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Nikon Zf Mirrorless

15th January 2024

Nikon at CeS<br />

A Bright Orange Camera

If you read my previous post, you’ll know that I recently returned from attending the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Since the 1980’s Ive been attending CES which showcases many of the newest gadgets and products that are destined to be delivered to the marketplace.

At the Nikon booth a bright orange colored camera caught my attention. This was the Nikon Zf which was introduced last November (2023).


	The Nikon Zf is a 24mp full frame mirrorless camera that shares some of the looks of older classic SLRs – the familiar pyramid viewfinder, a circular shutter dial, an independent ISO dial. I was told that it’s able to capture 11fps stills and handle 4K video at 30fps. The autofocus tracking can recognize nine types of subjects. The image stabilization is linked to the AF point. The rear screen is fully articulated. The camera also features several dedicated black and white modes. For the fashionable photographer the Zf is available in six different colors. The price is about $2250 with 40mm f/2 lens.
	After speaking to the Nikon rep who explained the camera’s features, he walked me over to their in-booth photo studio for a demonstration. I registered my name and email address and found myself in line to have my picture taken. Here the photographer was using the Zf camera surrounded by a set of lightboxes. After sitting for a series of six photos I walked over to the nearby monitor where the artist assistant showed me the resulting pictures. Whatever the artist did, the portraits turned out better than my real life visage.

Later in the day, the images from the photoshoot arrived in my email box.

Here are a couple of the portraits taken with the Nikon Zf.

My thanks go to the people from Nikon for a new set of portraits and for showing me another one of their newest capable cameras.

Post tags: camera, CES, Consumer Electronics Show, Las Vegas, Nikon, Nikon Zf

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Low Light Photography

30th March 2019

It’s Dark Down There


Mammoth Cave National Park, located in central Kentucky is the world’s largest system of caves extending more than 400 miles. On a recent trip with a few of our grandkids, we stopped there for a few hours to explore some of the caves.

here are the grandkids adorning the park sign	at this entrance way we had to descend about 30 steps

We arrived at the park too late to reserve a spot on one of the various guided tours. Instead we opted to take the self-guided tour.

The beginning of the cave entrance is lighted by daylight with handrails and a cement walkway. Continue walking and the outdoor light slowly disappears.	Electrical lights provide the only illumination inside, but they are relatively dim. We were surprised by the width of the cave at this point – about 30 feet side to side.

As you can see, we’re walking alongside the cave walls. The pathway is mostly hard dirt but there are cement pavers in some parts of this cave.	At this point, the cave widens considerably and the ceiling varies between 30 and 50 feet high. You’ll also notice that this area is well lighted.

One of the park rangers points out this small bat hanging from one of the cave walls. He tells us that there were hundreds of the bats at one time but they are no longer found in large numbers.	This part of Mammoth ends after about one-quarter of a mile. As we turn around and walk back towards the entrance way you can visualize the darkness of these caves.

This short clip shows the large size of the so-called “ampitheater” within the self-guided tour cave.

The steps from the cave. The self-guided tour is an easy way to explore Mammoth when you’re time limited.	Here is the wife and grandkids relaxing after their cave diving experience.

For those interested, these photos were taken with a Sony A7 III camera using a 24-240mm lens. In most cases, the ISO setting was 16000 or 32000 and taken handheld with a shutter speed of 1/15 or 1/30 and aperture as wide as f/3.5. I think the photos are of pretty decent quality considering the cave environment.

Post tags: camera, Kentucky, lighting, low light, Mammoth Cave, national park, Sony A7 III, Sony Alpha A55, video

Posted in: informational,lighting,personal,stills,travel | | Comments Off

Fuji Instax Cameras

29th March 2018

Instant Cameras on the Comeback Trail


When I was growing up, Polaroid instant print cameras were very popular. After I bought my first SLR, my next purchase was the $19.95 Polaroid Swinger. The size of a small loaf of bread, the Swinger produced small black and white prints (about 2″ x 3″) in a mere 60 seconds. Instead of spending hours in the darkroom to see the results of my picturetaking, the Swinger provided me the instant gratification that today’s digital devices now deliver. Before I knew it, I had several Polaroids in my stable of cameras including the OneStep as you see on the right. This model popularized the square 3′ x 3″ format prints in both black and white and color. For many reasons by the start of the year 2000, the Polaroid Corporation was on a downhill slide and its bankruptcy claimed their instant cameras and film as a casualty.

At about this same time, Fuji was developing their Instax line. Fuji has since introduced a series of cameras that are tailored to multiple markets. Various models of the Instax are available in many different sizes and dozens of bright colors as you can see below. They include models for children, teenagers and millenials. I had a chance to see many of these models and displays at this year’s annual Wedding & Portrait Professional International Convention and Expo where I learned about Fuji’s continuing commitment to instant photography. Instax film is available in several different sizes and with colorful borders. The board on the right shows a set of instant prints that might be displayed for an engagement – in real time.

Instax Square SQ10 The Fuji rep showed me one of their new models. It’s called the Instax SQ10 and Fuji dubs this an instant print camera with digital features. As its name suggests, the prints are about 2-1/2″ x 2-1/2″ square. The SQ10 has a digital sensor so it can capture images to a microSD card. You can edit and or enhance the images using the builtin LCD monitor. The SQ10 has 10 builtin filters and adjustments for brightness and vignette. Lastly you can immediately print one or more copies. The SQ10 has a fairly fast f/2.4 aperture with autofocus, a builtin flash, a self-timer and automatic ISO setting from 100 to 1600. The film is packaged for 10 exposures. The suggested price is about $230 and film about $12 per pack. For more information please visit Instax Square SQ10.

Instax Share SP-3 The rep also demonstrated the Share SP-3. This is a small, portable printer that uses the same square film as the SQ10. It’s aimed at users who want prints of their smartphone photos. To use it you first install the SP-3 app onto your smartphone. The app then establishes an integrated Wi-Fi connection from the SP-3 to the smartphone. The app offers several ways to customize the prints. There are adjustments for brightness and contrast, color and special effect filters, conversion to black and white and multiple ways to combine two, three, four or nine images on a single print. Additionally the time, date and location can be added to the print. The SP-3 also lets you print images from a Facebook, Instagram, Flickr and Google Photo account so you can share prints with others. The suggested price of the SP-3 is about $180. It uses the same film as the SQ10 costing about $12 per pack. For more information, please visit Instax Share SP-3.