Nikon Z* mirrorless

Sootchucker said:
That's really interesting thanks Stephen. It seems like he's really smitten with the lens and optically, it looks like it's going to be another cracker. I've been looking forward to this as a one lens "holiday" solution with the Z6 or Z7 bodies.

Only very slight downside, is that the VR in lens obviously isn't as effective as some other lenses, but I don't think he clarified at what focal length he was at to get the sharp 1/20 sec images at. If it's right up at the 200mm end, then that's still about 3 and a bit stops.
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If the VR is as effective as the 24-70 f4 up to the same focal lengths, I’ll be a happy bunny, as I’ve been down as low as 0.5 seconds at 50mm with that. I’ve got mine on order with Wex, subject to satisfactory reviews from pre-release samples. Hoping to go away for a few days in May for r&r, so it would come in handy.
 
looking forward to seeing some real-life shots from the 24-200, he certainly seems pretty happy with it’s performance!
 
encouraging but pretty short on specifics (other than the overlong section on comparative lengths). I'll need to wait for more thorough reviews before even considering the lens.
 
Sootchucker said:
optically, it looks like it's going to be another cracker.
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I always wonder how people come to conclusions like this, without seeing any actual image comparisons between lenses...

I'm sure this lens will be great, and serve those who use it, very well indeed. Personally, that variable aperture thing means it's no good for my sort of photography, as it's just too heavily compromised for portraits and lowlight shooting. F4 really is the limit of aperture for me. Obviously, the compromise for size and weight is going to be that decreasing aperture, but I'm surprised that it decreases so quickly; f6./3 by 80mm. But it's so tiny! Great for travelling I suppose. But for me, the 24-70 is just perfect in terms of the balance between size and weight, max aperture and zoom range. I'd be very happy with say a 135mm f2.8 or f3.5, and a 200mm f4. Small, light yet reasonably 'fast' lenses.
 
I've not been photographing much recently due to my "confinement", so out of sheer boredom I decided to look at my back catalogue of Z6 images. This was taken in Maryport of a tribute to the miners whose industry dominated the town. Totally irrelevant, but the miner is holding a safety lamp of a type made by Naylors of Wigan. My father worked there for a while, making these very lamps. I still have one at home.

Maryport Miners Statue by Stephen Lee, on Flickr
 
AZ6 said:
I always wonder how people come to conclusions like this, without seeing any actual image comparisons between lenses...

I'm sure this lens will be great, and serve those who use it, very well indeed. Personally, that variable aperture thing means it's no good for my sort of photography, as it's just too heavily compromised for portraits and lowlight shooting. F4 really is the limit of aperture for me. Obviously, the compromise for size and weight is going to be that decreasing aperture, but I'm surprised that it decreases so quickly; f6./3 by 80mm. But it's so tiny! Great for travelling I suppose. But for me, the 24-70 is just perfect in terms of the balance between size and weight, max aperture and zoom range. I'd be very happy with say a 135mm f2.8 or f3.5, and a 200mm f4. Small, light yet reasonably 'fast' lenses.
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I hear what you're saying, and whilst I agree with your points, for me the attraction is not having to change lenses on the few occasions I need to go beyond 70mm. If they had a native 135mm or thereabouts the temptation would be for me to get one of those instead, but at the moment they don't.
 
Stephen L said:
I hear what you're saying, and whilst I agree with your points, for me the attraction is not having to change lenses on the few occasions I need to go beyond 70mm. If they had a native 135mm or thereabouts the temptation would be for me to get one of those instead, but at the moment they don't.
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This is why I love the 24-120mm. It's such a versatile range, yet retains that maximum aperture. I seldom find myself wanting much more range, and I can always crop in a bit. To me, it's the perfect 'one lens solution'.
 
AZ6 said:
This is why I love the 24-120mm. It's such a versatile range, yet retains that maximum aperture. I seldom find myself wanting much more range, and I can always crop in a bit. To me, it's the perfect 'one lens solution'.
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Weight? Size? Those things are important to me - more so than outright quality.

Edit: I agree regarding range!
 
Stephen L said:
Weight? Size? Those things are important to me - more so than outright quality.
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Sure. I've shlapped enough gear round with me to appreciate size and weight issues. But the Z6, with the 24-70, a 50mm Z and an old MF 135mm f2.8 plus FTZ adapter, fits neatly into a small bag. Perfect for my needs.
 
Stephen L said:
I've not been photographing much recently due to my "confinement", so out of sheer boredom I decided to look at my back catalogue of Z6 images. This was taken in Maryport of a tribute to the miners whose industry dominated the town. Totally irrelevant, but the miner is holding a safety lamp of a type made by Naylors of Wigan. My father worked there for a while, making these very lamps. I still have one at home.

Maryport Miners Statue by Stephen Lee, on Flickr
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My mother was born at Maryport where her father was a miner.
Hard times.
Thanks for posting this Stephen.
 
Having far too much time on my hands, I decided to do what I should have done before, and that’s analyse what focal lengths I use the most. This time I concentrated on my Fuji shots as that covers my widest range of held focal lengths. So discounting wider angles, I was surprised to see that the 35mm equivalent was around 80-90mm.
That got me thinking about what use I would really get from the 24-200, especially considering the aperture restrictions. Now what do Nikon have in the 80-90mm range? Hmmm...
It got me thinking that if I wanted I could have a nice trio of lenses, two of which I already own. The 14-30 f4, the 50mm f1.8, and the missing link. The 85mm f1.8. Watch this space. Oh, and if I need a bit longer I’ve got a couple of good legacy lenses in the Oly Zuiko 100mm and the Pentax 135mm, both of which perform well.
 
Stephen L said:
Having far too much time on my hands, I decided to do what I should have done before, and that’s analyse what focal lengths I use the most. This time I concentrated on my Fuji shots as that covers my widest range of held focal lengths. So discounting wider angles, I was surprised to see that the 35mm equivalent was around 80-90mm.
That got me thinking about what use I would really get from the 24-200, especially considering the aperture restrictions. Now what do Nikon have in the 80-90mm range? Hmmm...
It got me thinking that if I wanted I could have a nice trio of lenses, two of which I already own. The 14-30 f4, the 50mm f1.8, and the missing link. The 85mm f1.8. Watch this space. Oh, and if I need a bit longer I’ve got a couple of good legacy lenses in the Oly Zuiko 100mm and the Pentax 135mm, both of which perform well.
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It's interesting to see what focal lengths I actually use, the info in LR gives a great insight. With my zooms, I tend to use one end or the other. With my 70-200, I tend to use the long end a lot more. Which makes me realise that using primes of those particular focal lengths would be better really; as I'd have larger max apertures. Sure, zooms are useful, but mostly it's one extreme or the other. I think I could happily just have say a 24mm, 50mm, 85mm and 135 or 180mm, and not feel much loss. I would like the Z 85mm, as I love my old 85mm f1.8D, so that'll probably be the next Z lens I buy. The 14-30mm looks fun, but I had a Tokina 11-20mm lens on my old D3300, and tbh, only really felt the wide end was 'useful'. But then; you don't miss something until it's gone...
 
AZ6 said:
It's interesting to see what focal lengths I actually use, the info in LR gives a great insight. With my zooms, I tend to use one end or the other. With my 70-200, I tend to use the long end a lot more. Which makes me realise that using primes of those particular focal lengths would be better really; as I'd have larger max apertures. Sure, zooms are useful, but mostly it's one extreme or the other. I think I could happily just have say a 24mm, 50mm, 85mm and 135 or 180mm, and not feel much loss. I would like the Z 85mm, as I love my old 85mm f1.8D, so that'll probably be the next Z lens I buy. The 14-30mm looks fun, but I had a Tokina 11-20mm lens on my old D3300, and tbh, only really felt the wide end was 'useful'. But then; you don't miss something until it's gone...
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My use of zooms mirrors yours. It’s just their convenience. The exception is the 14-30 which is genuinely used as it was designed. I found the same on my Fuji 10-24.
 
I tend to ‘zoom’ in and out by moving my physical position in relation to the subject. :ROFLMAO: Old school.
 
AZ6 said:
I tend to ‘zoom’ in and out by moving my physical position in relation to the subject. :ROFLMAO: Old school.
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not so easy when your subject is a mountain 10 miles away ;). But if you don't do landscape, then why not....
 
Foot zooming doesn't always work well as changes the perspective and can lead to you falling off cliffs or walking into traffic etc. The best way to use zooms is probably to stand in the position which gets you the perspective you want and then adjust the zoom to get the framing you want.

With a prime you are essentially stuck with it but such is life and you get used to it :D
 
woof woof said:
Foot zooming doesn't always work well as changes the perspective and can lead to you falling off cliffs or walking into traffic etc. The best way to use zooms is probably to stand in the position which gets you the perspective you want and then adjust the zoom to get the framing you want.

With a prime you are essentially stuck with it but such is life and you get used to it :D
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In the olden days I only had a fixed lens on my Kodak Instamatic. Mind you, the photos were cr@p. :D
 
lunar22 said:
not so easy when your subject is a mountain 10 miles away ;). But if you don't do landscape, then why not....
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:ROFLMAO: Well, my first given name was Mohammed...


woof woof said:
Foot zooming doesn't always work well as changes the perspective and can lead to you falling off cliffs or walking into traffic etc. The best way to use zooms is probably to stand in the position which gets you the perspective you want and then adjust the zoom to get the framing you want.

With a prime you are essentially stuck with it but such is life and you get used to it :D
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I find zooms really useful when shooting at gigs/events, where my position is limited. But at many, the lighting is so dire that fast primes become essential. Knowing what focal lengths I regularly use, is very useful. And a bunch of small primes, say 24, 50, 85 and perhaps a 135 or so, could end up being less bulky and heavy than a couple of fast zooms.

For other sorts of photography; I learned initially to shoot within the constraints of a 50mm lens, so it's all about using what you've GOT, rather than what you WANT. Still took some decent photos. And there are great photographers who shot on just one or two primes, their entire careers. If they can do it...
 
Peter123 said:
The upcoming Z 24-105 looks interesting.
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Yes, I'm wondering how long it will be, given the delays on other stuff. Would ideally like a 24-120 like my current lens, but maybe a slightly shorter zoom would be better, optically, and give better image quality. I dunno. I'm not a lens designer/optical engineer.


Stephen L said:
It’s just frustrating/confusing how many 24 to something lenses are coming out.
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When I first started in photography, the widest end of zooms was 28mm. So there were loads of 28-X zooms out there. Some, really, really terrible. At least we now have a lot more choice, and much better designs.
 
lunar22 said:
in Scotland they're called e-bikes:D
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I have got a e-bike really good for getting about when your are getting on a bit I've got a bad knee and it lets me get to places with my camera that I could not get to without transport
 
Waaaah! :eek: Battle damage! Must have happened when I was out and about. I don't recall it getting such a knock though. Camera is fine, but it's really, really bloody annoying. I'm noremally pretty careful with equipment. Gonna have to carefully file it down a bit as it's a bit sharp at the edges of the gouges. Wondering how much a replacement dial would cost, but tbh, as I'm probably not looking to ever sell it, I don't think it's really worth doing. Anyone else's Z cam got any 'scars'?
 
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AZ6 said:
Waaaah! :eek: Battle damage! Must have happened when I was out and about. I don't recall it getting such a knock though. Camera is fine, but it's really, really bloody annoying. I'm noremally pretty careful with equipment. Gonna have to carefully file it down a bit as it's a bit sharp at the edges of the gouges. Wondering how much a replacement dial would cost, but tbh, as I'm probably not looking to ever sell it, I don't think it's really worth doing. Anyone else's Z cam got any 'scars'?


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Ouch! More a scrape than a knock. I would gently file away any rough edges and pop a bit of matt black enamel (Airfix?) just to lessen the effect. Touch wood, mine is unmarked. I seem more likely to have minor scrapes on the ends of lenses (or hoods) from going through stone stiles round here.
 
AZ6 said:
Waaaah! :eek: Battle damage! Must have happened when I was out and about. I don't recall it getting such a knock though. Camera is fine, but it's really, really bloody annoying. I'm noremally pretty careful with equipment. Gonna have to carefully file it down a bit as it's a bit sharp at the edges of the gouges. Wondering how much a replacement dial would cost, but tbh, as I'm probably not looking to ever sell it, I don't think it's really worth doing. Anyone else's Z cam got any 'scars'?


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OUCH !!
That would bug me so much I'd have to get it repaired.
 
Not on my Z's but about 6 months ago, my Olympus EM1-X fell out of my backpack (that I'd forgot to close properly) from about 4 feet down onto concrete, where it proceeded to actually bounce and roll about 3 times. To say I felt sick was an understatement - first time something like that had ever happened.

To my amazement, not only did (and still does) the camera work perfectly will zero ill effects, but the only "damage" was a couple of light marks on the left hand edges of the body where the black paint scraped off down to the silver magnesium. Just touched it up with a little bit of black paint and now I don't even notice it.
 
AZ6 said:
Waaaah! :eek: Battle damage! Must have happened when I was out and about. I don't recall it getting such a knock though. Camera is fine, but it's really, really bloody annoying. I'm noremally pretty careful with equipment. Gonna have to carefully file it down a bit as it's a bit sharp at the edges of the gouges. Wondering how much a replacement dial would cost, but tbh, as I'm probably not looking to ever sell it, I don't think it's really worth doing. Anyone else's Z cam got any 'scars'?


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Crikey that's a scar and a half. My OCD would want that repairing :oops: :$
 
I’m usually simultaneously sad and relived the first time I get a scratch on something I’m fond of. It’s going to happen eventually, might as well rip the plaster off!
 
I'm OCD about my camera gear and every camera I've had has been sold like it was new. Sad I know. My m8's a Canon user and I near had a fit when I seen him use his 400mm f2.8 to press down a wire fence so he could step over. If I had damaged my camera like you have I'd have to get it repaired asap.
 
Charlie looking very wistful. Z6 with Z 50mm F1.8 S. Straight from camera asides a small crop.

 
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