Nikon Z8 for wedding photography: fav settings (and why I love it)

it’s been a month I got my new Nikon Z8 and since then i’ve tested it for a few shootings in the most challenging conditions - so far I am impressed - I am sharing my first thoughts here

it was pretty much time to upgrade my gear (I was shooting with an ‘old’ but still performing Nikon D850 + a small/everyday camera, my Nikon Z6 (for sale, in case you are interested) as a second body, and after a few months Nikon released the new Z8, and after reading all the exceptional reviews from my colleagues, I decided to go ahead and buy one for myself.

The new Nikon Z8 is not what I would define as an ‘everyday camera’ - meaning a camera you bring with you on a daily basis like its little Z6 sister, but it’s a professional tool (and an investment, since it doesn’t come at a low price) but an investment that is worth the cost, being a camera that can cover EVERY professional need. My very first photoshoot with Nikon Z8 was a Day in the Life (an entire day family reportage) I am going to share very soon, right now I will share some wedding photos recently taken.

I will leave here not only the photos taken, but the three main reasons why I love It so far:

1) AUTOFOCUS: The first thing I do when I unbox a camera, is setting the back button focus (here’s how to set a back button focus on your Nikon Z8/z9: go to custom setting menu/Focus/A6 AF and change it to AF ON only). With the Nikon Z8 I have set the AF-C with the 3D tracking mode: since i’ve tried it, i’ve been so impressed I just have left it set on my camera: once the AF is locked on the eye of my subject, it sticks on it and no matter if he/she moves around, if other people are in the same room, if my subject moves fast (believe me: i’ve tried it with running/jumping kids), there’s no chance to miss a focus.

2) QUIET SHUTTER BUTTON (please note: I wrote ‘quiet’ , not ‘silent’ - when I use the silent shutter I am always in doubt I have taken the photo!): imagine taking a lot of photos of the same scene (which will be edited later on to choose the frame with the best moment - this is the way I work). Imagine working with a couple, in an intimate environment. Imagine working to make they feel comfortable and at ease to photograph the best connections between the two of them. Now imagine all this with a loud shutter button: clack, clack, clack… Not only it’s disturbing and annoying for me, but it takes away all the romance/atmosphere I am looking for that moment.

And, by the way, I never shoot with a long lens (all these photos are taken with a 35 mm 1.8 S lens) staying away from the couple: I want to be close to them, and I want them to feel they can be themselves and relaxed even if I am there with them, I want to give them back beautiful photos they will love: well, I can tell you that a quiet shutter button definitely makes a difference.

3) THE WONDERFUL COMBO 45MP RESOLUTION + COMPRESSED, HIGH EFFICIENCY / QUALITY FILES: let’s be pragmatic: Nikon D850, weight of each RAW file at 45 MP around 60MB - Nikon Z8 around 32 MB each RAW file (approx the same size of the files of my Nikon Z6 which are slightly heavier). Honestly, this is impressive, and I love it for two main reasons:

a) my iMac and hard drives will not get stuck and explode, hooray!

b) I can reconsider and rethink an already taken photo - let’s say I want to focus on a detail, like a gaze, or a small gesture: I can heavily crop the original photo maintaining a very good quality of it.

And to give you an idea of what I am talking about, I will simply post a photo and a heavy cropped portion of it side by side, and leave you to your judgement:

These are the three main reasons why I love working with my Nikon Z8 - to sum everything up: it’s a reliable camera. Reliable in a way that I can allow myself the luxury of forgetting about all the technical part (being everything already set with my preferences on my camera) and I feel free to give all my attention to the people I photograph, their connection, and what I want to communicate with my photos - and this is priceless.

if you are interested to see more from this camera, I will share soon something about family reportage: I will post the link once it’s out on my instagram account, in the meantime you can follow me there, simply click on the social icon: