Kenya is said to be a paradise for wildlife photography, attracting photographers from all over the world to capture the charm of the land. Of course, I was also included, and what made me even more excited was that this time I came to Africa with the Nikon Z 8 and the legendary "Nikon Z 6000MM F 4 TC VR S".
This 600 is the ceiling of the current Z-mount super telephoto lens with its combination of high image quality, high-speed focus, and flexible focal length options. It is also the most competitive existence among the lenses of the same specification. Special also built-in 1The 4x teleconverter is equivalent to having two exploding lenses, 640 and 856 at the same time.
Zhang Qiang
China National Geographic Cooperative Photographer, National Geographic Contributing Writer Photographer, Gold Medal Contributing Photographer of Planetary Research Institute, 8kraw Contracted Photographer, Visual China Contracted Photographer, Fliggy Contracted Traveler, Ctrip Contracted Traveler.
z 8 / z 600mm f/4 tc vr s / f5.6 1/1000s iso400
The Z 8 has high pixels, high dynamic range, and high ISO performance
First of all, about the Z 8 body, there is not much to say about the parameters or anything, compared to the flagship big brother Z 9, the same stacked CMOS sensor, the same 45.71 million high pixels, Expeed 7 image image processor, powerful and accurate focus tracking performance and anti-shake technology with the highest 6 levels of compensation effect of the lens, all of which are required to shoot wild animals, but there are also 20 frames of seconds, at least personally in this line is completely sufficient. Although the battery level has dropped a lot, it has reduced the weight and volume by up to 30%, which is really a lot of burden. And Z 8 supports PD while charging, although I only brought a spare battery, I didn't have any anxiety about electricity throughout the whole process.
z 8 / z 600mm f/4 tc vr s / f5.6 1/1000s iso560
With 45 million pixels, the Z 8 doesn't matter if the animals are a little farther away, and the secondary composition can be easily handled. For example, this "Lion King" is enjoying food, and I am using the built-in 1The 4x teleconverter lens has a focal length of 840mm, but it still doesn't stand out enough in the picture. So through the secondary cropping, a fuller picture is obtained.
Original. z 8 / z 600mm f/4 tc vr s / f5.6 1/1000s iso1000
After cutting. After cutting, you can get a 4260*2972**, which is enough for most scenes, and it even needs to be compressed again for network release. In this shooting, there are too many examples of obtaining a more perfect composition through secondary composition.
z 8 / z 600mm f/4 tc vr s / f5.6 1/640s iso80
z 8 / z 600mm f/4 tc vr s / f4 1/640s iso400
The following a** is taken at sunset when the light is larger than the environment, and it can be seen that the highlights have overflowed a little, and the shadows are close to dead black, but in the later stage, you can get a **nearly perfect ** by pressing the dark and bright parts to brighten the dark parts.
Original. z 8 / z 600mm f/4 tc vr s / f4 1/2000s iso400
After brightening. In low-light conditions, the performance is still excellent at ISO5000. There is no need for additional noise reduction, and it is still sharp and can be counted when zoomed in to 100%, and there is almost no obvious noise.
Original. z 8 / z 600mm f/4 tc vr s / f5.6 1/1000s iso5000
Local magnification. Looking at this ISO11400 ** again, there is almost no obvious noise after noise reduction. Really dramatically increases the usable range of high sensibility, knowing that wildlife is more active after sunset blues.
z 8 / z 600mm f/4 tc vr s / f4 1/640s iso11400
The Nishiwan is lightweight, high-speed focusing, and has excellent image stabilization
The focus is still on this "Ni 100,000", the lens design involves all aspects, but the cannon of this brand façade, the first thing that there is no doubt about is the lens body stacking (lenses, all-weather protection capabilities, etc.) and image quality presentation, not to mention that, everyone looks at the picture.
z 8 / z 600mm f/4 tc vr s / f4 1/1600s iso400
In fact, the performance of the façade lenses of each factory in this focal length is not bad, but what really made me fall in love with this Z 600mm F 4 TC VR S is this built-in 14x teleconverter too. As we all know, the distance and position of wild animals and photographers are not controlled, and the 600mm focal length is sometimes not enough, if you bring another 800mm for a longer focal length is too burdensome, not to mention ordinary people, photographers rarely travel with 600 and 800 cannons at the same time. And this 640 can switch between 600mm and 840mm in an instant, and the environment and close-up shots can be both elegant! It's so elegant!
600mm focal length.
z 8 / z 600mm f/4 tc vr s / f6.3 1/640s iso160
840mm focal length.
z 8 / z 600mm f/4 tc vr s / f5.6 1/1000s iso220
If you connect the TC-2 of the Nikon Z system0, you can extend the focal length to 1200mm-1680mm, which is basically enough.
z 8 / z 600mm f/4 tc vr s / f4 1/640s iso1100
In the past, when everyone talked about super telephoto cannons such as 600 and 800 ding, in addition to being expensive, the only thing that could basically be complained about was the weight and volume that were not portable enough. As mentioned above, the Z 8 is 30% smaller than the Z 9, and despite the addition of a built-in extender, the Z 600mm F 4 TC VR S still maintains the lightness of the Z-mount lens, weighing about 3260g, which is 550g lighter than the 600mm F 4E FL ED VR of the AF-S version.
Best of all, it's only 437mm long, so you can easily pack it in your bag, so you don't have to have a bag or even a case for it, God knows how convenient it is.
The Z 600mm F. 4 TC VR S features a new Smooth High-Speed Voice Coil Motor (SSVCM) that allows for faster focusing, greater precision, and quieter focusing, without disturbing nearby animals.
z 8 / z 600mm f/4 tc vr s / f6.3 1/640s iso220
The bustard in this tree perfectly exemplifies the Z 8+640's precise focus.
z 8 / z 600mm f/4 tc vr s / f6.3 1/1000s iso500
As we all know, eagle birds are very fast, and often do not have time to support a tripod, so they can only raise their hands to shoot first. The scene environment is more complicated, this is still after cropping the secondary composition, layers of leaves, eyes are basically covered, still recognized and quickly focused. If you don't have an external monitor, if you really have to focus manually through the screen, you may not be able to find where your eyes are for half a day, and the target will fly away.
In addition, the Z 600mm F 4 TC VR S also has a powerful stabilization function, which, combined with the Z 8's VR stabilization, can effectively reduce the shake when shooting handheld, making shooting more stable. Especially in Kenya safari to photograph animals, this is an indispensable function, because it is strictly forbidden to get off the car in the reserve, basically all the creation is carried out in the car, the car area is limited, and the tripod can not be used at any time, and the bean bag or the frame is often not mobile enough, so the most commonly used is handheld shooting.
Trial summary
Nikon's portfolio isn't just for wildlife photography destinations like Kenya. It's also perfect for shooting birds, sports competitions, or any scene that requires distance tracking. For example, a novice bird hunting like me can easily produce a film with the blessing of such an artifact combination.
z 8 / z 600mm f/4 tc vr s / f5.6 1/1000s iso125
If you were to ask me for my next trip, would you still like to come out with a cannon as big as the Z 600mm F 4 TC VR S? Actually, it's better to ask, if you come out to photograph animals next time, please give me a reason not to bring it.
end - Edit |Bi Chao.