The Nikon Z7II, UFOs, and Icebreakers

Dave Levingston showed up to visit a few days ago. He's a reader from Ohio who has an uncommon ability to pursue dedicated photographic projects. One is environmental nudes; he was on his way back from Maine (to his wife—he's happily married) where he reunited with the model of one of his famous pictures 20 years after the original photo was made.

He tells me, "my models seldom get paid. Most are volunteers. I try to make sure they don’t have any costs involved with shooting with me. I give them gas money and buy lunch, etc. But I’m serious about sharing the credit for the work. The models get all the photos and full rights to use them. I share copyright. I consider them co-creators of the photos we make together. It’s just a manifestation of the old hippie in me."

Dave Levingston

You might remember that in his work life, Dave was a civilian Public Affairs official for the Air Force. An interesting part of his purview was that if you called Wright-Patterson AFB looking for information about UFOs, Dave was a guy you might end up talking to.

Dave has a new project he's gearing up to start. He's going to be documenting his hometown, Perryton, Ohio, where he grew up seven decades ago. As a photo-historical note, "Perryton is only a few miles from another tiny town, West Carlisle, where Clarence H. White, Sr. grew up. His family moved to Newark, the 'big town' about 15 miles away, when he was a teenager."

Perryton town has only 92 residents and he hopes to photograph as many of them as he can. He'd like to photograph all of them, but he has enough experience to expect that, inevitably, some people will balk and refuse to cooperate. So it goes.

Mighty nice Nikon
He'll be doing the new project with a Nikon Z7 Mark II, a 45.7-MP full-frame body. Dave started with Nikon in 1968 with a Nikon F and stayed with them till he got frustrated waiting for mirrorless, when he switched to Micro 4/3. So now he's back with Nikon, although he says he's not giving up his Micro 4/3 gear, which he loves.

He reported only two downsides to his Z7 II, apart from the time he spent waiting for the backordered 24–120mm lens: first, it's too complicated, such that he doesn't quite feel comfortable with it, or trusting of it, quite yet; and second, that with camera and lens he's noticed pronounced diffraction for the first time in his experience. He avoids ƒ/16 and ƒ/22 with the combination. You can see some samples of this at the blog at his website.

Believe it or not—I know they've been out since 2018—but I have never seen or held any Nikon Z-series camera before.

I was pleasantly impressed. Ergonomically it fit my hand like a glove and the materials felt "warm" and hand-friendly (in contrast to the Sony A7 III, which I felt had unpleasant surfaces and was awkward to hold), and the body seemed to be decently light (615 g, 21.7 oz.). The viewfinder gets out of the way, and the controls are well placed as far as I could tell.

But the thing that really impressed me—I do know this is "old hat" to those of you who have been following the lineup more closely—is the marvelous "third ring." Well, it's the third ring on Dave's zoom, but you can assign different functions to the focus-by-wire ring even on the primes. Dave had his camera set up so that the third ring, which on his lens is the one closest to the camera body, controls exposure compensation (EC).

Now, I know not everybody chooses to shoot this way, but for many years my preference has been to use EC to fine-tune exposure. On many mirrorless cameras you can choose to see the effects in the electronic viewfinder (EVF). (On film cameras, you just had to guess, based on experience.) Well, Dave had his Nikon set up to use the third ring for EC. It was, in a word, marvelous.

Setting EC is the thing I like least, by far, on the Fuji X-H1. I liked my original X-T1 because of the nice dedicated EC dial, but the X-H1 turned that plus into a distinct minus. The fiddly, balky, inconvenient EC setting on the X-H1 makes EC an afterthought and, for me, a continuing annoyance.

But Dave's Nikon? Best EC control ever, in my experience of cameras. It would be worth switching for. (Time for Odysseus to tie himself to the mast again, I guess.)

Pictures as icebreakers
After dinner we walked down to the waterfront in Hammondsport, where I idly made a pano as we were standing there:

That's only about a fifth of the length of our long, skinny lake (I live about a long Aaron Rodgers pass from the shore, 14 miles or so north of where this picture was taken). A while later, when it had gotten darker, a couple came walking along and passed us. While the woman went on down the wharf to explore, the man helpfully improved my composition by walking into my earlier picture:

I kind of liked it on the phone screen, so I just asked the man if he'd like to have it. I sent it to his phone. Turns out his name is Joshua and he's from New York City, where he's a political science professor at a small college. His wife, Erin, who soon joined us, is a physician's assistant. She regaled us with horror stories of the pandemic, which was dire in New York in the early days. They met in California. We ended up talking for quite a long time before the encroaching darkness brought an end to the conversation. Interesting, intelligent, likable folks.

So pictures can be icebreakers! I like to engage strangers in conversation, but I've found it works better when I'm with someone. When I'm alone, people seem to be too wary, or maybe "leery" is the word. There's something about being with a friend that reassures people that you're okay, and loosens them up a bit. If I were photographing my old hometown, I'd hire a high school girl to be my assistant. She wouldn't actually have to do much of anything. People are just more relaxed if they can see that someone else finds you trustworthy.

Maybe I just look creepy? That's a possibility too I guess. I've learned on Zoom that when my face is at rest, I look stern. Here I am with Dave's Z7II:

Another example of that honorable old genre we all have examples of, "the photo friend across the dining table." (I am no longer adding to a different but similar genre, "test shots of camera store counterpeople.")

Dave made it back to Ohio, and Emily, without incident.

Mike

Book o' the Week

 All About Saul Leiter. The Amazon writeup for this book says "Photography lovers the world over are now embracing Saul Leiter"—and oh boy, is that ever true of me—"who has enjoyed a remarkable revival since fading into relative obscurity in the 1980s." One of my favorite photographers. Beautiful photopoems. Saul's Early Color (which you can still get for around $300) was one of our all-time bestselling book links. (I bought two, one to thumb and one to not touch!)

This book link is a portal to Amazon.

Link to B&H

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

John Krumm: "A month or so ago I bought a Z6 just to try it, lightly used and a good deal. Handling wise, I think it's my favorite mirrorless, more like a compact DSLR, with good build quality and a clear viewfinder. Fits me just right. Plus, the IBIS seems a little better than my Fuji IBIS, which is surprising. It's a keeper. And the Z 50mm ƒ/1.8 S I bought for it is one of the sharpest lenses I've used. I'm also on the waiting list for the 24–120mm."

Tom Burke: "I'm sure that Nikon is a fine camera—all these mirrorless cameras are—but it's not small, is it? Especially with that lens. I checked some weights earlier today: 700+ grams for the body, and 630+ grams for the lens, making about 1.35 kg. That's approaching three pounds.

"And talking of pounds, they're not cheap either, are they? In the UK the Z7II retails for a shade under £3,000, and that lens adds another £1,000+. Far too much for my budget these days. And of course if you want the ƒ/2.8 zooms, you need to take a deep breath...the standard trio (14–24mm, 24–70mm, and 70–200mm) are each over £2,000—call it £7k for the set. I was thinking of putting my Canon 90D up on eBay recently, but I suspect the announcement of Canon's EOS R10 and EOS R7 APS-C mirrorless cameras a week or so ago will have eviscerated secondhand values for the DSLRs, so I might as well hang on to it.

"But more and more I'm using the iPhone. I took the 90D to Dubai in February and didn't take it out of the hotel room, whereas the iPhone got a lot of photographic use."

Comments

[D B]

Re Dave's extreme crops with the Z7II, the f/22 sample seems to have been take at a noticeably higher ISO than the f/5.6.

i.e., the drop in apparent resolution may not be purely due to diffraction. Heck, diffraction may even be the minor contributor here.

I'm sure a bunch of your readers will note this.

[Rob L.]

I used to carry and SX-70 with me to share photos, and now have a small Fuji Instax printer - if you have a polaroid , you have a friend:) There is something magic in being able to share a photo that makes people open up.

And I've noticed a lot of folks moving between Nikon and Fuji, and not to contribute to your GAS, moving from X-H1 to Z6 has been really nice. I still love the Fuji interface(I kept my IR converted X-T1), but having a clean sheet to work with let Nikon make something really great. I know you don't always love 50's, but wow.

And last - I appreciate the last note, that Dave made it home safely. It's something I've noticed younger generations (from my stately perch of 47 years) assume as given. Weird how reliable cars have gotten that long road trips just aren't seen as a challenge or concern in the way that I was indoctrinated into.

[Greg Boiarsky]

The image from Dave Levingston's blog purporting to show small-aperture diffraction doesn't seem to me to show diffraction. Instead, it seems to show high-ISO compression and detail loss due to amplification noise. If you look at the upper left corner of the f22 detail image you see the wall has a distinctly noisy look. This noise is absent from the image shot at f5.6. Unfortunately, he doesn't provide ISO data in his blog post, so I can't be certain of the source of the degradation. It would be interesting to know for sure.

[Mike Chisholm]

Mike, you don't look creepy, you look downright ... stern. Ever read any Lee Child? If Alan Ritchson ever tires of playing Reacher, you should audition for the part ;)

Mike

[Stephen Scharf]

I really like the E.C. implemented on the Fuji X-H1. I find it fast and inuitive, especially when shooting brackets for real estate work.

Horses for courses...

[That's interesting. I very strongly dislike it, to the point that I will sometimes avoid using it even when I should. It seems very poorly implemented to me. But yes, everyone has different tastes in such things. --Mike]

[Patrick J Dodds]

Resting Bitch Face? Welcome to the club.

[John Camp]

I have a Z7II (and a Z6) and I have been on B&H's waiting list for a 24-120 since, I t think, February. Every couple of weeks I get a notice from B&H that says tough sh*t, pal, or something to that effect, they still don't have any.

Tell you something else...the Z's make videos pretty easy.

[Mark L]

The problem with the third ring is you cannot engage click stops. I really wanted to be able to use it as my aperture control, but without click stops it moved all over the place so I had to give up that idea.
My zooms for my Z6 were superb but after having to return four primes that were badly decentered I gave up on the Z system, just plain crap quality control.
Mark

[David]

“inevitably, some people will balk and refuse to cooperate. So it goes.”
Well I guess if it comes to that, they can’t refuse can they?”

[Dean Johnston]

Hi.

Nice Greek Fisherman's / mariner / fiddler / Lenin (&, or Lennon) / Mao / Skipper’s / Breton cap.

I’m a bit of a fan.

Peace and stuff,
Dean

[Neil]

EC on the XH-1 is a breeze. I had mine set so that the dial,, the front dial that fell under the shutter release controlled it. Set a custom function. Easy. The small button to the left of the shutter turned this feature on and off.
I do the same with my XPRO3 and XT4. EC is front dial.

I've used the Z6 and Z7's. Great cameras. Very nice hand feel. If it weren't for the size of the lenses they'd be downright compact as far as I'm concerned.

[Kenneth Tanaka]

I enjoy your “guess who rolled through town this week?” stories, Mike! Amidst revelations about your readers they usually afford the opportunity to associate a face with the names.

Those Nikon Z bodies look fine. But having never owned, or even touched, a Nikon camera since early college days I don’t think now’s the time to break a streak five decades later.

That image of the solitary gent standing on the pier is a real blood pressure reducer, isn’t it?! It would also be an excellent entry into a challenge to see how many triangles you can form into a coherent photo composition!

Have a good weekend remembering.

[John Camp]

One key to the Z lenses, IMHO, is to skip the f2.8 zoom trio. If you really need portrait bokeh, go with the f1.8 85mm; if you need length, go with the really pretty darn good f4.5-5.6 70-300 for F-mount, with the very good adapter for the Zs. And if you don't need that much length, get the 24-120, which gets really good ratings, and is unavailable everywhere. If you gotta have zooms, couple the Z's compact f4 24-70 which is really good, with that F-mount 70-300. I understand that old people like me get nervous with the ISO gets above 60, but really, go ahead and shoot a few shots at 200 and 1600, and see if you can tell the difference without a microscope. And if you're happy with 800-1200-1600, you really don't need that f2.8 anyway, right?

[MikeR]

Resting pissed off face. That's me too.

[Jim R]

Mike, love the out of focus diagonal of the distant shore in the background of your portrait of Dave! Jim

[Bob G.]

Mike,
You looked more friendly with your beard…

https://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/.a/6a00df351e888f8834014e8acd90fb970d-800wi

[Franz Amador]

45.7 MP FF? I remember reading a convincing-seeming argument that for FF about 20MP is the best because then the pixels are the optimum size, physics-wise. More MP means too-small pixels and therefore doesn't help. Did that argument prove to be wrong?

[Dennis Ng]

One of my use of the Z7 is to put an autofocus Leica "compatible" lens adapter (do have a few Leica lens and in fact like my 193x? 50/3.5 collapsible lens with it; ...). In fact, originally I have photoed this combination for the camera submission. And struggle whether I should do my Hasseblad with Nikon Lens ... Guess btw I fix my mind which camera to send in, the event is passed in the last decade :-)

For the +/- I am just lazy, just take 3 auto +/-1 and post-production it.

[Mike Ferron]

I have a lowly Z5 I picked up as a BF special and though not quite as nice as it’s other full frame siblings it is a lot of camera for the $999 I paid for it. As far as diffraction does anyone need to stop down more than F11 on a 35mm size sensor? Especially wide angle.

[schralp]

As I may have posted before, any of those bodies with the plastic fantastic 40 mm f/2 is very nice to carry and produces great images. As much as I like my x-t2, the z just feels better in hand and makes really nice photos. You wouldn’t be making a mistake…

[David Dyer-Bennet]

Wait, there isn't a de-facto standard for exposure compensation on serious cameras? I'm used to the front dial (because the de-facto standard is 2 dials on serious cameras) controlling EC in program, aperture, or shutter speed mode (but not in manual mode, where both dials are used for actual settings. I've found this true across 3 or 4 brands I think, and have apparently been thinking of it as settled.

Not that I ever have really gotten happy with using exposure compensation; I often just switch to manual for those situations. Shooting in contrasty light mostly, so small changes in camera position or aim will have big effects on what auto-exposure picks, so just setting an offset from the auto-exposure doesn't produce reliably correct results.

[Jeff1000]

Hey Mike, that Nikon Z camera looks awfully good with you.
📷😃👍

[Stan B.]

Welcome to "the stern looking face at rest club." It could be worse- and it will be, as one gets progressively older. I once almost scared myself walking past a store window and catching my reflection- and that was some 30 odd years ago!

[Sal Santamaura]

Tom Burke wrote:

...the announcement of Canon's Z7 and Z10 APS-C mirrorless cameras a week or so ago...

Those are Canon's EOS R7 and EOS R10. Competing with Nikon didn't include copying the "Z" nomenclature. :-)

[That's the editor's fault as much as the commenter's. Fixed now, and thanks. --Mike the Ed.]