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Mirrorless Camera – My Move to the Nikon Mirrorless Camera System

Ever since Sony released their first full-frame mirrorless camera in 2013 I have been wanting to make the switch from DSLR to mirrorless. But I did not want to switch to Sony, for a handful of reasons. Over the years I’ve tried a bunch of mirrorless cameras, both full frame and cropped: Leica M9, Sony A7II, Sony A7R, Fuji XT-1, and the Panasonic GH-5.

Due to my dislike of all the mirrorless cameras I tried, I stuck with my Nikon D850 for video and still work. Until the Nikon Z series was released. After spending some time with the Z7 and now owning a Z6, I can honestly say that it’s one of the best Nikon cameras I’ve owned, and definitely the best mirrorless camera.

In this video, I share my story… my move to a mirrorless camera system. This is my move to mirrorless.

Transcription was done by Descript‘s automated transcription services which means it’s an AI-generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar, and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

Ever since Sony released their first full frame mirrorless camera back in 2013 I been wanting to make the switch from a digital SLR to mirrorless, but I did not want to switch to Sony for a hand for reasons, some of which are the camera is built on the Minolta system, which to me is a turnoff. Here come the hater comments you see. I used to work at a large camera warranty company and have the ability to see firsthand how poorly made Minolta cameras were and how Pearl poorly made Sony cameras were. Yes, Sony has evolved over the years and they’re much, much better now, but the amount is still based on Minolta. I did not want to switch lenses. I have been an icon user thanks to my grandfather who left me his neck on equipment when he passed. I like having good battery life and the Sony batteries just aren’t up to par.

When I tried the seven two I was not impressed by it’s low light capabilities. I used it at an indoor birthday party as an experiment and it couldn’t handle the event. As mentioned in the first noted reason, Sony has evolved, they’ve come a long way and the cameras are far better than the older models, so a big Kudos to Sony for working hard to make better equipment. There are additional reasons but I thought I’d share a few before moving on over the years I tried a bunch of mirrorless cameras, both full frame and crop like the Leica M9 and the Sony A7II and the Sony A7R and the Fuji XT1 and the Panasonic GH5 of those. The one with the best build and image quality was the Leica m nine but it was also the slowest due to the nature of a range finder and the most expensive to maintain because well like is simply overpriced.

The Panasonic GH five worked well for a short time because of its video capabilities, but I was not fond of the still image quality due to my dislike of all the mirrors, mirrorless cameras I tried, I stuck with my Nikon d 50 for video and still work until the Nikon z series was released. With that though I had my concerns and here are some of those. The z series cameras use x Q d cards, which are expensive and not common among other brands. However, the card slot is far more upgradeable to see if express, which would make the cards even faster and well as less expensive as well. The CF express cards, not out yet, but when they are out, there’s that. The Z series cameras require new lenses. The s line for z bodies, why they just called, they called it the gas slide instead of calling them Zealand does is beyond me.

Does camera requires the use of an adapter, the model FTZ f mount to this email and that’s to use the f Matt Lenders on these new bodies. This is just like, if I want to use my Nikon f Matt Lenz is on a Sony body, I’d have to use an adapter. Although the advantage of the FTC adapter is, well, you can use the full autofocus capabilities even with f Matt Lenders where you can’t on a Sony Barney and you even get the inbody stabilization with f Matt Lenses on a z body. There’s also only one card slots on the Nikon z six and z seven they could have easily made to execute these slots or two SD card slots if they really wanted to, even though they’re saying they couldn’t fit, it could have fit. Now, this doesn’t bother me too much as I carry a western digital, my passport wireless pro with me whenever I travel to do backups on the fly, but I can understand why there’s a bother.

Some photographers, that was the extent of my concerns, but after spending some time with an icon z seven and now owning an icon z six I can honestly say that it’s one of the best Nikon cameras I’ve ever owned and definitely the best mirrorless. Not only is the EVF spot on and incredible, not only is the auto focus including envideo fast and accurate, but the battery life is amazing. It uses the same long lasting battery is a Nikon d 50 and it continues to last a long time in the mirrorless body. I can go for an entire day of capturing images and videos on one charge. I almost forgot to mention that people were complaining that the camera has no IAF, which uses the software and the camera to guarantee focus on eyes. Well and I kinda already announced that it’s coming with a firmware upgrade soon.

A small side note, I wish that the camera had a flip out screen similar to the Sony Six d and and some other cameras instead of just a flip up and down style. I wish I had a flip out so I didn’t have to use a external monitor to see myself when I’m doing self recording videos, but it’s not the end of the world now. I am a mixed camera type user. I use a Nikon d eight 54 the work that requires those mega pixels and that dynamic range like commercial work. I use the Z six for all of my videos now as well as street photography work, photos of my own family and other daily thing. It’s literally on my hip with the spider holster all day, every day. It’s light, compact and flawless. So far, so good and I might switch from the Nikon d at 52 another mirror list with that high of megapixels and dynamic range.

Maybe in the future, maybe the second iteration of the z seven or whatever comes next. Maybe something with two carts locked if they make it. Why? Because once you use an EVF and find yourself loving it, you never want an optical view finder again. But for now split use is what I’ll be doing. My Nikon z six set up is as follows, the 24 to 70 f four lens that came with the camera, a spider light holster. This spider pro clamp, the really right stuff, l bracket the wine country. Camera’s 72 millimeter three stop neutral density filter, the Nikon Ftz adapter for all my f Matt Lenses and finally the spider light hand strap. Now eventually I will be adding in the 14 to 35 f four for video work, but for now that’s not available yet and I not, I’m not spending that kind of money on the lens just yet. This is my move to mirrorless. It’s been a slow road with some bumps and hurdles, but I’m glad to finally be on this journey for the long haul. If you’re interested in seeing the quality videos to come out of the Nikon disease, six in sort of real world vlogging and educational style footage, visit my youtube channel and click on the subscribe button. Maybe even karate kick the notification bell. Thanks for watching.

By Scott

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386 comments

  1. I have been thinking of going mirrorless for some time now and I appreciate your review – will save me some headaches.
    I presently am a Canon user and you did not mention any of their new mirrorless cameras – did you try any?
    Thanks

    1. Nothing is wrong with it. I just never tried it. Once I tried the Fuji, Sony and Panasonic, I knew those were off the table. So if I was going with something that required be to use an adapter for my Nikon glass, I might as well stick with Nikon.

  2. Nice review Scott, as a canon owner I can surely appreciate the need to keep your best glass, I dumped my Canon5 D mark III for an EOS R and will never go back, love it, and just got the drop in filter mount/adapter, awesome, happy shooting my friend

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