Nikon Z6 Review To The Point

My Nikon Z6 review quick and to the point after a good amount of use on paid jobs, fun shooting, and testing.

I will start by saying I just ordered a second Nikon Z6 camera with the 24-70 F4 lens kit. So that should tell you something right away. I would not be buying a second Z6 if I was not 100% happy with my first one.

I do not shoot Video so this review has no reference to any video use or features on the Z6. I am a working photographer and maky my living shooting photos.

You can look up all the cameras features and information in many places so I will just talk about using the camera out on jobs and how it works and how the focus system works and so on based on my use of it.

Starting with the viewfinder. I love it as it is bright and clear and to be able to see your image and how it will look before you shoot the photos is a fantastic plus. I will never go back to another DSLR camera again. Over this past week, I have sold my D500, D7500 and an older D700 and most of my DX lens to fund buying the second Nikon Z6 I ordered. I have owned a D750 and many others as well in the past. I use exposure comp a lot when shooting and with the Z6 and the live viewfinder, I have the back dial set to exposure comp so I can just turn the back dial by my thumb and see the exposure change in the finder. This is fantastic for shooting natural light portraits or at weddings as you can see and change your exposure as needed live as you are shooting and see it. So for a bright sun backlit area, you can dial in more exposure comp to get your subject brighter and blow the background out a little if needed for a much better subject exposure.

Image Playback using the viewfinder is also something I have been wanting for a long time and I now have it with the Nikon Z6. I almost never use the back screen now as when you are shooting at any time you can view the shot image in the viewfinder without taking your head away from the finder to keep shooting. I used a custom setting to have one of the front custom buttons be my image preview button to see an image I just shot this makes it super easy to work with and a joy to use. Fantastic for outdoor shooting as it is so hard to see the back screen on bright days out.

Focus point heaven is what the Nikon Z6 offers. I loved my D500 but many times I would not have a focus point in the place I wanted to place it on a subjects eye but this is not a problem with the Z6. With all the focus points it covers the full area. I now have no problem finding the right point to use making it more easy to shoot. As for face or eye autofocus I have never needed that in the past to get sharp in focus images on portrait sessions so I have not even tested that as I am not using it. But when the new focus firmware comes out with the eye AF I will at that point spend some time playing with it to see if that can make things any more easy but as it is I can place a focus point on the eye of a subject very fast and do not have a problem what that. Same as I have been doing for many years.

Small and lite just want I wanted the Nikon Z6 is just right it reminds me of the older Nikon D40 body in size. After over 20 years of shooting going way back starting with film and then using most all the good digital cameras over the years I do not want a heavy camera system ever again. The Nikon Z6 is just right small and lite. At times my little finger falls off the bottom but so what its small and lite and all the buttons are in the right place I can hit without taking my eye away from the viewfinder. You can even see the full menu systen in the finder as well so no need to even use the back screen for that. The only time I use the back screen now is when I am shooting something low or on the ground with the camera or up over my head so not much.

Battery life is much better then many reviews talk about I have yet to need to change out the battery on a job.  Maybe because i do not use the back screen now for much of anything.

One card slot is all I ever needed. I have read so many reviews saying such bad things about the Z6 and Z7 only having one card slot. I say so what I have been shooting weddings and portrait sessions going back to using the first digital cameras that never had but one card slot. Then as cameras started to get a second slot me any everyone I know other photographers used the second card slot if they even used it as an overflow. So as one card got full you started shooting onto the next card. I have shot over 1000 weddings over the years and almost that many portrait sessions and not once have I ever used two cards with one setup as a backup. I have never lost images and never had a problem with cards going bad but I take good care of them. Now with the new better quality card, the Z6 uses this is even less of a thought.

But I have had lens break on the job and have had cameras break and or a car break down on the way to a job. So many other things can go wrong you just need to live with it. Do you tow an extra car with you just in case?. Do you bring 4 cameras just in case your main two quit working? Do you have doubles of all your lens with you on every job just in case and have extra flash systems in case they all blow over and break? With the Nikon Z6 if you want you can just backup wireless as you are shooting so if you feel the need to you do have a solution you can do so this is not a problem at all having only card slot. Just a few years ago every Sony camera only had one card slot as did many other brands of cameras and people have been using them all for paid jobs for years. So this is a non-issue for me and never was an issue ever going back to my First Nikon D1 and D100 cameras.

Focus speed and low light focus and speed is just fine. I have seen reviews talk about the focus not being that great. I am not sure how they are testing this as I am using the camera on real jobs in the field and shooting all the time and I have zero problems with it. I see very little to no difference in focus speed VS my D500. I did see a huge difference in my D500 VS the D7500 in low light but my Z6 is handling the same things my D500 can with no problem.  My Z6 can focus on anything I point it at in good light or low light within reason and this is using the older F mount lens and the adaptor. I did not buy any of the new lenses with my first Z6 I am using all my older lens. I shoot a lot of backlit subjects on the beach and that was my main concern when I first got the Z6 but after shooting many beach sessions now and testing the Z6 rocks it with no problem. Low light focus is fantastic with what I have shot at night outside or inside I have had no problems at all.

So as a real user, not just a 2 or 3 day reviewer doing a few quick tests the Z6 focus system is very good out on real jobs under real working condition good or bad. We shot two weddings on the beach in very heavy fog with the camera soaked with water dripping off it from the fog and it never missed or had any focus problems even shooting deep into the fog. This is why I sold my other gear and ordered a second Nikon Z6 i trust it for my jobs and work and the image quality is as good as it gets.

I even went to test the focus speed in AF-C for sports at a go-cart race so I had some fast action to shoot. It was a very overcast day with lite rain at times so I had to shoot at iso 800. I used my Nikon 70-200 F4 lens and shot everything at F4 and had no problems nailing sharp in focus images of fast-moving go-carts racing. Coming at me. Going by me and going away from me and shooting at 200mm zoom across the race area. I don’t think my D500 would have done any better. But I had the advantage of the live viewfinder for using the exposure comp to get brighter images on that overcast dull day.

The pin spot focus is slower. When using the new pin spot focus area it will focus slower. When doing some testing I see very little use for this as testing using this and just the normal small focus point i am not seeing any difference. The normal focus point is getting just as sharp of images on an eye for example as the much slower pin spot focus. For me i am just not going to bother with that. When I first read about this before getting the Z6 I was very ecxited about that VS the focus system on my DSLRs. But the Z6 focus is much better then my DSLRs with no need to use a pin or smaller focus point as it gets better results with the normal focus points already VS the DSLRs.

I have used my Nikon Z6 for outdoor weddings in good and bad conditions, Family beach portraits, High school senior sessions, Modeling sessions, And just all around fun shooting like car shows and so on and a lot of testing playing with different lens. As we move into the summer months we are getting booked up and my two Nikon Z6 cameras will be the workhorse cameras I hope will last me on into 5 or more years of heavy use.

Lens I have used so far on the Nikon Z6 with the adaptor and with no extra adjustments needed for any of them are 

• Older Nikon 24-70 Non VR 2.8 very fast focus and tack sharp a great lens to own and use.
• Nikon 85mm 1.8 G this is now one of my favorite lenses as on the Z6 it will focus better than on any of my DSLRs for much sharper images and I can use it at F 1.8 now and expect tack sharp images on every shot. With the in-body stabilization, it just works so much better. On my DSLR cameras I would shoot the 85mm most of the time at F 2.5 as 1.8 was hit or miss all the time for focus but now on the Z6 1.8 is more hit all the time now. I have now got to the point that I can rely on it to hit at 1.8 all of the time now.
• Nikon 50mm 1.8 G works great as well no problems. Not a lens I use a lot of nowadays but keeping it.
• Nikon 70-200 F4 lens is sharp and focus is fast with great background blur even at F4. Great for weddings, sports and fun shooting.
• Tamron the newer 17-35 2.8-4 lens I picked up to replace the Tamron 10-24 I was using on my D500. This lens is very sharp even at 17mm and F 2.8 a great addition to my lens collection for sure to cover the wide end of things.
• Samyang 135mm F2 manual focus lens. This is also a very sharp lens that produces fantastic background blur for portraits and anything you want great background blur for. The Nikon Z6 has focus peaking and it work great so you can see to focus the manual focus lens so much better. You can also do a 100% zoom to check focus in the live finder and still see the peaking to fine tune it a wonderful way to focus manual focus lens.
• Nikon 180mm 2.8 lens. A great older portrait lens from Nikon but on the Z6 it will turn into a manual focus lens but with the focus peaking you can nail it. I did end up selling my 180mm and i got the Samyang 135mm F2 to replace it. The 135mm is newer and has much less purple fringing than the older Nikon 180 and I think the 135 is a little sharper as well. Both produce great background blur for portraits. If I still had my Nikon D750 I would be using the Nikon 180mm as my main portrait lens over the 85mm 1.8 I use now.

What’s next for me and the new Z system

With two Z6 cameras, now I am committed to the system onward for sure. I don’t need any higher MP camera to produce any size large prints we sell to our customer. With 24MP I can produce very large prints in every size all the photo labs offer for my customers and they look fantastic. So no Z7 or larger MP camera is in my sights.

What is next will be more lens for me that will be.

• The new Tamron 35-150mm lens coming soon that is a 2.8 to F4 lens. This is the perfect range for most of my jobs. The 35mm end can cover group photos of families or after wedding bridal party group photos. The zoom end at 150mm and F4 will cover families walking on the beach photos we do all the time or bride and groom walking on the beach photos and give me a good zoom range for the wedding service all in one lens. At F4 and 150mm the background blur isolation is very good. I will then have the 85mm 1.8 on the second Z6 for the closer up portraits or the Tamron 17-35 for a wider scenic view. If we see a lower end version of the Z6come out I can see getting that to keep the 17-35 on to pull out for some special wide shots at jobs,
• The new version of the Nikon 85mm 1.8 for the Z camera. when this is out I do think I will upgrade to it as I expect it to be a little better like less purple fringing then the 85mm G can get at times and maybe a hair sharper but the current 85mm 1.8 is very sharp on the Z6.
• Looking at 2020 to upgrade my older 24-70 to the newer Z version as for our outdoor weddings the Tamron 35-150 I am hoping will be the main lens for this so my 24-70 2.8 will not get much use except for indoor weddings and indoor darker receptions.
• Maybe in 2020 a new 70-200 2.8 Z version only if it is around the same size and weight as the current F4 I have. I do not want a heavy huge 70-200 2.8 to drag around did it in the past my back hurts just thinking about it.
• Possibly a Sigma 135mm 1.8 for the AF I love this zoom range and love the look of the background blur bokeh it creates but in reality the 85 1.8 background blur is not far off and it is such a smaller lighter lens to use and work with and have in your hand on a long shoot.
• I would love to see a new Nikon Z version of the 105mm 1.4 but much lighter and smaller.

So what is my Nikon Z6 Review conclusion? 

I love it. I ordered a second one to use on all my jobs so I will be shooting with two of them for now on. Focus speed is great i am not having any problems with it at all. Build quality is top notch Nikon quality. The Live viewfinder just rocks it is changing how I shoot everything to the better.

I think the Nikon Z6 is one of the best cameras you can get for weddings, Events, and portraits and used for sports as well all in a smaller lite package that is easy to use with outstanding image quality. And a massive amount of lens that can be used now and more native ones on the way.

Flash equipment I use.

I am currently using all Godox flash gear. I have been using two Godox Flashpoint branded 360 bulb flashes for a few years now all manual. I also just added on a Godox AD200 flash system a few weeks back I am starting to use now too and have a Godox manual speed light. I still own a Nikon SB900 and older 600 but have not used them in years now. At one point I had 4 SB800s I sold all of them a long time ago. In the past I also owned and used the Ranger Quadra system for a few years, the full large Ranger system very heavy, and before that the Lumedyne flash system. Also used Metz hammerhead flashes. Vivitar, Sun and a few others over the years. When I had a studio years ago I used 6 Alien bees heads.