billsnature wrote:
I continue to ponder the Z7 for landscape and I an really intrigued by the automated focus stacking as a means to improve my landscape output, in addition to the 24-70's quality.
The question that focus stacking raises is if I would need to spend $400-600 on XQD cards? Shooting 50-150 frames per set up is one thing when you can buy 128 GB SD for $20. It is something different when the XQD cards are running closer to $200.
Am I missing something or is this a real concern? Do you end up shooting JPEG or compressed images for focus stacking? Or is this going to be the expensive memory hog that I fear it will be?
A couple of things to keep in mind. First, with Nikon the compressed RAW files are actually lossless, so there is no reason not to use compressed RAW files. So, if you use uncompressed RAW on Sony, as some people do to ensure there is no loss or artifacts, then you will have smaller files with Nikon. I have actually found the compressed RAW (even though it isn't quite lossless) with the Sony to be fine, but not every one does. Second, XQD cards are very similar in price to SD cards of similar speeds (the XQD cards are both a little faster and a little more expensive than the top speed SD cards), but there are no low cost options for XQD cards. For many people, however, even a 32GB card will be plenty. You can get one for $90. You can get a 64GB card for $130. Personally, at this point I would get a 120 GB CF express card for $180, which is very likely to become the new standard. That should be plenty of storage for most people for a day of shooting and if it isn't I would look into a portable SSD solution to download file to, or you could get a system that let's you copy from the CF express card to the older cheaper SD cards if that is what you like.
billsnature wrote:
I continue to ponder the Z7 for landscape and I an really intrigued by the automated focus stacking as a means to improve my landscape output, in addition to the 24-70's quality.
The question that focus stacking raises is if I would need to spend $400-600 on XQD cards? Shooting 50-150 frames per set up is one thing when you can buy 128 GB SD for $20. It is something different when the XQD cards are running closer to $200.
Am I missing something or is this a real concern? Do you end up shooting JPEG or compressed images for focus stacking? Or is this going to be the expensive memory hog that I fear it will be?
A couple of things to keep in mind. First, with Nikon the compressed RAW files are actually lossless, so there is no reason not to used compressed RAW files. So, if you use uncompressed RAW on Sony, as some people do to ensure there is no loss or artifacts, then you will have smaller files with Nikon. I have actually found the compressed RAW (even though it isn't quite lossless) with the Sony to be fine, but not every one does. Second, XQD cards are very similar in price to SD cards of similar speeds (the XQD cards are both a little faster and a little more expensive than the top speed SD cards), but there are no low cost options for XQD cards. For many people, however, even a 32GB card will be plenty. You can get one for $90. You can get a 64GB card for $130. Personally, at this point I would get a 120 GB CF express card for $180, which is very likely to become the new standard. That should be plenty of storage for most people for a day of shooting and if it isn't I would look into a portable SSD solution to download file to, or you could get a system that let's you copy from the CF express card to the older cheaper SD cards if that is what you like.
May 04, 2020 at 08:47 AM
Previous versions of Steve Spencer's message #15218329 « Z7 24-70 for landscape vs Sony? »
