Jay these are some terrific shots for the Holiday spirit. Love the lighting!
Kevin we've all been there so just do what you like. When the kids talk about the early events in their lives, they have lived them but I only saw them from a viewfinder. I've missed a lot of life.
Martin your boredom translates into wonderful pictures.
Peter your moon and sun brings this to another level. Top notch!
Today I attended a Nikon workshop for the Z6/7. Duration about 3,5 hours.
First there was a technical presentation about the Z's and second a presentation from a well known Dutch wedding photographer. Both were honest stories, not only how good the Z's are. Both have a Z7 as addition to their gear and neither was willing to go all-in on the Z's (D850 remains the number one).
After the presentations there was time to play with the Z'and there were 6 Z7's and 2 Z6's laying around (sigh) for 14 people!
I was only interested in the Z6 to use with MF-lenses (took a few with me) and I can't wait to receive mine (I already have a Smallrig L-bracket ).
Dutch treat; Oliebollen (According to Google Translate; deep fried doughnut balls).
We only have this at the end of the year.
Shot with the 105/2.5 P.C. (45 year old lens on a new camera )
I’m having a photography crisis. I’m actually thinking of selling off my kit and getting a basic something with a zoom. Something I can setup to spit out jpegs that I don’t have to edit.
I like the process for the most part, but I have damn near zero time to edit. I’m also tired of being the photographer for all family events. Then I have to deal with people that think they know how to do the shot better and get impatient.
What do you think I should do?
Do what I did Kevin. Buy the Nikkor AF-S vr 24 120 f/4. Gray market. $500 new. Use that for your family and the MF lenses for fun.
rafaelcasd wrote:
Do what I did Kevin. Buy the Nikkor AF-S vr 24 120 f/4. Gray market. $500 new. Use that for your family and the MF lenses for fun.
Rafael,
I got one of those on the UK gray market last year. Surprisingly similar in price to what you quote.
A great solution when I just want to travel with one lens or my wife wants to participate in photography when we are out and about.
MF is not her thing.
Since the thread has slowed down a bit I thought I would add this to the daily chatter. Please bear with my boredom
The rain has set in today and with the total so far we have set an annual record for rainfall for the year.
Thinking about the recent conversation based on Kevin's question and time for post processing, I decided to spend some time this rainy afternoon working on a Picture Control monochrome profile for the Z6 so I could get keeper black and white JPG files without having to do any post processing. My candidate lens for this was the Leica Thread Mount Nikkor 5cm f/1.4. Since I like shooting black and white and the old LTM lenses seem to do well with black and white, it seems like a good choice.
As you see in the first picture below (shot with Micro-Nikkor 55mm/3.5) the LTM 5cm makes for a good compact package adapted to the Z6. It has an added bonus of being able to use the close focus ability of the lens that you cannot perform on a Leica due to the rangefinder coupling disengaging as you focus close.
The following two shots are with the LTM 5cm and Z6. These are JPG files with the modified Picture Control Monochrome profile I did in camera. Only resized in macOS Preview for posting.
Nothing special, just some pine cone decoration on the front porch. But I do like the results.
First one shot at f/1.4 and you can see the veiling flare character of the lens wide open.
Second one stopped down to f/2 and is much cleaner from flare.
I think this lens/profile combo will perform well on the Z6. Now hopefully clear skies will be coming back so I can get out of the house and give this a good test
George
NIKKOR-S·C 5cm f/1.4 Leica Thread Mount lens adapted to the Z6
85mm f1.8H adapted to an Oly m43. Had the adapter for a couple months (maybe more) first shots only a few days ago. Nothing too special, saying "Hi" instead of just lurking and "liking".
I might be doing something wrong but I'm not getting any focus peaking :-( which was one primary factor for trying out the lenses on mirrorless. All you Z people are not helping out much in the "desire" department :-)
I’m having a photography crisis. I’m actually thinking of selling off my kit and getting a basic something with a zoom. Something I can setup to spit out jpegs that I don’t have to edit.
I like the process for the most part, but I have damn near zero time to edit. I’m also tired of being the photographer for all family events. Then I have to deal with people that think they know how to do the shot better and get impatient.
What do you think I should do?
Hi Kevin
My suggestion is to get a "simple" point and shoot camera to take "snapshots" - effectively to turn back the clock to film days where what you shot was was you got. Take the jpegs and forward to the family kibitzers to edit as they wish with "photos" on Windows or the Mac equivalent.
The problem is when a hobby (which is personal) becomes an obligation. Another solution is simply to say "No. Everyone has a smartphone so go to it!!"
My film copy set up - Z7 w/FTZ adapter, 60 2.8G and Nikon ES-2 film copier.
I just point this thing at the sky or an LCD light pad. The AF nails focus on the film grain, so if the film is sharp, the 'scan' is sharp. Super quick to set up and use, extremely portable. All my postings have been made with this type of get-up.
When I used my D850 (and D750 before), it would be even simpler as it did not need the FTZ adapter!
An other one from the demo with the Nippon Kogaku Nikkor-S Auto 1:1.4 f=5.8cm (mine is just a few years younger than I am; 1959) 😊
Focus peaking is a veerryy nice feature. Focussing is much easier as on the Df.
gbohannon wrote:
Since the thread has slowed down a bit I thought I would add this to the daily chatter. Please bear with my boredom
The rain has set in today and with the total so far we have set an annual record for rainfall for the year.
Thinking about the recent conversation based on Kevin's question and time for post processing, I decided to spend some time this rainy afternoon working on a Picture Control monochrome profile for the Z6 so I could get keeper black and white JPG files without having to do any post processing. My candidate lens for this was the Leica Thread Mount Nikkor 5cm f/1.4. Since I like shooting black and white and the old LTM lenses seem to do well with black and white, it seems like a good choice.
As you see in the first picture below (shot with Micro-Nikkor 55mm/3.5) the LTM 5cm makes for a good compact package adapted to the Z6. It has an added bonus of being able to use the close focus ability of the lens that you cannot perform on a Leica due to the rangefinder coupling disengaging as you focus close.
The following two shots are with the LTM 5cm and Z6. These are JPG files with the modified Picture Control Monochrome profile I did in camera. Only resized in macOS Preview for posting.
Nothing special, just some pine cone decoration on the front porch. But I do like the results.
First one shot at f/1.4 and you can see the veiling flare character of the lens wide open.
Second one stopped down to f/2 and is much cleaner from flare.
I think this lens/profile combo will perform well on the Z6. Now hopefully clear skies will be coming back so I can get out of the house and give this a good test
Not a record year here, but the second highest with 52 inches so far with more coming before the 1st.
I like your profile, very close, if not the same look as Acros. Try a shot without ANY blown highlights (such as the spot on the right) to see if it changes. Is it easy to switch to the profile when needed?
leighton w wrote:
Not a record year here, but the second highest with 52 inches so far with more coming before the 1st.
I like your profile, very close, if not the same look as Acros. Try a shot without ANY blown highlights (such as the spot on the right) to see if it changes. Is it easy to switch to the profile when needed?
Thanks Leighton. Hope to get out some this weekend. We are having a house full of in-laws (or is it outlaws) today. 4 brother-in-laws with their wives, kids and grandkids. 3 active duty kids representing Army, Air Force and Navy and others representing in state rivalry university. Should be interesting conversations.
Re: the profiles...
In addition to the built in Picture Controls, you can create, save and custom name up to 9 other Picture Controls. Very easy to modify and select.
For custom Monochrome Picture Controls you can modify the following settings and save:
Sharpening
Mid-range sharpening
Clarity
Contrast
Brightness
Filters - Yellow, Orange, Red, Green
Toning - from B&W, Sepia levels, Cyanotype levels, and various color levels
So you can build a profile and name it whatever you like (up to 20 characters)
I haven't messed with color profiles yet but you have basically the same controls as above with the addition of Saturation and Hue.
