On October 6th, 2020, there was a tragedy in my life. I slipped while crawling along a granite slope and fell over 10 feet into a small “pond” that was about 2 feet deep with a granite bottom. Besides getting soaked head-to-toe, and sustaining severe injuries to my pride, I utterly destroyed my Nikon D810 and attached wide angle lens. And, last but not least, I hurt my left ankle!
I tried desperately to dry both the camera and lens out. 24 hours in dry rice, dry heat from the wood stove, hair dryer, etc. But the body of the D810 was actually somehow warped and the battery door and memory card door would not close again properly. Shocking considering the frame of that camera is made from a magnesium alloy.
Luckily my body (and my pride) healed without incident!
However, losing my main landscape camera and lens, I was left with tough decisions to make as to what to replace the Nikon D810 with. Was it time to upgrade to the Nikon D850? Or should I switch to a mirrorless Nikon Z camera. Nikon was just releasing the Nikon Z6 II with the Z7 II I to be released in December 2020. Or was it time to look at Canon, or Sony options??
Well, as you may have guessed from the title of this story, I went with a Nikon Z6 II and a Nikkor Z 14-30 f/4 lens.
The Nikon Z7 II has only one real advantage of the Z6 II and that is sensor resolution. But that is a double-edged sword. The Nikon Z6 II out-performs the Z7 II in several ways including better low-light performance. Once the firmware update is released in February 2021, the Z6 II will have equal video capabilities. Yet the Z7 II is over CDN$ 1300 more than the Z6 II (at the time of purchase in mid-November 2020)! And now the technology exists to upgrade the resolution of a digital still using AI (artificial intelligence) algorithm-based software. (See https://topazlabs.com/gigapixel-ai/ for more details). So the only possible advantage of the significantly more expensive Z7 II for my needs (sensor resolution for larger prints) has been negated for the price USD$ 99!
So, I took my newly purchased Nikon Z6 II along with me on a drive along Highway 17N, going north of Sault Ste. Marie, along the Lake Superior Shoreline and into Lake Superior Provincial Park.
With a moody lake and sky, lighting condition were challenging. And despite inadvertently shooting in JPG as opposed to RAW, I am very happy with the quality of the images. The Z6 II feels very comfortable in my hands, and I believe that any experienced Nikon DSLR user will find making the switch to the Z series cameras to be a pleasant and rewarding experience.
Shout out to James at Camera Craft for helping me think through my purchase options! If you live in the Sault Ste. Marie or surrounding area and are looking for any new gear (cameras, filters, tripods, lighting etc), he’s the man to see!
Cedars On The Rock - Lake Superior
These photos and many others are available for purchase as fine art prints!
Thomas Detert is a landscape photographer based on St. Joseph Island, Ontario, Canada. You can see more of his work at https://www.tomsview.ca.