From Nikon Z6 & Z7 to EOS R5...

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From Nikon Z6 & Z7 to EOS R5...

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Good evening, morning, or afternoon to all of you!

I am a +30 year Nikon shooter (with a short 5D adventure and some Fuji’s along with that) and moved from D4, D500 & D850 to Z7 & Z6 on day one of their availability because of more photographic opportunities, silence, size & weight, and the many advantages ML offers over DSLR.
I moved from D4, D500 & D850 to Z7 & Z6 on day one of their availability because of more photographic opportunities, silence, size & weight, and the many advantages ML offers over DSLR. I (wanted to) love(d) Z VERY much but it was not a D500(*) for action, not even close... Good enough for easy BIF capture and similar but too slow and frustrating for fast action or unprepared "capture the moment" pictures. I could live with that while imagining a Z7 successor in a D500-like body with D500' AF...
But ZII was not at all what I was hoping for, after handling the Z7II for a couple of hours I canceled my pre-orders for both Z6II and Z7II... TMHO the Z6II and Z7 II release were, -from the perspective of someone who was using Z6 and Z7 on a daily basis for over two years- more of a complete technical standstill, and while for sure attractive and sufficient for many users and new Z shooters, a disaster for myself... Whatever Nikon claimed, I did not feel any progress in AF speed or AF-related features.
Going back to DSLR was not an option, because of the many ML advantages and for professional reasons (totally silent shooting).

On November 29th I met a friend who was shooting an R5 in a local wildlife park that I often visit and I could try his R5 intensively. I was simply stupefied, especially about AF. Wow… LCD was another wow factor…
And about body and handling: The mirrorless Nikon D500(*) I was dreaming of and hoping for is called... "Canon EOS R5"...

In the night of 29 to 30 November I did not sleep for a minute and on November 30th I was phoning all day around to shops in Belgium, Holland, France and Germany. Nowhere in stock... Long waiting times... :(

On December 12th I got mine at audiophil Foto in Aachen-Germany. Exceptional service.

The first 48 hours were pure horror trying to get along with a totally different system and menus. For a moment I was even thinking about returning it…

On December 20th I started to sell most of my Nikon gear to finance partly my entire brand switch with all glass I need, for fun and for my work...
I bought my lenses @ audiophil in Germany and @ Art & Craft in Belgium. Both companies provide exceptional service.

R5 is that good.

I’m still undecided about the software. DPP4 provides much quality and opportunities but it’s slow. I’m studying several trial software right now...

...

(*) D500 was the Nikon DSLR that I liked the best, more than my D850 or D4 because of its fantastic AF speed and accuracy combined with a wide AF point field coverage, the perfect camera size to my personal taste, and -again to my taste-, perfect button layout.

Thanks for your attention and kindest regards,

Stany


This topic will be continued with my findings about the camera, lenses and pictures(*) ((*) Pictures from the moment I have decided and learned the software I will use in the future...).
kindest regards,

Stany
I like better one good shot in a day than 10 bad ones in a second...
http://www.fotografie.cafe
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Stany Buyle
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Re: From Nikon Z6 & Z7 to EOS R5...

Post by Stany Buyle »

Related to another topic on this forum :arrow: "Dear Nikon..." by Jared Polin - My opinion and my own Nikon story....
In the summer of 2018 Nikon finally released their Z program and joined the upcoming ML camera world.
I was lucky to try out Nikon Z7 months before availability, and here again, I agree with Jared, it was a great first ML product at that particular moment, and I sold my D500, D850 & D4 to finance the Z6 + Z7 combo & Z lenses.
Z6 & Z7' AF was nowhere near D500' AF, but "good enough" compared to other ML options at that time point. ZZ & Z6' AF was sometimes great & sometimes even "fantastic" :D , but unfortunately sometimes (very) frustrating... The Z6 & Z7' FU 3 was really an improvement.
The Z6 & Z7' LCD resolution, slow refresh rate, and movement limitations were other points I didn't like.
... But being able to shoot totally silent compared to former Nikon Dslr' machine gun sound, next to the outstanding IQ, unbeaten Nikon DR and all this in a compact, lightweight body, made me love Nikon Z.
The Z 24-70 F4 (*) is another extremely positive point I'll remember from Nikon Z. ( (*)BTW optically a much better lens than the 24-105 F4-F7.1 on my R5)
While I was using the Z7 next to my D850 for some weeks: :arrow: Nikon D850 vs Nikon Z7

For landscape photography Z6 & Z7 are fabulous...
Image

Even though Z6 & Z7 do not have the AF potential of D500 or D850, there is no problem to capture moderate action, wildlife action or BIFs with Z6 & Z7...

Image

But then :( -2020- Nikon released their second generation Z cameras...
Thanks to a friendly Nikon representative I had the opportunity to test a Z7II for a couple of hours.
Probably loaded with too high expectations I didn't see ANY AF improvement though and that crippled, low resolution, non-swivel LCD was still there.
Selling Z6 &/or Z7 to get Z7II &/or Z6II meant nothing else than burning money. :cry:
I was so disappointed that I canceled my Z7II & Z6II pre-orders.

On November 29th 2020, and with no plans whatsoever to change my Z6 & Z7 for something else, ... I had the opportunity to try a Canon R5 from a friend.
I was simply blown away... I had the feeling I was shooting with a mirrorless D500, autofocusing even faster than D500 and with potentially 20 x 45Mp frames per second.
The R5 body and button layout please me more than Z and last but not least, the R5' high-resolution swivel LCD is a dream.

On December 12th I got mine at audiophil Foto in Aachen-Germany.
The first 48 hours were pure horror trying to get along with a totally different system and menus. For a moment I was even thinking about returning it…

On December 20th I started to sell most of my Nikon gear to finance partly my entire brand switch with all glass I need, for fun and for my work...
I bought my lenses @ audiophil in Germany and @ Art & Craft in Belgium. Both companies provide exceptional service.

The lightweight 800mm F11 is a total unexpected extra, it provides amazing IQ and R5 makes it AF about as fast as my nikkor 200-500 did on my D500 & D850, which means fast enough to capture wildlife action in good light.

R5 is that good.

:arrow: A sample situation why I moved from Nikon Z to Canon EOS R5...
Image

My move to Canon is a one-way ticket but I sincerely hope Nikon catches up. They need to.


Canon EOS R5 related topics on this site:

:arrow: Canon RF 100-400/5.6-8.0 IS review
:arrow: From Nikon Z6 & Z7 to EOS R5...
:arrow: A sample situation why I moved from Nikon Z to Canon EOS R5...
:arrow: Canon RF 100mm f/2.8 L Macro IS USM-user review
:arrow: The moon with R5 & RF800mm (with EXIF)
:arrow: Feather detail from R5+RF800 images....
kindest regards,

Stany
I like better one good shot in a day than 10 bad ones in a second...
http://www.fotografie.cafe
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Stany Buyle
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AF frustrations with Nikon Z as I had, by someone else

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