’t realize is that a camera today is more a computer than anything else. Computing power matters. Especially when we are talking computations needed for auto focus with eye detect etc., but also for FPS and clearing the buffer of images fast. Future software logic enhancements and firmware updates may need to have some headroom CPU wise to enable new functionality or better AF to be implemented – say if some of the Z9 AF capabilities were to be trickled down to the Z6ii or Z7ii.

Is the Z6 sufficient in some cases?

November 2021 I found the Z6 over at B&H for 1600 USD and the Z6ii for 2000 USD. That is a 25% price difference, and of course you need to make sure that the added functionality of the Z6ii is worth the extra money. The Z6ii has the same sensor, same buttons and dials, same viewfinder and same rear LCD, so other than the additional card slot, more advanced AF software and more computing power, many of the hardware items that go into making the Z6 and the Z6ii are exactly the same.

I would imagine that:

if you do not to much photography where AF functionality is important,
you are not a(n event) shooter where dual card slots is vital and
you do not shoot much in low light

then the original Z6 could be sufficient for you. But I ask you to consider this carefully, as I doubt that for example future firmware updates related to AF will be done for the Z6 due to lack of computing power.

More computing power in the Z6ii

You can see from the spec list how much more computing power the Z6ii has relative to the Z6, for example:

Camera buffer 124 RAW images (vs 35 before)
Massively improved AF system
14 fps (12 fps)
Video 4K at 60fps (30fps before)

The AF system is a major step forward, and I don’t think we will see the Z6ii improvements later implemented in the Z6, simply because the Z6 does not have computing power needed. And this brings me to anther point: future improvements to firmware that require significant amounts of computing power may be possible to implement on the Z6ii, whereas the Z6 probably will have to pass. And the hardware is locked when the camera leaves the factory; you cannot add an additional CPU to the Z6 unfortunately.

The computing performance not only shows in the specs, but also in every interaction you have with the camera. I noticed this when I had both a Fuji X-T20 and a Fuji X-T3. The latter is so much faster, so much responsive and does what you ask it to do with no hesitance or delay. The X-T20 on the other hand has almost a life of its own – actually, I can turn it on, wait 1/2 a second and turn it off again and nothing happens! The camera is so slow booting that it does not find out that I momentarily had the camera turned on!

More improvements

Other than the above improvements, the Z6ii has other improvements that I believe are less related to the CPU power:

Time lapses up 15 minutes (30 seconds before)
Stronger EN-EL15c batteries (340 shots vs 315)
Charging in camera
Firmware update via Snapbridge
Connectors for the battery grip MB-N11 with controls
1 stop better low light AF sensitivity

Of course, if none or the above is important to you, and you really don’t need strong AF performance, 4K 60fps or a big buffer, then you may find that the Z6 is sufficient for you, and your wallet will thank you (unless you spend the savings on lenses or the like) as Nikon dropped the price on the Z6 when the Z6ii came out.

But my guess is that most will welcome the enhancements that the Z6ii offers over the Z6. But we are in personal preference territory here, so I leave it up to you. My hope with this post is that you gained some insight to the Z6ii improvements and see that there is more to the upgrade than a CPU and a card slot.

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Nikon D700 vs Nikon D4

I guess anyone can read the specification sheet for both the Nikon D700 and the Nikon D4 and come up with a list of differences. But another thing is working with both cameras side by side for an extended period of time. Then you get to know the differences from a real world experience. In this blog I want to share how it is to live and work with these two cameras, based on a few areas that I have selected that are important to me.

Introduction

The Nikon D4 is in the single digit line of Nikon cameras, meaning that Nikon calls this a flagship camera. It is a good as it gets basically. However, the camera is more than 10 years old and the original ask for 6000 USD is not dropped to a more manageable 1000 EUR on the used market. So you can get your hands on a pro level camera for a fraction of what a new one would set you back.

The D700 was made between 2008 and 2012, so it is older than the D4. It shows in many ways: the pixel count is lower, no video, etc. But the D700 is a legend, and many consider the combination of sensor and processing logic to be unique, actually so unique that Nikon never since has made a camera with color rendition and micro contrast as good as the D700. Also, the D700 can be had for a lot less than 1000 EUR, but the challenge is more to find a copy that is not too beaten up / has too many clicks on the clock, than to find an affordable copy.

Many consider the D700 a baby version of the D3, and believe that Nikon with the D700 made a mistake and produced a camera in the enthusiast lineup that came too close to their flagship cameras. Nikon learned their lesson, and subsequently made sure to have good distance between their flagship, pro-level and enthusiast level lineup.

Image quality

Especially skin tones are known to be unrivalled and unique for the D700. I leave it up to you to decide if you want to believe the magic and hype related to the D700. I have seen it periodically shine and give a 3D pop never seen with other cameras, and many of my landscape pictures look more like paintings than pictures. So yes, I can confirm there is something about the D700, but I am skeptical if all of the hype is justified.

I will say though that when it comes to B&W images, the D700 in my humble opinion has something special – the images are very clean and rich in contrast, far better than any other camera I have had the pleasure to use.

On the other side I find that the D4 makes mincemeat of the D700 when it comes to colors and color rendition – the D4 in my opinion is simply some of the best with rich saturated colors, where I find the D700 to be more pale or less saturated. This is up to personal preference and taste, but for me the D4 shines when it comes to colors.

In terms of the more technical or specs related differences, the D4 has both more pixel count and more dynamic range. I have produced large prints (100 cm times 70 cm) with the Nikon D700 with no problems, so I am a strong believer that 12MP is more than plenty also for large prints, when we are talking natural viewing distances. If you need to crop, then the D4 clearly has an advantage with its 16MP relative to the 12MP of the D700, and for wildlife I often find that I need to crop, and then the D700 clearly has an disadvantage. However, for many applications (landscape, street, products, candid), I find that 12 MP is more than plenty.

Many shy away from the D700 when they understand it “only” has 12MP. But I say: fear not, it is plenty! Unless you want to make very big prints that needs to be viewed very close up, or you want to crop your pictures heavily. If not, then 12MP is more than enough. And when you load your pictures into Lightroom or wherever you do your post processing, you will enjoy the smaller file size. And storage wise you will find that the D700 files take up less space on your hard-drive and backup storage facilities. So I will claim that the smaller pixel count makes living with the D700 somewhat easier than the D4.

Ergonomics and build quality

The D700 and D4 have significant differences in build quality. Even though the D700 is built very solid, the D4 takes it up a notch, and comes with what I call a built in battery grip. The D4 is also a very heavy camera body weighing almost 1.5 kilo, which paired with a heavy lens is a very heavy combo. If you don’t like a heavy and bulky camera, then you probably want to stay clear of both the D4 and the D700, but especially the D4.

Both cameras have great ergonomics and I am in general a fan of Nikons way to design their cameras and button layout so you do not get tired working with them for extended periods of time. One area where you will notice that these are older cameras is the rear screen, where both of them are fixed. No tilt of flip-out or anything. Fixed:

Nikon D4 and Nikon D700 — Nikon D700 to the left with a battery grip. Nikon D4 to the right. Notice the extra LCD screen on the D4 + the 2 joysticks, one top right next to the large rear LCD, another bottom right to the same LCD.

With the D700 you have the option to add a battery grip, which makes it – in terms of height and ergonomics – very similar to the D4. However, the D4 comes with 2 joysticks for moving the focus point around, with the D700 that only comes with the battery grip, in landscape mode you have to do with the command wheel. Some complaint that the joysticks on the D4 easily fall of, but I am so lucky to not have had this issue.

One area that buggers me senseless with the D700 is the lack of 100% viewfinder coverage. The D4 has 100%, but the D700 only has 95%. You may think that this is a small thing, but if you like me try to crop your images precisely when shooting only to learn that the camera added 5% more, then I think you will feel the annoyance of the additional 5%. Switching between the D4 and the D700, it always strikes me how much this little difference means to me in real life.

Auto ISO

I know it is a small thing, but with the D4 I can switch between setting the ISO myself and asking the camera to do it for me very easily. I hit the ISO button bottom left on the rear of the D4 while turning the front command dial. Then it flicks between auto-ISO and “manual” ISO. Not so on the D700 – here I have to go into the menu system to change this. I know it is a small thing and I know you can configure “my menu” to have the ISO on top of the list and have it assigned to a dedicated button, but I find that the D4 implementation is so much easier to work with and also here – like the viewfinder coverage – it always strikes me how much this little difference means to me in real life.

Card slots

One area that always causes a lot of debate is one or two card slots. The D700 to the left comes with one CF card and the D4 to the right has both a CF card slot and an XQD slot. Especially for wedding photographers but basically anybody that appreciates the philosophy of “no single point of failure”, the value of having 2 card slots cannot be exaggerated. You may be of the “I have never had a card failing on me”, but Murphy is alive and kicking and it is only a matter of time. There have been days when I came home from a shoot thinking that the content of the cards was far more valuable than the camera holding them. But of course up to you how important 2 card slots is!

Live view

You may not use Live View much, but if you do, then this is one of the areas where the D4 shines relative to the D700. I think the Live View implementation on the D700 was one of the first implementations Nikon did, and it is a bit quirky. There is no dedicated Live View button and you have to select between two different Live View modes. A0nd the autofocus is slow when you opt for the “Tripod” mode, as it is called. You will quickly enjoy the Live View implementation on the D4 with a dedicated button.

What to choose?

If you are about to choose between the D4 and the D700, then you are in for a tough choice. Boiled down to one sentence? You choose the D700 with your heart and the D4 with your head. The D4 is a more modern camera, and although heavier, it is easier to work with. Personally I find that I shoot a lot more with the D4 than the D700, simply because it is a camera I find a lot easier to work with (100% view finder coverage, dedicated live-view button, easy AUTO ISO switch etc).

If you are in doubt, buying a good copy of a D700 will not set you back much – you can always get a very good price for a D700 due to its legend status, and then the price of owning it is only the difference between what you bought it for and what you sold it for. And even without being a top negotiator, I think you will find the gap to be small.

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Nikon D700 versus D750

I guess anyone can read the specification sheet for both the Nikon D700 and the Nikon D750 and come up with a list of differences. But another thing is working with both cameras side by side for a long time. Then you get to know the differences from a real world experience. In this blog I want to share how it is to live and work with these two cameras, based on a few areas that I have selected as they mean a lot to me.

The hype

The Nikon D750 is a much younger camera than the D700. It shows in many ways: the pixel count is higher, it does video, etc. But the D700 is a legend, and many consider the combination of sensor and processing logic to be unique, actually so unique that Nikon never since has made a camera with color rendition and micro contrast as good as the D700. Especially skin tones are known to be unrivalled and unique for the D700. I leave it up to you to decide if you want to believe the magic and hype related to the D700 – myself I have seen it periodically shine and have a 3D pop I have never seen with other cameras, and many of my landscape pictures look more like paintings than pictures, so yes, I can confirm there is something about the D700, but I am skeptical if all of the hype is justified.

Build quality

One of the things difficult to see from a spec sheet is the look and feel of a camera, and here the D700 and D750 are like night and day. Many say that the D700 is “built like they don’t make them anymore”, and I have to agree 100%. The D700 is – to use a cliché – built like a tank. A brick outhouse. You’ve heard the lingo. But it is. A Land Rover with a Range Rover on top. It is massive, made for endurance. If you don’t like a heavy camera and a bulky one too, then stay clear of the D700.

The D750 is more a camera like they build them today. It is more compact, lighter and has a much less solid feel to it. When you go from the D700 to the D750, you definitely feel like the D750 is more like plastic. Not that the D750 is of poor build quality – the D700 is just so much better. The grip on the D750 is deeper, but you quickly get used to the D700 if you – like me – have big hands.

Live view

You may not use Live View much, but if you do, then this is one of the areas where the D750 shines relative to the D700. I think the Live View implementation on the D700 was one of the first implementations Nikon did, and it is a bit quirky. There is no dedicated Live View button and you have to select between two different Live View modes. And the auto focus is slow when you opt for the “Tripod” mode, as it is called. Add to this that the D750 has a higher resolution rear LCD screen that tilts, and you will quickly enjoy the Live View implementation on the D750 with a dedicated button.

Nikon D750 versus D700 — Nikon D750 to the left. Notice the tilt screen and the dedicated Live View button to the bottom right. The D700 has the vertical grip mounted, which of course does not make the weight difference between the two any less…

Pixel count

Viewfinder coverage

You may not think that the viewfinder coverage is a big thing, but to me it is, and actually one of the few areas where the D700 annoys me. I love that camera, but the fact that the frame is slightly bigger than what I see in the viewfinder is a nuisance. When I shoot, I frame very carefully according to the viewfinder and when I then get back home and open the file on my PC, I find it truly annoying to start my editing by cropping as I saw it in the viewfinder. The D750 does not have this issue.

Dynamic range

The D750 if notorious for its ability to do auto focus in low light situations – it literally sees in the dark. Truly impressive. The D700 not so much, and the dynamic range of the D700 is not as good as the D750. This may not be important to you – the ability to have both very bright and dark areas in the same frame is not important to all, and with exposure bracketing you can compensate a lot for lack of dynamic range. But I will say that in a low light situation – for example shooting in a restaurant without disturbing the guests with a big fat flash, my choice is the D750. Every time. Don’t believe the D750 has better dynamic range? Head over to DXO mark and see for yourself.

What to choose?

If you are about to choose between the D750 and the D700, then you are in for a tough choice. Boiled down to one sentence? You choose the D700 with your heart and the D750 with your head. The D750 is a more modern camera, lighter and easier to work with. But sometimes that is not what counts. Love conquers all, as they say.

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Affiliate link to the Nikon D750 (body only).

Vary the focus

Configuration

Shooting

Post processing

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Related reading

When it rains, it pours…

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The go-between solution

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Manual exposure

Aperture and shutter speed

ISO

Metering modes

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Related reading

Manual focus

Focus peaking highlights

Zooming in

Focus confirmation

Availability

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Related reading

Way back when…

The preview effect

To preview or not to preview

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Related reading

Build quality

Deep hand grip

Top LCD

Buttons front right

USB-C charging

Rear LCD and viewfinder

Focus mode button gone!

Format shortcut gone!

Zooming is wonderful, but…

Summary

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Related reading

A brand new camera

Is the Z6 sufficient in some cases?

More computing power in the Z6ii

More improvements

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Related reading

Introduction

Image quality

Ergonomics and build quality

Auto ISO

Card slots

Live view

What to choose?

Video link

Related reading

The hype

Build quality

Live view

Pixel count

Viewfinder coverage

Dynamic range

What to choose?

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