A New Camera. First Impressions. First Test Photos

On Saturday I ordered a new camera, and on Sunday midday it turned up at my home! The excitement was overwhelming, and I spent the day setting up the camera as best as I could so that it works the way that I want it to. Here are my first impressions and a few test images, using a few different straight from camera colour profiles.

First Impressions:
In case you did not see any of my social media yesterday, and the reveal of the camera, I bought myself a brand new Nikon ZF in the current Nikon sale. I have briefly held one before, but that was a couple of months ago, and I did not take too much notice of the occasion. The camera looks absolutely amazing! It is very reminiscent of a Nikon F3 film camera, and has all the retro dials that are needed to control the camera using good old knobs and switches!

The camera has a nice weight to it, the viewfinder is big and bright, the LCD screen is fully articulated, so you can turn it inward and not see the screen, making an even more film-like experience. Is it similar to the Fujifilm X-T3 I had? Yes, and no. This camera is much more classy and feels even more like a film camera than the Fuji’s. That aside, it is a beautiful camera.

Early Tests And Usage:
I have set up the buttons as needed. My standard autofocus is now 3D tracking with eye detect turned on (and it works automatically for animals, birds, vehicles etc) , with the front function button allowing quick switch to single-point focus. After shooting a few events and weddings, I fully understand that you will need to often switch from the chosen target of the camera with the eyes, to something else. I still need to work on this, as I have it slightly different on my Z6ii, so the best in a fast paced situation will be the one I use long-term.

I have set up the video record button as a profile select button, meaning that I can quickly and easily change jpeg profiles as needed (this is for testing out in the real world). I have kept the AEL/AFL button alone at the moment, although I might set it up like I have on the Z6ii at some point.

With that in mind, here are the images from today (straight from camera, only resized). Currently, I have decided to use the “Rich Tone Portraits” profile for general use, as I think it looks stunning!

First batch is simply my first tests using Rich Tone Portrait.

I then decided to take a photo using each of my chosen profiles. See each photos description for the colour profile.

You will noce “MGA OldSchool” in that group of images. It is a little test I worked on yesterday, so I just wanted to see how it looks and uploaded it onto the camera as a profile.

I then switched to the B&W switch, and flicked through the couple of black and white profiles on there. The two images below are Monochrome and Deep Tone Monochrome, and I LOVE that second one!

And here are a few more examples of the profiles I have chosen to use. This time, targeting the sea and sky, that I so often photograph.

Conclusion:
Am I happy? Oh yes! And I have a few things coming to make me happier. I have ordered a new rope strap and a half case (both olive green) and a screen protector. I will feel so much better when the camera is protected a bit!

It is now time to work on a few Nikon Cloud Imaging colour profiles myself, so that I can get looks that I want. As I now, for the first time ever, have FULL control of the colours in a profile (yes, I can even adjust individual colour hues, chroma and lightness as well as anything else!), it is going to be an exciting time!

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