Got my Z8
- Thread starter WaltE
- Start date
Danno
Senior Member
It is intense. I did mine following Hudson Henery's video. It is long, but he is thorough. I also set up four memory banks: Walk Around, Church, BIF, and Moon.
One of the best settings I took from this was using the buttons on the Z Lenses to switch from Wide Area to 3D focus when tracking a person or anything else. I also used Steve Perry from Back Country Gallery to customize my work.
They both helped me get started. One thing worth mentioning is the Custom Memory Banks, I had never used the user settings on my D7200 or any other DSLR. The user banks are easier to use because you can choose them in the iMenu.
I wish you well.
One of the best settings I took from this was using the buttons on the Z Lenses to switch from Wide Area to 3D focus when tracking a person or anything else. I also used Steve Perry from Back Country Gallery to customize my work.
They both helped me get started. One thing worth mentioning is the Custom Memory Banks, I had never used the user settings on my D7200 or any other DSLR. The user banks are easier to use because you can choose them in the iMenu.
I wish you well.
Thanks for the link! I'll get into that as soon as I recover from the ones I watched today. I haven't started on banks yet because I really don't know what I want in many cases. I need to spend a week or so just shooting different things to better understand what I will use the most. I have a lot of testing to do. I need to test the n-raw-n-log against Canon's raw light and Black Magics b-raw. I'm anticipating the three will cut well together but I want to make sure. I truly hoping it will work out as a cinema camera and a still camera.
Clovishound
Senior Member
I'm a year and a half out on my Z5, and still discovering new things in the menus and features that may be useful to me. I'm sure there's a lot more in the Z8 menus.
Danno
Senior Member
I am pretty much a stills only guy. I kind of went at it testing it out before I made the commitment to a few hours to set up everything. i Do like how when we switch to video and back you only flip the switch and I am back to my photo settings. You might want to reach out to these guys and maybe Matt Irwin. these guys use there Zs for video.
I am anxious to see how things go for you.
Danno
Senior Member
I love the Z5. I helped two folks from church to buy and setup Z5s. it was so much like my Z6… I still use it some. The Z5 and 6 both do so well in low light.
I'll want to chatter about it for sure. I love to tell people about my cameras because they are so fascinating to me. I have to be careful not to annoy folks. I can get pretty long winded, lol.
I'm the same way with my other Nik's. I kinda learn out of need. I find a situation that is a problem and start diving deeper into the menu's, lol. I've found enough settings to get me up and running but especially the focus options confuse me. Been watching videos on the subject but until I work those modes over for myself, I don't feel confident. It's time to go fill up some memory cards!
What I know so far......
Two Tamron and one Sigma lens that I really like work perfectly with the FTZ adapter.
My EF mount (Canon) lenses work perfectly with an adapter. Even the Dx (super 35 cine) lenses in DX mode.
Full frame focus area is just pain weird. Set to animal detection, it's impossible to say what it will decide to focus on until it spots an eye. Bird, squirrel, rat, whatever it instantly nails the eye and sticks.
With a 512Gb cfast I can get 90 minutes of 4.1K 4:4:4 12 bit Raw logarithmic video and it is gorgeous in Davinci Resolve.
Love the silent shutter, so do all my animal friends.
Waveform monitor, Yes!
At this point I believe it is the camera I was looking for. One camera that will snag great photos and cinema quality video. One camera grab and go for exploring.
Two Tamron and one Sigma lens that I really like work perfectly with the FTZ adapter.
My EF mount (Canon) lenses work perfectly with an adapter. Even the Dx (super 35 cine) lenses in DX mode.
Full frame focus area is just pain weird. Set to animal detection, it's impossible to say what it will decide to focus on until it spots an eye. Bird, squirrel, rat, whatever it instantly nails the eye and sticks.
With a 512Gb cfast I can get 90 minutes of 4.1K 4:4:4 12 bit Raw logarithmic video and it is gorgeous in Davinci Resolve.
Love the silent shutter, so do all my animal friends.
Waveform monitor, Yes!
At this point I believe it is the camera I was looking for. One camera that will snag great photos and cinema quality video. One camera grab and go for exploring.
Just thinking out loud, so to speak. I don't get why the cinema crowd have not started noticing this camera. I watched reviews for half of forever. A lot of talk about the ai focusing and the speed of the camera but when it comes to video it is pretty much glossed over. This is a bonified cinema camera. No, not the glom on claims of the Iphone, but a fully capable cinema camera in a mirrorless form factor. The function of this camera compares favorably to my Canon C200 which has been used on numerous documentary/reality shows. Limited to single operator, this thing is a beast.
I have heard/read the praises of video on the Z9 and Z8, but it seems like only those who are really serious about video are noticing. Maybe there are a lot of people who find the video of most newer cameras "good enough" and don't appreciate what the Z8 has to offer.
I'm betting you hit the nail on the head. To me raw internal is HUGE.