My Nikon Zfc!

Nikon Zfc

Not all decisions in life have to be rational, my decision for buying “Nikon Zfc” was just that!

In this post, I will share my experience with this beauty and what I personally think of this beauty and share some pictures shot with this beauty.

Nikon says “Classic design meets modern engineering” when they introduce this camera on their website. I personally agree with this, it is the retro design that was the biggest factor for me to buy this camera. Having used old film cameras in the past I just fell in love with the design and all the controls on the top of the camera.

Important Specifications:

Lens mount: Nikon Z mount

Image sensor format: DX (Crop Sensor)

Image sensor type: CMOS

Total pixels: 21.51 million

Effective pixels: 20.9 million

My Take :

Some Images and what I did to shoot these images; Please note I use different kind of lenses and usually prefer lenses with no electronics and completely manual, so this is not a exhaustive review, however i will try to share my experiences with this beautiful camera and lenses I used.

Usage with Kit Lens (with Z DX 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 VR):

The first thing I wanted to do was check the kit lens and this is what I shot with it.

Dwaja Stambha, Lepakshi

Exposure : 1/15 sec at F3.5 ISO 200 Shot at 16mm

First thing i did was check the Kit lens and how it performs at fully open aperture and I was pleased to get a decent shot with good color tones and decent sharpness.

The NIKKOR Z DX 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 VR is the smallest and the lightest lens available for the Nikon Z mount.Sporting an all-plastic construction and plastic mounts, these lenses are specifically designed to be as small and as lightweight as possible, while taking advantage of the short flange distance of the Z mount. At a mere 135 grams, it is impressively light ; in fact, it is the lightest DX / APS-C lens Nikon has produced to date! Optically, the lens is comprised of 9 elements in 7 groups, four of which are aspherical elements, and one of which is an extra-low dispersion element. Similar to other Nikon Z lenses, the 16-50mm VR comes with a stepping motor, which delivers quiet and fast autofocus performance. Nikon incorporated optical image stabilization into the lens, and it is supposed to compensate camera shake by up to 4.5 stops ( Yes 4.5 Stops ) .

Considering all this it produces decent results and a great lens to have with Nikon Zfc especially while shooting architecture and street.

Usage with 7Artizans 7.5mm Fisheye Manual Lens:

I love perspectives from fisheye and sometimes even distortions , it is not everybody’s cup of tea and some hate it. But personally for me it gives some perspectives which i like a lot and deviates from mundane.

Naga Linga

Exposure : 1/250 sec at F8 ISO 100

Framed

Exposure : 1/125 sec at F5.6 ISO 100

Bhringi , Lepakshi

Exposure : 1/5 sec at F2.8 ISO 100

7.5mm f/2.8 from 7Artisans produces rectangular images that cover the entire APS-C format, unlike Circular Fisheye lenses which produce round images within the rectangular field. . This Lens has a solid, high-quality feel in the hand and the focus ring completes its arc in about 1/5 of a turn and the aperture ring is click-free. Exposure is not automatic. Set the camera on Aperture Priority and select a suitable f/stop or go Manual and trust the meter. This lens is manual focus; in fact, it’s manual in everything..

The DOF so extreme that precise focusing isn’t necessary at apertures smaller than f/5.6. Minimum focus is 5.9 inches.

Using this lens on Nikon Zfc was fun and they work very well and if you swear by manual exposure and focus like me you will enjoy this; For people who shoot auto and rely on auto focus this lens is not for you.

Usage with 100mm Laowa Macro + FTZ adapter:

This was the combination that I was always interested in , because I do lot of macro and would love to shoot with Bokeh. You can see my Laowa lens review here.

All these images are shot at 2.8 to get a round bokeh.

Tawny Coster
Tiny Grass Blue
Small Grass Yellow
Oriental Grass Jewel
Common Pierrot
Back Lit , Common Pierrot.
Small Grass Yellow

Using Nikon Zfc with Laowa 100mm and FTZ adapter was fun , but also slightly difficult because of lack of hand grip on the camera ( A simple monopod or a small rig grip will solve this problem) .

I love round bokeh and inorder to get that I need to open the aperture , which gives me a very shallow DOF. Now order to make the picture look good with this setting my focus have to be perfect and also I need to be parallel to the subject, with laowa lens which is manual this is a herculean task , this is where focus peaking on Nikon Zfc helped! What an amazing setting this is.

Focus peaking is a focusing aid in live preview or electronic viewfinders on Nikon Zfc that places a white or coloured highlight on in-focus edges within an image using an edge detect filter.

Now, one may ask why a tool such as this is necessary, with the high-resolution LCDs and EVFs being released today. This is because as great as those screens are and as perfect as your eyesight may be, being able to see what is in focus quickly and clearly can dramatically speed up your work. Also, it is always nice to get another, perhaps more precise, opinion on the technical aspects before you get home and find out that you barely missed the shot you needed.

Peaking also shows up in real time, giving you near-instantaneous feedback as you rack focus through a scene.  Importantly it helps you see what all area is in focus!

How to set focus peaking and use , see the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auBqCn9RdLo.

Thats it friends , I just wanted to share my experience and my take for detailed review there are many sources on the net.

I bought this camera from https://www.videolinks.com/ , Great service from Anish George and his team, They really went out of their way to get me this camera, especially during these days when most of the equipments are out of stock.

Thanks if you like the blog, you can leave a comment at Home Page

Cheers

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Goutham Ramesh

Magical Munnar with Vismaya group

I have been part of team Vismaya, which propagates the thought of helping the needy using our photography skills.  We do conduct photography exhibitions of our pictures and entire income from sales is donated for a cause.

As part of process of making pictures we do go on trips to make pictures; One of our annual trips is a to a beautiful place called Munnar ( We started visiting this place in 2012 ) and this blog is about Munnar and some of the pictures that I have taken at this beautiful place.

Team Vismaya in 2012 AD: ( L-R) Amar, Vinod Balan, Myself, Murali, Venu
Team Vismaya in 2020 : (L-R) Harish, Myself, Amar, Venu, Vinod, Murali ( Sridhar is missing )
Team Vismaya in 2020 Munnar trip : (L-R) Amar, Murali, Harish, Myself, Venu, Sisir)

Munnar

Munnar rises as three mountain streams merge – Mudrapuzha, Nallathanni and Kundala. 1,600 m above sea level, this hill station was once the summer resort of the erstwhile British Government in South India. Sprawling tea plantations, picturesque towns, winding lanes and holiday facilities make this a popular resort town. Among the exotic flora found in the forests and grasslands here is the Neelakurinji. This flower which bathes the hills in blue once in every twelve years, will bloom next in 2030. Munnar also has the highest peak in South India, Anamudi, which towers over 2,695 m.

Trip Route:

Our trip usually starts with a date and checklist by Amar which gives a fair indication of what to carry and what to do. We start from Bangalore and reach Munnar on the same day. The route we usually take is shown below

  • Take Hosur Rd, Bengaluru – Chennai Hwy/Electronic City Flyover/Hosur Rd in Bommanahalli.
  • Follow NH 44 and NH544 to Mangalam Rd/Tiruppur – Vanjipalayam – Avinashi Rd in Avinashi. Exit from NH544.
  • Follow Mangalam Rd and Udumalpet – Palladam Rd to Munnar – Udumalpet Rd in Nullatanni, Kannan Devan Hills.

Team’s Kit:

Apart from our equipment considering that we shoot pretty much whole day starting  as early as 3.00 AM we do carry portable kitchen with stove , table, chair water and lot of ready to cook stuff ( These not only help us survive very cold temperatures , it also fills our stomach and is fun )

Maggie on the road
Chef Sisir and Harish, Munnar
Refreshments on the way

Our Typical Day in Munnar

3.00 AM – 6.30 AM, Top Station: Subjects include Milky way, Sun Kissed peaks , Mist and dawn.

Milkyway , Tops tation
Milky Way Top Station ( There is also a head light lit mist which looks like fire in the distance )
Sun lit peak, Top Station
Above the clouds , Top Station
Top Station after sun rise, we are still above the clouds

6.30 AM – 11.00 AM, Kundala Dam: Subjects include curvy roads, Misty Lake, Misty Canopy and Mountains.

Mist Covered Kundala Lake
Vinod Balan , contemplating a composition
Boats at Kundala
Mist Covered Canopy
Early Morning Mist and Mountains
Sisir thinking about composition
Venu Shooting Lone Tree
Myself at Lone Tree
The result!

11.00 AM – 2.00 PM, Hotel: This is where we cook our own food and discuss the day’s shoot mistakes and what we can do better next day and plan for next day and catchup with sleep

Harish and Murali reviewing images and discussing next shoot

3.00 PM – 7.00 PM:

  • Travel to Devikulam tea gardens, scout for places with sun rays and also shoot sun set.

OR

  • Shoot The sunset at Kundala Dam or Echo point
Tea gardens of Devikulam
Rays and Tea Garden
Rays
Trees and Garden
Sunset on the way to Munnar from Devikulam
Sunset and Kundala
Boats during Sunset at Kundala

7.00PM – 12.00 AM, Top Station: Shoot Star Trails.

Star Trail Munnar
Star Trail Munnar

Link to Star Trail Photography Blog

https://gouthamramesh.com/2021/08/star-trails-photography-method/

12.00 AM – 3.00 AM, Hotel: Much needed rest.

Usually we repeat this every day and plan to shoot differently every day and being in mountains the weather is unpredictable, so we do spend good 3 days doing the same thing.

Heading Back

Our drive back is also fun filled with a customary Masala dosa at Asai Dosa at Saravana Bhavan , Salem.

Harish with his Topi Dosa ( A type of South Indian pancake from a fermented batter of rice and lentils )

If you want a personalised photo tour and workshop at munnar in December/January you can contact me from home page!

Cheers,

Goutham Ramesh