A note to myself and to NG community

[RobOK]

I started this reply in the "what's next for the Z6 thread", but realized it is its own topic.

I love the question, "Do we need more?", of course I do NOT from my Z6. It has so many features and functions, I get easily overwhelmed. Features in a camera is not the stumbling block in my photographic journey.

As many of us here, I would like the Z6 III to be modest (in today's terms) MP (24-36), but improve on ergonomics, operating speed, and soul. The Df (still have mine) did this in some ways. The Leica -- have never shot one -- seems to also. I want less features, less menus, less confusion. I think of Shooting Scenarios -- Street, Social Events Indoor, Outdoor events, Landscape/Nature, Portraits -- I want the camera to do more to support me in my intentions and easily switch between this scenarios both in settings I chose but maybe in some smart overrides or recommendations. I usually shoot in M with Auto ISO and mostly AF and mostly BBF. But sometimes I want manual, sometimes I want to hand the camera to a friend and be in full auto.

All of this is feasible, but really i just need to convince myself NOT to buy a Z6 III. It won't improve my photography!

And BTW, thank you NikonGear community.... while the name "gear" is in the name, this "place" on the web is always grounded in making images, seeing the world, and sharing with each other. The world needs more of that!

Cheers,
Rob.

[Birna Rørslett]

Thanks for the summing-up -- I believe many NG members can share these sentiments. Moreover, not many sites are left that rely on membership contributions only and don't have any advertising at all. The Admins will strive to uphold this practice in the future as well.

While the site name 'NikonGear' has evolved far beyond the domain of the Nikon aficionados, the nerds amongst us still thrive here. Thus, the 'gear' part of the name is justified now like it was in the old days Even nerds can on occasion make photographs !!

[Roland Vink]

It sounds like you are asking for the "scene modes" commonly found on low-end cameras. If each could be configured or allow a measure of user control rather than being completely baked in, I think they would be very useful. My wife used them all the time with our old D50, mainly switching between landscape, sports and portrait modes. It took a lot of great pictures.

A while ago I opened a thread looking for advise on how to replace/upgrade my D600. There was a good discussion and many useful replies. I'm a little ashamed to say that I never acted on any of the advise, I still use my D600. I more or less concluded that a modest upgrade to the D750 was the best option (as my last and best F-mount DSLR), mainly due to the flip-out screen and one generation better image processor. But given the limited amount of photography I have done lately, I find it hard to justify even that, the D600 already is capable of more than I make use of.

Last year I showed some of my old slides to a group of friends. I always loved the quality of a good transparency, and was inspired to buy a couple of rolls of Provia 100F and load my FM3a - there is a camera which has a near perfect balance of automation (metering and aperture priority) and user control, with nothing extraneous.

[RobOK]

It sounds like you are asking for the "scene modes" commonly found on low-end cameras. If each could be configured or allow a measure of user control rather than being completely baked in, I think they would be very useful. My wife used them all the time with our old D50, mainly switching between landscape, sports and portrait modes. It took a lot of great pictures.

Sort of like that, and I can see I wrote it a bit like that. I think more of me saving my different sets of settings but somehow with less overwhelming menus! My Z6 does have User slots but I somehow forget what I have saved in them and three is not enough. I know what I want for each of the Scenarios, I just somehow don't take to the Nikon user banks.

[Ilkka Nissilä]

I find switching from different shooting scenarios quite time-consuming and erratic on the Z6 II, e.g. when I am doing portraits with flash, or working with natural light hand-held, or when going into tripod work for landscape, I need to do a lot of menu-diving to switch between these subjects as there are so few physical controls on the camera. And there are some surprises from time to time, e.g. when I was photographing aurora a couple of weeks ago the LV LCD exposure was completely off from what was realized in the actual pictures and I couldn't tame it. I had to do it by experimentation, which is not how I remember similar situations when working with my DSLRs.

So I can see what you're onto. I believe the best way is to increase the camera size somewhat and add enough physical controls to make switching settings less complicated, but then there are users who feel the camera should be as small as possible ... go figure ...

[RobOK]

I find switching from different shooting scenarios quite time-consuming and erratic on the Z6 II, e.g. when I am doing portraits with flash, or working with natural light hand-held, or when going into tripod work for landscape, I need to do a lot of menu-diving to switch between these subjects as there are so few physical controls on the camera. And there are some surprises from time to time, e.g. when I was photographing aurora a couple of weeks ago the LV LCD exposure was completely off from what was realized in the actual pictures and I couldn't tame it. I had to do it by experimentation, which is not how I remember similar situations when working with my DSLRs.

Yes you are articulating what I am feeling... I want nuanced sets of controls but not deep diving into menus. To me, it would be one top level menu on the camera main screen which had a list of 10 scenarios with names.

Not everyone is a Thom Hogan, but he often envisions camera systems as programmable, modular, and communications-enabled (I'm sure he uses a better word). So I am on the "programmable" -- perhaps even t he programming is done on an app and synced into the camera.

But getting back to the thought behind my post.... The camera is not holding me back, I am the only thing holding me back (my time, my eye, my imagination, my commitment to the craft)