Sitting here waiting for my new camera to arrive.

[Clovishound]

I ordered the Z7ii a couple days ago, and it's supposed to arrive today. I say, supposed to, the tracking says it is going to be delivered today, but It's nearly 3:00 and it still isn't listed as out for delivery. I wouldn't mind it so much, except I have to sign for it, and don't particularly want to hang around the house for 2 whole days. I know, first world problems.

I've been doing a little reading up on the camera. Not sure the AF is going to be as good as I hoped for BIF, but it should be a step up from the Z5. It also looks like I shouldn't have to go through a steep learning curve on operation, like I did from the DSLR. I'm hoping to get it today, so I can go out early in the morning to Magnolia and try it out.

Anyway, hoping it will be a more capable tool for me. I probably should get rid of the old D3400 kit. It got very little use before. It will see none now. Not worth much, I suppose, but the longer I wait, the less it will be worth.

 

[BF Hammer]

FYI: I usually reroute my FedEx shipments to my neighborhood Walgreens since they allow that for free. You just present ID and sign at photo service counter.

UPS is good at leaving at my back door. But I have an account and can reroute delivery to a UPS store. I just have to know ahead what service the seller is using.

I imagine they anticipate you work and scheduled delivery at end of day. That happens to me a lot. It helps with the porch theft problems.

 

[Clovishound]

Well, it was supposed to have left Charlotte at 2:15 this morning. Now they have it arriving at Charlotte at 7:00 tonight, and to be delivered tomorrow between noon and 4. Looks like another day of hanging around the house.

 

[Needa]

Is it there yet? At least you won't have to wait for the battery to charge you can use the one out of the Z5.

 

[Clovishound]

Is it there yet? At least you won't have to wait for the battery to charge you can use the one out of the Z5.

No, but it's supposed to be on the truck. At least I know it's in town.

That was one bonus. I knew I could use my Z5 backup battery as the backup for the Z7ii. I'm also starting to think about transferring images from the camera. I've been just pulling the SD from my Z5 and plugging it into my computer. I may have to buy a CFexpress reader, and a fast USB hub. The CFexpress card will read very quickly, but it might throttle through one thing or another, depending how I transfer. I remember I tried transferring them from my Z5 over wifi. That was EXTREMELY slow. Transferring a couple hundred images from the SD card to the computer wasn't too bad, but much slower than I would have liked. The files from the 7 are going to be twice as big.

 

[Needa]

After getting the 810 finally got a USB 3 card reader. Had been stumbling along USB 2, rarely take over 100 picture at an outing. Seems there always some unintended expenses with new cameras.

 

[Clovishound]

I know. I really hated spending $2K on another camera. I thought I might use it with an SD card for a while, since the CFexpress cards are around $100, and often more. In the end I decided, I have the money so there is no need to go without something I will be getting anyway, and during that time miss out on one of the features I was getting the camera for anyway. Besides B&H had one on a good sale right now. Bestbuy wanted $55 more for the same card.

At least it's not like earlier in life when I would have HAD to wait on the card. I figured there would be a few additions I will have to/want to add to the new camera, but most of the stuff I have for the Z5 works with the Z7ii.

 

[TwistedThrottle]

Hey @Clovishound congrats on your new shooter! FYI, you can transfer images from the camera to computer via USB C and skip the card reader altogether. I transfer my daughters volleyball videos this way and its pretty quick. I needed a card reader for my old Z6 to update firmware, it might be the same for the Z5, idk. My Z7ii and Zf are capable of getting all their firmware updates (Z7ii firmware available 3/26/24) via WiFi Snapbridge. EasyPeezy. As for the CFexpress, look on the used market with Adorama and B&H. I ended up getting a couple cards this way before a big trip and saved a bunch and have had no issues.

 

[Clovishound]

Well, it arrived a little while ago. Doesn't really look much different than my Z5, but I knew that. Put my spare battery in it, and the new one on to cook. Made a few setups and went out and shot a couple macro shots in the front yard. Not really the best of subjects, but I wanted to put it through the paces a little. I would go over to Cypress gardens, but would get there just before they close the incoming gate, and would have maybe a half hour to 45 minutes. Then a bad traffic drive home. I'll go to Magnolia in the morning and shoot some BIFs and whatever else pops up.

I downloaded a handful of images over the USB cable through an old USB hub. It was slow, but not painfully so. I'll definitely want a card reader. I was definitely impressed with the quality of the images. One I cropped very severely and it still had plenty of resolution. Of course, I was shooting at ISO 64, so that would maximize rez.

Keep in mind these are just quick snaps for test purposes.

This is the one that I heavily cropped. The insect was very small. I didn't notice that it had two aphids on it's back.

I assume this is some kind of larvae.

 

[BF Hammer]

Nice. And you now have the top LCD display I wish the Z5 had. I still keep looking there by mistake.

 

[Woodyg3]

Have fun with the new toy!

 

[Clovishound]

Nice. And you now have the top LCD display I wish the Z5 had. I still keep looking there by mistake.

I'm used to looking at the backscreen, or viewfinder for exposure info, so that doesn't excite me much right now. I may feel differently after using it a while. The thing I'm excited about right now is the extra resolution. It may not be as impressive as first impressions dictate, but I think I'm really going to like that part of it.

 

[blackstar]

Enjoy your new high-res toy!

 

[Clovishound]

Made it out to Magnolia this morning. Managed to get some shooting in before the rain set in. Light levels were pretty low early on. Had some issues with the new AF settings. Nothing I don't think I can't work out. Overall, I'm very happy with it, so far. Will probably have to make some computer changes to deal with the larger files. Everything runs slower due to file size. I may set the camera to save RAW + JPG, and have the jpgs go to the SD card. I can then view them to see what needs to be edited, and what may need Topaz treatment, then work from the RAW files. Photo viewer was taking forever to "pop" so I could see whether the image was sharp or not. I may need to see if it needs the NEF codec. I'm not sure I downloaded that when I got the new computer a few months ago. Hasn't been an issue before, but I was getting some error messages about the files from photo viewer.

Anyway here are a few I edited so far.

There is something about this one I like, but not sure whether I should show it or not. It has a little of the Cartier Bresson about it. Not sure that's a good thing. I've never really like his work much.

 

[BF Hammer]

On the last one, a youtube reviewer might complain the animal eye autofocus missed. Of course you were not using that, but it focused on the shoulder of the grasshopper.

And that is my tongue-in-cheek criticism. Photos are looking great! Have you taken time to check firmware level yet? Not sure but I think the last one for the Z7-II was kind of a big one. (1.60 was a feature update, current is 1.62 with some bug fixes)

 

[Clovishound]

Actually, the eye is sharp. For some reason a lot of grasshopper eyes don't look sharp, no matter the focus. And, I didn't use autofocus for any of my macro shots, this one included. Take that, you Youtube naysayers. I downloaded, and installed the latest firmware yesterday.

I do need to change to 1/2 stop increments for exposure. Those 1/3 stops are just too cumbersome in the field. Besides, IMO, you really don't need to parse that close with digital. Slide film, sure, but digital is more like hand grenades and horseshoes.

Oh, I also downloaded and installed the NEF codec, and that seemed to speed up Photo Viewer.

I'm beginning to wish I had upgraded to a gaming computer when I bought this one around Christmas time. It was fine for the 24 MP files. Of course, if I had done that, I probably would have balked at getting the Z7ii. At this rate, I'm going to need a part time job.

 

[Clovishound]

OK, BF, I am starting to warm to the top display. The Pup and I went downtown yesterday. Didn't really come back with much, but I did a lot of settings fiddling. I found the top display made things a little easier.

Question for those using the high resolution sensor cameras. What is your workflow to speed up going through the large NEF files? I got a CFexpress card reader, and that makes downloading the large files quick. I'm still having issues with Photo viewer taking a while to fully display the images for choosing what to edit. I'm considering setting the camera to save RAW to the CFexpress, + JPG to the SD card. I could then review the JPG images for review and edit the NEF. Will RAW + JPG slow my burst rate? Would this be a good practice to speed things up?

 

[BF Hammer]

Good question about the burst mode. An experiment would be in order.

I have always separated Raw to slot 1 and JPG to slot 2 since my first camera with dual SD slots (D7000). Partly because it allowed me to use an older and smaller SD card in slot 2 and it would just work out. Saved some money that way. I also do not save the full-size JPG but instead select the medium-size option. It is a substantial reduction in file size that way. That should help keep the burst-rate going for a longer time.