Nikon Z6ii and Z7ii Wildlife Photography Review

[Music] hey everyone steve from backcountry gallery here and this time we're going to talk about the new z6 and z7 version 2 cameras i purchased each camera within a day or two of the stores getting them on their shelves so i've had lots of time to take them out and put them through their paces in this case i kept my shooting local and have knocked out nearly 7 000 frames between the two cameras while exploring and photographing the wildlife in my local area also before we get too far i do want to remind you that i am not sponsored or affiliated with nikon in any way they don't give or loan me gear and i receive no compensation from them in any way shape or form also i want to give you a realistic expectation here this video isn't a full field review like some of my others there are tons of reviews out there already for these two cameras that cover all the tech specs plus these cameras are like eighty percent of the original i guess mark one cameras so you probably have a pretty good idea of what we're dealing with here instead i'm gonna talk about how i've been using the improved features of these bodies with my wildlife photography and what that experience has been like in short i'm using this video to try to answer the simple question are the z6 and z72 good enough for wildlife photography now spoiler alert the short answer is a qualified yes these cameras seem to sit in what will likely be the middle of nikon's z series lineup they aren't the best at anything and they aren't the worst at it either they offer a nice balance of price output and performance put another way if these were like dslrs i'd put them in like the d750 or d780 category a solid versatile all-around general purpose camera as you probably know this was not my opinion when the z6 and z7 first hit the market my field experience with those early cameras and the initial 1.0 firmware was far from satisfactory heck even as the firmware updates came and things became better for me those original z's were just kind of an okay choice for wildlife now these second gen cameras are noticeably better so let's talk about the differences first and it's minor but i'm glad to see the dual card slots i keep an extra sd card in there for those times i think i have enough memory and get out on a prolonged shoot and don't have an extra card in my pocket in addition the startup time on the new cameras is notable they are much faster to boot up than the first versions and even faster than my a92 one serious complaint wildlife photographers had with the z cameras and honestly many other mirrorless cameras is that when you turn the camera along it takes it too long before you can actually start shooting the z cameras have addressed this really well in fact i used to have my standby timer set for like 10 minutes or so with the first z cameras because i was missing too many shots when the camera went into standby and i had to wait for it to turn back on while these cameras aren't quite as fast as a dslr for startup they are quick enough that it's not been a major issue at least so far in my shooting i'm also a fan of the new grip one of my biggest gripes with the first versions was the absence of that vertical grip or at least one with controls as wildlife photographers we often find ourselves waiting for prolonged periods for an animal to actually turn our way if the composition demands a vertical approach it gets uncomfortable holding the camera with your finger on the release and your arm at your head level like this kind of flailing around for extended periods of time the grip makes it much easier to survive those extended weights in addition it just makes shooting verticals more stable overall you know the thing is it's really comfortable to hold and the control placement is great and honestly i think they did a great job with this one i also like how the battery compartment works on the grip one lever releases just a single battery for a quick swap even with the camera running and the other lets you take out both batteries at once as for battery life it really depends during one active shoot that started with a full battery i got about eighteen hundred shots and the camera was still showing that i had like a fifty percent charge left on the other hand during some slower winter afternoons i ran dry at about a thousand shots it really comes down to how much you use the evf how much you're reviewing your images using the menu that sort of thing and you know how quickly ice forms on your beard since these batteries are affected a little bit by the cold this is one place where the extra capacity of that battery grip is very welcome the buffer is really up to par for wildlife in both cameras now here's a slide with my buffer experience as you can see nikon blew right past adequate and went straight to impressive i know for me there's very little chance i'd ever run into that buffer in either camera in fact the z7 mark ii buffer actually exceeds the d850 buffer by a comfortable margin plus with the cf express card installed it doesn't take long to clear the buffer out once it gets full and get back to shooting nikon also claims the blackout time has been reduced and although that may be true it still seems to last longer than i'd like now don't get me wrong it's not a deal breaker in any sense of the word it's just that in the field the more time you have looking at the target and not a black screen the better frame rate is another area that saw a minor improvement but still remains a little disappointing it's not that i find 10 or 14 frames per second too slow it's the implementation when you use the continuous high extended mode the camera goes into slideshow mode as you shoot showing you the image you just shot rather than the live feed now for stationary action like a bird on a perch flapping its wings for example that's fine it also works okay for slower flying birds however as you get to faster and faster subjects it becomes progressively more difficult to keep the af area where you want it on the target since all you see in the viewfinder is your last shot in addition nikon must have worn out the asterisk key when typing up the specs to get the full extended frame rate you have to use the mechanical shutter you have to drop to 12 bit and you have to stick with single point af what's frustrating to me is that if you're shooting a high frame rate it's probably because you're shooting action right makes sense just when you need things like a live viewfinder feed and larger af areas they get deleted from the equation sadly to get a live feed in the viewfinder as you shoot you have to drop to normal continuous high and that tops out at a relatively lethargic 5.5 frames per second this is where i wish we saw some improvement something like eight frames a second with a live feed would have been a welcome improvement here but it just wasn't there so what about autofocus before we jump in if you're a z series shooter you know the af systems on these cameras have a little bit of a learning curve to them if you want to make that learning curve exceptionally shorter make sure you check out my ebook secrets to exposure and metering for nikon the mirrorless edition it'll have you running the z series af system like a pro in no time so let's talk about the af system first for static subjects it's exceptional and really incredibly accurate if the camera has a lock on a static subject it's just plain sharp i saw this again and again with an incredible almost non-existent failure rate and i suspect that the few times my static subjects weren't sharp was probably a problem four inches behind the viewfinder not the camera for action it still did fairly well about what i would expect from maybe like a d750 or d780 wasn't perfect but i was happy with the keeper rate with the normal af areas my favorite is still wide small for action you might want to take a note on that one as it works great it's the perfect size for tracking and i seldom had an issue with it while i wouldn't put the z6 or z72 in the same af action league as like a d850 d500 or d5 or d6 it's still a very capable camera i think this af improvement may largely be a result of the dual processor setup in the past with the old z cameras i would disable apply settings to live view in the custom settings menu and i noticed an improvement in af performance now i saw no need to do that with these new version 2 cameras and i noticed no difference in af performance when i tested it on some flight shots now i'm going to reserve the right to change my mind about this as i try it with other subjects for right now everything seems to work really really well with that setting turned on where i was disappointed was with the actual tracking mode i hope to see an improvement here but it doesn't seem to work any better than what we had on the first versions of these cameras i had used it for tracking seagulls and other waiting birds and you know it seemed like it was getting paid to drop the target time and again the tracking system would see something in the background and jump to it heck i mean there were times it would jump to a cloud instead of staying with the bird my hope is that nikon updates this feature i have a feeling the camera has the processing power to do more and maybe this is just more of a firmware update issue as for af speed with the ftz adapter it's about the same as the original z cameras very generally speaking most adapted f-mount lenses are going to take about twice as long to run the range of the focused ring as they would do on a dedicated f-mount camera here's the 600 millimeter on the d850 versus the z62 as you can see it's noticeably slower when we move to the 200 to 500 the speeds are neck and neck i think that's largely because both cameras are capable of more speed than the 200 to 500 is for the 500 pf once again the d850 is about twice as fast however it's important to note that by and large this isn't a big problem unless you really are running the focus range of the lens all the time getting the focus distance close in the field before you actually engage autofocus can help overcome this quite a bit and the improved accuracy of the af system means there's less hunting than we had with the first versions of the cameras so what's a verdict well the new z6 and z72 are capable wildlife cameras again they're not the best in the world and they're not the worst they can comfortably get the job done in most circumstances as we mentioned i think it's also important to take these cameras in the context of where they sit in the lineup it's easy to say that the z72 is the top of the line nikon z camera and put it against sony and canon's best but i think the truth is i don't think that the z6 and z7 series are meant to compete at that level i suspect we'll see proper high-end competitors from nikon in the future that will go head-to-head with those higher end bodies from canon and sony i tend to recommend these cameras for people who do general wildlife or action isn't the mainstay now don't get me wrong these new cameras can absolutely do action but cameras like the d5 d6 d500 d850 they tend to net a higher keeper rate at the same time i really love my z cameras and especially the 500 pf for hiking and kayaking while i'm searching for wildlife i love that i have af all over the viewfinder and frankly that has made the small birds you've seen in this review 100 easier i shoot them at very close range and they are always falling outside the af field on my full-frame dslrs so i'm going to say i'm a happy z camera owner personally i think if you have a higher end dslr it's not a bad idea to add one of these to your kit i don't know that i'd replace something like again a d5 d6 d850 or d500 with one of these but adding one to your kit gives you the best of both worlds as we like to say use the best tool for the job as for which camera the z6 or z72 it really comes down to priorities if low light and faster extended frame rates are the most important thing and you can usually fill the frame the z62 is the way to go if crop ability or big prints sound more like what's in your wheelhouse then the z72 is the best choice if you've enjoyed this video and have a nikon z series camera make sure you do check out my ebook secrets to the nikon autofocus system mirrorless edition it is jam packed with advice techniques and tips that will give you a much better experience with your z series camera all written in a casual way that's easy to understand and follow along finally make sure you sign up for my free email newsletter so you never miss a video a live stream a workshop an article or a new book also if you have a photography question or just want to have a fun place to show off your photos check out the bcg forums and you know what i can't wait to see you there finally make sure you like subscribe and get notified thanks so much for watching and have a great day you

Channel: Steve Perry

Views: 40,318

Rating: 4.9807692 out of 5

Keywords: photography tips, photography help, Backcountry Gallery, Steve Perry, nature photography, nikon z6ii review, nikon z62 review, nikon z7ii review, nikon z72 review, nikon z6ii for wildlife, nikon z7ii for wildlife, nikon z62 for wildlife, nikon z72 for wildlife, nikon z6ii wildlife photography, nikon z7ii wildlife photography, nikon z62 wildlife photography, nikon z72 wildlife photography, nikon z6 mark 2 review, nikon z7 mark 2 review

Id: YqKaUjjaA70

Length: 12min 28sec (748 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 17 2021