Time for a New start. Kind of.
This possum had the privilege of being the first subject of my Z8.
Life is full of beginnings… of endings… of new things… and of old things. Photography is no different.
My love of photography began several decades ago with my dad’s Pentax K camera. I remember one of my proudest shots - an extended exposure at night, during a full Moon. I remember carrying around that picture with me… with it looking like it was taken in the middle of the day, with only the barely-visible start trails belying the hour of the shot, asking people to guess when it was taken. I don’t think anyone ever guessed correctly (nor, honestly, do I think they really cared).
My first personal camera was one of the original Kodak Disc Cameras. Sure, the quality wasn’t great… but it was my camera. I took it with me nearly everywhere. I was still in high school, so most of the pictures I took were of my friends and the things we did “back in the day”. I doubt any of those shots still survive after being stored in the attic of my parents’ house for the last 35+ years. Pity.
Then came life’s responsibilities: Marriage. Family. Work. Bills. You know what I mean. That left no time or money for photography. Though my love of the craft was still there, it just wasn’t in the cards for me to do anything with it. Sacrifices had to be made, and the family came first.
In the meantime, the industry had been changing. Film cameras were still being sold, but digital cameras had surpassed them in popularity. But they were expensive… and the ones that weren’t expensive weren’t very good. Then Nikon came out with an affordable - and very good - consumer digital camera: the D50. I wanted it.
I’m not quite sure how much work I had to do to convince my wife that I should buy the camera, but she eventually relented. Either I’m persuasive or she grew exhausted from saying “No!” Probably the latter… but a win is a win!
At the time, I had no idea about the difference between a full-frame and crop sensor camera. I didn’t understand the impact of lens quality on image quality. I was fairly clueless about a lot of things. But I learned. And I improved. I used that camera so much that I had to get the shutter assembly replaced. Twice.
They say the third time is the charm, and I guess that was the case with my D50, too. The shutter failed yet again, so it was time to get a new camera. Since I already owned a couple Nikon lenses, I stayed “in the family” and got a D7100.
At this point, I knew there was a difference between full-frame and crop sensor. I knew the benefits of better lenses. But full frame cameras were still out of my price range, so I stuck with APS-C. And I got just as much use out of the D7100 as I did the D50.
The D7100 accompanied me to my first NASA Social event. It was with me when I interviewed NASA’s then-Administrator Charlie Bolden for my first, legitimate news article. It was what I used to take pictures of my first (and, so far, ONLY in-person launch). I loved that camera. But I outgrew it.
Luckily there were still some autumn colors on my first “real” outing with the Z8.
As before, the industry continued to advance. Digital camera became more capable and began to transition from an SLR format to a mirrorless design. Mirrorless was the future. Unfortunately, Nikon was slow to see that. Their first two widely produced mirrorless camera bodies - the Z6 and Z7 - were panned for their performance and inability to consistently focus.
Reviewers predicted that Nikon was circling the drain. Indeed, they had fallen behind Sony and Canon… and even Panasonic had grown larger than Nikon in the camera market. When I began considering my transition to a mirrorless system - and my first full-frame camera - I didn’t think Nikon would be my choice.
But Nikon persisted. They released several firmware patches that fixed - or, at least, reduced - the issues that many reviewers had mentioned. The cameras weren’t perfect, but they were good. And with all of the negative press, Nikon was offering steep discounts. So I picked up my first full-frame camera: the Nikon Z6.
Going from the D7100 to the Z6 was HUGE. The differences were incredible and my whole understanding of photography was upturned. Sure, the basics still held true… but the mind’s eye of how different focal lengths and apertures performed were blown away. This was a different beast, requiring new skills and experience. It was wonderful!
I learned so much with the Z6. It was the camera I used on the first photography clinic I ever attended. I was able to take handheld shots of waterfalls with shutter speeds as low as 1/2 second. I learned new things every time I went out with the camera.
Though not much of an upgrade, I later switched to the Z6ii (II?). After using it for nearly two years, I felt the call of a higher megapixel sensor - the 24MP of the Z6ii felt a little limiting… especially with post-production cropping. I had every intention of eventually grabbing a Z7ii (or Z7ii, if/when it were to be announced).
Nikon, however, had other ideas. While sitting in the waiting room at a doc appointment, I was browsing Facebook and noticed an advert from Nikon proclaiming generous trade-in allowances for older Nikon gear towards the purchase of a Z8. It took me all of 30 seconds to decide to skip the Z7-series and go straight for the Z8 - a camera I wanted but had no intention of purchasing. That’s quite the impulse purchase (though not the biggest one I ever made… but that’s a story for another time).
The Z8 is a BEAST. And using it is somewhat humbling… and incredibly fun. As with the switch from the APS-C D7100 to the FX Z6, moving to the “professional grade” Z8 has brought about a figurative “reboot” of my photography experience. It’s apparent that I still have so much to learn, and the Z8 will likely be far more capable than the doofus behind the eyepiece for as long as I have it. But I like a challenge… and I love learning.
Time for this old dog to learn some new tricks.
Cat tax for your time. :-)
