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Archive 2022 · Thom Heaton swaps GFX to Z7ii

1bwana1
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p.2 #1 · p.2 #1 · Thom Heaton swaps GFX to Z7ii

I have watched Thomas Heaton's videos over the years. i have always found him to be credible and well motivated. Yes, he has the same need to increase viewership as all YouTubers. However his path to that has never been by hyping gear, or leveraging gear fan base controvery.

Acknowleging some well known performance shortcomings (mostly around AF), we sshould recognize that the Nikon Z7II has one of the best FF landscape sensors on the market today. Additionally, Nikon has come out with an excellent lens library especialy in zooms. I was recently in the Palouse with a group of primarily Nikon mirrorless photographers. The Nikon 100-400mm proved itself as a fantastic landscape lens on that trip. The 24-120 also was well used on that trip. It seems to me that the kit Heaton has selected is rational choice to achieve his goal of a simple, smaller, two lens landscape kit capable of producing the high IQ he feels he needs for his work.

During the last few years I have seen Heaton use a number of different brands and formats, digital and film, in pursuit of landscape photography. These various kits seem to have provided energy to him as he exxperiments and learns new skills. I have no reason to doubt his stated motivations on this latest gear change. It is consistant with his recent pattern when it comes to gear. I am sure the Nikon kit will prove to be a capable kit that produces excellent landscape images for him. Keep in mind that when we see him shooting in his videos, we only see his still camera setup. There is at least one other, and likely two other kits doing video. He doesn't have an assitant, and must carry everything himself. It makes sense for him to try and minimize size and weight. The new Nikon kit does that well.

Edited on Jul 28, 2022 at 09:21 AM · View previous versions

Jul 28, 2022 at 09:14 AM

RoamingScott
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p.2 #2 · p.2 #2 · Thom Heaton swaps GFX to Z7ii

1bwana1 wrote:
I have watched Thomas Heaton's videos over the years. i have always found him to be credible and well motivated. Yes, he has the same need to increase viewership as all YouTubers. However his path to that has never been by hyping gear or gear fan base.

The Nikon Z7II has one of the best FF landscape sensors on the market today. Additionally, Nikon has come out with an excellent lens libraries. I was recently in the Palouse with a group of primarily Nikon mirrorless photographers. The Nikon 100-400mm proved itself as a fantastic landscape lens on that trip. The 24-120...Show more →

Good point about his video setup. That's the part of being a solo youtuber that always seems the most miserable to me...have seen quite a few people miss quite a few shots because they were talking to the camera when amazing light hit.

I'm pretty sure he's still using Fuji for his video (transitioned his X-T4 to that job).

Jul 28, 2022 at 09:18 AM

CKrueger
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p.2 #3 · p.2 #3 · Thom Heaton swaps GFX to Z7ii

I generally run away when people start talking brands. I am pretty skeptical of the supposed doe-eyed YouTuber starting a conversation about gear that I end up three videos into before I realize that I'm just listening to some person ramble about "stickiness". I prefer to form my own opinions based on first-hand experience.

That said, I'd encourage people to watch Thomas Heaton's other videos before lumping him into that crowd... he does discuss hardware at times, but his videos tend to be much more of the "follow me around while I shoot" sort. As a poor landscape photographer, his videos are helpful to me, and his "gear videos" still tend to be about photography more than gear. I'll point to his recent infrared videos as an example.

Hopefully Thomas remains a photography channel and doesn't go gear crazy. I'm bummed we lost Bayou Josh to camera navel-gazing. We need more Heaton's, not more Northrup's.

Jul 28, 2022 at 10:58 AM

gear-nut
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p.2 #4 · p.2 #4 · Thom Heaton swaps GFX to Z7ii

I switched from 80 mp MF to Fx when we hit 36 mp. At that time the real-world difference was so minimal clients couldn’t see any, and in many cases liked something in the Fx image more than the “technically superior” MF captures. For me it was lighter, less expensive, had a lot more flexibility and was significantly easier to use, so it was a no-brainer move.

Edited on Jul 28, 2022 at 11:36 AM · View previous versions

Jul 28, 2022 at 11:33 AM

agvogel
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p.2 #5 · p.2 #5 · Thom Heaton swaps GFX to Z7ii

CKrueger wrote:
I generally run away when people start talking brands. I am pretty skeptical of the supposed doe-eyed YouTuber starting a conversation about gear that I end up three videos into before I realize that I'm just listening to some person ramble about "stickiness". I prefer to form my own opinions based on first-hand experience.

That said, I'd encourage people to watch Thomas Heaton's other videos before lumping him into that crowd... he does discuss hardware at times, but his videos tend to be much more of the "follow me around while I shoot" sort. As a poor landscape photographer, his videos...Show more →

Well said. Gear videos are fine as long as they're occasional and in the spirit of "this is why it lets me achieve my desired photography results," and not "ooh, shiny!"

Jul 28, 2022 at 11:35 AM

RoamingScott
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p.2 #6 · p.2 #6 · Thom Heaton swaps GFX to Z7ii

CKrueger wrote:
Hopefully Thomas remains a photography channel and doesn't go gear crazy. I'm bummed we lost Bayou Josh to camera navel-gazing. We need more Heaton's, not more Northrup's.

It's a shame that Josh seems too blind to realize why his channel was compelling. It's garbage now.

Jul 28, 2022 at 11:40 AM

CKrueger
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p.2 #7 · p.2 #7 · Thom Heaton swaps GFX to Z7ii

He was like the Bob Vila of photography for a while there, and while I was willing to "tough it out" while he worked through his cognitive dissonance between knowing the gear isn't making his photos and his paralyzing need for the Next Best Thing, I couldn't take it anymore after a couple weeks of jabbering about his wife's camera.

He's a talented storyteller, which is why I was there in the first place. If I had five minutes with him, I'd try to convince him to never again allow a camera to be shown or mentioned on his channel, and stick to the ponderings.

Jul 28, 2022 at 12:47 PM

RoamingScott
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p.2 #8 · p.2 #8 · Thom Heaton swaps GFX to Z7ii

CKrueger wrote:
He was like the Bob Vila of photography for a while there, and while I was willing to "tough it out" while he worked through his cognitive dissonance between knowing the gear isn't making his photos and his paralyzing need for the Next Best Thing, I couldn't take it anymore after a couple weeks of jabbering about his wife's camera.

He's a talented storyteller, which is why I was there in the first place. If I had five minutes with him, I'd try to convince him to never again allow a camera to be shown or mentioned on his channel, and...Show more →

Honestly, you could tell when he "figured out" how to monetize youtube. His thumbnails and titles got obnoxious and his content got 100% gear related. That's fine if what he's after is pure views and money, but it's the fastest way to creatively sell out as a creator.

He also seems extremely low-effort with his community, disappointing from someone that had a lot of creative and philosophical promise early on.

Jul 28, 2022 at 01:09 PM

1bwana1
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p.2 #9 · p.2 #9 · Thom Heaton swaps GFX to Z7ii

I'm thinking that Josh shared his struggles trying to find a camera system that worked for him and his Wife. In the end he switched from Nikon to Sony because it worked out better for him. As much for compatability reasons as any technical superiority. His choice is not popular on this forum for obvious reasons. But he is still the same nice guy. Now that the choice has been made hopefully he will go back to not discussing gear and more about sharing his adventures in photography again. For me, it is more impoprtant to that someone shares an interest in photographic subjects that I have than that he/she shoots the same gear.

Jul 28, 2022 at 01:57 PM

RoamingScott
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p.2 #10 · p.2 #10 · Thom Heaton swaps GFX to Z7ii

1bwana1 wrote:
I'm thinking that Josh shared his struggles trying to find a camera system that worked for him and his Wife. In the end he switched from Nikon to Sony because it worked out better for him. As much for compatability reasons as any technical superiority. His choice is not popular on this forum for obvious reasons. But he is still the same nice guy. Now that the choice has been made hopefully he will go back to not discussing gear and more about sharing his adventures in photography again. For me, it is more impoprtant to that someone shares an...Show more →

I'm sure Josh is a nice guy, but if you sort his vids by views, you get mindless gearbait as the top results:

Like I said, he figured out what sells. I personally couldn't care less what gear he shoots with, that wasn't why I watched him in the first place, but this bilge was enough to push me away for good.

Jul 28, 2022 at 03:22 PM

lukemeup
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p.2 #11 · p.2 #11 · Thom Heaton swaps GFX to Z7ii

(speaking of Bayou) I gave up once he started complaining for half an episode after getting the Z9 that he has to wait for a lens that's not readily available. The internal struggle was 'real'. /shrug.

As for Heaton - I enjoyed a lot of his videos in the past (and it doesn't matter what he shoots with). He's more about the process of creating images.

Edited on Jul 28, 2022 at 11:24 PM · View previous versions

Jul 28, 2022 at 03:27 PM

CanadaMark
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p.2 #12 · p.2 #12 · Thom Heaton swaps GFX to Z7ii

RoamingScott wrote:
I honestly can’t tell if he switches for views or is like me and just enjoys using and learning all sorts of gear. I’ll be curious to see the results of his first trip. He has the advantage of a great eye so he makes good images with whatever he has on him.

It can be both. The fact that he uses his YT channel to tell everyone what he's doing and directly profits off views means that there is at least some financial motivation behind it, even if it's the same decision he would have made regardless. He could have made the switch and casually mentioned it in one of this videos but the fact that he made a separate video with a clickbait title/thumbnail shows you exactly what he's trying to do. He has over 500K subs, he knows what to do to milk the YT revenue model. Gear gets attention. It's why websites like DPreview get so much traffic, they are dominated by people arguing about equipment they have never even touched or defending their brand choices as if their life depended on it.

There's nothing at all wrong with what he's doing, as that's basically the YouTube business model, but if you do that sort of thing too much it will change people's opinion of the channel and shifts the genre more towards the entertainment realm. He's still got a long way to go before he gets anywhere near the absolute nightmare that is the Northrup's channel haha, and becoming total sellouts has got them 3x the subs.

Jul 28, 2022 at 04:19 PM

CKrueger
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p.2 #13 · p.2 #13 · Thom Heaton swaps GFX to Z7ii

I think we all pretty much agree that we’d more enjoy a YouTuber talking about photography, and let us worry about our own gear. Clearly we are in the minority, or we’d have an easier time finding photography content than camera content.

To bring it back full circle, I find Thomas Heaton to be more photography than gear oriented. He talks about gear, but most of the time you’ll find him standing on a hill talking about how he wants to make a tree look cool. I find that a lot more inspiring than a guy telling me that his birds are way sharper with his new telephoto.

Jul 28, 2022 at 09:41 PM

ArizonaImage
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p.2 #14 · p.2 #14 · Thom Heaton swaps GFX to Z7ii

I think he found something that fit him. The Z lenses are just amazing. I mean, neither Sony or Canon have a 50mm that competes in terms of IQ and price of the 50mm 1.8 S, and that goes for the 24mm, 35mm and 85mm as well. I think Nikon will have finally caught up and attract more to Nikon with their III generation of the Z6 and Z7. We will finally see Nikon having the Z9 capabilities in smaller bodies while edging out the competition in terms of price to performance ratio, which Nikon leads respectably. I really liked my Z6 II, but I wanted more video functions and quality. That 8-Bit 4:2:0 just didn't work out for me. The Z9 checked all the right boxes but in a bigger, heavier, and doubly expensive body.

Jul 28, 2022 at 10:30 PM

Pavel
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p.2 #15 · p.2 #15 · Thom Heaton swaps GFX to Z7ii

sjms wrote:
this is is the world of the reality infomercial entertainment.

keep those clicks coming

Brilliant analysis. At least in your own mind, eh?

Jul 28, 2022 at 10:47 PM

sjms
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p.2 #16 · p.2 #16 · Thom Heaton swaps GFX to Z7ii

well, aren't they all in our own minds? just like yours and anyone elses.

Jul 29, 2022 at 02:09 AM

Sauseschritt
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p.2 #17 · p.2 #17 · Thom Heaton swaps GFX to Z7ii

After actually watching the video I absolutely dont understand Heatons decision.

He trades having 158mm at the upper end for 400mm at the upper end. For a loss of image quality.

And ... thats it.

With zero weight reduction. Which, at the start of the video, he mentions as the actual motivation. That he completely fails to archieve.

This really just makes me scratch my head in confusion.

By the way according to a quick Google he's born in 1984, so he's 37-38 years old. He feels "old age" ? Thats literally just whining. Even at 50 I dont feel an noticeable reduction in body strength yet.

Jul 29, 2022 at 08:24 AM

fjablo
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p.2 #18 · p.2 #18 · Thom Heaton swaps GFX to Z7ii

Sauseschritt wrote:
After actually watching the video I absolutely dont understand Heatons decision.

He trades having 158mm at the upper end for 400mm at the upper end. For a loss of image quality.

And ... thats it.

With zero weight reduction. Which, at the start of the video, he mentions as the actual motivation. That he completely fails to archieve.

This really just makes me scratch my head in confusion.

By the way according to a quick Google he's born in 1984, so he's 37-38 years old. He feels "old age" ? Thats literally just whining. Even at 50 I dont feel an noticeable reduction in body...Show more →

Seems you missed the part where he said that he will often only take the 24-120mm on hikes, so -1.4kg or roughly half the weight of the GFX kit?

Jul 29, 2022 at 08:43 AM

johnvanr
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p.2 #19 · p.2 #19 · Thom Heaton swaps GFX to Z7ii

CKrueger wrote:
I think we all pretty much agree that we’d more enjoy a YouTuber talking about photography, and let us worry about our own gear. Clearly we are in the minority, or we’d have an easier time finding photography content than camera content.

To bring it back full circle, I find Thomas Heaton to be more photography than gear oriented. He talks about gear, but most of the time you’ll find him standing on a hill talking about how he wants to make a tree look cool. I find that a lot more inspiring than a guy telling me that his birds...Show more →

I enjoy both types of YouTubers as long as they’re not just praising new gear for the clicks and affiliate income. I follow a bunch that talk about older film gear, etc. which I really enjoy.

And with some, I wish they talked about their gear once in a while. A guy like Morten Hilmer could give great insights into the Z9, for example, or talk about why he uses a fluid tripod head instead of a gimbal for wildlife.

I completely ignore the Northrups and their ilk.

Jul 29, 2022 at 09:40 AM

MRomine
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p.2 #20 · p.2 #20 · Thom Heaton swaps GFX to Z7ii

sjms wrote:
Some people are just subtle in their methods

And some are eternal skeptics on every topic, subject and person. Present company included, I have to constantly check myself that I am not becoming too negative. I think it comes with age.

Jul 29, 2022 at 11:10 AM

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