Mirrorless vs DSLR

Cameras are just Tools…

Think about those four words. If I were a sports shooter, who stared through the finder of a camera all day, or even for significant periods…I would actually likely not be shooting mirrorless. Same goes for portraits, weddings too really. I mean how hard is it to move a little AF box about? Why would you want to look at a TV screen all day? I love the OVF of DSLRs for weddings, portraits and deliberate shooting that can use the viewfinder. The reason I prefer ML, is when in astro or landscape mode, when it is traditional to use the back screen…ie essentially what a mirrorless camera is, a feed directly from the sensor, in finder or on the back LCD monitor. Everyone will have their use case, however it seems crazy to me to want to move away from an OVF for things like portraits and weddings; things that involve long staring and waiting for the shot through viewfinders (most tend to not use the LCD monitor and hold the camera at arms length). I personally think DSLRs are greatly suited to these tasks.

Okay, so why do You have a Z 8?

I spent a huge percentage of time in my recent years with cameras, almost exclusively using the live view function of DSLRs, or the LCD monitor as it is called on mirrorless cameras, barely touching the OVF. This is for landscape and astro work. I spend huge amounts of time in darkness, and the Z 8 ditches the old test shot routine at night as the monitor is so sensitive, I can compose in the dark and just shoot! I also gain a dual flip screen, which stops me laying on the freezing ground in winter to take vertical shots. I wanted to upgrade all my primes to a decent zoom, it made little sense to go with the old f mount zooms which are outclassed now, a couple of other factors - but the major being the way I used the camera. For portraits - heck, I still use the D800 and D810 cameras with their huge OVFs.

There is no huge difference in image quality with any of these cameras, from the D800, D810, D850, Z 8. There are some subtle differences and they should be considered by shooters who really push their files. You know who you are. So that means if you have a Dxx body think about the real reason you are upgrading. In fact, if you really are a image quality zealot as I am, the D850 is the best technical quality of all of these bodies…That said, in real life, compromise is always afoot, however I had many logical reasons to add the Z 8 into the mix for my shooting. However, when thinking of a tool to task camera, everything has pros and cons.

The biggest one I have found for the Z8 is the shutterless design means you can be gambling in LED lighting situations. Nikon has tried to mitigate the banding problems with fine tuning of the exposure time options and a photo flicker reduction mode etc but really, this isn’t a camera for weddings. I highly recommend making sure you have flicker reduction enabled in the menu of the Z8. This gives slight shutter lag but helps prevent banding. I have enough to think about on a wedding day without messing about fine tuning exposures to get banding under control, so I keep this mode enabled. I want no banding in any situation! Seriously, for wedding days and portraits… I'd just use dslrs. (They also work better with flashes). Don’t buy into the hype of mirrorless for those genres. Yes you can buy a z7ii or whatever in mirrorless land (which has a shutter and thus won’t have banding issues in certain light), however you’ll have much poorer battery life and will be essentially staring a TV screen all day whilst you focus and compose and relentlessly look for pictures. In my mind, this makes little sense and this is very different to the landscape genre whereby it is common practice to use the back screen more. Thus we were always using the monitor to make pictures: this was and is the way 99% of landscape shooters work.

Regarding the banding which can come about with shutterless mirrorless cameras…Case in point, upstairs in my home is full of LED lighting. The Z8 is a disaster when it comes to this; I cant focus on composing and shooting because ive got this crazy banding issue distracting me. However I can grab my d810 dslr and shoot at any shutter speed with zero problems. And best of all my battery will last all day (for weddings and portrait sessions and the like). Like I said…turn on flicker reduction in the Z8 menu and keep your eyes peeled.

Mirrorless Advantages

• What you see is what you get view finder, with live histogram *

• Eye AF and some other technical goodies which can for certain situations be a boon for certain shooters

• Access to most modern lenses **

• USB charging

• Can technically have smaller full frame bodies (they aren’t much lighter or much smaller if you compare like for like however)

• Video implementation and functionality is greatly improved over dslrs

• Ibis

• Potentially total silent shooting (sometimes ibis isn’t silent)

DSLR Advantages

• The sensor is only on when taking the picture

• Much better battery life

• Optical Viewfinder

• Better on and off camera speedlight flash support and AF assist beams work with red light

• No issues with banding from LED lighting for any of the dslrs used as intended with the OVF - this is a big one if you shoot weddings / events / portraits. This is only an advantage when comparing to shutterless mirrorless designs though that are forced to use their electronic shutter

• Build quality and ergonomics - especially if using the super magnesium based bodies such as the D810, D850

• If you own one, you already own one - seem obvious, however…You just saved money and have some advantages to boot

Like mostly everything in life, there are pros and cons. This should be thought of in the context of your work, your shooting style, the way you do things. If you use your DSLR like a mirrorless camera - ie you are always on the back screen and are not taking advantage of the OVF, this along with other considerations may sway you to switch (or better add mirrorless, as I did).

* I have noted that people that know how to use a camera meter, do just about as well shooting with a DSLR in terms of obtaining a proper exposure, as they do on mirrorless. It is that simple. If they are messing up exposures on DSLRs, it shows more work is needed to understand the tool that they are using. What I tend to see is mirrorless doesn’t necessarily help - screen brightness throws them off as much as not understanding how metering works does. So whilst some might view this as some huge advantage, it is a weak one in my mind.

** Access to modern lenses may not be as important as it sounds, depending on the shooter. You might be perfectly happy with your lenses; newer is not always better.

Final Thoughts

I almost wish I did not ‘need’ to add a Z 8 into the mix. Why? I don’t like wasting money! However, I could not overlook how much easier using the Z 8 makes my life, especially when shooting at night. If you are content with what you use: be content. Only you know how you work and that should be the paramount concern. The final image on screen is all that matters. Most of the time the only obstacle to success is figuring out how to work out that thing about 2 inches behind the viewfinder…

Aurora Borealis - May 10th / 11th 2024 G5 Aurora over Scotland

View fullsize

Approaching the Balvaird Castle Light Show - Nikon Z 8 with 14-24/2.8S @ f/2.8, 20s, ISO 800

A Geomagnetic Storm

Intense aurora displays are generated following massive explosions originating from the sun known as 'coronal mass ejections'. These explosions release clouds of hot plasma containing billions of tons of material travelling at around two million miles per hour. When this material reaches Earth, it interact with Earth's magnetic field to cause events called geomagnetic storms.

The strongest geomagnetic storm in over two decades dazzled photographers and astronomers in May 2024. The G5 storm culminated in a remarkable display of the aurora borealis overnight on May 10th–11th, and was visible from many areas worldwide, including extremely low latitudes that have simply never seen the likes of this type of display, or possibly never seen aurora ever.

This picture is has been crafted to show the true nature of the colour present in the night sky. Shot with a WB of 5500K, if our human vision was as sensitive as a camera, this is what we would see, a warmer colour than we can visualise at night due to the purkinje effect. The purkinje effect describes the situation in human vision: as light levels decrease, the perception of warm colours drops off dramatically, especially the red end of the spectrum. Because of this, it is very important to observe the night sky with dark adapted eyes, especially in the case of aurora. This is why we often see the night sky as black / grey or blue toned. To properly have eyes adjusted for light levels this low, one must observe for at least 30 minutes and avoid all forms of artificial light during that time. That means get off your phone and observe the sky, not apps. People that say that the aurora is only good / visible on camera, are often observing the night sky with un-adapted vision and have been staring at bright phone screens which destroy any dark adaption the eye has underwent so far. Of course though it must be said that very faint aurora will not register with most regular eyes. I also recommend switching to dark mode on your phone, because the white light weakens perception of the dark tones in images and is generally not good for your eyes.

In the northern hemisphere, we would normally be searching the northern horizon for Aurora, however it was different that night…

View fullsize

Facing South-East - Corona

With powerful storms, aurora becomes a huge event around the world, and increasingly powerful storms allow it to be seen in all directions, varying throughout the night.

Aurora Colours

A basic knowledge of chemistry dictates that gases produce differing colours when they are heated. On Earth, the most abundant elements in our atmosphere are Nitrogen and Oxygen. Nitrogen tends to produce the pinks and blues if they occur, and the greens tend to come come from oxygen.

This picture above shows the aurora borealis corona facing south-east. (Corona, being like the origin point). Unheard of, and occurring in only the most powerful of displays, it seemed like there was Aurora across the whole sky, even at zenith. (Think of zenith as the sky directly overhead when standing at a location).

View fullsize

Pink Aurora Pillar

I spent some time focusing on compositions that avoid severe key stoning to the castle. Key stoning occurs when we use wide angle lenses close to subjects and tilt the camera and lens combination up or down. This causes large objects with straight edges, such as this castle to lean back or towards the camera. Our brains naturally correct this effect that our eyes will be “seeing” also. This caveat drove the use of some central based compositions, along with where the northern lights actually featured in the sky.

View fullsize

The Aurora Arc

This was an initial picture I made throughout the ever changing Aurora that night. This is facing North where we could see the vast green aurora arc with pink pillars above it. The castle seemed to be perfectly aligned with the base of this arc.

View fullsize

Looking north, we can see how powerful the display was. Here we can see the constellation of Corona Borealis (top right), quite fitting on this night. The rays reached zenith during the night.

View fullsize

Green Aurora Tracks

Although key stoning is generally ugly, I had to show these bright aurora tracks looking up a the castle here. Despite obtaining these images, I still wish I stayed out all night. I called it a day at about 2:30pm as I had a long journey to make the next day.

View fullsize

The Nikon D850 - Still King Years Later

Read about the also excellent D810 Camera here.

Introduction

This camera is the seminal Nikon DSLR, culminating in Nikon’s years of DSLR development into an extremely well rounded do - everything camera. So many people have dumped it, and other very capable DSLRs and moved to mirrorless. I am a much more tool to task type of shooter, who values the beautifully large optical view finders in Nikon’s D8xx series cameras, and the strengths which they play to.

Specifications

• 45.7MP BSI CMOS sensor

• 7 fps continuous shooting with AE/AF (9 with battery grip and EN-EL18b battery)

• 153-point AF system linked to 180,000-pixel metering system

• UHD 4K video capture at up to 30p from full sensor width

• 1080 video at up to 120p, recorded as roughly 1/4 or 1/5th speed slow-mo

• 4:2:2 8-bit UHD uncompressed output while recording to card

• 1 XQD slot and 1 UHS II-compliant SD slot

• Battery life rated at 1840 shots

• 3.2" tilting touchscreen with 2.36M-dot (1024×768 pixel) LCD

• Illuminated controls

• 19.4MP DX crop (or 8.6MP at 30fps for up to 3 sec)

• SnapBridge full-time Bluetooth LE connection system with Wi-Fi

• Advanced time-lapse options (including in-camera 4K video creation

Access to a Vast Lens Catalogue

All f mount bodies have access to an expansive lens collection from Nikon and other third parties such as the wonderful Sigma, Zeiss, Tamoron, to name a few. There is simply no way that you won’t find peace in the vast amount of options out there. Special mentions go to the Sigma 40mm f/1.4 Art - a very special astro / landscape lens which is still class leading to this day. The 28mm 1.4E Nikkor on f mount, which again is utterly superb still. The 24mm f/1,4G dual personality lens which gives a beautiful softer wide open rendering and an ultra sharp stopped down landscape scene. There are so many options to choose from that you simply cannot go wrong.

D850 Image Quality and Dynamic Range

The D850’s image quality in 35mm format is still class leading, many, many years after it’s release in 2017. Even the Z7II, which on paper is very close, cannot beat it. (it’s actually slightly worse, because if used to the absolute limit, the Z7II autofocus grid is hidden in the data if pulled too hard especially in serious applications such as deep sky work the autofocus grid can be seen. This does not occur ever in DSLR’s as focusing is carried out off sensor). So even present day, nothing is touching this sensor. Let’s look at the D850’s class leading sensor stats from photonstophotos.com:

View fullsize

(Tip: If you have trouble seeing these graphs on mobile, just pinch zoom into them). This sensor clocks in a whopping 11.63 stop of dynamic range at base ISO of 64. Not only this, the RAW files are so malleable (which these charts don’t necessarily tell us) in post processing. You can pull a file any which way and it holds up. It saves you if you screw up when taking the image. The shadow latitude is absolutely insane. One can expose for the highlights, and drag the shadows up to get a realistic image, without horrendous noise or banding like with other brands. It is simply ridiculous how good this sensor is.

Dual Gain Design

Similarly to the D810 before it, if needing to boost an exposure excessively in lower light - it is best to shoot at ISO 400 due to read noise. (note the little bump upwards in dynamic range here on the graph). What this means is, if in low light shooting portraits, or astro foregrounds, increasing dyanmic range in camera is the same as doing so in post. This is called sensor invarience. However, the reason it is best to keep it at 400 and boost later, is you will retain dynamic range, particularly highlight data. If you crush it up to ISO 6400, your dynamic range will have dropped. The key here, boost it in post. During daylight, to get the best latitude, it is obviously advisable to shoot at ISO 64. The BSI part of the sensor design means the light gathering elements of the sensor are closer to the surface of the chip. This means, that the D850 is even better than the already good D810 at high ISO, and it can be pushed even further. The D810 can produce a slight magenta glow if pushed really hard, at high ISO.

ISO 64

ISO 64 is a magic ISO where one can feel free of dynamic range problems or constraints. For example, if you shoot Sony, Canon or Fuji, you are simply missing out. It’s ironic for the sony shooters. Nikon sensors are made by Sony; however Nikon tune them and get more out of them than Sony do. ISO 64 is a landscape photographers dream with so much latitude that exposure brackets are needed less and less. NB: Of course, still needed in certain situations.

Electronic Front Curtain Shutter and Electronic Shooting

This one is really useful for us landscape and particulary, astro guys. Yes it stops vibrations, (however I had no issues with the D810, which offers EFCS, but not electronic shooting). However, what this does provide is less wear on the shutter at night. Astro often involves many, many exposures, particularly if doing time lapse photography. Using this mode means the shutter stays open and the shutter actuations count will not rise with exposures. The electronic shutter is a huge boon for this type of shooting because of this, potentially prolonging the shutter life of the camera as well as dealing with any vibrations.

Optical View Finder

The D8xx series have supberb optical view finders that give a superb in the moment feel: you are looking at the scene at the speed of light with zero lag, and zero feeling of tunnel vision with constant use. They are easy to use and compose with. Information on the LCD panel below is sufficient and gives all the details one would want. The only minor thing they should have popped in here is the battery life remaining. (It does come up when critcally low). Optical View Finder Advantage. Mirrorless tech now is a ways away from the first major iterations: for example the Z7, in that camera’s like the Z8 have hardly any or no perceptible lag when shooting. Despite this, there is still a case to be made for a large and bright optical viewfinder found in Nikon’s D8xx bodies. There are several things I would touch on here. There is no lag with these designs; light comes at us at the speed of light through such finders. Secondly, in genres such as wedding / portrait and others that involve long staring contests of the photographer looking through the finder, optical finders are still relevant. Think about this for a second. DSLRs do not need to power an electronic feed for you to see and compose your image. You can have your settings down and simply wait for the decisive moment. Doing this with mirrorless involves chewing through batteries simply waiting when it comes to mirrorless cameras. This may or may not affect a shooter; however it is important to consider. The last advantage can also for some be seen as a disadvantage. For me, it is nice to observe subjects without any electronic representation. As long as one knows how to meter and understands exposure, this is generally not an issue. Shooters now are growing up in a world of smartphones where they need to see what they are going to get on the mirrorless screen. However, even things like brightness can through people shooting like this off. Of course, the other side of this coin is that in low light, mirrorless cameras can have the advantage in that they can elecronically boost the signal. When you think about it, since DSLRs have liveview, this should have been technically possible with DSLRs too, just not via the optical finder.

LCD monitor

The LCD monitor is extremely high resolution and adjusts to a level that it can be used in bright sunlight. It should, like the D800 have auto brightness, like all phones do. It seems Nikon considers it’s user base confuses brightness with actual image exposure perhaps and removed this function? It tilts in one axis only, my only complaint is that I would prefer a dual axis tilt screen, like the Z8 and Z9 now have. (This becomes really useful when doing low lying vertical orientated shots, especially at night).

Autofocus and FPS

The autofocus in the D850 is another evolution of the D810. The D810 can’t match the D850 in sports, but this was never really my forte. I have shot some equestrian events, and some motor racing and have always been able to nail it on the D810 and make pictures with fast lenses. That said, close fast moving subjects on the D850 have a higher hit rate with this camera. There are lots of modes and options to make the camera do what you wish it to do. The camera shoots at 7 FPS in full RAW mode, producing gorgeous, highly editable files.

Build Quality

The build of this camera reminds me of the D700. The whole D8xx range is superb and although feel like bricks, can take some punishment and come out unscathed. I have never had an issue with this camera in this vein. Simply holding it in your hand confirms the feeling of a well crafted tool. It feels superb and ergonomic and solidly built.

---

Use Cases:

Deep Sky Astro

I have a tutorial on this here with the D850 used for years to photograph the deep night sky. For this camera body, shoot at a higher ISO for this specific purpose and ignore what I have said above about limiting to ISO 400. Nikon camera’s can produce concentric circles when shooting at too low an ISO and stacking multiple hours of night sky data (commonplace in deep sky astro of course), then stretching it to reveal faint signal afterward. Start at ISO 800 to reduce your chance of problems in this regard.

Landscape Photography

You are in good company if you particpate in this genre. For 99% of shooting, you will be at ISO 64. To maxmise IQ, in lower light, ISO 400 should be selected (dual gain point, below that, the sensor is ISO invariant). I don’t need to say anything more about this camera for this genre as it is tried and tested. In 35mm format, nothing beats it.

Sports

A large bright OVF is what a sports shooter should consider. They spend vast amount of time watching and studying before pushing the shutter. A lot of that time, is spend with the eye pressed up to the finder. Do you watch to watch TV all day? With the OVF advantages (and battery), along with excellent reliable AF and amazing lens selection, you cannot go wrong if you like using a body this size for sports (some prefer the larger nikons).

Portraiture / Weddings

Another obvious win for this camera. Yes it lacks eye AF, but you really don’t need this, not really. Image quality for portraits is excellent, skin tones are sublime and the files are so malleable as with the other genres, this camera is tried and tested.

Macro / Copy work

I am not a macro shooter per se, however I can see no reason why this camera would not be perfect in such disciplines. The high quality, high megapixel sensor will take care of all needs in these situations.

Final Thoughts

I would not have added a Z 8 into the mix if the D850 had a few things:

• A higher sensitivity in lower light for astro purposes, helping vastly when constructing panos (mosaics) of the night sky

• A dual tilt screen

• USB charging

• I wanted to upgrade my landscape lenses to zooms and wished the latest lenses (24-70/2.8S), (14-24/2.8S with front filters)

If you are a sports shooter, shoot weddings, or portraits, candid or in a studio with lights - think long and hard about why you want to move everything to mirrorless. The main reason I added a mirrorless body was because of the way I was using the D850. I was using the monitor most of the time these last few years, as per common landscape / astrophotography practice. So I am not missing the OVF in that regard. As soon as I want to shoot people, a wedding etc, the DSLRs come out. Don’t necessarily ditch all your DSLRs for the new toys. Tool to task…

View fullsize

As you can see from above technically, I have lost a small amount of image quality at base ISO and at around ISO 400 where there is a small dip in the camera’s range. For the Z 8, we either shoot at ISO 64, or at 500 for this reason (500 is the dual gain switch point in this model and means more stretching and cleaner images can be had, then trying to drag up an ISO 400 shot). At base ISO, the image quality loss is small, but it is still mildly annoying that we have a kind of one step forward, one step back game going on here. Due to the stacked sensor, the Z 8 has about 1/3 of a stop less dynamic range. It makes it’s RAW files slightly less malleable and yes - I have noticed it. Most will not however, and it can be mitigated by good shooting technique. So no need for the sky to fall; however if you want class leading image quality at an absolute steal of a price - you have just won a watch if you pick up a D850, especially right now, or forever…Because of this, it remains Highly Recommend.

Read more about my other Highly Recommended camera - the D810, which is still class leading even today.

View fullsize

Milky Way Core over Dunnottar, Scotland. Nikon D850 and 50/1.4 prime lens with a star tracker

Freezing Motion in the Still Image

View fullsize

Nikon D800 with 135mm f/2 DC prime lens

Freezing motion in the still image is actually a very simple concept - we just require a fast shutter speed. How fast you ask? That depends on what we are trying to freeze in the frame. For fast moving objects with longer lenses, generally we are going to need shutter speeds of a few thousandth - 1/1000, 1/2000 etc and upwards. If we are talking about someone walking, depending on the subject to camera distance, lens etc, we might only need 1/500 even on a high resolution sensor. Let’s look at the example above shot at ISO 100, f/2, 1/3200. If we look at a close up we can see more clearly. The depth of field at this close range with a large sensor such as the D800, we can see the the plane of focus is very fine (it’s on the eyes of courser, however at the bottom left of the picture, water droplets come close into this plane, hence appear sharper). This is a good example to illustrate that everything is perfectly frozen here; but some of the droplets are within the depth of field more than others. I could have gone even faster here with my shutter speed if needed. (I could do that by simply doubling the ISO to get double the shutter speed).

View fullsize

I am shooting in aperture or manual with all of my work. Aperture is a great mode because it allows conscious control of aperture and therefore the shutter speed (by simple knowledge that opening the aperture will quicken the shutter speed, and vice versa), however you get a little more help with the onboard computer in the camera than you do with manual mode. This means generally you can react quicker to a changing scene that happens in front of camera. Aperture works so well, because we know that in bright light, if we use a wide aperture, we are going to get a fast shutter speed, even at base ISO. So all it takes for scenes like these is aperture priority mode, the widest aperture the lens shoots at, be it f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8, base ISO and an occasional glancing at the shutter speed readout in the viewfinder. If it drops lower than you want, simply up the ISO (or if possible, open up the aperture). This way of working gives great control, and speed / flexibility. Outdoors with fast lenses, it is very easy to stop motion like this. However, if we wanted to do the opposite - just stay at base ISO and close down the aperture. In aperture mode, the camera will drop the shutter speed (which again you can continually glance at in the finder), and as you get to lower speeds, the water will blur across the image. It all depends on the desired effect. Learning these things until they become intuitive is very important to mastering the craft.

Lens Design and Selecting Tool to Task Lenses

Introduction

How do we select a lens for a subject? This depends on many factors. Sometimes, one of those factors may take more of a priority over another. Say, for example, I am a landscape photographer. However, what if I am a landscape photographer on an extreme budget? Well, I might suggest looking for the most bang for buck camera and lens combo one could probably buy. A older Nikon DSLR such as a D800 in great condition, with perhaps a reasonably priced mid ranged zoom, or maybe an older mirrorless body with an accompanying lens suited to their shooting style. If money is no object, or say, less of a concern, the game changes a bit. They might be splashing out on a Nikon Z 8, or a Sony a7R V etc and the very latest zoom or prime kit. The same is the case when we select a lens for shooting. The priority is balanced with budget and intention, how the image will be used and displayed etc. This said, even despite the D800 being quite old now, it has phenomenal dynamic range and image quality. (In capable hands, I still consider it world class. It is only budget now, because it is older).

However, getting back to lenses, what if we really think about why some lenses are better suited to certain shooting applications? If we put initial cost of owning a lens aside, how do we then select a lens after that? Should we shoot landscapes with a lens tuned for portraiture? What about the other way around? Should we try shooting the night sky with lenses that were never intended for that purpose? What happens if we do these things? Why can’t lenses be perfect for every subject?

Balance

A lens designer is an architect of optics that must balance science with art. This isn’t dissimilar to a photographer. We hopefully balance technical craftmanship with art, to hopefully produce an image that produces an idea, a feeling, a journey, an expression of emotion. Someone I speak to often about lens design - someone who knows way more about this than me, once told me that lens design is a balancing act; a veritable horse trading of parts - a give and take in a very real sense. The designer can trade and optimise one thing, which will perhaps be to the detriment of another optical property. And this is why, truly great lenses often fall into different categories, of course by design. This is exactly why, we should at least consider which lenses we are using to shoot which subjects. Would another lens work better? Many of us do this by looking at reviews - I will myself admit I do enjoy doing this. Despite doing so however, for many years I have begun to question the efficacy of tests for a lens clearly designed to be shot (or is optimised overall) for infinity shooting, being tested with a close up scene in a studio or a garden? What would that really tell me about a lens that was clearly optimised for something else entirely?

We have never lived in more sophisticated age than we do presently for lens design, and it has only gotten better. Lens design is dramatically improved vs decades ago by computer aided design, and relatively speaking, manufacturers’ are able to provide us with excellent lenses compared to thirty years ago for reasonable prices. 35mm format photography now approaches medium format in quality when optimal lenses and technique are melded together. The designer has access to tools they simply did not have in those times past.

Aberrations

All optical equipment has to contend with the properties of light, with regards to how it refracts through lens elements. An aberration simply refers to the deviation of a light ray through a lens causing blurred images, or areas of an image which are blurred / degraded in quality. There are many types of aberrations which can hamper final image quality that the designer must contend with and balance. The big ones are, vignetting, distortion, field curvature, chromatic aberration, comatic aberration, spherical aberration and astigmatism. Many types of aberration improve when stopping a lens down through it’s aperture range, however some do not - which dismantles the old cliché that all lenses are the same by f/8: this is simply not true.

• Vignetting - This is a peripheral shading (darkening) of the side frames and corners of the image. This tends to affect faster lenses more and always improves when stopping down, due to the aperture blades of the lens obstructing the outer light path as the lens is stopped down.

• Distortion - An obvious optical problem is when the lens distorts things like vertical or horizontal lines or objects. Lens distortion is different from perspective distortion (the distortion we see when using an ultra wide lens on a person close up). Distortion can either be barrel or pincushion, or sometimes a mixture of both.

• Field Curvature - This occurs when light rays do not attenuate to the same focal plane, we are left with potential dead spots were the lens isn’t sharp (or it is less sharp). Field curvature can come in different types, wavy etc.

• Chromatic Aberration - There are two types. ‘Longitudinal CA’ occurs when different wavelengths of colour do not converge at the same point after passing through a lens, also known as bokeh fringing. The second type, called ‘lateral CA’ occurs when different wavelengths of colour coming at an angle focus at different positions along the same focal plane.

• Comatic Aberration - Also known as ‘coma’ is an aberration that occurs when light rays from the edges of the image pass through glass elements over the changing shape of the lens elements, they vary in magnification and become stretched out. This aberration only affects off axis light. In astro work, stars on the periphery / corners of the frame can literally look like little comets.

• Spherical Aberration - This occurs when light rays focus on different planes after passing through a spherical surface. Rays that pass off axis refract more than rays passing horizontally through the centre of the lens and thus cause this. The rays that pass through the elements off axis refract so much they can focus in front of the intended focal plane. This can cause a blur / glow in images at fast apertures. Sometimes this is desirable in small quantities and is balanced with other aberrations to optimise a lens for a specific task.

• Astigmatism - Known as the ugliest optical aberration. Astigmatism occurs when the lens elements fail to focus image lines running in different directions in the same plane. This one doesn’t really go away as we stop down the aperture of a lens (I have previously spoken about how not all lenses are the same at f/8, and this is one of the reasons). As we stop down, the increasing depth of field can mask a lens with some astigmatism in it, but often not fully account for the problem. Astigmatism causes softness to the edge frames in many lenses, in astrophotography it produces winged seagull shaped stars at the edges.

Lenses for Landscape Photography

View fullsize

Loch Garry - Nikon Z 8 with 24-70/2.8S

Generally speaking, most landscape photographers want lenses that portray a very detailed and realistic interpretation of the scene. Landscape photographers need an accurate representation, and where possible, a lens which imparts nothing onto the image other than the scene in front of it. This includes fine detail, such as in grasses and rocks at near and far distances. Generally speaking, a good landscape - tuned lens is optimized to provide as much low, mid and high frequency MTF structure as possible. Controlled aberrations, sharpness balance across the frame (rather than just centrally), control of coma, astigmatism, flare and other optical phenomena are important to shooters in this genre. Lenses for landscape photography use tend to be f/2.8-4 lenses at their maximum apertures. The are usually designed to work best at mid range apertures such as 5.6-f/11 where they will be used most of the time. Lenses for this genre benefit from being sealed from dust / moisture to protect from inclement weather conditions. One thing I would highlight here is, there is a great deal of confusion from our community regarding lens speed. People will often balk at the suggestion of using a fast aperture lens for this genre of photography, because it is likely, mostly, going to be used stopped down in the field. It is understandable why they think like this, however it is a fallacy - we must consider that some aberrations do not go away as we stop down. Sometimes the faster glass just works better overall, even stopped down.

Lenses for Portrait Photography

View fullsize

Boy and his Balloon - Nikon D800 with 85/1.4D prime

Lenses for this genre have completely different aims. The best ones are obviously designed and built to make people look good. Out of focus areas have much more priority in the design, things like spherical aberrations and coma are adjusted in different ways than in landscape lenses to balance the background out of focus elements, with the sharpness of the subject and the focal plane transition areas. Lenses for this genre tend to have faster maximum apertures in order to be able to produce large areas of defocus (bokeh) in front and behind of the subject. These lenses tend to be optimised for use at their widest, or wider first few apertures, whilst still being able to balance scene fine detail when stopped down at close range.

Lenses for Astro Photography

View fullsize

Orion over the Quiraing, Isle of Skye - Nikon Z 8 with 14-24/2.8S

This genre is by far the most testing for any optical equipment. Point light sources, which are essentially what all starlight is to us, is a torture test to even the best of lenses. The three big ones in astro photography that we want to see controlled; are astigmatism (winged stars on the corners of the frame), coma (comet shaped stars out with the central axis) and chromatic aberrations (purple / green halos around areas of high contrast). If the designer can balance this with a good level of sharpness, especially across the frame from wider apertures, and a reasonably fast aperture to boot, the lens should excel on starlight.

Dual Personality Lenses

View fullsize

At the Arcade - Nikon D810 with 24/1.4G, a true dual personality lens

There is a very real situation whereby a lens can be a master in two disciplines. Let us consider, a fast aperture prime lens, for example the 50mm f/1.2S Nikkor. Clearly built as a portrait lens, and designed to work on people, it produces beautiful rendering at it’s first few apertures and at close ranges. However, use it at infinity, stopped down and it technically speaking is an excellent landscape lens also. There are many examples of such lenses. An older design that this applies to, is my 24/1.4G nikkor. Wide open and stopped down to the first few apertures, this lens is a bokeh, focus transitional rendering piece of magic. However, use it on a landscape at f/5.6-f/11 and it is extremely capable. I find this quite curious, and I have often bought lenses with this personality in mind. I used the 24/1.4G for many years as both an environmental portrait and landscape lens. What I like most about a lens like this is it’s ability to give a cinematic look in pictures such as the one I have shared above, and also be very proficient and showing vast amounts of detail and contrast when used stopped down on landscapes. It is perfectly capable in both disciplines. Needless to say, I like owning lenses that can do this, and as much as I like using zoom lenses for landscape photography, I love using primes. on people / objects. I keep the zooms for landscapes now.

NB - I shot most of my landscape work with prime lenses up until very recently.

Shot Discipline for Image Quality

What is good shot discipline?

Beginners often ask me settings. Questions can be as vague, as “What settings are good for a wedding”. They are often talking about shutter speeds, ISO, and aperture values when asking this. Of course, this is a question that has no real answer, however I do understand why people ask it. Of course, settings are built around the very scene you wish to capture, and the style and way in which you wish to capture it. This is then dependant on a multitude of factors, including the camera and lens combination, the light, subject, overall scene, motion, the photographer’s creative vision for the picture and more. There is no way we can issue settings for a wedding next July and hope they will work in any way. What we can do however, is build an instinctive understanding of shot discipline at our fingertips which serves us for each and every scene and subject we shoot. Then we truly become masters of the final picture and achieve the results we want in any given situation. It is only by training oneself to really intuitively understand settings and therefore exposure, that we are really ready to shoot something like a wedding. For example, as a photographer, if you are going into a wedding and the pressing concern in your mind is exposure settings; then you are as they say, simply not ready to shoot a wedding.

ISO - Maximising Quality

Regarding the above question, technically speaking, the best settings are the ones which allow your ISO to be at it’s lowest, or closest to base value, whilst keeping the subject sharp and in focus with no motion blur. Why do we do this? I see this all the time, even on websites with photographers’ that should know better - they even write their settings below the picture as if they make sense to be using them, as if they are some holy grail. We know that the best image quality exists at base ISO. That includes, overall dynamic range, noise, colour, shadow detail, and everything else. Because we know this, we should stop taking pictures with settings such as these of static objects - ISO 1600, 1/4000, f/2. If we are at ISO 1600, we are already sacrificing quality and we simply don’t need to. We don’t need a shutter speed of 1/4000 to handhold a photograph of something that isn’t moving, especially with a short lens like for talking sake, a 35mm prime. We can drop down to ISO 800, 1/2000, f/2. We can drop down again to ISO 400, 1/1000, f/2. We can then get to ISO 200, 1/500, f/2. Then we can drop to ISO 100 with 1/250 and f/2. If we need more shutter and the lens opens up to f/1.4 we have even more options. If the lens is under 135mm, there will likely be zero issues. Now we are, for many cameras, at base ISO using some very simple mathematics.

I tend to control ISO myself, as I rarely move it unless the situation changes, and all my camera’s have a dedicated button to do so (this is so important, never shoot with camera’s that don’t have this option). I do not like auto ISO as it does poorly with backlit or front lit subjects and it simply cannot achieve what my minds eye can.

Shoot RAW

Unless you absolutely need JPG for some time pressured thing, or other reason, I highly recommend never using it for shooting. You have bought a nice camera, let’s use it’s full range and ability. Better yet, if we screw up, RAW can save us later on. Shoot RAW, there is no debate on this, if you want to maximise image quality this is the mode you need to be using. With Nikon, choose the uncompressed or lossless compressed RAW setting.

White Balance

White balance tends to matter less when shooting RAW format. WB can be changed in software, when developing the RAW file later. However, there are certain reasons to set a manual WB. In disciplines such as astro photography, when it is common practice to stack multiple hours of data together, we need a consistent WB for that process. Other times when you might consider a pre-determined WB would be a scene that can be measured with a WB card, or to save time with processing consistency in post processing.

Best Shooting Modes

• Aperture Priority - When shooting a wedding, this would be the mode that most would use. Let the camera’s computer do some of the heavy lifting. Control ISO yourself and aperture and focus on light and composition. Flash, would involve moving to manual mode as this allows better control of background exposure

• Manual - The mode that all landscape photographer’s live in. I also like this mode for shooting portraits that are slower and more deliberate.

• Other Modes - Shutter Priority, I am not a fan of. I can simply use aperture priority and look at the shutter speed. I have never personally seen the need for this mode, but if it works for you, there is of course nothing wrong with using it for shooting anything you need. Auto, also not a fan of, just forget about it unless you are handing your camera to someone very inexperienced.

DSLR Mirror - Up Mode

If shooting with a DSLR and doing static work, use this mode. It helps limits vibrations. It can often be coupled with electronic shutter mode, in most modern DSLR cameras. Consider exposure delay mode when shooting like this, with any camera.

Metering

Ensure that you can capture all the relevant scene data in one shot. If not, consider bracketing (tripod required). Use the camera meter and histogram in order to do this. There are many techniques to consider, the most logical one I will touch on here is exposure to the right (ETTR). This is a technique where we use the camera histogram to push the data as far to the right without clipping any highlights. This allows the best shadow detail and fidelity to the overall file, and allows the file to be the most malleable in post processing. This is a topic that I will eventually get to in more detail. NB - note that camera manufacturer’s are lazy. We still don’t have RAW histograms, and the generated histogram in camera is based off of a JPG preview. This is better than nothing but RAW histograms would be the ideal solution. It is therefore important to try and stick to a lowered contrast picture control setting when shooting.

Focus

It goes without saying, that it pays dividens to learn how to use your camera’s autofocus system. Most of the good one’s are not difficult to learn and with some practice, hopefully master. Ensure if you are shooting static shots, that you are in focus and take time with it to confirm best sharpness has been achieved. If shooting fast moving subjects, move into a fast FPS continous shooting mode and use a dynamic focus mode in order to get the best results. If the shot is not in focus, it is often (not always) not useable.

Picture Control

Picture controls can be thought of as unimportant, because of course we can change this all later, and it depends on the final edit software, as to how the image is displayed on a monitor. However, as I alluded to earlier, if you are trying to capture quality data, having a high contrast picture control will not let you see the clip points of the highlights or shadows. Due to this, I recommend to use a neutral profile on most cameras. Flat can also be used, but I find it so faded in so many settings that it can be distracting using it. I consider switching to it in scenes of ultra high contrast, for example at sunrise / sunset times I do use it, along with bracketing of exposures for blending in post processing.

Focal Length and Subject Size / Motion

It is very important to consider what I have detailed above. I have spoke about a static subject. The game changes when we increase focal length, and / or increase the MP density of the sensor, if we wish “per pixel focus” (perfect looking focus at 100% views on large monitors which show no motion blur). With longer focal lengths we need to contend with motion of the viewed frame in the view finder (which could show up in the end picture if we are not careful). Things like Vibration Reduction (VR) and IBIS can prevent this issue, or at least, reduce it. Longer focal lengths, or being closer to the moving subject itself, magnify the view into the scene, and will also magnify the blur if a subject is fast moving, relative to our sensor. If a subject was running at the camera, I may not want to drop my shutter speed too low. This is something that simply comes with experience. The easiest way to build up experience is to test it out on static subjects, such as museum pieces. See how long you can get your shutter speed whilst keeping a sharp shot, and see how close you can get to base ISO. Then try varying speeds of moving subject, with different lens focal lengths.

In the above shot, my son was basically motionless. I could have probably dropped down to ISO 400-500 easily and the resulting shutter speed would have still been adequate to stop any slight motion present. It is important to consider though, that despite good shot discipline being a cornerstone of good photography, it shouldn’t get in the way of such. That is, if the settings are close to perfect and the moment presents itself, do not bother wasting time to adjust something as meagre as dropping half a stop of ISO. You could miss the picture! Look at the meter, quickly adjust if required and shoot the picture. Here is another, very static scene, now we only have the motion of the photographer and camera / lens combination to consider…

Notice the settings. I am at base ISO of 64 for this picture because I know I can confidently handhold a 24mm prime at 1/40 shutter speed. This is a really practical example of why I always practice good shot discipline. Notice the outside area to the upper right of the frame which is spilling up with bright overcast daylight? If I were at ISO 200, 400, that area could have become blocked up white. (We know that as ISO increases, dynamic range lowers). In museums, we rarely want or are allowed to bring tripods to bracket exposures - so by practicing with this technique, I was able to gather all the data at the scene in one RAW file, and process it with a luminosity mask to bring it all back, producing a pleasing well rounded shot. What I love about shots like these, is the sheer depth and 3D nature you can impart into a 2D image. It really is quite beautiful, and it is the reason I simply love using prime lenses such as these (and not slow aperture zooms) to create pictures like this.

The next time you are out shooting, think about good shot discipline…if you aren’t already, shoot in RAW format, drive the ISO of the camera and use manual mode, or Aperture Priority, driving the exposure compensation buttons to control the scene in front of you.

Steve

Nikon 50mm 1.4G, 50mm 1.4D and 50mm 1.8D

View fullsize

Nikon D850, 50mm 1.4G @ f/1.4

Introduction

When I shoot people, my objective is to make them look great. With the advent of high resolution camera sensors, we have to be very careful these days otherwise we easily obtain nasty 'digital’ looking images with too much sharpness, and too much post processing going on. I am influenced by paintings by Gainsborough - The Blue Boy, the work of Sir Joshua Reynolds and the influence that had to bring to life the fantastic Barry Lyndon.

Lenses are obviously a huge part of how we have the camera interpret the scene, after all the obvious givens such a light, subject, decisive moment. I found an affinity that never left me after picking up a mixture of 50mm primes from the Nikon D700 days, ala 2010. I have been shooting with these little lenses for well over a decade now on my DSRLS (yes I still use DSLRS too, despite owning Z equipment now). Many will say that optically they have been superseded (and yes, for certain applications, such as astrophotography, I would not specifically buy them for*). However, for portraiture, and the photography of “things” / “stuff” I find them very satisfying to use. For me, a 50mm is a lens that should be nice and light, and ready to go anywhere. I am not going to tell you that these lenses are optically the utter 'la crème de la crème, in terms of numbers and specifications, or lens MTF resolution, however they are able to produce beautiful images with a bit of practice, they are small, light and some quite inexpensive options for shooters wishing specific renderings that work well on Nikon’s DSLR F-Mount range of cameras.

View fullsize

The 50mm f/1.4G - Good for low light, and keeps bokeh balls round even stopped down. This was shot at f/1.4.

When shooting portraiture, generally I do not prioritise ultra sharp lenses. I find most, modern primes to be sufficiently sharp for this task, so this really is a lower priority on my list. I need to reiterate this basic point whilst we are talking about image sharpness, for me, even babies with perfect skin look better with a slightly softer lens that produces some level of spherical aberration at it’s widest apertures, essentially, to be shot with a lens that is tuned to being used for portraits. Spherical aberration is a biggie when it comes to portrait-tuned lenses; over correcting it in a lens design tends to affect bokeh and the focal plane transition. This aberration goes away as we stop down, so lenses that have high correction tend to be very sharp from their widest aperture, and conversely lenses that are a bit softer and have a glow wide open generally are under corrected. With the 50mm lenses that I own: I use them on both full and crop framed sensor cameras, giving either 50mm or 85mm equivalent views respectively.

It is important to consider, that your shooting likes and wants may not align with mine or the next photographer. I will admit to using a very mixed bag when it comes to lenses across different genres, and I have that luxury. At night, for my astro work, I would be using a completely different lens, compared to during the day shooting like I am in this blog post. This also might go for landscape too, however I have successfully used all of these 50’s for landscape shooting also. You might also prefer a very sharp portrait lens. There are situations where I have reached for my 35/1.4 Sigma Art lens because I wanted a bit more sharpness on my subject at the focal plane, and was less bothered about the resulting bokeh. I will not say the bokeh of the sigma is bad either, again it is different and altogether a subjective quality. I have shot plenty of what I feel are good pictures with the 35 1.4 art lens.

50mm is not always thought of a portrait focal length, however there is a lot one can do with a 50mm lens such as these, and it of course depends on your subject’s overall size. 50mm lenses spend more time on my camera bodies than any other prime lens. I think it is important to know the rules, then be able to break them when needed. (A portrait can be taken with any focal length). I like to have options (I’ll explain why soon), which is why I have two 50mm primes (I actually had three at one point). I currently have the 50mm 1.4G and the 50mm 1.8D. These are slightly different lenses which play differently. All of the Nikon 50mm lenses vignette quite a lot wide open, however this is a characteristic for this type of photography that I like to stamp on my images, with the caveat that it is totally adjustable later on anyway. The 1.4G has smoother bokeh, and is slightly more to the gaussian blur end of the spectrum in terms of backgrounds it can produce especially when at close range, alas:

View fullsize

Nikon D700, 50mm 1.4G prime @ f/2

Note that, with this lens, it can produce quite a smooth background bokeh in the right circumstances. For low light portraiture, I feel it works better than the 50mm 1.4D and 1.8D, and I very much like what it does in terms of focal plane transitions, here is a good example showing some good bokeh and beautiful focal plane transitions:

View fullsize

Nikon D810, 50mm f/1.4G @ f/1.4

Now let me show you the much older 50mm 1.8D prime, which produces a much rougher background bokeh most of the time, but has absolutely zero distortion and produces, in the right circumstances, a great 3D effect. This can occur quite convincingly to the eye, if all the scene elements line up accordingly, the basics - like light, camera to subject distance, subject to background distance, the scene geometry etc. This is a topic I might explore in greater detail in time.

View fullsize

Nikon D810, 50mm 1.8D @ f/1.8

Notice the less smooth, (rougher) background blur here. I am closer, different light, different day, different aperture, different lens. however despite all that I can tell you from years of shooting with these lenses that this 1.8D just draws differently. I like this look. During the day, I really like using the 1.8D lens, because it imprints something unique onto the picture. In fact, as you probably guessed, this is what this blog post is about - all three of these lenses draw very differently and it all depends what you want from your picture. Here is the smoother 1.4G again:

View fullsize

Nikon D810, 50mm 1.4G @ f/1.4

But what about the f/1.4D you ask? Well I used this lens for a good while about six years ago. This lens is similar to the 1.4G, but it has a softer look wide open, with much less contrast which adds to this. Again, not a bad thing - these things must align with your shooting style and objectives for your picture. The 1.4G improved upon wide open sharpness and contrast in it’s design, and definitely has less chromatic aberration. It also benefits from some coating magic, that the older 1.4D does not have. This means that there is a distinct glow and loss of contrast when using it wide open due to it having bags of spherical aberration. However, as I said it is not necessarily bad news, and it can produce quite a painterly image, notice the glow effect to the subject’s face because I have used it wide open at f/1.4:

View fullsize

Nikon D700, 50mm 1,4D @ f.1,4

The 50mm f/1.4G is the clear leader out of these 50mm lenses in terms of focus speed. It is blisteringly fast, another huge plus point to owning one. There are of course, other differences. Both of the older D designs are a little more blue shifted in their final outputs. The 1.4G lens is a hint shifted towards a yellower output in the resulting RAW. The D lenses both have much sharper sunstars. So if you want to use the lens at night stopped down on city lights, or during the day to make beautiful spikes off of hard point light sources, these do much better. The older D lenses, definitely have more out of control aberrations going on wide open, most which improve on stopped down. In a very real sense, you get a dual personality lens, as long as you like the wide open look, stopping down quickly takes out the glow, and brings in super levels of sharpness right up until f/8. I rarely use this aperture, unless doing school studio style portraits though. Generally the biggest difference I see is, the 1.4G is sharper wide open, and more contrasty than the 1.4D, however it is soft compared to modern primes. Again, this is not necessarily a bad thing. I’ve been creating with these lenses for years and I can tell you people like how they look in the pictures, and I don’t have to spend days prepping them with blur filters etc. People want to look like movie stars, they don’t want to see all the lines on their face. The flattest, least distorting is the 50mm 1.8D which has basically zero, which has it’s applications on it’s own. I find the 1.8D is sharp very close to maximum aperture and I use it during the day a great deal, even wide open as I love the look it produces.

Both the D lenses produce a more pronounced flare pattern. Sometimes it can be a red / yellow defined area, sometimes a ring around the image (I actually oddly like it sometimes) but we really have to expose the front element to serious levels of off axis sunlight to get this:

View fullsize

Nikon D700, 50mm 1.4D

The 1.4G lens flares less than both D lenses, but it can still occur with this lens too. None of this bothers me too much - I like a bit of flare in my images sometimes, depending on the scene and subject it can be okay to leave in. In the above image, it would involve some complex photoshop work to remove.

Here is the 1.4D lens shot at sunset on a D810 body. This is about as ‘weak’ shot discipline as I’ll use. What do I mean by this? See here. For this particular shot, I pushed things. I dropped down to ISO 64, knowing that this winter sunset scene was a little light starved in terms of quantity of available light to stop motion. This left me with a good metered exposure of 1/50, ISO 64 and f/1.4. It had to be f/1.4 here to maintain this. I waited until he was still, used good hand holding technique - and got a ‘pixel level’ sharp shot. Why am I doing this? Well, ISO 64 is a little bit of a Nikon miracle. It is the reason I have been able to make this shot feel like you are right there, from every piece of highlight, right down to the shadows.

View fullsize

Nikon D810 with 50mm f/1.4D

Next up is a picture with the 50mm 1.4D at night. It produces a softer, more painterly feel to the final result. You can see, the bokeh in the background is rougher than the new G lens at night, which I showed above and does outline the bokeh balls a little (called onion bokeh, or soap bubble bokeh):

View fullsize

Nikon D810, 50mm 1.4D @ f/1.4

Here is the 1.4D with a stopped down aperture on a bright spring day. Notice the backgrounds I am showing with the 1.4D compared to the newer G. The G is smoother, but I still like the effect of the older D lens. Sometimes I feel this rougher background helps to trick a type of 3D pop effect to the resulting image:

View fullsize

Nikon D700, 50mm 1.4D @ f/2.2

Here is another using the 50mm f/1.4D prime lens, now in a wedding scenario. Notice that the background bokeh is definitely a little more rough. Some may not like this: we are tuned to prefer gaussian blur type bokeh in the photography community. However, I think it is very characterful, and helps produce, when other supporting elements are within the frame, a 3D effect to the resulting picture:

View fullsize

Nikon D700, 50mm 1.4D @ f/1.4

Here is the slightly smoother 1.4G. I have tried to show a similar subject to background / lighting situation here. You can see that the 1.4G has smoother backgrounds, generally speaking. It does have a nice focus transition too. Closer up, the 1.4G has smoother, more modern style bokeh.

View fullsize

Nikon D810, 50mm 1.4G @ f/1.4

View fullsize

Nikon D810, 50mm 1.4G @ f/1.4

All the nikon 50’s (and mostly all fast lenses), produce a bit of cats eye bokeh, especially with close up subjects to varying degrees. I quite like the overall look most of the 1.4G lens for pictures such as these. I will add some more low light ambient shots like this later when I have time to dig through the archive more:

View fullsize

Nikon D810, 50mm 1.4G @ f/1.4

View fullsize

Nikon D810, 50mm 1.8D @ f/1.8

Which Lens?

There are some obvious differentiators here. The first difference can be price and size. If money matters, the 50mm 1.8D can be had for a song. Easily the cheapest. It is quite well built considering, and even has a metal mount and a sort of in built lens hood that works well. This lens is also easily the smallest nikon 50, and can easily fit in the pocket. The 50mm 1.8D is very sharp stopped down just slightly. It has the least distortion and by f/2.2-2.8 it is very contrasty. Even wide open I find it so pleasing, even in hard light during the day. It has a strong 3D effect to the files when everything measures up in the scene, including the light. Stopping down causes stop sign bokeh, there is zero weather sealing. A great, lightweight day shooting lens.

The 50mm 1.4D is more expensive still. Not always a great choice at night, as it produces smearing over light sources and has the most chromatic aberration of the three, but of course it can be stopped down slightly to massively improve this. During the day, it produces nice painterly pictures, but has very low contrast effect wide open (again, this effect is easily cleaned up by f/2). This lens has by far the most chromatic aberration of the three. In certain circumstance it can be tough to correct because it can cause very thick purple transitions at backlit focal planes on the subject in certain situations. It has a good 3D look to the files. Stopping down causes stop sign bokeh, and there is zero weather sealing. I like it’s overall look despite these optical flaws / characteristics.

The 50mm 1.4G is the sharpest wide open, and the most contrasty, however it is important to reconcile that it is no where near the levels of sharpenss obtained by even more recent lens designs. It’s bokeh is smoother than both of the others, and when stopping down, the bokeh balls stay rounded, and it probably has the best focus transitions of the three. It has a good 3D look to the files in my opinion. It is the most expensive. It has a rubber gasket, which I feel more confident using it in inclement weather. The 50mm 1.4G has the least outlining on bokeh behind subjects out of all of these lenses (sometimes known as onion skin bokeh). I recommend the 50mm 1.4G for low light, especially if shooting stopped down slightly, because the bokek balls stay round due to it’s 9 bladed aperture. I have owned it for 14 years and never had an issue in this regard. A huge boon for this lens, is that if you own a body without a built in focus motor, it will still autofocus. The 1.8D lenses above, require a body that plugs into the lens and controls autofocus. You can check if your camera has this ability, otherwise you will be using manual focus with the 1.4D and 1.8D lenses. Note that that 1.4G is slower to autofocus than the D lenses. (Nikon try to lie about this and state things like ‘faster, more precise autofocus with the G lenses’), however the facts speak for themselves. Owning all of these lenses, easily reveals to me that the 50mm 1.4D focuses the fastest out of all of them, and by quite a margin. All of the D lenses without focus motors are noiser than their more silent G counterparts when shooting, but all of them focus faster than any 50mm G lens.

Whichever you choose, I stress that these lenses are great for people and stuff / things. They are quite characterful, not perfect optically, however produce beautiful, sometimes painterly results. The most important thing I consider is the overall render of a lens of this type. Do I like the type of picture it provides? Your milage is going to vary on this, and you may find that neither three are right for you. This said, I wanted to touch on some of the differences between them here. This is clearly not a scientific test, but my thoughts of what I have seen with using these three over many years.

View fullsize

Nikon Z 8, 50mm 1.4G @ f/3.5 on a star tracker mount, March 2024

*For Astrophotography work (as shown above, a single tracked frame from a huge mosaic image - see my astro landscape gallery), although I wouldn’t tell anyone to go and buy these lenses specifically, especially for wide open work (they are not well corrected for the task), the irony is I regularly use the 50mm 1.4G at 2.8-3.5 on a star tracker, with acceptable results. I am considering what to buy in the future to allow me to shoot around f/1.8-2.5, at night. It is important to note, that all three of these Nikon 50’s have severe astigmatism if shot wide open at night. This will make the stars in the corners look like little seagulls, rather than points of light. This affect takes a few stops to dissipate, which is why you don’t see it on the above image, shot at f/3.5.

Final Thought

Remember that owning one of these AF-D lenses which does not have a focus motor built-in, means their longevity is going to greatly surpass any G lens that has an onboard autofocus motor. Moving parts eventually wear out. The more complex the design, the more likely this happens quicker. Lenses such as the 50mm 1.4D and other classics such as the 85mm f/1.4D, will long surpass their G level counterparts. While it might seem like an antiquated technology to have the camera body physically plug into a little socket on the lens to turn the helicoid, in order to move the lens elements to focus the image; it just works. I also ask you this, does it really matter how a lens focuses to you? Generally speaking, I do not see them to be any less accurate than the G lenses in terms of focus precision, another flat out lie that Nikon marketing tell us about the new G lenses. Also, further to this as mentioned earlier in this article, most of the G lenses are actually slower to focus than the D versions. As you can probably tell; I’ve written this article as a photographer who likes to obtain a certain look from lenses. Make sure your views align with mine before taking my advice and spending the money.

Let’s leave this with a couple of drinks, because I seem to have a shot a lot of them with this lens…

Steve

Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i Star Tracker

View fullsize

The Star Adventurer on a 055 Manfrotto Tripod

I have been using the Star Adventurer 2i for four years now and it is a mount that has enabled me to capture some beautiful astro landscape images and also photograph objects in the deep sky. When I first obtained this mount, I had no idea I would be venturing deeper into the sky to photograph galaxies like Andromeda, or star clusters close up like the Pleiades. When I first received the mount in 2020, I practiced first in my garden and I recommend all users do this where possible.

The Build

Unpacking this star tracker, the first impressions are that is is solid and well built. It requires a tripod (ideally carbon fibre to minimise vibrations, but I have photographed plenty with an Aluminium tripod and it has been fine). This star tracker comes with Wifi, and I will discuss later why this is such a boon if you want to keep things as simple and efficient as possible when shooting under dark skies. Save for the plastic reticule, used for polar alignment, the build of the SA 2i is of very good quality. The knobs and dials all have a quality feel to them and the mount can be powered by x4 AA batteries (I use rechargables), or via USB connection to a powerbank - a really nice function and quick to connect in the field. The pro pack, comes with a metal declination bracket and counterweight (I bought an extra weight for balance - this is crucial for great tracking at 200mm). There is also a ballhead attachment, which I use for astro - landscape pictures, allowing focal lengths of about 85mm and under to be attached via it. The polar scope is nice and clear. I do recommend a right-angled polar scope attachment, to save your neck when trying to align. The included equatorial wedge is of good quality - and much better than some other star trackers in this price point. It has never given me an issue in terms of it’s overall build quality.

View fullsize

Declination bracket for long lenses showing the polar scope connected over this for polar aligning

Polar Aligning and Balancing

When getting setup in the garden, the first challenge is to setup the SA in proper polar alignment and the mount being properly balanced in order that it functions and tracks well. This seems daunting it first, however with some practice you will get faster and better at doing so, like any task. In the northern hemisphere this process is simplified by requiring only to align to one star - Polaris. What you will find is, Polaris isn’t exactly the North Celestial Pole. The NCP is actually located in a circle around this star. The Star Adventurer app, which can be downloaded from Play store, enables information on how to align everything, depending on your location and the time of night. When I first received this star tracker, I luckily had a clear night a few days later (doesn’t always happen), I started with an 85/1.4 prime to give me a bit of a challenge. Polar aligning involves attaching an individual plastic part - a reticule into the SA which illuminates the polar scope and enables alignment. I was pleased that I could get 4 minutes right off the bat with the alignment I set. I didn’t try any more than this as I was pleased I could achieve pinpoint stars for 4 minutes at this focal length. Balancing involves moving the counterweight on the declination bracket so that with the clutch disengaged, no resulting motion occurs. It’s a case of bearing in mind some basic mechanics: Moment (turning force) = F (force) x D (distance). Put simply, use the lever arm on the bracket to place the weight in the place that causes no motion when the mount (clutch) is unlocked.

View fullsize

Nikon Z 8 and 70-200/2.8S with proper configuration and Declination bracket use

Using Wifi and the app

As I alluded to earlier, the Wifi functionality and the Sky-Watcher App really bring this system to life, and make it very simple to use. Classically, if you wished to control a deep sky session with a camera and a mount, you need to use either a laptop, an Asiair, or at the very least an intervalometer connected into the camera. The great thing about Wifi funcitonality, and the app, is that I don’t need any of this extra clutter when I am outside freezing myself to death photographing deep sky objects. I can simply connect to the mount via the phone app, and all I need is one cable running from the camera into the mount. From the app, I can control exposure length, spacing between exposures and even dither in one axis. (Dithering is a process that involves instructions for the mount to move the field of view slightly between exposures so that when stacking images, things like fixed pattern noise and other nasties such as hot pixels get cancelled out of the stack). Essentially this process improves your data and I nearly always use this. Wifi in this mount (indicated by the 2i in it’s title) might seem trivial, however it has made everything so simple to use. I previously tried an Asiair with DSLRs and found it fiddly and had issues with live view. I get very little time under dark skies. I either have cloud, or worse rain, or extremely high winds, or a moon to contend with. On nights that I have time to do this, I don’t want to spend time with laptops and cables running all over the place, troubleshooting one problem after another, with a setup that takes an hour to start shooting, then the same time to break it down at the end of the night. Speak to any deep sky astro shooter - they will tell you they have wasted many nights not taking images. Instead they have been tearing their hair out trying to fix some random technical issue.

View fullsize

The Star Adventurer app is simple and well thought out with no connection issues ever

What can you achieve with the SA?

Essentially, this mount is suitable for tracking skies from extreme ultra-wide angle focal lengths, such as 14mm right up to about 200mm with decent exposure times, with no guiding. I am able to get pinpoint stars at 200mm with 2 minute exposures (be aware of course, that 200mm and 2 minutes needs practice to nail consistently). People are shooting this mount at 400mm and even 600mm, but bare in mind they are binning a portion of their sub exposures due to periodic error and completing very short exposure times of 30 seconds or less to prevent trailing. I have been asked before why I don’t guide - I see many shooting at 135mm-200mm and adding in guiding, it is just not required, as I am proving. None of my pictures are guided! Remember what I said earlier: simplicity is the greatest invention, Guiding would add another camera and cables into the mix, with all the problems associated with it such as laptops and Asiairs to control the device. I will say though, that if you are shooting with a large equatorial mount at a focal length of 600mm and up, you know what you need and it is obvious that to achieve decent exposure times, such as 3-5 minutes - you are going to have to guide. However, we are not speaking about that. I suggest you place the limit of this system at 200mm and forget guiding. If you want to try some ultra deep pictures for fun on this mount, go ahead but keep the exposures short. This system isn’t really meant for that. That would be where the larger mounts come in to play.

About 4 hours of exposures from bortle 4-5 using the above setup

Small Deep Sky Objects with the SA 2i

So since I have said we are topping out at 200mm for the most part, how do we fill the frame with small objects? Well, the answer is: we don’t, but there are several strategies which will help. The first is looking at your camera. I recommend a high megapixel camera, shot in crop mode, or a crop camera. The reason for this is, generally speaking you will get more pixels on target and fill the frame with them better. For example, a Nikon Z 8 (45MP full frame sensor) shot in x1.5 crop mode, gives just under 20 megapixels. The second part to this is enacted in post processing, called drizzle. So let us take Andromeda as an example. Now it isn't the smallest deep sky object, but having it fill the frame is hard at 200mm, but as you can see, I have made a half decent picture of it. Part of this is down to when you process the resulting stacked image, the object physically gets larger. After we have put the camera into crop mode, or selected a x1.5 crop body to begin with in PP, we can do something called drizzle integration. This was developed by NASA. This is a method of obtaining more detail in your resulting file, meaning, if done correctly, we can produce a file larger than 20MP, perhaps put it back to 45MP, and thus crop it much more aggressively in post, enabling a closer view of your deep sky object. To benefit from drizzle, you must have a lot of data, multiple hours. The data also must be dithered, as I mentioned earlier - this mount allows for that. If you are using another mount that doesn’t do this - then this technique won’t work. This along with the other points raised here is one of the many reasons I highly recommend the SA 2i.

Comet C2022 E3 (ZTF) shot with the Star Adventurer mount and a 70-200/2.8 lens, Camera - Nikon D850

Acratech GXP Ballhead

Acratech GXP Ballhead with Arca Swiss style plate

I have been shooting with this very special ballhead now for around nine months. I had heard of Acratech years ago, and noted they were a highly sought after brand based in California. In recent times, I updated (or added to) my current tripod by purchasing a Gitzo Mountaineer Series 3 - finally being properly serious in the tripod department. Not a cheap investment, and more on that later. I was searching for a new, excellent ballhead to pair it up with. I searched around and explored / mulled options for a good few weeks - which is mostly how I make all my decisions photographic. What always impresses me is solid engineering concepts. This thing looked very different, and with the Acratech name branded on it - caught my eye immediately. I watched this video on youtube which I have got to admit, totally reeled me in, called Acratech Ball Head Performance. Watch as Scott, drops a two-tonne truck onto this ballhead, and it does nothing to it. He freezes it, drops it in sand. It comes out unscathed, undamaged, fully functional. I am sorry if this doesn’t do it for you but to me and my background - I simply love when someone designs something and puts their heart into it and better still, gives you a 10 year guarantee with it. I love people that stand by their designs and products - this sort of behaviour speaks to me. (More on this later)

The Build

This Ballhead is constructed of aircraft quality 6061-T6 Aluminium and is C.N.C (computer numerically controlled) manufactured, which basically means - to very high tolerances. All threaded fasteners are machined from stainless steels and all bearing surfaces are machined from a special copolymer similar to Teflon. The ballhead has a very solid and substantial feel, weighing in at 450 grams, yet able to support a weight of just under 23kg. There is a very handy and accurate spirit level too that comes with both versions of this GXP head. All the knobs and dials have a quality feel and are locktited to and designed not to be able to come undone or fall off. Unlike other ballheads, this is an open design, which means sand, grit etc does not affect it in the same way that it could with other ballhead designs. This is definitely a plus. There is even a lovely 360 degree dial on the base with a moveable marker - perfect for panoramic / star tracker usage. I have used this as my main ballhead for landscape and astrophotography for some time now and I have never had more trust in a product. I love the solid feel, the overall construction, the solidness of the clamp and the fine adjustment of the dials. I use the marked base for astro work to give me nice overlaps too - it all just works and nothing gets in the way of it’s function, cold, heat, or even dropping a two-tonne truck on it! (I try to avoid this, though).

Panoramic Function and Star Tracker Use

The GXP also has a very nice panoramic function. Using the provided allen key, in the field, the whole thing can be turned up side down by removing the quick release clamp and installing it on the base (it is a very fast thing to do and sounds more difficult to do than it actually is - it’s easy), allowing for panoramic images to be taken without the requirement for a levelling base! It really is win win if you hate getting the whole tripod level for functions such as this, and will aid your pano stitching software and improve your end result with things like distortion and stitching. For star tracker use, which I do a great deal of it works really well. With a camera like the Nikon Z 8, I have done away with bothering to use a shaky V platform to level the ballhead, and now I just use the GPX directly connected into the star tracker declination plate. I am able to do this up to about 85mm no problem and still stitch the panorama no problem. (85mm is where I stop with panos - I find any more than this and it is torturous, I prefer 50mm maximum most of the time). The reason I am able to do all this is the Z 8 camera is so sensitive at night, I can swing the camera to the right positions using the LCD monitor and the GXP keeps everything ultra stable as the shot is taken.

Which one is right for you?

There are two varients of this ballhead, a standard clamp which is what most of us are used to when using arca - swiss style clamp systems. One simply places the plate into the clamp and tightens it down with the knob. The other option is a locking lever. Faster of course, however I prefer to stick with the standard so that there are not differences between my other ball heads. This could lead to problems at night, at worst, equipment falling from a height and being damaged. It is for this reason that I try to keep consistency with these types of things. I like to have the spirit level my side of the camera, so this means with the standard clamp, the knob is at the side you don’t see when clamping. I got used to this very quickly and have had no problems ensuring a snug and secure connection to my camera.

Where to Buy?

In the UK these babies can be difficult to come across. I highly recommend looking at Bob Rigby Photographic, who are official UK importers of Acratech products. Their service and advice is second to none and they always go above and beyond with aftercare. They have both style’s of GXP and other Acratech products on their website which come usually in only a few days maximum. Regarding Acratech themselves, I’ve actually been in conversation with the founder and CEO, Scott Dordick when I accidentally scraped one of the adjustment knobs off a rock during a minor fall. Via the team at Bob, he simply sent a knew knob with instruction on how to fit it. He reassured me that if any servicing or the like was ever needed to post it back to him and he would look at it. Now that is peace of mind that is missing in a lot of products these days, and the old adage: you get what you pay for. Whilst not a cheap product at all, this absolutely applies here, and a user can waste so much money buying multiple inferior products. Coming in at around about the same price points as RRS ballheads of this level (B-40, B-55), I feel I snagged all the advantages and none of the disadvantages of a what I feel is the best ballhead on the market today for landscape / astro use with the caveats mentioned in this short review. Highly Recommended!

Steve

Nikon Z 8 Camera

A Mini Review from Summer 2023

This is a long one, with some rambling, so get yourself a drink and get comfortable!

So I have mainly been a DSLR shooter for well over a decade. I have multiple bodies - from a D200, D700, D810 and a D850. The Z 8 was my first buy in to mirrorless, as I felt it was a d850 in a mirrorless form. I think this is a fairly accurate view despite it also being a baby Z 9 if you take for granted that the Z 8 obviously outstrips the 850 in focus, FPS and video modes. I will be using this camera to do astrophotography - both astro landscape, and deep sky. Along with plenty of regular landscape photography and portraiture. So I don't require great speed or fps but the other aspects of this body finally drew me in to Nikon’s Z mount.

First off...the Z 8 is beautiful: It looks stylish. It is sleek, curved but carries the hard edges synonymous with the Z mount styling. The top screen and clover layout of buttons on the top left of the body have made a return in mirrorless world and this is a great thing indeed. I like the LCD monitor which flips both ways and is highly detailed. It takes time to feel confident opening and closing it initially though. The playback and menu buttons have moved to a more logical placement on the bottom right ala the Z 9. Button placement is nicely done and there are plenty to limit menu diving like Nikon’s previous mirrorless bodies. (It is however, annoying however that Nikon took the VR switches off it's lenses; forcing a menu dive). Customisation of the Z 8 is excellent; you can be confident that you will be able to set up everything how you like it to be. The focus mode button is back. The grip is comfortable and really reminds me of the 850. The light up buttons: a boon for Nikon but a crying shame for Canon or Sony shooters that don’t have this! The EVF / LCD switch easily, automatically when appropriate, and this has been well implemented overall. The EVF is bright and smooth (it drops into choppy mode to save energy at times, the time at which it does this can be user adjusted or shut off completely and kept ultra smooth. I find the EVF resolution good, especially when reviewing photos I can see and zoom to check focus has been attained with no problems. The LCD monitor is great, ala the D850 and it tilts in both axes finally, something I believe should have been done along time ago in DSLR land. Battery life is not very different to me compared to a D850 because of the way I used the D850. It was mostly used with the LCD monitor on - thus there is no change in this aspect for me. If you only used OVF, you should buy an extra battery or two. I did wonder if I'd get the same life as say shooting the D850 with LV only vs the Z 8 in 'LV' mode and I do. This was important as I spent a lot of time with the d850 in silent mode, using the LCD exclusively. This limits shutter wear on deep sky astro and landscape time-lapse and prevents vibrations. Another logical reason to get the Z 8 for me, I thought. I love the extended shutter speeds up to 15 minutes. I don’t really use the 10-pin socket much at all now, (however I do need that for connecting into my star tracker so I am glad it still exists) and I used to extensively because I am a long exposure photographer for a lot of what I do - either during the day or at night. This has improved my user experience as dealing with remotes generally speaking can be a faff. This is however, a function should have been in DSLRs years ago. (I note the Z7ii had this). Further to this...I have always said to myself that a Z 8 will not, for the most part change my photography and that's fine, you wouldn’t want that to be the case anyway. For me it is going to he about user experience and new possibilities. This leads me to starlight view. This is a huge boon for someone like me who spends nights under dark skies. No longer do I have to stand about wasting time with high ISO test shots on rare clear nights that we get here in Scotland. I can compose with starlight view fast and easily, then take the shot. This is quite liberating! It also helps in deep sky photography to frame up the target (more on this in the coming months perhaps). I can feel more connected to the scene now and have now with me, night vision, it is so sensitive it will pick up faint aurora in this mode, that my eyes cannot see. This along with the screen means I stay warmer and get shooting faster. I'll no longer need to lie on the ground to get those vertical shots. I'll also be able to easily power the camera all night with a battery pack and a simple USB-C connector. Autofocus from what I have seen so far is excellent. The new processor really bests previous Nikon mirrorless models and although I still find myself moving points about, I like the large boxes and letting it find eyes within them etc. Even with my 24/1.4G nikkor through the FTZ II, it nailed most shots of my son fast moving towards me. Simple stuff affects user experience!

I would like to see some minor things. It might just be me but I would like the option to see a battery percentage like my phone rather than these little 90s looking blocks of a battery to simulate remaining battery lifespan. I'll live though. One thing that I did notice...the on off switch is very 'sharp' feeling compared to the DSLRs. I understand the ‘Z’ styling but let's not cut our fingers Nikon, again I can live with it. (2024 edit - I strangely got very used to this now and don’t notice it). Okay elephant in room for anyone that is serious about data collection. RAW histograms. Granted this isn't just Nikon; all the camera companies need to take this seriously; especially at this price point. This would really allow pushing the data as far to the right as possible (the shot on the monitor would look terrible but that would be corrected later - you would achieve technically perfect exposure for the sensor that could be developed and worked on in post processing). I can get close to this without RAW histograms, but just that little bit more would be nice since we are shooting with a ‘big boy’ camera. I'd like to see Nikon provide a mode for deep sky astro guys like me to turn off the peripheral shading correction applied to RAW files or any data filtering on the files applied to assist with daylight photography, which can sometimes cause concentric rings to form when stacking hours of data of a night. (More on this as I test). Couple other minor things spring to mind that Nikon should be doing. Nikon ought to allow adjustment of the f/5.6 aperture when focusing at f/5.6 or smaller apertures by way of a menu function, for example in studio with strobes or speedlights the system can struggle because it is trying to improve focus shift by focusing stopped down. This has an obvious detrimental affect on focus precision and it should be that Nikon allow an on/off of this function for studio guys, eg a setting that allows ‘force focus at maximum aperture always’. Allow me to resize and move the histogram on the EVF and LCD monitor. I repeat this again...RAW histograms too! Oh and one more. LCD automatic brightness. Nearly all phones do this. They go up to max in bright sunlight and dim back when we go inside. This shouldn't be a thing at this price point to have to manually adjust it every time. The Nikon D800 had this and then it has never returned in a Nikon body since. People need to learn to expose properly and easily get confused with LCD brightness, however I believe it should be a function for those that know. Nikon should allow the inbuilt profiles to be disabled whether or not they are enabled / disabled in the camera menu. I am hearing and experienced with some lenses they stop you enabling a vignette correction for example unless you had it enabled in camera initially (the metadata in the RAW file passes to Lightroom - if it ain’t in there, it ain’t coming up in LR to be able to correct it, save for f mount lenses through the FTZ II adapter). This makes little sense and is not helpful. Crop modes. Why the heck so we not have 4:5 I will never know? Someone at Nikon has physically went in and took this out from previous models! It is quite stupid of them and they should put it back in and avoid more nonsensical stuff like this going forwards…(2024 update - still no 4:5 crop mode in camera, you know, the one that has been in the D800, D810, D850 but now is missing in action. Nikon, come on!).

Apart from these minor gripes I cannot fault the Z 8. It is literally what I hoped it would be. Paired with my initial lens of choice, the 24-70/2.8S - can produce absolutely stellar results, in fact some focal lengths on that lens approach / beat prime like sharpness, details and rendition. I am very much looking forward to doing long exposure photography with this lens. (2024 edit - oh it is good!). This was another reason I wanted a Z 8 and to go mirrorless with Nikon. This lens is that good; it is probably the best in class 24-70/2.8S ever made for any 35mm format.

Lastly video. Very impressed. Especially with the 24-70/2.8s which is pretty much silent and just holds focus to the subject. I am enjoying not having to focus pull manually! I am not a huge video shooter, however I have been doing more of this. They need to look at waveforms and a couple of other functions for the really serious video guys but I have to say I am seriously impressed as Nikon’s video implementations have classically been lacklustre and this has all changed now.

So what's next? I am waiting to see what Sigma do with regards to primes. I would honestly bite their hand off to get a native 14/1.4 (I love their 14/1.8 for f mount and still own it). I would like updated 24/1.4 and 35/1.4 and 50/1.4 primes from sigma for Z mount. Nikon’s 1.8 offering does not have class leading aberration correction, albeit is fair. Nikon’s 24 and 35 1.8 lenses released really are so-so lenses when it comes to a serious astro shooter like myself. I looked at their 1.2 glass for a second knowing the conclusion I would probably form quickly - they are simply too massive and heavy to use on a star tracker, what’s worse, they offer no benefit. I cannot shoot them at f/1.2 (no one can make a reasonably priced, shootable f/1.2 prime lens for astro, believe me). For me, the perfect balance has always been f/1.4 with good correction. Give me 1.4 for aurora and meteor showers (think clear aperture, see detailed explaination here), and enable me to shoot at f/2.2-2.8 with clean stars into the far corners and I am happy, relatively.

What about DSLRs? I sold one...my D850, as it had high value and helped to partially fund the Z 8. I'm keeping the rest, and might even pickup a mint d810 as a spare to my current d810. I love OVFs! As much as I love the Z 8 EVF and the bells and whistles it brings...I think I'd personally prefer to stare through an OVF all day if shooting sport or wildlife as any EVF is technically like looking at a TV screen. If I shot sports, I honestly think I would have stuck with OVF for a long time, or perhaps forever. The way most modern landscape photography is carried out is via the screens, no the OVF, so you can see why mirrorless mattered to me. (Regarding the Z 8, I mention this, not because the EVF is bad in the Z 8 - it isn't, and not because I am an old timer; I am not). Again this comes back to one of the many reasons I wanted to grab the Z 8 body - I don't use the finder as much on that body anyway. 10 years ago I'd have sold everything and went mirrorless then ended up realising my mistake and having to buy back some DSLRs for different purposes. Using the principal of ‘tool to task’ - there has never a more pertinent expression when it comes to deciding on a camera and lens to work for your needs rather than against.

View fullsize

Snowcapped Cuillins from Sligachan, Isle of Skye. Z 8 with 24-70/2.8S

Nikon really aimed high here and got it right, for the most part. The price was / is high, however it will come down. I bought quickly like the d800 days, as I have been waiting a long time (how those savings accumulated thankfully). I applaud the lack of shutter in this camera. I think it was the right decision and will likely make the camera last even longer than it would otherwise. Like I said...I think shooting studio flash work I'd be using an OVF but that's just me...we have to consider that these aren't custom made cameras to our own specifications; however that non withstanding, logical upgrades and firmware adjustments where appropriate can certainly be requested, and debated.

Some further thoughts which I will continue to add to for those on the fence. I updated my 24-70/2.8 lens firmware there to 1.20, in order to take advantage of linear MF, now activatable in the menu. I must say, the focus throw can be made huge (720 degrees and over) and it makes focusing manually butter smooth. I am interested in this for critical astro applications (albeit not in particular with this lens), but this will be great for landscape photography which is mainly where I will use this lens. I like to do the focusing manually and confirm it is optimal for the scene. Combined with starlight view, this is going to be amazing at night. (2024 edit - it is). The 20/1.8 will be good to use with this feature. This should really allow me to nail balance between the centre frame and corner to manage astigmatism and coma, which was a nightmare with DSLR monitors at night which where made less sensitive - they sat at 60 FPS even in darkness which is pointless! In DSLR land (especially the earlier models) it was hard to actually see the stars sometimes in order to do this critical focus pull, ironically one felt a bit blind at night. The 14-24/2.8 tempts me for astro and landscape use but I note it does not have this feature - I wonder why, and hope they will bring it to it. I love to get critical focus in landscape manually, too. (2024 edit - I now own this lens and have been using it for about 8 months’ now - it is indeed very easy to compose an UWA shot with starlight view).

Following on from this, I still cannot believe how bad Snapbridge still is all these years on. It can barely connect half the time, and if it does it disconnects, fails 3/4 of the way through the process (and it can take while to get there, fail and you have to restart the process and hope it will work). Nikon please hire a better software person, an app person please. This is not a Z 8 complaint but since it could be an amazing part of the Nikon ecosystem I mention it here. Why am I still having to remove a card from the camera to update firmware on a lens? The camera can connect (should be able to) to Snapbridge, and it should be a simple option there to update lens or camera firmware going forwards? I cannot see one, nor connect right now to confirm however it is very clunky for 2023. It really would be great if this was fixed and improved overall for user experience. (2024 edit - Snapbridge is a bit better, and firmware can be updated via Snapbridge, so some improvement here).

Lastly can I point out how well built this 24-70/2.8 is? It is also so sharp right in the corners at most focal lengths and apertures it really can sit with the best of lenses, fully sealed and it looks smart too, still remaining one of the lightest 24-70/2.8 lenses ever and probably optically the best which is no mean feat. (PS the display button should automatically adjust to outdoor and indoor brightness, like I previously mentioned that the back LCD should too ala phones). Nikon, if you ever update this lens, put in the VR switches on the body please…

Ramble complete,

Steve

View fullsize

Quiraing, Isle of Skye Scotland. Nikon Z 8 with 24-70/2.8S