Yes that’s exactly the vibe I am going for. Gear reviews in service of how photos improve our lives. Thanks so much for watching, more content to come.
You are so right about the ephemeral, fleeting nature of these moments with the kids ... two blinks of an eye and these have moments have all passed. For most of our time with young kids shot with the (original) olympus om-1 film camera,, one lens (a tiny, superior 50 mm 1.8,), b&w / color slides. Photographically this was mostly about limitations, yet those limitations enabled so much.
That sounds absolutely amazing to have captured your kids on film. Congrats on persisting with the project - I am working hard on getting colours consistent across all my shots - more photo books and prints in the near future I think.
Loved all this information! I recently bought a Zf and I found another way to quickly and reliably access subject detect settings that I personally prefer: under f2 Custom Controls I mapped the camera’s video record button to “access top item in MY MENU”. I then moved “MF subject detection area” to the top of the MY MENU list and viola… one press of the record button and you can instantly cycle through the subject detection modes.
Great video and a very relatable journey. With my daughter on the way, I knew the low light and AF performance of my Fuji kit (X100V + XT2 and lenses) wasn't going to cut it. Got the Zf and haven't looked back.
I love the older Fujifilm stuff for the look, but performance just hasn’t kept up even in the newer generations. The Nikon Zf is my favourite camera, thanks for watching!
Thanks so much - family photos keep me going, although it is a lot of responsibility being the main documentarian in the family! Happy shooting and thanks again for stopping by
Hi - as a Fuji user who just picked up the Zf so really grateful for these tips. I almost went Sony but refrained for reasons you stated. Looking forward to trying these night tips. Thank you! Subscribed!
Thank you! I do actually have a question on autofocus vs. Fuji AF. It would be nice to know how you adapted to it, if you use it, maybe just in general how you adapt from that Fuji muscle memory over to Nikon. I used Nikon for many years, but DSLR was very different from mirrorless. Thank you 🙏.
Fantastic video and insight. I'm also still going through which gear is right for me but I think for the most part, how I set my camera uo will be simple and consistent. I'm currently sitting with a Nikon D750, Fujifilm X70 and Sony a7ii, which I would like to one day switch out my Sony for a Nikon zf (too pricey to buy brand new).
Your kit sounds amazing already, no rush to upgrade if it’s working for you. The Zf is a fantastic success so I’m sure more models will be coming in this line. Then second hand prices will come down. Thanks for watching!
The passing reference to way too much hospital time struck a chord ... hospitals at night are a different world, and with care to respect privacy some lovely shooting moments. Less really is more for these, have found both the q2 and the zf with a fast prime (preferably manual) to be well suited.
We must be kindred spirits! My photography journey of taking pics of my daughter went nikon-fuji-sony (iv & cr)- back to nikon. My ZF arrives Friday. "Bad Mood" is my fav Bluey episode. I love your content. I'm so glad I found your channel!
An almost identical trajectory - congrats on the Zf! Yes Bad Mood is a great episode (but they’re all great!). Let me know how you go, I am loving the Zf and all its quirks more than I thought I would
Love your vides. Very informative and useful. I can relate with the Fuji and Sony system. Fuji is good but not great. Sony Focus is amazing but not inspiring camera to use. The Nikon ZF is my go to camera at the moment. I can relate so much to your statements.
Nikon seemed like a secret every one knew about but me! Love the image quality and its history, glad to hear I am not alone in loving the Zf. Thanks for watching, more to come next week!
I have owned Canon and Sony systems in the past and the ZF just fits like a glove! Best of all, I didn't have to dispose of my Sony and F mount Lenses ( still own a D750) because they absolutely flawlessly work on the ZF with an adapter without any AF speed penalties Can't ask for more really, Nikon has just made an almost perfect camera
Liking your videos a lot. Some people have commented on the “split narrative”, it’s sometimes confusing but makes me engage more so I can follow the video flow if that makes sense. Can you make a video explaining how you have your ZF setup with auto ISO, others have commented on its unintuitive setup but you made it simple. Would watch a whole video breakdown on it. Also just had my first child and running the OM E-P7 (been 4/3 for over 10 years now!?), feels like four thirds is dieing and the ZF looks amazing. Switching would mean all my old photos and some of my child’s first few months are on all 4:3 ratio vs 3:2. Casualty of switching!
Thanks so much, am planning a video around 85mm night photography which will feature my auto ISO setup in more detail. Congrats on your first born! I have a soft spot for 4:3, it’s great for portrait orientation.
I like your channel and your photography. I apply all the lens concept you explained with your full frame camera and apply that with my crop sensor DSLR Nikon D5500
Love the learning from experience journey here. The struggle is very relatable. I sometimes think about getting fast glass for suboptimal light, but I don't want the size and shallow depth of field that it comes with. Now if only they could give us a 1" sensor ICL system with such ridiculous high ISO performance that I never need to carry heavy gear again. 😂
Yes I used to be all about the bokeh but these days just want cleaner files! Very happy with APSC sensors if they just optimised for low light rather than resolution we wouldn’t need to go full frame. Thanks for watching!
Ps. I have the zf and I have the front button near the lens set for auto focus. And so if I scroll the back wheel it will do mf, af-s, a-fc. The front wheel does 3d tracking single point and any other point or zone focus I have. I think people don’t always remember to see what the front dial does when a button is held down.
I’m glad to hear I am not the only one who’s run the gauntlet of camera brands! Testing out the Nikon Z lenses is a lot of fun, don’t know why nobody talks about how good they are
Man, I wish we would live in the same neighbourhood or at least the same country - guess we could talk for hours about cameras and our experience searching for the „right“ one 😀😅 My wife laughs at me, that I sort our family picture by camera type, but that’s how I’m currently organise them 😄 And me too have a lot of inconsistency which has the peak on the birthday of my second daughter. Here I only had the Q2M with me - afterwards I wished I had also a Color camera with me … 😅 The lesson you are sharing I still can’t apply, because I love to play with cameras around too much … and now I also mix in film 😅 For now I think to myself just getting the shot doesn’t matter how. At least get the memory. As you said in the beginning, I’m jelous of parents who can live with image quality of smartphones (which is good!) - would save me a lot of money and weight 🤣 Awesome job Jack regarding your story telling! And I’m curious about that Nikon Zf exclusive grip - only saw it on pictures until now.
So great to connect from halfway across the world! Turns out RU-vid is a better connector than other “social” platforms of like minded people. Hope your daughters still had/are having a good trip despite getting sick, we are back home now and I am in editing purgatory…Will look out for your next video, I am working on mine for this week now!
Great video man. I just bought the Zf, which is my very first Nikon purchase. Although the design of the 28mm and 40mm match the Zf perfectly, I still can't believe Nikon released such cheap plastic lenses with a nice camera like this. Others say the 28mm and 40mm F2 lenses perform fine but these lenses really should have been all metal construction.
Yes the 40mm is plasticky but there’s such rubber on the focus rings I didn’t notice it much while shooting. I am testing out all of the other Z primes (35, 50, 85) in Japan and their build quality is great in comparison. Will cover in upcoming videos so hope this will be useful. Thanks for watching!
In Pursuit of the perfect camera huh… well I don’t think it exits yet…. Since you have the Sony a7c though, suggest you try the Samyang 1.8 primes, nice, sharp, light and 1.8 is decent…. I was un happy with the size and lack of glass on the Zf, lack of small primes and their 1.8 primes are large and bulky imo. Their pancake 2.0/2.8 primes are nice, but then you have just as good ones on sony…. I guess Z mount finally opening up with give you more options and Manual focus on Zf is much nicer than sony…. Anyway, very well made video, love way you describe your journey and your photo book intent.. keep them coming!
Thanks Jan, I really like the f1.8 Z primes as I am getting grumpier with optical compromises as I go. Don’t mind trading a bit of weight over less post processing! Photo books are the next goalposts, am planning some zines/ebooks for the coming year
@@BokehTherapy There’s so much information packed into every minute. It’s sometimes hard to keep up. Have you ever thought of distributing your settings? Your aesthetics combined with the technical is very smart
I am always tweaking my settings - am considering working on some in camera color profiles for the Nikon Zf. Will make those available when I think they’re ready, thanks for the tip!
Great video Zeroed on the zf, but Was confused about my first Lens to go with my zf (Nikon or 3rd party lens) For the street photography and occasional night Any advice would be appreciated Thanks
I would go for the Nikon 50mm f1.8 S. It is the best autofocusing 50mm I've used, even made a whole video about it: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ooRSQrvToCM.html&lc=UgyYAFuYzlrITLjr6QJ4AaABAg It is a bit more expensive than $500 new, but you can find it on sale or buy it used?
If you could redo your photo album of your daughter knowing what you do now, what would you have done differently? I feel I am still misunderstanding the lesson learned.
Having a more consistent approach. Just use the same camera and lens the whole time so the look stays the same while she changes. But there’s no right answer! Getting better at raw editing across camera brands will be how I solve this problem in the meantime. Thanks for watching
I think variations in color are the biggest inconsistencies frame to frame in a photobook. I had to go back to re edit all the photos at the same time to get a consistent look. Focal length didn’t matter as much, at least to me. Hoping the next photobook will all be taken with the Zf to make life easier in post
I love your videos but the idea of constantly changing lens will guarantee you miss shots. Just use your fast glass and call it a day, get used to the heft, but always be ready for the shot. Thank you for sharing your experiences. I really think you are overthinking all of this, on my a7cr I need 2 lenses 24-240 and 50GMf1.2. Anything outside of that is for my pleasure and not for capturing the moment. If A7CR file size was too much you should have used the 26MP lossles compression to get another stop of DR. I have 3 kids now finishing up college and the only thing that matters is that you are there to capture the moments and dont be so focused on capturing the moment that you cant enjoy the moment.
Thanks Jay I totally agree. I am a overthinker! I think most photographers are unfortunately, but making these videos helps clarify my thought process. On this Japan trip I only take one lens out each day and it’s working out great. Thanks for the feedback!
Thanks for taking the time to provide feedback. Like all creatives I am a work in progress. Hope you are getting constructive feedback for your creative output as well
