Nikon Showcase nikon Z6 image thread

[gryphon1911]

I finally received my Z6 from Nikon on Tuesday, Nov 20.

Had a chance to get out there and shoot with it today.
Columbus Zoo was the destination. Got some birding in. Indoor, high ISO, so take that into consideration. I wanted to see what the JPG could do. So I shot Neutral picture control, then massaged in Lightroom. Most images shot single frame, a few I messed with CH extended just to see. AF was single point, AF-S.

To say that I am happy would be an understatement with just this. Used the Nikon 70-300/4.5-5.6E AF-P VR+FTZ adapter. I did have it hunt once or twice, but these were extreme back lit situations or I was trying to shoot through some leaves to get to the birds. Honestly, very similar conditions where a DSLR would have some struggles as well. most of the time it as spot on in the AF department.

Images below to let you see for yourself.

My feeling at this point is what I had hoped for: All the benefits of my Olympus m43 gear (no mirror, smaller, lighter, fast AF-S, tack sharpness even wide open, EVF, IBIS) with all the benefits of a Nikon DSLR.
We'll see how I feel about it after I get some more shooting in and get a chance to work out the AF-C options and see if I can make it sing!

For those curious about the optical performance of the 70-300 @ 300....plenty of images below shot at the extreme. Also, check out the ISO on a lot of these. 8000 - 18,000. I used to be afraid of shooting past ISO 6400. Since getting the D500, I've no problem shooting it to ISO 12,800....this Z6...yeah...it's pretty good, or as I used to say back in the day...it's pretty tasty!

To speed up AF point movement, I used the joystick and set the menu to do every other focus point. Loved the speed it gave me and I had to do very little "focus and recompose" that way.

Anyway, enjoy!

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[West]

Nice, much AF hunting when locking onto the eye between those branches?

 

[wt21]

I like the looks of this camera. I can’t imagine coming off m43, but the Z6 sure is interesting. I hope Nikon can make a sustained go at it.

 

[gryphon1911]

Nice, much AF hunting when locking onto the eye between those branches?

It did happen, but it was rare. Usually only when i'd wobble about. Basically, my fault. Still need more time to understand it.

 

[drd1135]

First stuff i’ve seen on the forum from the z6. Those bird eyes really pop. Of all the new FF bodies, the Z6 is the one that caught my eye. Not that I plan to buy it, of course.

 

[West]

Pretty impressive focal acquisition for first time out I will probably go down that road next time I get restless.

 

[gryphon1911]

Pretty impressive focal acquisition for first time out I will probably go down that road next time I get restless.

I was honestly impressed. I want sure that anyone would make a mirrorless that could nail S-AF like the Oly omd em1.2... But this is pretty impressive. I'm not going to say that it bested the Oly, this is an adapted lens after all, but it is accurate and satisfying .

The way I see it, only better performance can be expected at this point.

 

[Bobby T]

That's very impressive.

 

[bluzcity]

Congratulations on your new camera!

 

[davidzvi]

Got to play with a Z7 the other day (same body as the Z6). Have to say it sure felt good. Better than any Sony I've had a chance to play with.

 

[saladin]

Very nice looking images!


I've promised myself to stay away from all full-frame thoughts until the S1 series launches. But i did briefly handle a Z7 and an EosR and felt the Nikon felt more "premium" in layout.

 

[gryphon1911]

Some more images from out and about this past weekend.

First set of images were with the 24-70/4S and the last 3 are with Nikon 135mm f/3.5 AIS on FTZ adapter.

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[gryphon1911]

All in this post are 24-70/4 only

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[gryphon1911]

More, concentrated 24-70/4S goodness

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[West]

Looks like you got it mastered with that great symmetry. You should be good until the Z6s comes along

 

[gryphon1911]

Looks like you got it mastered with that great symmetry. You should be good until the Z6s comes along

Almost. I want to test it in night shooting. I have an event tonight, covering a Christmas tree lighting ceremony at 7pm. Very dark environment to see how the AF will work in those conditions and I might throw on the f-mount 50/1.8G and see if it can live up to the task.

Then I just need to find some action to test out and see how well the C-AF works first hand. This time of year is difficult to find those kinds of things, given the weather.

 

[West]

Throw it on AF-S and see if the focus light helps when shooting the tree. Makes a noticeable difference when shooting in low light on my D750

 

[MoonMind]

I tested the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 Art on the FTZ adapter yesterday around the house (hence, nothing to show for it - I just shot uninspiring stuff). Very satisfying - swift enough AF, very precise and sharp indeed, even wide open. The D750, good as it is, hasn't quite been able to match that, in spite of calibration (though I think I might get there using the USB dock - but that'd need a lot of time ...). Sadly, I'm swamped by work for about two weeks still - so further extensive tests aren't likely during that period, but I'll try to add some impressions and images. Great to see someone already exploring the camera. Keep'em coming, Andrew

EDIT: btw. Shot an event yesterday - after owning the camera for just a day; it worked out quite well, and the camera delivered results at least on par with the D750 in terms of high ISO shooting; which means I can use ISO 6400 without any major penalty when working from RAW. Of course, no darktable/lensfun support yet, so I had to use Adobe DNG Converter (11.1 beta) for initial conversion - which worked surprisingly well and gave me detailed and workable files, just not quite with the same level of latitude I can get from the (natively supported) D750 RAWs. Still, it'll do well enough for small-scale printing (local newspaper, in-house magazine).

EDIT2: Rambling, sorry: I should have said that noise performance is at least on par with the D750, though DR isn't when working from DNG. And I shot the whole event with the Z 24-70mm f/4.

M.

 

[MoonMind]

Very dark environment to see how the AF will work in those conditions and I might throw on the f-mount 50/1.8G and see if it can live up to the task.

You gave me the idea to quickly try this combo - the 50mm f/1.8G is a nice lens, but it's never struck me as exceptional so far. Well, I think that like me just now, you'll find out that this nifty fifty can deliver very crisp images indeed - way beyond what I can get with the D750 in SLR mode; of course, in LiveView, the D750 can keep up when it comes to sharpness, but it's so slow to focus by comparison ... Here's a torture test, wide open:

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50mm f/1.8G on FTZ at f/1.8, 1/30", ISO 6400, -1.0EV, 715x715px crop around the focus point (on the lower of the two clasps). No corrections whatsoever, just the crop.

Accuracy and detail are still very good, I'd say; I'd never use such a tight crop, but honestly, with a bit of further work, it'd do ... (I've cropped to about six times the pixel count from images coming from the D750 - it was enough for newspaper use ...).

M.

 

[gryphon1911]

You gave me the idea to quickly try this combo - the 50mm f/1.8G is a nice lens, but it's never struck me as exceptional so far. Well, I think that like me just now, you'll find out that this nifty fifty can deliver very crisp images indeed - way beyond what I can get with the D750 in SLR mode; of course, in LiveView, the D750 can keep up when it comes to sharpness, but it's so slow to focus by comparison ... Here's a torture test, wide open:

View attachment 190817

50mm f/1.8G on FTZ at f/1.8, 1/30", ISO 6400, -1.0EV, 715x715px crop around the focus point (on the lower of the two clasps). No corrections whatsoever, just the crop.

Accuracy and detail are still very good, I'd say; I'd never use such a tight crop, but honestly, with a bit of further work, it'd do ... (I've cropped to about six times the pixel count from images coming from the D750 - it was enough for newspaper use ...).

M.

I didn't get a chance to use it during the shoot tonight. To busy, so didn't switch lenses and f/4 on the Z mount lens was good enough.

Good to see your results, definitely will be worth further testing from me. Your sample is promising.