nikon shooter fantasy $15K shopping should I stay or should I go...

[gethin]

Lets say you have about $15k USD to spend before the end of the tax year, all your kit is nikon but you've been looking on at 8k raw files a bit wistfully

what kit would you buy? (Knowing that z9 is not out yet)

I'm toying with the idea of an R5, but nikon glass doesn't seem to adapt to canon, whereas there are adapters out there to sony.

My bread and butter work is real estate video, but I also shoot timelapse, nightscapes, landscape. I've got a d800 (which I still love for stills), and a z6.  The z6 is fine for real estate, but I'm starting to see amazing quality video shot by people at the same level as me. I'd like to get a higher pixel count for landscape work, and more dynamic range in my video. 

I've considered the zcam z6 and the blackmagic pocket, but the lens mount and lack of creature comforts kills it for me (I still need AF and IBIS is handy for my bread and butter work).

I don't have a ninja. I'm open to lens suggests too. I'm lacking a modern portrait lens (had my eye on sigma 105, but it's huge and not sure about adapted sigma on z-mount)

My current lenses:

z mount 14-30 f4
f mount:
70-200 2.8 GII
14-242.8
20mmG1.8
50f1.2 ais
105mm F2 FD

sigma35f1.4
Sigma 150-600c
a few other cheapies and a couple of crop lenses

Here's my very occasionally updated youtube channel so you guys can get some context: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE723psa8znEtUTx4owjoMg

[gethin]

Well you lot are no help 😆

[MrSMW]

OK, I’ll play…

Nikon Z7ii for stills and a Z6ii for video with Atomos recorder.

Or sell the lot and go for a Panasonic S1H based system 😍

[BTM_Pix]

There are a number of F mount to E mount adapters with full autofocus available that would give you a path to Sony without sacrificing the lens collection.

Similarly, there are also E to Z mount adapters so that you could then share E mount lenses with your Z6.

That way you could use the budget to really push the boat out and get a Sony A1 to give you a bump that you are after in video (8K I'm guessing would be a client pleaser from a marketing perspective) and it also does ProResRAW but also you'd get a big bump in stills with its 50mp sensor.

You could then also get that Sigma 105mm in E mount and be able to use it natively on the A1 but also with the adapter on the Z6.

I think if you went this route then you'd get the immediate bump that you are looking for but also be able to hedge against the release of the Z9 as I'm guessing Nikon is really where your heart is and you're not yet ready to fully abandon ship just yet.

Far cheaper too as it would be half your budget.

[IronFilm]

On 6/20/2021 at 12:53 PM, gethin said:

My bread and butter work is real estate video, but I also shoot timelapse, nightscapes, landscape. I've got a d800 (which I still love for stills), and a z6.  The z6 is fine for real estate, but I'm starting to see amazing quality video shot by people at the same level as me. I'd like to get a higher pixel count for landscape work, and more dynamic range in my video. 

Would be good to post examples of your work and other people's work you're comparing yourself with?

Might be it is nothing to do with the gear at all, and there are other factors. 

But as a starting point, I'd say consider: Z7 for the landscape work, plus a Ninja V for the Z6 to get ProResRAW

[Andrew Reid]

It's not the camera I'd be concerned about, it's the lenses and I think it may be time to dump F mount.

I'd be tempted to get a Sony A1 which seems a good fit for your high-resolution needs plus cutting edge video specs.

Then I'd be tempted to put all the Nikon lenses on eBay 🙂

Start investing in the native E-mount Sigma range.

[Video Hummus]

I agree with shooting for the Sony Alpha A1 and adapting F mount lenses until you grow native E mount. Alpha A1 seems to do pretty good at everything and has 8K video and improved DR over what you have.

Canon just doesn't have enough native RF lenses yet and since you don't have any EF lenses, it really doesn't make much sense to buy anything from Canon.

[gethin]

16 hours ago, IronFilm said:

Would be good to post examples of your work and other people's work you're comparing yourself with?

Might be it is nothing to do with the gear at all, and there are other factors. 

But as a starting point, I'd say consider: Z7 for the landscape work, plus a Ninja V for the Z6 to get ProResRAW

yep I linked to my youtube channel at the bottom of my post

hey thanks folks, sensible suggestions here! 
 

SO yeah I think the choice comes down to get a Z7ii now and wait to see what the Z9 brings or get the A1 now and start transitioning to sony.  One thing I'd love to play with is a camera with decent autofocus 🤣I have a knack for buying first gen stuff with shitty AF: canon 7d, d800, z6 (it really isn't good).  Thats Af for stills, but even in video it would be nice for instance to be able to track in to someone and have the camera find a face from 3 metres away on a 20mm! 

 

[mrtreve]

I say if you like Nikon, dump the money into Z lenses and wait for the camera to come along. They lenses will last your whole career and it can't be that long until all the major brands do great 8K cameras.

I think it's better to think long term like that, rather than switching systems multiple times for the current best camera and taking a loss every time you do it.

I saw your Promised Land Retreat video and I have to say that the video quality would not put me off buying a place like that if I had the means - the video was very effective. So I would say continue doing what you're doing, but update for the future.