Recently « GAS » (« Gear Acquisition Syndrome ») has been mentioned a lot, and I admit, it got me thinking about what I could use for my ‘work’ in the future.
The principle reason is that I think I can detect a movement away from the classic reflex to mirrorless, on the part of the manufacturers, which can only involve an increase in development funding etc. for what will no doubt become the principal money earner in a few years time. This is positive and negative – the manufacturers will no doubt feel obliged to produce more variants of what they already sell, which will surely be ‘niche’ offerings rather than generally usable camera bodies. An example of this is the 58mm ‘Noct’ Nikkor S – what a complete waste of time at 9000€, yeah – right!
Regarding Nikon, the Z6/7 and now the Z50 are a very good start – far more convincing than Canons efforts – and I’m very happy with the Z6. I’m waiting for the next iteration, which will probably involve a 60Mp sensor. In itself, this kind of increase in pixel density doesn’t interest me, but the knock-on effect might bring the Z7 down in price, and closer to my eager hands.
A higher density sensor is useless to me for the circus/concert work I do, but that still leaves a lot of other aspects to cover, notably landscapes.
In terms of ergonomics, while I love dearly the D3s (despite the weight and size) I feel I’d be happy to trade in the D850 (and final get rid of the D500 which simply isn’t used) and replace this with a Z7.
On the downside, I’m still pissed off that the two button card reformat hasn’t found its way onto these bodies, as trolling through menus is a pain in the arse, and to be avoided. And as previously mentioned, the un-locked joystick STILL causes me huge problems, but there are ways around the latter – a small piece of black tape should fix that.
Despite my contact with Nikon, I seriously doubt that they will ever react to the ‘real’ needs of photographers – they have got it almost right, in my opinion, and that’s all they need to do, in theirs.
In terms of lenses, if I pursue this transformation, I can see on the ‘S’ roadmap a number of interesting lenses coming up – the 70-200 f/2.8 was supposed to arrive this year, and the 24-120 f/4 is due for 2020, both of which interest me greatly. However I can’t imagine the up coming 14-24 f/2.8 being within my range, financially.
A ‘portable’ kit involving the lenses I own, two mirrorless bodies and the two lenses mentioned above could be packed, and more importantly, carried to locations – far lighter than the kit I lug around today.
Next Wednesday, I have a « shooting » at the Dôme, and I’ll be dragging all sorts of stuff ‘just in case’, and as I don’t have a wheeled camera bag, I hope I can park close by!
Another advantage with the ‘S’ series lenses is the relative speed increase – the f/1.8 is a nice bright lens wide open – not that this changes a lot with an electronic viewfinder of course. The FTZ adaptor is the way to still be able to use all my ‘classic’ glass, of which I seem to have a number, and that placates me somewhat.
The original AF-D will have to go one day, but I’m loathe to get rid of the ‘curiosity’ lenses like the 16mm fisheye, only available in AF-D – this lens one uses once a year, but it’s nice to know I have it! I have it’s DX partner, the 10.5mm too – totally useless for everyday shooting, but fun nonetheless.