Growing pains with the Nikon Z8

After the first video explains how the DSLR to Mirrorless transition happened, Alastair reflects on the quirks and headaches of changing to a new (albeit familiar) camera format and attempting his first commercial shoot with it (uh...where are the photos?). Does he love it? Does he hate it? Does he hate loving it? It's complicated.

[ebones]

Wtf? Nothing he said has anything to do with the z8. He should name the video…I forget stuff and sometime need to buy stuff.

[skyscapes]

I went from the D850 to Z8.All those differences you mentioned i experienced as well.
I did some research on the camera and i knew of the differences.Not issues.
I loved my D850.
Z8 blows it away.

[venietvideo]

OMG! You got a lens with a bigger front element and complained about needing larger filters. You got a camera without a mechanical shutter and complained about the (configurable!) electronic shutter sound? Really? Try reading the manual! It's not easy to master a modern pro camera body but the sooner you start the earlier you'll succeed!

[Ben_Stewart]

Sorry for your friend going to Sony... Your gain though.

[rogermanning]

Hi, welcome to the Z cameras. I appreciate your dislike of the generated "shutter" sounds. I was an early adopter of the Z system, starting with the original Z7. A year and a half ago I bought a Z9 and I have been loving it. I prefer to shoot my Z9 with no sound in most cases. I don't need to hear a sound to know I have made an exposure. You will come to appreciate the visual cues in the viewfinder. The only exception to shooting silently, is when I am photographing portraits in natural or constant light. The click is the subject's clue that they can give me a different look. I don't even bother turning it on if I am shooting flash. BTW, turn off the sound in the setup menu - camera sounds. Don't use the silent mode right below the camera sounds control. if you select that, Nikon left that in as a legacy from DSLRs for some reason, and it will shut down triggering of flash. Anyway, the learning curve is a bit daunting foe the Z cameras in general and for the Z8 and Z9 in particular, but it will well worth it. Cheers.

[m.i.andersen]

It is really said that the world isn't as it supposed to be. But it's good that you get your frustrations out here instead of kicking the dog.

[lukakoprivica]

Love the honesty! I jumped ship from Nikon to Canon, can you imagine those changes! A month in, I'm still looking for basics, setting the volume, stand by timers, metering control, auto

[annettefreeman]

Thank you. For those of us on a limited budget who might want to splurge on this upgrade, it gives us addtional information we should consider.

[amarettodisaronno]

TO EACH HIS...HER OWN !!!

YOU🫵 ARE YOUR OWN CRITIC !!!

[charliedickson]

Had a D850, and bought filters to use with my largest 82mm lens thread, then have step down rings, no issues, the batteries I had were 15c . I bought a z8, no issues with lenses, via adapter, download PDF for manual onto phone no issues, photoshop updated camera profiles no issues.

[MichaelSeneschal]

That shutter sound is a little off to me as well. But even if the shutter sound mimicked the Nikon F3, it still wouldn’t be right because there’s no tactile or haptic feedback of that mirror moving. I guess this is just where cameras are heading.
The Z8’s shutter is a little more sophicated than people give it credit for though. For instance, take a 1-second exposure and you’ll hear that it’s actually a 2-part sound. So after training your ear by hearing the long shutter, it makes the faster shutter sound less of a static click, and more of a 2-part…………static click. OK, so it’s still a static click but it’s different. Try it and tell me what you think. LOL

[Randorita]

Talk about growing pains, wait until you see the manual! Over 800 pages! I haven't really done much photography for a number of years. I set up a D-90 then a D-750 for my wife to use. I used it a few times on trips, but it was her camera. We have retired and I decided it was time to get back to photography, but I wanted my own and wanted to go mirrorless. Since we have Nikon, I decided on the Z8. I have only had it about a week and spent a few hours watching setup videos and looking a the manual, then going through the menu. I have just started playing around with it and poked around a bit and changed my profile, ok menu bank, from A to C without realizing it. Now I am looking and wondering why I am shooting JPG and went back through the menu and seeing all the settings were back to factory. I finally saw the change from A to C and put it back. So, the learning curve, at least for me, is going to be like Mt. Everest! It will take me quite a bit of time to get comfortable, especially since the weather is going to be down into the single digits here in the Southeast. I will also have to bread down and get a flash, something I haven't used since my film days. So, I feel your pain and the struggle is real.

[georgeb]

Waiting for the Z6iii to come out so I can “enjoy” stepping up from a D7500😂

[annonymous]

I have also been debating going into the Z line from a D500. Battery life alone has stopped several late at night 'pay now' button clicks. Glad to get some clarity on some of the other little things that would push this from few dollars of unplanned expenses to a significant budget deficit.

[scooler]

I love your rant. I shot with D750s for several years. I love Nikon, but didn’t think the Z6 was good enough to switch to mirrorless. I didn’t want to just toss my investment in Nikon, so I patiently waited. Then the ZF was released. I love this camera. Great shutter sound, BTW. First thing I discovered was that my godox flashes weren’t working in TTL mode. It required some IT gymnastics and a new usb-A micro cord to update the firmware. I have the same tether issue as well. I’ll get a new cord eventually. Don’t shoot tethered enough to replace it right away. My G1 Tamron lenses were iffy with the FTZ adapter, so I replaced those. And my extra 3rd party batteries, which I kept as backups do not work with the new ZF, so had to get a new backup. Good luck with the z8! I would love to find someone willing to sell me theirs for a song.

[guidon.]

I was interested in this video but I have to say, I'm a bit flummoxed. Someone wearing a Rolex Submariner in a video like this complaining about the follow up cost of switching to what amounts to basically a new system? That's ... interesting. Also, some really weird assumptions – there is ONLY an electronic shutter on this camera. You WILL get artifacts in specific conditions. The Z8 plain doesn't have a mechanical shutter.

Maybe this video should have said "I should have thought about it before switching to a new camera" – there seems to be nothing that the camera is actually responsible for to create your frustration. It really seems to come solely from lack of thinking something through ... That would have been a more honest title for the video.

[fjphoto]

My migration to the Z system has started with the Z50, now with the Z5, and planning to get the Z9. My main DSLR shooter is the D500 which I will never get rid of. The Z system takes a bit of getting used to. I hear the same growing pains from people who have gone to the Z8/mirrorless from the F body without having done a progression through the lower-spec Z bodies and taking time to learn the Z system.

[castieldiallo]

The complaints are mostly from the uninformed and the ones that bought a camera they are not skilled enough for. Totally invalid gripes.

[bubbachua]

Welcome back to Lightroom btw haha.. I also bought a perpetual license for capture one only to realise it’s outdated and year later! 😡

I also have to sit down and figure out how to save battery by having the lcd off when not in use, mucked around the options and it was getting the evf off or the other way round lol

[Mister_M]

I have the Z8 since the end of May now. What annoys me the most is that the camera isn't really compatible with most studio flashes when using HSS. My portable flashes (Rollei HS Freeze 6 and 6s) don't really sync with the strobing flashes so that you can see the electronic shutter and/or banding on each photo. That extremely limits my creativity when it comes to flash photography.