This is my current camera collection. No more m4/3, No more Leica. This is it. And you will see that it's mainly Nikon. From left to right the cameras are, D850 DSLR, Z7 MIRRORLESS and F6 FILM CAMERA. Also in front on some of the pictures is my HUAWEI P40 PRO SMARTPHONE.
Lenses are - Back Row Lenses on Cameras (All Nikon unless otherwise stated) 35mm f/1.8 APSC lens, 24-120 zoom and 20mm f/1.8.
Front row - 60mm Macro fitted with ES-2 Film digitiser attachment, Samsung 85mm f/1.4 MF lens, 85mm f/1.8, Laowa 15mm MF Macro and shift lens, 24mm f/2.8 D lens and 28-300mm zoom lens.
So what are the reasons for this change.
1. I wanted an outfit that had some consistency and interchangeability. No more different sets of lens for different cameras.
2. The fact that the Huawei P40 Pro smartphone is so good. Below is a test I did comparing the 50MP Huawei High Res lens with an Olympus E-M1X in 50MP high res mode.
As you can see the difference between the two is minimal. (Huawei on the left) I have to say I was surprised by this. I did not expect the Huawei to be so good. However having seen this I decided that this was easily good enough for my stock library work.
3. Another reason for ditching both the E-M1X and PEN-F was the state of the Olympus imaging division. They have sold this to an asset stripping company so the future for Olympus itself is bleak, plus how this impacts on Panasonic and m4/3 in general is uncertain to say the least. Now you might say the same thing about Nikon, who are in dire financial trouble. However Being a 100% optical company I cannot see that they will disappear. I may well of course be wrong about this. With regard to Leica, they are about to release a higher res. (40MP) version of the M10. In time that will impact on the value of my M10, so I decided to sell it while I could get a good price.
4. Finally it was a decision based on my income from picture library sales. Due to CoronaVirus, the travel trade (for which I shoot the majority of my images) has almost disappeared, with a consequent loss of earnings for myself. I could no longer afford to have three different camera / lenses systems and needed to rationalise.
Now I already had the Nikon F6 film camera and Nikon D850 DSLR. I decided that I really did need a backup interchangeable lens digital camera, so I decided to buy a second hand Nikon Z7 mirrorless body. With the FTZ adapter I could use all my Nikon lenses, with no loss of speed or function, so that seemed to be a good choice. And having used the Z7 for a week I'm very pleased with it.
So all of this is a radical change for me. All the Nikon bodies are 35mm / 'Full Frame' and it seems to be pretty much the same 45MP sensor in the D850 and Z7, which gives me consistency of image and top quality images. Now I'm not particularly wedded to full frame and indeed I've always liked what I got from m4/3, but having a system that fits together well gives me a coherent and well matched up system.
And yes, I loved my Leicas, both digital and film. But not enough to make this change. Plus manual focus is OK, but with my ageing eyes I decided to go almost 100% AF. And I have always liked Nikon gear. And yes I've always like big heavy Nikons with battery grips as well. And I have to say using these cameras has been a real pleasure. And since my small light camera is my Huawei smartphone, I always have that with me at all times as an excellent backup and indeed an alternative high quality camera in it's own right.
Now will this be my long term system? Well maybe not, but at the moment I really have no alternative. I simply can't afford to add in another system, nor currently do I have any desire to do so. The images I get from these cameras are simply superb and I'll finish the post with some images from the D850 and Z7.
