Nikon Z50

DaveyJ

Beautiful shots!

donaldejose

DaveyJ: Quite surprising what that crop sensor Z50 body and the kit lens can do in a studio environment, isn't it? Most people would not think this "basic" combination could produce those results. Remember in a few posts earlier I said "The problem is trying to replicate the look of 85 to 105 f1.4 or f2. That cannot be done with the Z50 and its two kit lenses." I was wrong. A background can reasonably substitute for bokeh.

WestEndFoto

It doesn’t surprise me. I already know the kit lens is sharp etc. and sets a new standard for kit lenses (THAT was a surprise). DOF matters less in a studio environment and since the photographer controls the light you can always shoot at base ISO. Given this I would expect nothing less than great results. I can’t think of anything else you can do, except use a larger sensor which would open the door to full frame lenses doubling the resolution all things being equal.

donaldejose

Yes WEF. I think almost all "real pro" studio portrait photographers will be using the ideal combination of a high megapixel body with a fast 50 to 105 mm prime lens shot from wide open down to f4 although I have seen some shooting portraits at f5.6 or f8. I was just playing around to see what can be done with the Z50 and a couple of lenses I have on hand. I was not attempting to create the ideal: just attempting to emulate the ideal "look" with less than ideal equipment. I have one small disagreement with your post above because I was limiting my experiment to LED constant lighting. You cannot shoot at base ISO with LED lighting and f6.3; You would have to use flash. LED isn't bright enough and if it were the subject could not stand that much light constantly. So you have to accept shooting at ISO 1,000 as I noted. The Z8 body with two card slots, vertical grip and 60+ megapixels pared with the new Z mount lenses in 50mm, 85mm, 100mm macro, he existing 105 f1.4 with the FTZ and 70-200mm f2.8 zoom will make an ideal combo for portraits.

donaldejose

So how large could you print a portrait taken with the Z50 and the S 50mm f1.8 lens? We are only dealing with 7.6 mp here. I think you could print this image poster size and the eyes would still be sharp. Click through to flickr and view the image at different sizes and judge for yourself. I processed this image from above a bit more to emulate the Rembrandt style.

donaldejose

This is a crop of just the eyes from the above photo. The S 50mm f1.8 is sharp wide open and the Z50 sensor holds the detail well for practical purposes.

WestEndFoto

Impressive Donaldjose, especially considering that you are only getting half the resolution of a Z7.

WestEndFoto

PS: Nice eyes on an attractive model.

donaldejose

And using eye AF at f1.8 both eyes are sufficiently in focus even though her head is turned slightly to the side. I didn't expect that under those conditions. A side comment about the upcoming D6. If it really is only 20 mp and two stops better high ISO that should mean great image quality down in the "mid" ISO ranges of 2,000 to 6,000 for great flexibility. When that D6 sensor gets put into a Z body so we can use S glass it will be a killer combinations for available light photography.

DaveyJ

These model photos sure make the Z50 look like a great camera. Also it proves that with someone this beautiful, it really is impressive. My thanks to donalddejose for sharing those with us. At some point I’ll come back and try to study pretty much how Donald took these photos. The Z50 and two kit lens were a very good investment for me and at some point I’ll add more S Lens to take maximum advantage of the Z Cameras. The Z6 and the 24-70 F4S I also would like to add. Perhaps with the Movie Maker Kit.

Ton14

If you buy the Nikon Z6 video kit and want to use the prores RAW codec don't get too exited at the moment.

1 minute video is 3.86gb, very data heavy.
You can only use the prores RAW codec in Final Cut Pro 10, so Apple only !!.
Of course other programs will follow, but this is the status at the moment.

But ... the Nikon Z6, 4k video quality is amazing, it is a 6k sensor, you can set it to 10-bit and with just a switch on the back all the video menu items are set, also the touch screen, at the moment this is the only FF camera who has that.

The lenses for the Z serie are made for high resolution camera's 45mp and up, many F lenses work of course, but are made for 24mp maximum and some for 36mp max.

DaveyJ

Looking at the various Z6 options I am now convinced that the Z6 FTZ and 24-70f4S is what I would do. I’d leave the complicated video details to my son and grandson and just shoot stills and especially video just the way I do now. The video on the Z50 and the two kit lens is plenty good enough for me. Also I do NOT see myself going over $2,500 for the Z6, FTZ, kit lens. I’d even have my grandson who films almost everyday set the video setting on the camera.

rmp

I admit that every camera from the D200 on is more capable than I can use. However, the z7/24-70f4s combination is so good -- in my hands -- that it is the only camera I use anymore. I had the 850. It collected dust when the Z7 arrived.

I think it is the Z-glass that makes me love this combination. I have the f-mount 70-200 f2.8 and I know it works with the FTZ. Still, I cannot wait until the z version arrives.

When the z5-version with vibration reduction arrives, I'm on-it.

spraynpray

@rmp : What are your usual genres? Landscapes, portraits, low light, sports/action, wildlife? I am intrigued by you saying your D850 doesn't get used anymore.

donaldejose

rmp: I am also anxiously awaiting the S 70-200. Last night I took some indoor shots for a dad who wanted to have some images on his cell phone of his red headed kid paying soccer. I shot with the D500 and the very old 80-200 f2.8 lens since I do not have a newer version of that lens and the Z bodies won't auto focus that old screw focus lens. I didn't think the old screw type AF could keep up with the action but actually I had no trouble at all using dynamic area auto focus 25. I shot small and normal jpeg which is fine for how the dad will view and show the images. Looking forward to having the new S 70-200 for similar tasks.

rmp

@spraynpray I did not mean to complain about the D850. It was and is a great camera.
The Z7 is just a better fit for me.

Most of my shots are of my grandkids. Our 6-member family travels together once or twice a year. In addition, my wife and I travel to visit the family two to four times a year. So, I take "travel" shots. That means weight and size are big factors to me. My "travel" shots are restricted because I cannot say "smile" or "move over" or "get together". The restrictions on me, mean I get along with my family - a little better. I have to shoot what I see -NOW. Sort of like spray and pray for real. :-)

In addition, I strive for what I call "wall art." That is images that family members want to hang on their walls because they see "art." Not just, "I was there" photos. I know, "shoot from the hip" and "produce quality art" do not seem to go together. But, that is the game I play, and that means High Image Quality is a factor for me.

I end up taking 1000s images to get a few landscapes, a few cityscapes, a few portraits. Maybe 30,000 to 50,000 shots a year to get 20-30 images that get printed. 3 to 10 actually end up on a wall. (I am so glad I do not need to make my living as a photographer.)

I belong to three photo clubs and attend meetings, but I seldom actually go on their outings.

Ton14

The F lenses are great on the Nikon Z and we get what we always got, but the native lenses for the Z serie are amazing and have all the advantages of the camera of course.

For example the 5-axis IBIS and what I like after the last firmware is that I can set a ring on the lens to adjust the ISO. Try it for a week or so, much better then the auto-ISO setting.
I always did a lot with the Manual setting, that is made much easier for me now.

DaveyJ

D500 is for many THE action camera. As much as I appreciate the Z50 and Z6, still, when zig need action shots, the D500 OR the D7500 is a safer choice.

DaveyJ

Already had to clean the Z50 sensor. Big opening anytime you switch lens, and I’m pretty careful. At least it is easy to clean. I have mostly used the 16-50 kit lens, which is amazing. I only dusted off the sensor with a blower, although I have a professional sensor cleaning kit I chose to see if the blower got the somewhat minor squiggle showing up in some sky lines. Still my reaction is this is a wonderful travel camera. One of probably the best cameras if you ever hand the camera to someone else to take the photo instead of you taking them. In other words the camera pretty much is very good at focusing on what you want, and if you want depth of field it surely has that!

donaldejose

Just another test of the Z50 + 16-50mm zoom lens. This time using it as a jacket pocketable take-anywhere camera. I had to meet someone at a public city building. I put the Z50 and kit lens in my jacket pocket in case I saw something that caught my eye. It was pretty much as I expected: an ugly building filled with ugly people. But there was one colorful item which caught my eye: a mosaic made by young school kids hanging in a hallway. So I pulled out my camera, backed up to the opposite wall, waited until people walking in the hall had passed and took a shot. The Z50 was set to manual, lens wide open which was f5 when the lens was zoomed to 32mm (fx equivalent 48mm), shutter speed 1/100th, and auto ISO which gave me an ISO of 4000 in this light. This is the result. My conclusion is: Yes, you can carry this camera in a jacket body and it will shoot adequately in the badly lit hall of a bland and ugly government building. I like having this much ability in such a compact size. Click through to flickr where you can view it full size and judge the IQ at ISO 4000 and the sharpness of the kit lens wide open for yourself.

DaveyJ

Z50 Street Shotsbut I can't figure out to post shots!

DaveyJ

I still see there is no way to direct post photos. NR relies far to much on other things like Flickr.

donaldejose

Right DaveyJ. NR does not host direct posting of shots. You have to link to some other host. I use flckr and paid the premium membership fee just so NR readers could click through any photos I post and see them full size. There is a NR thread about what use flickr is with people complaining about the increased yearly fee. I pay the money to flickr for the benefit of NR members. When I post a photo as an example of something I am discussing I want people to be able to examine the photo themselves full size so they can make their own judgments. If you send your photos to my email address [email protected] I will upload them to flickr for you can post them to NR and then you can comment upon them. You can only send 10 megabytes per e-mail message so you have to check your photo size before attaching it to the e-mail.

Ton14

Did a small test and use it as "walk around" combo. Nikon Z6 with the NIKKOR Z DX 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 VR. I put 3 photo's on Flickr, One on PAD.

DaveyJ

I will try sending donalddejose a photo to his email. I am not sure what EXIF data or even MP the photo I will send to him is. I have never had a Flickr account and always am pretty tight due to farm taxes! Sometimes I think farmers are going to get put out of business! I will make sure the MP do not exceed 10. I always shoot in JPEG as it is enough photo size for what I do.