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Some excellent tips! I have a buddy that likes the shower cap approach for his camera in heavy rain. A seat mat has been on my list of accessories to try out in the field - partially to soften the ground against my knees for low comps or as I sit (I'm not getting any younger!), but doubling as a rain shield of sorts would a nice way to get additional use out of it.

The D850 is a beast! Your Z7 is your first mirrorless then? I'll be curious to hear how you like it!

The display is definitely something that would be nice. I think for me, since I haven't done a lot of landscape photography with a 2-way tilt screen or flippy screen (like the Z6III) I know the Z7II display is annoying, but it hasn't elevated to a huge issue. I bet if I used the Z8 for a few weeks that lack of 2-way tilt on the Z7II would move up on my list of complaints because I'd then know what I was really missing. And agreed on us all being spoiled by modern cameras! We have a lot of great options and so many of the things we (me included) comment on are marginal differences and not game changing differences between camera versions and brands.

Right!? Photographers have been photographing wildlife for YEARS and YEARS without high-end AF systems. The AF in the Z7II isn't horrible either - I've used it for sports and events and it does just fine, even though it isn't Nikon's latest AF system. I would like to see a Z7III as well.

That sensor shield would be nice! And I agree on the camera size overall. I'm quite happy with the size of the Z7II, and while I know the Z8 isn't *that* much bigger, it still annoys me.

Even the Z7 was a great camera and relevant for landscapes! I wish it had the 2nd card slot, I probably would have moved to mirrorless much sooner. Also agree that the Z7/Z7II is such a great size of camera. I really like the form factor.

Yeah - the AF struggles a bit on fast moving sports and wildlife, I think those types of photography are a big reason to consider one of the newer cameras. (And I agree, the bundling of video features with everything drives the price up, wish they'd not bundle them with so many of the new models - and I say that as a RUclipsr who actually does video all the time).

It isn't so much it is lacking as much as has something come out that does actually improve efficiency in the field. For example, if a new camera came out that made a significant dynamic range improvement over what we have today, sign me up! Being able to capture MORE compositions in a single frame instead of blending would be amazing! Additionally, do the small things in newer cameras add up to making me more efficient or effective overall. I think at the end of the day, the video is the opposite of a GAS video. It is me, taking a look at the nearly 5 year old Z7II and comparing it to the newest and latest cameras and still saying, the Z7II is a great camera for a great price. I am actually advocating to stick with what I have and not get the latest, greatest, even if I was tempted for a bit. And I'm advocating taking the money saved and go on a trip, or take a few trips - that is what will really help improve one's photography. Thanks for watching!

You might love the Z8 then, slightly taller body. I never used a grip, even in my heavy portrait days, so I'm just more used to a smaller camera body. I can totally see if you are used to coming from a larger body that it would carry over to the mirrorless world. Thanks for watching!

Thanks Jon - those are some great observations. Those illuminated buttons would be nice, while I know my buttons pretty well, a little bit of illumination wouldn't hurt me! I also like the Starlight mode on the Z8. Someone showed me that on one of my workshops and that looked like a cool feature for lowlight situations and seeing the scene a bit better for focusing and such. I can imagine the switching between the two takes a bit, muscle memory is such a powerful thing! And really, almost the biggest temptation for a Z8 is just so I can keep up with things for the YT channel. i.e. being able to talk more about some of the things you point out from actual field use instead of either hearing it secondhand, seeing it on a workshop, or reading sales material. For example, the custom controls being different - dial vs. in the I menu. I have a video on the controls, but I only have the dial option, so can't help people as much with the Z8. Thanks for watching!

@@JeffreyTadlockPhotography There is justification for you to take the leap... You want to do the best job possible for the YT channel and being able to discuss a broader variety of products fits into your responsibility as a content maker! (might sell the idea that way...)

@@jonreed1905 Keeping current for YT will likely be the key reason if I ever do update to the Z8. :D

I find it really hard to find a compelling reason to "upgrade". The camera does so well and it isn't like it is an inexpensive upgrade either. I am glad Nikon continues to put out great cameras, even if I choose not to update though. The form factor thing is pretty big with me. I hate to see the cameras "bloating" up in size again, when the smaller, more compact, but capable camera body is supposed to be one of the selling points of mirrorless. I could probably deal with the weight, size is almost the bigger thing. Yeah - if someone wants to give me a Z8, I would use it though! Just hard to justify parting with the money for what I would get compared to the Z7II. Thanks for watching!

That lens combination is perfect in my opinion. I feel like there isn't anything that setup can't do. And that 100-400 is pricey, but I really like mine! Glad the videos have been helpful, I used to do a lot of portraits and events, but I have been very happy with my move back to my roots in landscape photography. I find it very rewarding overall! And I'd be happy to help when you're ready! Thanks for watching!

Ha! I'm not going to say it WON'T happen! Everything I have heard about the Z8 has been positive and I have several friends that are quite happy with it. I just have a really hard time justifying the money for what I would get. IF I end up with a Z8 by the end of the year, my Z7II would definitely become my 2nd camera body for backup or handheld while the main camera is on the tripod. Thanks for watching!

Glad the video helped! I've been a Nikon user for a long time, I used Nikon DSLRs before the move to mirrorless. Regarding your questions, firmware updates have always been smooth for me. No issues, I do tend to keep my firmware updated (though I admit, I typically wait a couple of weeks after a release before updating - but that's just my general paranoia around any software update, not specific to Nikon.) I do have a video on my channel on how to do the updates as well. I actually cut the part where I talk about the Z6II and 24MP because I thought I be being longwinded! I do own a Z6II as well, and I do use it for landscape photography (typically as my backup camera body or handheld while my Z7II is on the tripod waiting for some big scene to unfold). For landscape photography I prefer the 45MP sensor, mainly because it lets me crop in post-processing and still have plenty of resolution. I don't do huge crops anymore, but I would say I tend to shoot a touch wide, then finalize a composition in post-processing. I think 24MP works, I just feel like I need to capture my composition in camera and not rely as much on cropping in post-processing. If I could only have one camera and it was for landscape photography, I'd go for the 45MP size. Hope that helps!

Awesome! Glad you like them! I've always found their image quality to be very high! I typically don't use lens hoods anymore. 2 of my 3 main lenses need step-up rings to use with filters, so can't use lens hoods on them anyways because of the step-up ring. The main annoyance with not using a lens hood (beyond, needing to watch out for flares in the lens more, easily solved by shading the front element with a hand or hat), is when it is drizzyly or rainy, no protection to keep drops off the lens. So have to wipe it down a lot more frequently. Thanks for the update!

Oh - nice! Love Colorado, though it has been about two years since I've been. Hoping for an early autumn trip this year!

It's a great camera! I'm actually about to release a new video on if the Z7 II is still relevant in 2025, you can probably already guess my answer!

I believe there is a "microchip" in the battery and that cameras do a check of the battery, probably things like it is outputting the right power, does it "identify" itself correctly, etc. Sort of like printer ink cartridges. Some camera manufacturers just pop-up a warning when using a 3rd party battery, others prevent it from working, but I assume that is tied to some chip in the battery and how it presents itself to the camera. I am guessing the blue battery didn't present itself in a way that the Z6II or Zf found compatible, then SmallRig updated the microchip in the orange battery to follow the new battery protocol. I'm just speculating though and cannot say for certain.

That table is so convenient! That is the 2nd little platform I built and the 2nd time around I put that table slide in. Building it is pretty simple. I used 3 2x2's to raise the platform attached equidistant (one left side, middle, and right side). Then I used some angled aluminum from home depot and cut it down to size. Attached it to the 2x2's under the platform, used a little felt to keep table from rattling, and then cut a piece of plywood to fit on that half.

@ thanks for the tip! Going to add this to my platform tomorrow

@@gearjunkie88 Good luck - it is super handy. I mainly use it for making coffee when I'm somewhere with no table. But also handy for having a place to make sandwiches and stuff as well!

It is always a series of trade-offs. In my case I like a longer focal length, especially for that trip. Even 200mm feels a little short, so a 105mm on the long side wouldn't be enough reach for me.

​@@JeffreyTadlockPhotography Very true J.T

Those are some great observations! I will say I have OEM batteries that I still use from my d750's that perform just fine (and they are lower mAh than comes with the mirrorless cameras). Time will tell, for the moment I plan on using these SmallRig batteries as my main batteries, maybe I will do a 6 month or 1 year check-in to see how they are doing after even more use with them. Interesting about the chargers. I hadn't considered that. If I am at home, I tend to grab the OEM chargers to charge the batetry. Then I use a 3rd party charger on the road, because I am usually wanting to use a USB port from a power bank or power station to charge my batteries. I'll have to pay closer attention to that.

@@JeffreyTadlockPhotography - When I mentioned this on one of the groups, more than one member attributed the discrepancy with my third party chargers as possibly the pin configuration... either that or I don't know what I'm talking about. 😄

@@DonDickinson-o9o I do plan on playing with it - I'll charge a battery in the OEM and one of 3rd party chargers and then maybe see what the Battery Info says in the camera. Either way - I'm definitely going to be more aware of that possibility!

It makes it super easy to find in my tech pouch and such!

Always a good idea to test batteries or any new equipment really to be sure something doesn't fail at an inopportune time. I've been lucky with the 3rd party batteries I have had. I haven't had one outright fail, just less capacity and performance than an OEM battery. Especially in the cold.

I have only used the batteries with a Z6II and Z7II, I don't have access to a zf. Shots per battery will usually vary for me in general depending on if I am shooting a lot of long exposures (which can vary depending on time of day, amount of light, etc), single shot vs continuous shot, how much video I record from one of the cameras, and how diligent I am at turning off the camera between scenes.

The filter glass is not wider than the thread. You can use a step-up ring if you wanted though, which would allow you to use a filter bigger than the filter thread (a lot of filter manufacturers recommend using a step-up ring on an ultra-wide if you want to be guaranteed no vignetting). So in my case, I could step-up from an 82mm thread size to 95mm filter size with a step-up ring. Maven also makes a "low rider" magnetic adapter ring that is lower profile than their normal one. This can help reduce vignetting on wide angle lenses as well. The con to that one I believe is that you lose a bit of magnetic strength, I haven't use that adapter ring so I can't say for sure how much. Hope that helps!

Oh! That's terrible! If mine end up acting up or I experience issues, I will for sure do an updated video! I hope I have better luck, I really like the USB-C charging port option.

So it looks like they put the price back at the normal list again for the moment. I got my first set in early to mid-November and they were on sale then. And I just semi-recently got them for $35 from Amazon, like in the past 2 weeks. But I just checked and they are also back at list there. I'd keep an eye on them to go on sale again. I guess Murphy's law that the price went up just before my video went live! But both times I've bought them at $35-ish. When on sale, I usually find that price at Amazon or B&H.

Glad to hear someone else has been having a good experience with them as well! Maybe that's it, SmallRig just buys a higher quality cell than some of the other 3rd party battery folks. That certainly makes sense! And I love that USB-C, such a great feature.

My biggest issue with 3rd party batteries has mainly been terrible battery life compared to the OEM version. Not so much that they don't work, just not nearly the life as the OEM. (I've *heard* of batteries swelling and getting stuck, though I have not experienced it). Totally agree on the USB port on the battery itself - such an awesome convenience! That was my biggest reason for giving this particular set a try.

I have been quite pleased so far. Definitely better than other 3rd party batteries I have used in the past. I was glad to get some time in with them in the cold, as they did seem to work quite well in the cold as well!

Hopefully they keep performing well in the long-term! At the moment I plan on them being my primary battery, which is a big change for me since I usually rely on OEMs. Fingers crossed!

Glad the video was helpful - let me take a shot at answering your questions. I think it is easiest to describe how mine is setup and how I use it. So - my U1 is setup for landscape photography and manual settings. My manual setting default to 1/160 shutter, f/5.6, and ISO 64. I have some other misc. setting set as well. My assumption is that I will be doing landscape photography from a tripod. I can change my shutter, aperture and ISO as I need to while in U1 away from my default settings. My default choices just get me to the ballpark of what I want. My U2 is set to assume I am going to do some handheld landscape photography. So I have it set to aperture priority mode, ISO 400 (I know I am not the most stable handheld shooter, so I spot myself some ISO). Once I switch to U2, I can change my aperture if I need to. My U3 is assuming wildlife photography. Which for me mimics manual mode, but with AutoISO enabled, so I only need to worry about shutter and aperture for those faster moving scenes. Not sure if that usage description helps or no - happy to answer more questions!

@@JeffreyTadlockPhotography Thanks for the reply. I'm beginning to understand that I should think of the U settings as M-plus, or AP-plus, or SP-plus, and of course they are very personal to each individual. In combination with customisable buttons, customisable 'i' menu, and the huge range of configurable settings, I'm honestly finding modern cameras a bit overwhelming. My first camera just had ISO and shutter speed and a very primitive EV meter, and that's all!

@ That's actually a great way to think of it I think! I hope it helps!

Ha! I know that feeling, especially if I haven't used the camera for a bit or only been doing one type of photography. Takes a bit for the muscle memory to come back.

The Z7II is such a great camera for landscape photographers. Nice form factor, very, very capable, just the right amount of resolution in my opinion. Hard to beat!

I love the precision for small adjustments. No more loosenin the ball head and having it move on an unexpected axis!

I am not 100% sure how it works for Canadians, but your thoughts on how it works doesn't sound that far off. I did find this page on the Nikon Canada site that might help? en.nikon.ca/content/gray-market

Glad the video was helpful! And I appreciate the feedback on more Affinity Photo videos!

Yep - the Z7II is still such a solid camera. Thanks for watching!

I have used the 28-400! Still have in fact (I have a video or two on it on the channel as well). The 28-400 is very versatile, I took it to Arizona last year on a trip where I had limited time to do photography, so didn't want to take my full kit, but still wanted to have something capable and flexible with more out in the Superstitions. It worked quite well for that.

Glad it was helpful!

I'll give that a try! Thanks for the tip!

Thank you! Glad you liked the video!

The histogram helps determine your exposure, so by watching the histogram I could see what my exposure was looking like and adjust the shutter speed accordingly. I talk all about the Histogram in this vide, it might help - ruclips.net/video/Ku6kibYvYuc/видео.html As for reframing, I first find the composition I want, then, when doing a focus stack choose the closest point to focus on and then start the focus shift. I don't recompose once I select the focus point. (Not 100% sure I answered your question here, just let me know if I didn't or if I misunderstood the question). Hope that helps!

@@JeffreyTadlockPhotography Thanks Jeff.

Glad it was helpful!

Or as I like to call it - "influencer yellow"... LOL

The polarizing filter is the one I general say if you can only have one filter or getting started with filters the first one to get. So I think it is a good start. I like my ND filters, as they are handy for allowing slower shutter speeds, but you could always add one on later. Hope that helps!

@@JeffreyTadlockPhotography I will get the splash guard too, to protect the lens. I already have a tiny scratch almost in the middle of the lens barely any, doesn't really effect the image. No idea how I got it, as I'm super careful. Can one leave the filter on and get 0 polarising or does it start at already polarised? If so I might need to take it off for some situations I guess. So I think the case would be useful. All added up with shipping won't be cheap. But with what I found on other filters it seems to be the right option.

Thank you!

That makes sense to be sure before getting rid of the 80-400mm lens. I've never had that lens to compare to, but I know it seems to be the lens people are comparing this one to as they either move to mirrorless, or consider moving away from an adapted lens.

It is on the pricey side, but with that said it is surprisingly compact and lightweight for a geared head! I haven't tried one of the K&F style heads (which is super similar to one of the Manfrotto style geared heads I think?)

@ The K&F I have is the first geared head I’ve ever used. I don’t “do” photography for a living, I’m just a hobbyist.

FLM makes some great stuff! I've been playing with another geared head as well, and the FLM one is so compact and light compared to it!