Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera review – a wedding photographers perspective and hands on experience The preamble to my ramble What is this review? It’s purely my experience and thoughts from using the Nikon Z6 for one wedding season as part of a dual camera setup alongside the Nikon d850. I didn’t do any tests…
Using the Sigma 24mm 1.4 ART Lens for weddings First of all I’ll get the usual “this is not an in depth chart and numbers review” disclaimer out of the way and just let you know this is a real world review. If you want to check out the in depth MTF charts and everything…
Pentax Lx: Pentax’s best 35mm film camera and possibly one of the best 35mm cameras ever made. My main film camera is now the Pentax LX :) This little blog is about my experience and findings with this little gem of a camera rather than a fully blown technical review, but I hope it gives others a little insight…
The Nikon 85mm 1.8 G is the lens I’ve owned for the longest and is part of my 35 / 85 lens combo I use for weddings. Its light, fairly quick to focus and is sharp wide open. It’s the lens I’ve owned the longest as it’s one of the most useful. Is it my…
Ok, so this blog is a work in progress as the announcement of the Nikon I am advancing campaign seems to have been delayed(it was originally due for January 19th). I first heard about the new firmware update program via Nikon Rumors who had access to a leaked press announcement that had made its way…
Shallow depth of field? Crazy bokeh? It seems everyone wants and often gets fixated on achieving that amazing look when shooting wide open. I like to shoot primes and I like to shoot wide open so count me in that group too! I like sharpness in an image but it’s usually second to something just…
My Obsession with the Electro 35 series of cameras This post is half an homage to the Yashica Electro 35 Rangefinder film camera, and half an homage to Todd McLellan and his disassembly series. I have a little bit of history with the Electro 35. I first knew I wanted one when I saw…
I have wanted a 35mm lens with shallow depth of field capabilities ever since I sold off my Fuji X100. I loved the 35mm equivalent angle of view on the Fuji, but one thing that it always lacked was the ability to get really nice shallow depth of field photos. You certainly can with…
Thanks for the review. Finally, working photographers started to talk about their use of Z6. Reviews from YouTube celebrities are not the same. I’m looking for upgrade from D7100 to D750 or Z6 and your thoughts are quite helpful. What would you say about using Z6 for concert photography, studio work and news reportage? Thank for you time
Hi Kirill
I’m not sure about news reportage as those guys usually use big camera beasts like the D4, D5 etc but for everything else – definitely. I would certainly use the Z6 over the d750 for anything that has low light and concerts would be a good example of low light. You can only try and see. It did take me a little while to get used to the Z6, but the internet is now packed full of useful tips on how to set the Z6 up for success :)
Thanks 🙂
Great shots. Thanks for the review. I’ve sold my Sony gear and come back to Nikon full time. Just really don’t use my DSLRs any more. Loving the Z’s
Thanks for the kind words Paul – glad you like your Z6’s. Settling on any new camera these days is quite hard especially when everything out there is a really high standard.
This article is so helpful! So good to have some insight from someone who persevered (not my strong suit). I’m only on week 2 with the Z6 and doing all the research and trials I can. Can you tell me how to set up the “video record button so hold-pressing it gives you an exposure preview and depth of field preview.”? Thank you so much!
Hi Joanna – Go to custom settings then f2 – then select the movie record button to change what it does :)
Great to see a working review of the Z6. If you want to see another wedding photographer’s experience look up The Monochrome Memoirs on YouTube. The D780 is the camera you were waiting for but I’d rather have two Z6 than a Z6 and D780.
Has the d780 sparked your interest then? Or is it too smaller an incremental upgrade?
The D780 sparked my interest so much, I traded in my D850 for one. I know have a Z6 mirrorless and DSLR with effectively the same sensor :) First impressions are it’s great! Everything I wanted the D750 to have – 1/8000 shutter speed and live view focusing that is as fast as mirrorless. Looking forward to using it alongside the Z6 this season :)
Excellent write-up and fantastic pictures! Truly impressive :)
Am considering the Z6 as an entry into the full frame world for my starting professional career (with a lot of indoor events) since it seems to offer the best bang for the buck together with the new 1.8 primes. The 3d tracking from the new firmware update also looks awesome and fast for getting good compositions (where you point the white box, hold focus and it sticks to the subject while you frame the shot)
How were you satisfied with the new 35mm 1.8s? Was thinking of pairing that and the 85 1.8 to cover most bases.Cheers, awesome work and really appreciate “real world” usage examples like this.
Hi Luka – thank you for the kind words :) I was very satisfied with the 35mm 1.8s, but I already had the 35mm1.4 F mount and whilst the new S lens is sharper wide open and has excellent contrast and colours, I was just missing that extra bit of shallow depth of field you get from the older 1.4. It would be great if Nikon brought out a 1.4 or 1.2 version of the S line but with it being taken off the roadmap, I think they never will!
Hi! Thank You for review. Have You compared already Z6 to D780
Yes – and honestly I think I prefer the Z6 – there is some disparity between the AF settings in Liveview and the Viewfinder. The settings remain the same, but the way they work between the two focus systems is massively different. E.g – if you set it to skip every other point in liveview – so you can move the point around much faster it does the same thing in the viewfinder. But there the viewfinder has less points so it moves around far far too fast!
Thats a great review…I was and am toying between the Z6 and Canon R as I have glass in both camps . I also have an 850 and 750…but finding the 850 +24-70 f2.8 to be really heavy to lug round all day at a wedding. I also bought a Canon 5D4 plus a load of glass as I wanted to try the Canon colour science, skin tones etc. which was always being lorded over Nikon, I have concluded this is just BS.
But having researched this for a long time and read your experiences I think you have swung it for me! Plus I have also discovered that there are adapters for Canon EF to Nikon Z….so I can still use my canon glass !
Many thanks and loved the shots!
Thanks for your kind words Chris, both the Z6 and EOS – R are great cameras, I’m definitely happy with my Z6 for sure!
So have you decided between the Z6 and D850? Also can I ask what lenses you use for weddings?
Ergh. Every couple of months I find myself having a look at some Nikon Z series reviews for wedding togs and everytime I feel like I want to get one to see what it’s like compared to the Sony A7III. The A7III just feels a bit souless compared to when I shot D750’s.Since you’ve shot both, if you had no cameras and were offerd a set of A7iii’s or Z6’s what would you go for?
I would 100% choose a Z6 over a sony A7III – my big reason was the feel of the camera and how I can use it and the second was the files. I prefer Nikons lenses and RAW files. If those arnt big draws its a difficult decision because the A7III has dual card slots and a better focus system.