Nikon Z6 II – Somewhere In the Middle

Well folks, I have finally made up my mind. Fuji or Nikon, there can be only one (not really; I have done both for the past 8 months, but we need to make this as dramatic as possible to retain your interest for a few more minutes).

Having the X-H2 in my grubby little paws for the past week and half, all I can say is, wow! Did NOT expect to love it as much as I do, but here we are. The thing I thought I loved about the Fuji X system was the retro styling, and as a side benefit, the dials on top were / are an excellent learning tool for someone attempting to master the craft of camera photography at a more involved level.

This and all images in this post shot with iPhone 14 Pro Max unless otherwise attributed

Now that I get it though, I don’t need to be able to see and rotate the dials on the top to achieve my desired results. And something else that I knew but didn’t fully realize about the X-H2 was how incredibly useful the LCD on the top is.

It is always on (pretty sure you can turn it off in settings, but I love that is always on and it doesn’t affect the battery to an extent that affects my usage), and it is actually easier to check everything at an effortless glance than studying the teeny tiny numbers on top of the dials of the X-T-whatever (I have the X-T20 and the X-T3). And if I want to change any of them, then yes, the dials take less thought, but it is quite easy on the X-H2 as well. You can either roll the front or rear dial, depending on which setting you are changing, or just quickly hit the Menu and do something like this: go to the Camera icon, scroll down to ISO (I often have ISO set automatically) and change it there to whatever you like – OR, you can set the ISO to Auto1, Auto2, or Auto3, where you can have presets (for instance, Default Sensitivity of 125, Max . Sensitivity of 3200, and Min. Shutter Speed of Auto). You can set those 3 Autos to whatever you like, then quickly select whichever one suits your current purpose.

This is not to convince you, dear reader, of the merits of modern or retro styling. To each their own. It is simply to say that for me, with two feet already in Camp Fuji from May 2018 through May 2023, then one (maybe one and a half) in Fort Nikon for the past 8 months, the time has come to fully commit. And with Nikon gear-selling quote from MPB firmly in hand, I will be selling off the Z6 II, the 24-120 S f/4, and the Tamron 70-300.

Surprisingly, going off of strictly memory of past quotes from MPB, I’m pretty sure the Z6 II has gone down by a hundred bucks or so, while the 24-120 lens has actually gone up from last time I checked. This does make logical sense though, if one were to ascribe it to the new Nikon ZF’s arrival on the scene last year driving down the price of older cameras while increasing demand for better glass by those who have purchased the latest and greatest camera offering. It is Nikon’s attempt to more fully engage with the retro phenomenon so thoroughly dominated by Fuji, complete with top dials, and is by all accounts a major success for them, both in terms of sales as well as being a winner of a photo and video maker.

Courtesy of DP Review

Don’t think I haven’t been tempted! Indeed I have, particularly for the much-improved autofocusing capabilities that vault it not only beyond the Z6 II (which is not the greatest, but plenty good for my usage) but also beyond the Fujifilm X-H2 that I have added to the stable. I had been even more tempted by the soon-to-be-announced Z6 III though, whose ergonomics I would prefer over the new ZF; additionally, the Z6 III should be a purely technological advancement, rather than a styling + [some] technology leap forward, but I know that it will cost a fair bit more than what I am looking at spending, and that I would likely not be able to justify that kind of pricey upgrade from the Z6 II for quite some time.

That’s not what made my decision though; in fact, it really wasn’t much of a consideration at all. The simple fact of the matter is something that I have known about myself for going on 6 years now: I am a Fuji man. I just love their stuff. I love how metal and solid it feels. I love how much image quality they pack into their bodies and (I suppose more importantly for me) lenses. I love their kaizen philosophy and practice, literally improving products that you already own via free software updates that actually make a difference in the thing. And the familiarity that I have with operating their system means something, has value. I’m all in.

Listen, you can’t go wrong with Nikon. You can’t go wrong with Sony, or Canon, or Panasonic. These cameras and lenses take impossibly fantastic images with incredibly little effort, and if you are inclined to really work on your craft, learn about light, composition, focal lengths, compression; familiarize yourself with all of the buttons and dials and switches and menus; get out to amazing places, or simply out on the street or over to the park – it just levels up from there. I am still on that path, taking that journey, and enjoying it beyond any reasonable right to such things. Fortunately, Fujifilm is right there with me, every step of the way.

Courtesy of Fujifilm / Tom Hegen

Fuji X-T3, Fuji 35mm f/2 lens

Downtown Fort Worth is pretty perfect for a late afternoon photo walk. I’ve done quite a few over the years, often (but not always) testing or comparing different cameras or lenses. A few days ago, for instance, as the media spent the entire week boosting their ratings by scaring us all into believing that life as we know it was once again about to cease due to an impending weather disaster, it was 70 degrees here, deep blue skies, crystal clear and windless. A better day for meandering around the stately courthouse, the serene Trinity River along whose banks the original Camp Worth was located, and the outskirts of Sundance Square with a couple of cameras dangling from one’s body simply could not be asked for. This was an afternoon for shooting some of my tried and true favorites illuminated by the setting western sun, shadows and sidelight in full effect.

New-to-me locales are my usual preference when it comes to photo walks, but there are decided advantages to hitting certain places over and over, provided they are photogenic enough to merit it. Case in point: the photo at the top of this post. When I drove by the Bass Performance Hall around 4:30pm, the famous angels were in complete shadow. This is downtown after all, and despite the fact that sunset was a little over an hour in the future, the long shadows were already cast. I knew from my summer shooting, however, that the shadows move as the sun sends its rays out into the solar system, creating shafts of light that find their way in between some of the buildings. It changes drastically over the course of a few minutes, so I made a point to walk over to check on things after about 30-40 minutes over by the courthouse and the river behind it and lo and behold, there it was! The angels and their trumpets blaring with a solar spotlight highlighting their magnificence.

Fuji X-T20, Rokinon 12mm f/2 manual lens, June 2018

Getting back to the difference that is made by not only the time of day, but also the time of year, let’s look at the shot above. This was taken 5 and half years ago, soon after settling on the X-T20 as my first official foray into mirrorless. I had tried out a few others, including the Canon M50 (new at the time, and a year newer than the X-T20), but it felt so flimsy and plastic-y compared to the rock-solid, Made In Japan X-T20. And the quality of the lenses in my price range were simply no comparison. The 18-55mm variable aperture kit lens with the Fuji was jaw-droppingly good, and I had also picked up a very reasonably priced manual lens, still to this day the only manual I have ever owned: the Rokinon 12mm f/2. When I tried my hand at being a “real” photographer for a few hours, heading to the Trinity that snaked through Fort Worth and Dallas with a camera, a couple of lenses, and a tripod, this was the shot that I loved most. A few years later, this same camera+lens+tripod combo produced my best astrophotography session (not that there have been that many), but that is an adventure for another post.

Nikon Z6 II, Nikon 24-120 f/4 lens, January 2024

The above was taken this past week. Exact same concrete platform overlooking the river from which the June 2018 image was created. This one was handheld though, as it was immediately obvious that where the sun was setting was not going to give me the image I wanted. Not at all surprising, by the way; I did come prepared with the tripod just in case, but fully expected the tilt of the earth to be wholly uncooperative at this time of year, based on my vantage point.

That is probably enough blathering on about time of day, time of year, sun and shadow. Another part of the beauty of downtown Fort Worth is how compact everything is. Total time from exiting the highway, including driving through downtown, parking, walking, and getting back onto the highway after leaving, was roughly 4:30pm to 5:45pm on a weekday. Try doing THAT in most big(ish) city downtowns!

Here are a few more shots from last week’s walk (everything in this post, with the exception of the June 2018 image of the Trinity at sunset, are with the Nikon Z6 II + 24-120mm f/4 or the Fuji X-T3 + 35mm f/2, straight out of camera JPG; the last 2 of the radio station give you an idea of which is which, and it should be fairly obvious for the ones that are not labeled):