I love photography and in my videos I cover everything from landscapes to street and wildlife to portraits.
I’m a graphic designer by day, with a fine art background, so I’ve already got a pretty creative outlook, but I discovered a new love for photography back in 2018. Since then, I’ve been developing my technique; learning new skills, trying out tricks, and just having fun with it.
You’ll find me out and about with my Nikon Z7 or D500 showing you my process and camera settings. Or sometimes I'm back at home showing you post-processing tips and tricks or tutorials about various aspects of photography and printing.
I’m still at the start of this adventure, but I’m here to share what I learn with you as I go, and maybe inspire you to take your own photography to the next level.
I post a new video every Sunday morning at 10am (GMT).
If you would like to keep up to date with my trips, travels, tips and tutorials, then hit subscribe now.
For anyone searching for a battery solution: just shove 4 batteries inside. I couldn't get any working contact with any of the hacks. But using 4 batteries works fine. I shot a whole roll with it and exposure was fine, so don't see any need to worry about the voltage too much
mine get used every day for wildlife photography, in all weather conditions and have never failed! i have three of them and will never switch to something else my oldest one has over 900 thousand shutter clicks , a little loud now but works great, my macro lens lives on that one now, other two have a 500 prime and an 800 prime battery grips on all three friends with z9 and z8 wish they never got ride of there d500 and want to buy them back from me
Bro, stop tempting me 😁. I love the D7500 but I already own a Z6ii, Zf with the pro lenses, D300, X30 and a LX100. I have been making all kinds of excuses to myself as to why I need a 7500. Nearly bought twice within the last two weeks and then had to stop myself. I DONT NEED ANYMORE CAMERAS 😬, or do I ?
Enjoyed this video, Robert. I picked up a refurbished Z30 directly from Nikon last week for $439. It had 1 shutter actuation! I have the Z50, too, but want separate cameras for stills and video, though of course this isn't a hard and fast rule. Like you, I have a D500, where my 300mm PF normally resides. I have no interest in going full frame. Lately I've been photographing flowers with the Z50 and 50-250mm lens, with amazing results. Though I have Nikon's 105mm and 40mm F-mount macros, they're not necessary for flowers, and I forgot how sharp the 50-250mm is. I think your bird shots with the Z30 are fantastic. This camera is not only compact but cool looking, and the audio straight out of the camera is surprisingly good. Based on your video, I'm sure I'll try it for birds.
Interesting, Robert, Photopills looks a really handy app. I have a little story about Kielder - my wife booked an overnight stay for us the other year because it was a 'dark sky' location. She didn't check the weather forecast, though. It was socked in with cloud for the night we were staying.😂
Haha, usually the way it goes. We're actually in Cornwall Andrew, but I used Kielder for the video. Weather looks a bit 50/50 here too, but I'm hoping I might be able to get a shot tonight 🤞 Cheers for watching. 😊
Great video thanks. I would like to know for sure if the D500 is compatible with Nikon's Creative Lighting System. I have been using it with an old D80 and it's great.
Agree about the 24-200 . Great versatile lens for travel. I use it along with the 14-30 f4 . I also added a Viltrox 20mm f2.8 which is a small sharp budget lens. 24-70 always stays at home. lol.
Thanks for showing your process here. I am having to learn PSE for a course I’m doing and, coming from LR, have found it a bit limiting, but you have opened up new perspectives, thank you ❤🙏 Looking forward to more content like this 😊
Oh Otis, you are quite the showman! Look at me he's saying, forget about that milky way!! LOL LOL And you were able to continue right along and here I am busting myself laughing!! LOL You go Otis!!
Hi, I also have this camera, but I was having hard time how to setup the back button for af-l only. I tried watching other videos how to set it up but still doing ae-l not af-l.😢
Enjoy your jollies and look forward to seeing the planning and practice put into reality - only ever shot the stars once and that was a long exposure at Callanais standing stones on Lewis. Would love to give the Milky Way a go sometime so all useful help and advice 👍🏻👍🏻
I run the D500 with a Tamron 150-600. I like manual with auto ISO but on bright day as you mentioned things can get a touch blown out so on those days I run between -0.3 and -1.0 full stop of exposure compensation. I shoot mostly medium to large wading birds like Herons and Egrets along with Osprey, Eagles and Kingfishers. Next outing I'll try your method of Aperture Priority! Love my D500 & Tammy 150-600.
Had my D500 for ever, I take photos 365 days a year (literally) bomb-proof machine. Love the heft & the stunning quality captures. I enjoy the Nikon 300 prime lens but the other day for a giggle I dusted off the original kit lens it came with, fantastic results. Its my only camera & no plans or need to upgrade. 👍
I am an ON1 user. I tried Raw Therapee last night. Find it difficult to use, different user interface. After watching your video this morning, it is easier now! Ha. Thanks. How do you find Dark Table vs Raw Therapee? Trying to decide which one to use.
Dark Table is great, but a bit overwhelming! I want to learn more with it, but I find it difficult to make time. I will check out ON1. Thanks for watching. 😊
@@Robert-Bishop I had my first dive into RT editing a photo yesterday. It is not as intuitive as ON1. I used GIMP in the early days. Later switched to ON1 as GIMP does not accept raw files directly (via RT). I prefer ON1 as it can deal with Nikon raw files directly. ON1 can be expensive for a hobbyist with a yearly upgrade fee. So now looking for an alternative. I tried GIMP again, better than the old GIMP. But features-wise it is years behind ON1. Eg masking in GIMP is so tedious while AI is used in ON1. Though not as expensive as Photoshop etc, hope ON1 will be hobbyist affordable. Ha.
I've been trying to get into Rawtherapee for this past week. You've probably realized at this point, but HSV Equalizer is pretty much the same as HSL in Lightroom. I do want to ask though, Have you noticed that the preview of 100% crop is a lot cleaner than 50% or anything less like that for example with high ISO files? Seems to be a preview issue in my case at least.
The aluminum foil seems to be a very inconsistent connector, I had trouble with some 3D printed adapter shells for the batteries since they seemingly had bad contact to. I think I will try to bridge it with a piece of copper wire next. If I shove 4 batteries into the camera the light is bright and easy to read, so I know thats not the issue. They really make us work for these old ass cameras :D
@@Robert-Bishop i will make an exposure series soon with 4 batteries to see how heavy the lightmeter is affected. I will mostly shot in good light conditions so hopefully I can figure out the offset for the ISO and just run with that. I didn't have much success with the wire so far, the contact is always bad.
Like a few others I can't get anywhere near the cost of mirrorless so plough on with a secondhand D810 and D500. D500, best shutter sound of any Nikon. I love to pair it up with a second hand Nikon 10-20mm DX lens and this combination is awesome. Two obvious negatives, you wouldn't get one for video and of course cropping is limited but apart from that it deserves to be one of Nikons flagships. :)
Hi Robert, just a quick question, have you tried using other manufacturers ink cartridges, I love the look of this printer but the cost of the cartridges is staggering, I know you use your printer to print off photos that you sell and want/need the best quantity you can find but I only want to print off my photos for myself so I would be getting the non generic cartridges. Looking forward to your response. Many thanks Steve H
No, I haven't tried them Steve, but I am generally wary as I can't really risk compromising image quality. Sorry I can't be much help, but I would be interested to hear about your experience if you decide to give them a go. Thanks for watching. 😊
Back when I used to do a lot of photography at car shows, I'd have to wait for ages for people to get out of my shot. Usually just when they'd cleared off I'd frame up my comp and some wally with a phone would walk in front of me. Camping chairs - yeah they were a pet hate too 'the curse of the camping chair' . I'd like to say it isn't a problem now but my PC isn't up to the job of running the latest versions of photoshop - I'm living back in 2022 :) I have to say as much as I don't like Ai too much it did a cracking job there.
I think I would still be waiting now to get a shot without people! 😄 Any tips for general car photography? I found myself wanting to get low for a more dynamic shot, but then wanting to get higher again to have more of the car visible in the shot.
I've seen a few sights that are nothing but AI generated images and some and quite amazing and really hard to tell the difference from the real thing. It seems that AI is learning. That generative fill is really quite amazing!! Great work!!
Yeah, that's true Bruce. I could have quite easily generated something similar completely in AI. I enjoy capturing the images though, and at least for now, it's the only way of recording the exact scene (or exact as possible). There would have been no way to get those shots without the people and chairs etc though, and I don't have much issue with using AI to remove those. Thanks for watching, hope you and Otis have a great week. 😊
Just bought one of these used because I was really running up against a wall with my entry level D3500 and wanted finer control over my wildlife photos and I just can't afford mirrorless right now. Hope to use this for a long time!
Depends on your budget, but if you can afford it, it will be a massive improvement on the D3400. Whether you need it will depend on the type of photography you do. The D500 excels at action and moving subjects, but if you're doing landscapes then a D3400 may be all you need. I'd recommend renting or borrowing one if possible, and see if you like it.
The D7500 is a sweet little camera, light enough to take a 70-300 and a 300f/4 PF plus 1.4 TC in the bag for wildlife photos (and a 35mm if you want to). And an apple or two. For less than £2,000, I’d take a D7500 and a Z5 over a Z6ii.
@@Robert-Bishop I’ve just bought a D500 - used for about £800. I fancied it to make the most of my 500/f5.6 PF (also used). But I kept my D7500, in part for the same reason as I bought the D500 - low used values in F-mount. Also it’s probably my all-time favourite combo of IQ, size/weight and cost. Funnily enough, I sold - and then re-bought - the 70-300E. I have a 70-200/f4 (also used) and I thought they duplicated each other. But they don’t - the 70-300 is more transportable and versatile but the 70-200 trumps it for fast af. I have much more used gear than new!
I haven't used the ZV-E10, but I've used the ZV-1 which is very similar, except for having interchangeable lenses. They both have positives and negatives. The Sony is smaller and has better sound recording capabilities. The Nikon is easier to use with better button layout and I think has the better video, although others might prefer how the Sony video looks. Also, my ZV-1 started to develop problems after a couple of years - I'll have to see how the Z-30 performs going forward.
Once again Robert very informative video. It was a nice bit of kit but the phone can do most things these days but there is no substitute for me anyway than the Nikon Z6. Otis had a good time that’s the main thing. 🐕👍👌👏
Welcome to my world of small sensor cameras, Robert. Many of the cameras I shoot with have a 1/2.3 inch sensor and it is always a bit of a compromise. You got some great compositions though, I did really like the shot at 2:06 and the monochrome at 4:00
Handy tool to keep in the bag im sure, great images to showcase the lens , they turned out really well. Nice use of the flash and diffuser. I have a set of extension rings i really should use more often. All the best mate 🙂
Cheers Lee, extension tubes are something I haven't tried yet. Would be interested to see a video on that if you get around to it. Thanks for watching mate. 😊
This is exactly the type of video I was looking for to get an idea of the Z30s potential most channels did reviews with the base kit lens and really only look at its vlogging features. But this camera is more than that. Thanks
Great video! (Also reminded me of art attack 😅) I managed to get the light on for a split second and then couldn't do anything to get it back again. Oh well maybe I'll try again another day.
Since doing this video, I've had some trouble too - so I'm going to look into a more permanent solution. Perhaps soldering. Hopefully we can get these cameras working again. 😊
