NLog indoors has some very noisy shadows, don't know why, it's worse than FLog for some odd reason. I still need to learn how to expose for it indoors it feels like though, but if you got a lot of black in the environment I feel like NLog is not going to handle that well. I wouldn't mind an NLog 2 update at some point that handles this stuff better. ilkka_nissila wrote:
Log is noisier because it involves exposing three stops under to create highlight headroom and so of course the main subject will be noisier than if you give the sensor as much light as you can for the main parts of the image. Log works fine at ISO 800 but in my opinion at higher ISO it just becomes very noisy and is not clear it's worth using for low-light video.
In practice what I do is that if there is bright daylight, I use SDR with ISO 64 or 100, depending on camera. This way I can in most cases avoid having to use ND filters. If there is suitable light for video at ISO 800, then I use N-Log. If there is low light so that I can't be at 800 or thereabouts then I expect it to be a crap shoot and maybe the best would be to add lighting to get back to ISO 800. ISO 6400, for example, is really quite noisy in log. It becomes visibly less sharp and while it's not useless it clearly illustrates that shooting in low light you have to compromise between subject SNR and the highlight latitude. Probably it's best to give as much light to the main subject rather than underexpose it in that case.
Maybe Nikon can make a firmware update to the Z6III and other models that have the flickering issue in low light log video and give the user the option of turning off the automatic recalibration of the black point and let it just drift. ...Show more →
Likely these differences are due to different signal processing (noise removal). I haven't noticed any problems with N-Log when shooting either Zf in 10-bit h.265 or Z8 in Prores 422 HQ 4K at ISO 800 and exposing nominally. The image is clean. I don't know how the Z6III differs from these. I don't shoot N-RAW since I don't have the space and I don't want to deal with vignetting reduction, distortion correction or noise reduction in post.
I would recommend sticking to ISO 800 (maybe overexposing slightly) when shooting N-Log and if available, try Prores 422 HQ. If you need higher ISO than 800, then I would have to agree that N-Log can be noisy.
JadedWriter wrote:
NLog indoors has some very noisy shadows, don't know why, it's worse than FLog for some odd reason. I still need to learn how to expose for it indoors it feels like though, but if you got a lot of black in the environment I feel like NLog is not going to handle that well. I wouldn't mind an NLog 2 update at some point that handles this stuff better.
ilkka_nissila wrote:
Log is noisier because it involves exposing three stops under to create highlight headroom and so of course the main subject will be noisier than if you give the sensor as much light as you can for the main parts of the image. Log works fine at ISO 800 but in my opinion at higher ISO it just becomes very noisy and is not clear it's worth using for low-light video.
In practice what I do is that if there is bright daylight, I use SDR with ISO 64 or 100, depending on camera. This way I can in most cases avoid having to use ND filters. If there is suitable light for video at ISO 800, then I use N-Log. If there is low light so that I can't be at 800 or thereabouts then I expect it to be a crap shoot and maybe the best would be to add lighting to get back to ISO 800. ISO 6400, for example, is really quite noisy in log. It becomes visibly less sharp and while it's not useless it clearly illustrates that shooting in low light you have to compromise between subject SNR and the highlight latitude. Probably it's best to give as much light to the main subject rather than underexpose it in that case.
Maybe Nikon can make a firmware update to the Z6III and other models that have the flickering issue in low light log video and give the user the option of turning off the automatic recalibration of the black point and let it just drift. ...Show more →
The noise depends on what codec is being used. If its H.265 10-bit with NLOG, there really isn't noise because H.265 has NR applied. If its NRAW, the noise is there not because of LOG but because Nikon doesn't bake in 10-tons of noise reduction like Sony and Canon do. Basically you get more latitude in post with a NRAW file vs something off of a competing Canon/Sony camera. Secondly, bumping to 6400 ISO in a low light situation yields great results because the second base ISO kicks in and is quite clean. Sure, footage shot at 5000 ISO will be horrid. Lastly, as for as I know, the Z6 III is the only one exhibiting flicker in video. My Zf, Z8, or Z9 didn't have any flickering.
ilkka_nissila wrote:
Likely these differences are due to different signal processing (noise removal). I haven't noticed any problems with N-Log when shooting either Zf in 10-bit h.265 or Z8 in Prores 422 HQ 4K at ISO 800 and exposing nominally. The image is clean. I don't know how the Z6III differs from these. I don't shoot N-RAW since I don't have the space and I don't want to deal with vignetting reduction, distortion correction or noise reduction in post.
I would recommend sticking to ISO 800 (maybe overexposing slightly) when shooting N-Log and if available, try Prores 422 HQ. If you need higher ISO than 800, then I would have to agree that N-Log can be noisy.
The Z6 III has a unique issue that isn't found in the Zf or Z8 or Z9. The flickering has been explained by @snapsy on here. Perhaps it has to do with the sensor itself being partially stacked? It's been 6-months since the Z6 III has come out and we're still waiting on some acknowledgement from Nikon. I've sent Nikon my NEV files along with many others.. I just can't imagine Nikon didn't see this issue when developing the camera. Maybe that's how it is and always will be? Or did this flickering issue went completely unnoticed. I'm hopeful in a firmware fix. Nikon has been amazing with firmware updates so lets see..
On both of my Z6 IIIs the flickering is most pronounced when shooting NRAW at ISO 5000, and most visible in NLOG, but it is slightly there in SDR and HLG. I feel like its a little less pronounced in ProRES and even different framerates like 24p vs 60p. But, there are tools in Resolve to rid the footage of flicker and NR to clean up the footage. The footage is 100% usable but requires a little more work to get it.
So I did something that many people would likely find crazy, and I traded in my Z8 for a new Z6 III (plus some cash). Over the last year, I've really come to realize that I just don't need 45MP, and while it is nice to have from time to time, I generally print my images at around 18", where there is no discernible difference between 24 and 45MP, and for the very rare times I print at 24" or 30", I still get fantastic images at 24MP...in fact every print I have in my house at the moment that is 24" or larger was taken with a 24MP or lower resolution camera.
The thing is, I'd been getting a bit tired of the size of the Z8. It's not like it's giant or anything, but I do a lot of 'walk around town' type shooting, and the Z8 just feels cumbersome in that situation, and it's one of the reasons I have used the Zf so much this past year. While I know the Z8 is the more capable body in the vast majority of ways, for what I shoot, and how I finish images, the Z6 III feels more at home in my hand, and the better IBIS (that I've come to love on the Zf) is quite welcome here.
Even after 1 day, just shooting some test shots here and there, I already prefer how the Z6 III handles, and the U# shooting banks are so much faster and more intuitive than the dual shooting / settings banks that had to be changed on the Z8. Especially since it saves everything. Also, the EVF is gorgeous. I will miss the dual-axis tilt screen of the Z8, but I think overall this'll be the right move. Looking forward to running some frames through this thing.
Jman13 wrote:
So I did something that many people would likely find crazy, and I traded in my Z8 for a new Z6 III (plus some cash). Over the last year, I've really come to realize that I just don't need 45MP, and while it is nice to have from time to time, I generally print my images at around 18", where there is no discernible difference between 24 and 45MP, and for the very rare times I print at 24" or 30", I still get fantastic images at 24MP...in fact every print I have in my house at the moment that is 24" or larger was taken with a 24MP or lower resolution camera.
The thing is, I'd been getting a bit tired of the size of the Z8. It's not like it's giant or anything, but I do a lot of 'walk around town' type shooting, and the Z8 just feels cumbersome in that situation, and it's one of the reasons I have used the Zf so much this past year. While I know the Z8 is the more capable body in the vast majority of ways, for what I shoot, and how I finish images, the Z6 III feels more at home in my hand, and the better IBIS (that I've come to love on the Zf) is quite welcome here.
Even after 1 day, just shooting some test shots here and there, I already prefer how the Z6 III handles, and the U# shooting banks are so much faster and more intuitive than the dual shooting / settings banks that had to be changed on the Z8. Especially since it saves everything. Also, the EVF is gorgeous. I will miss the dual-axis tilt screen of the Z8, but I think overall this'll be the right move. Looking forward to running some frames through this thing. ...Show more →
I'd be interested in how you feel about the ZF now you have the Z6iii. I was on the fence between the two and went for the ZF. IQ is great and I wanted something smaller than my Z8 and thought the retro style will look less "serious" when out and about. I much prefer the handling of the Z8 though.
Mr Mc wrote:
I'd be interested in how you feel about the ZF now you have the Z6iii. I was on the fence between the two and went for the ZF. IQ is great and I wanted something smaller than my Z8 and thought the retro style will look less "serious" when out and about. I much prefer the handling of the Z8 though.
I'll have more impressions of course once I've had a chance to really shoot with the Z6 III...I hope to get out this weekend. I will say that in my handling around the house and such, I REALLY like the handling of this camera, and it just feels so much nicer in the hand to me vs the Z8. When I pick up my Zf now, it actually feels pretty large, as it's notably bigger than the Z6 III, but of course, not to the degree that the Z8 was.
Jman13 wrote:
I'll have more impressions of course once I've had a chance to really shoot with the Z6 III...I hope to get out this weekend. I will say that in my handling around the house and such, I REALLY like the handling of this camera, and it just feels so much nicer in the hand to me vs the Z8. When I pick up my Zf now, it actually feels pretty large, as it's notably bigger than the Z6 III, but of course, not to the degree that the Z8 was.
So far so good. Took some shots around town yesterday and really enjoyed the camera. Very nice to walk around with. Today I popped on my ultra macro to do some shots of a very small microprocessor die...started the series and then noticed my flash wasn't recycling fast enough due to low battery, so I replaced the batteries and re-started the focus stack. Unfortunately, when I replaced the batteries I must have changed some thing on the flash settings, and so instead of proper exposure, it was outputting minimum power. Didn't notice until I'd disassembled the rig and went to process the images. Needed a +3.5 stop bump in exposure and an addditional +50 in the shadows, so roughly a four stop push in the shadows.
Needless to say, the of course legendarily bad dynamic range of the Z6 III made this unusable....
Oh wait, no it worked perfectly fine. 105 shot focus stack.
Took the Z6 III out for my first landscape shooting experience. No issues with DR at all, even with some rather large brightness swings from cave shadow to water. Cross posted from the Z images thread.
Jman13 wrote:
Took the Z6 III out for my first landscape shooting experience. No issues with DR at all, even with some rather large brightness swings from cave shadow to water. Cross posted from the Z images thread.
Great photos. What DR issues were you anticipating or expecting?
snapsy wrote:
Great photos. What DR issues were you anticipating or expecting?
I personally wasn’t expecting any, but that’s been the big thing that has been brought up by so many people since the camera was released. Even DPReview’s review had a thing in their conclusion about it being not a great choice for landscape use. I think that’s pretty much bunk.
JadedWriter wrote:
For the price Nikon is charging for the Z6III the buyer is getting a lot of camera for that price. I was pleasantly surprised with it.
Nice work!
70-200 f2.8S with ISO >12,000 with that output. It's a great time to enjoy photography!
Jman13 wrote:
I personally wasn’t expecting any, but that’s been the big thing that has been brought up by so many people since the camera was released. Even DPReview’s review had a thing in their conclusion about it being not a great choice for landscape use. I think that’s pretty much bunk.
In the end it's just an objective performance metric like any other. The camera has approximately 1EV lower DR than its predecessor. Whether or not that's an issue is entirely situational but as most will discover, the situations are fewer than many dramatized.
No kidding. People on YouTube were complaining about high iso and DR because of the partially stacked sensor, but if you just shoot the thing and don't have to be super granular to put out a review the camera is honesty great. I had a Z6II for years. The Z6II wasn't going to perform as well in this scenario. urbanwild wrote:
Nice work!
70-200 f2.8S with ISO >12,000 with that output. It's a great time to enjoy photography!
Been using the Z6III for a couple months now and it has been a blast to use. I came from a DSLR to this and it has made shooting so much easier with an EVF. I'm planning on swapping my 2nd body in my bag for a Z6II. Even though the ver.2 is no where near as good as the new ver.3, I want to go full mirrorless as soon as possible. Been having some trouble with some of my older F-mount lenses adapting to the Z bodies. They work fine for the most part, some missed focus here and there, but what I don't like is the lens focusing motors making sound while shooting. For video shooting with audio makes it almost impossible to use.
Just got my Z6ii last week and used it for some product photography and an event this weekend. I love this camera. The pixel shift works perfectly and results in smaller files than the Z8 pixel shift, but still really high resolution and low noise. For the event I used it to photograph a half marathon in bad overcast light, mostly with the 85mm 1.2 and 200 f2. It performed excellently with one troublesome caveat: the camera froze up for about 30 seconds while shooting continual bursts. The image quality is fantastic. I feel like the auto white balance is actually doing a little better job than the Z9 and Z8 (I think the Z9 actually already does a little better than Z8). The autofocus was interesting. I bought the camera expecting a little worse performance than the Z8, which is what all the reviews said. It's definitely not quite the same, and it doesn't pick subjects up quite as early (maybe that's a sensor resolution issue) which seems like a little hunting. However, I felt like the autofocus is actually a little more accurate in subject detection modes. With the 85mm 1.2 wide open on moving subjects, it didn't miss. This will bear out over time, so that's just an initial impression from about 4,000 images with the Z6iii and I was switching back and forth between that camera and a Z9 with a Plena.
The files look great though and they edit really well. I don't see any issues with increased noise in shadows. Once you hit ISO 800 that shouldn't be an issue anyway. The colors pop and are really natural.
Most of the time I will be shooting with this camera in electronic shutter. Except for some artificial light situations I don't see a reason to use mechanical shutter. I wish that 15fps had the same viewfinder performance as 20fps though. There is a noticeable difference. The 20fps is almost blackout free and the blackouts are so fast that it is barely perceptible. Slower than 20fps there is noticeable blackout in ES.
I love that the controls now mimic the Z8/Z9, but a minor gripe is that you can't map the buttons with all the options on the Z8/Z9. Why not? That shouldn't be hard. I would love to be able to cycle AF options with the top record button like on the Z8/Z9. The camera feels outstanding in the hand, though. I wish that there would be a Z7iii that would perform like this camera, or even the next gen Z8ii just use this body shape.
Overall, I'm much happier with this camera than I expected. I see no major issues with the exception of that freeze up. Has this happened to anyone else? I've experienced that a time or two with other Nikon cameras (an early firmware Z8 and a Z6ii). It seems like some kind of a bug that needs to be addressed in an update. Curious to see if that happens again. If it does, that would be a major problem. I was driving the camera pretty hard, but that's normal for events.
105 shot focus stack. 
