Nikon Z50 review: AF, video, dynamic range, kit lenses tested (at night, too!)
My Nikon Z 50 + 16-50 + 50-250mm lens review after using them for 2 months!
Nikon Z50 is Nikon's first mirrorless camera with an APS-C sized sensor.
Officially a _space_ is supposed to be between the 'Z' and '50': Z 50. Who understands that? :)
Download the RAW files here (they are NEF files, for private purposes only):
The Lightroom Presets I use:
The topics I'm covering:
1. Size and ergonomics
The body is just a tad bit smaller than the Z6, but luckily it has the same high-quality feel to it, and more importantly, and excellent grip.
The electronic viewfinder and the tiltable touch-sensitive LCD display are a joy to use!
2. Autofocus performance
With 209 phase detection the sensor itself, and software improvements, the Nikon Z50 does not disappoint here.
The Eye AF and face recognition works very well - it even finds the eyes of a dog!
3. Lock-on AF / subject tracking
I've tested the lock-on AF when shooting bursts at 11 frames per second. The result: 57 sharp photo out of 58.
4. Sharpness of the kit lenses, the 16-50 mm and the 50-250 mm zoom lenses
I was especially pleased with the Nikkor 50-250mm f/4.5-6.3 DX VR zoom lens. Pretty sharp, and the stabilizer meant a 4 stop improvement.
5. High ISO samples / Image stabilization
5. Exposure latitude / dynamic range
For night photographer like me, it's crucial that the shadows don't get noisy when brightened in post. Luckily the Nikon Z50 carries on Nikon's good reputation.
6. 16-50mm lens under the stars
Kit lenses usually fail under such an extreme optical test as the stars. At 16mm, in the center it's pretty good, but at the corners it's a different issue.
7. Video performance / Autofocus in video
So far, Nikon was not the leader of the bunch in video. That is until they released their mirrorless cameras!
The Z50 has EXCELLENT autofocus performance in video mode as well.
Luckily, it stays like that even when shooting 120 fps!
Rolling shutter is not noticeable at 1080p, but it's a bit so-so in 4K (check yourself)
My video on Auto ISO:
My video on Manual focusing:
Straight to the point photo tutorials:
Night photo tours in Budapest, Hungary:
End screen music: Endless Motion by
AF test on group: video by pexels.com
#nikonz50
Budapest under the winter fog - timelapse video
Timelapse over Budapest shot on cold winter mornings, when the city was beneath the fog. Only a 203 meter high chimney was standing out of the clouds.
Created by: Miklós Mayer
Night photography tours in Budapest:
Music: Balázs Havasi - Awakenings (used with permission)
Budapest Timelapse - előzetes
Legújabb timelapse-hyperlapse videóm, melyben az eddig Budapestről készített anyagaimat használtam fel.
Részletes leírás itt:
See English description at the bottom!
A videó nagy része 2016 március-áprilisában lett felvéve, de 0:43-nál kezdődő snittet 2011 februárjában, míg az utána következőt 2010 októberében rögzítettem.
A videó összesen 2003 darab egyedi fényképből áll, melyet 2541 képből válogattam ki. Ezek elkészítése a helyszíneken kb. nettó 6 órát vett igénybe, de az előkészületekkel együtt ez inkább 10+ órát jelent.
A fényképek közt eltelt idő 3-6 másodperc volt, így a valóságot 75-150-szeres gyorsításban láthatjuk.
A videó készítésének helyszínei megjelenési sorrendben:
1. Hármashatár-hegy (nem az új kilátóról, még nem volt kész).
2-3. Szent István Bazilika. Itt minden képkocka közt 20 centivel arrébb raktam az állványt
4. Szabadság-tér. Itt fontosnak tartom megjegyezni, hogy a szovjet emlékműről készült hyperlapse csak az általam érdekesnek tartott vertigo-hatás miatt került a videóba, nem pedig a történelmi-politikai üzenete miatt. Itt is kb 20 centinként közelítettem meg a szobrot.
5. Parlamenttől indulva, dél felé lépkedve a cipőcskék felé. Itt a turistaáradat miatt kellett idő előtt abbahagynom a fotózást, valaki mindig a képbe állt. Minden kocka közt egy jó nagyot sasszéztam dél felé.
6. A Parlamenttől északra, a Dunapartól.
7. A Budavári Sikló felett átívelő egyik hídról.
8. A Gellért-hegy egyik dél felé néző teraszáról (a Nemzeti Színház és mellette a színváltoztató Művészetek Palotája)
9. A Budai Várban, az Oroszlános Udvar déli végén lévő kiszögellésből.
Az utómunka összesen kb. 30-40 órát ölelt fel, és a így zajlott:
1. RAW képek feldolgozás Lightroommal
2. Átmenetek kezelése és villódzásmentesítés LRTimelapse szoftverrel
3. Néhol még egy kör villódzás mentesítés VirtualDubbal
4. Ahol kellett, ott stabilizálás After Effects segítségével
5. Zoomolás hozzáadása, végleges vágás szintén After Effects segítségével
Zene: Alex Fitch - The Tide
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Részletes útmutató a timelapse videók készítéséről itt:
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A timelapse-hyperlapse short movie of Budapest created in 2016 March-April. There are two sequences, however, that were from 2010 and 2011.
Shot using Canon EOS 1000D, 550D and 6D bodies. Post-processed with Lightroom, LRTimelapse, Virtualdub (for deflickering), stabilized and composited in After Effects.
Music: Alex Fitch - The Tide
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In order of appearance, the scenes are:
1. Parliament and St. Stephen's Basilica from Hármashatár-hill in the Blue Hour
2-3. St. Stephen's Basilica up close
4. The soviet statue on Szabadság-square. This is here because I was practicing creating vertigo-effects, not because of what it symbolizes
5. Step by step moving south of the Parliament next to the Danube, looking at Buda Castle with Fishermens' Bastion
6. From next to the Parliament, looking at the Buda side
7. From one of the bridges over the Funnicular going up to Buda Castle. The Chain Bridge and 4Seasons Gresham Palace in the view
8. From south side of Gellért-hill, looking at National Theatre of Hungary, Palace of Arts (the one changing its color) and the Budapest University of Technology (bottom right)
9. From south edge of Buda Castle, looking at Chain Bridge and Parliament.
See my post about the best photo spots in Budapest:
Have you been in Budapest? Let me know in the comments what you liked the most!
AUTO ISO: why I use it + how to configure it on any camera
Aperture priority mode coupled with Auto ISO is the winning combination when shooting handheld!
I have control over the aperture → have control on the depth-of-field, and...
The camera calculates the ISO to give me a fast enough shutter speed!
No thinking required on my side :) Okay, a littlebit of thinking have to be put there in the beginning.
Follow me as I show you:
- what is Auto ISO, what it does,
- why you should use it with aperture priority mode,
- how to configure the minimum shutter speed,
- how to use it Manual mode
Related video: Handholding the camera properly
Good luck, good lights!
Links that may be useful:
Night photography tours in Budapest, Hungary:
Straight to the point, detailed photography articles:
Photo Review #1: Editing night and underexposed shots in Lightroom
First video in my Photo Review series!
One of my guests, Priyanka sent me 3 Nikon RAW files with a bunch of questions about sharpness and post-processing.
I edit these 3 images in Lightroom, and meanwhile answer all her questions.
- What would I have done differently?
- How would I compose the shot?
- How do I save the highlights?
- How to save a very heavily underexposed shot?
It has to be noted that the 3rd picture, with the Apostles, was part of an HDR bracketing sequence, that's why it was so underexposed. At the time of the recording, I did not know this.
Images by Priyanka, see instagram here:
Links that may be useful:
Night photography tours in Budapest, Hungary:
Straight to the point, detailed photography articles:
Chain Bridge Budapest
Chain Bridge Budapest time lapse from 2 different viewpoints.
I took the time lapse with A73 and Tamron 24-75mm F2.8. My settings were Aperture Mode, ISO 100, F16, manual focus. Edited in LR and FCP (no profile added). My thanks to Miklos Mayer for the awesome tour. Thank you for watching..
My Collections:
Hungarian can be EASY: here are 5 things that makes it simpler than other languages
Hungarian is indeed a difficult language to learn, but it's not as crazy difficult as most foreigners think!
At first sight, our alphabet seems weird, but it's just a few strange letters that make the confusion, otherwise it's simple to read and pronounce.
In fact, there are many ways that hungarian is simpler and easier than many other languages.
Check them out in the video!
You'll also find famous movie parts dubbed in hungarian.
And at the end of the video I show you 5 interesting facts about Hungary.
Making a TIMELAPSE video: from shooting to post-processing (how I do it)
Read the complete article and download my timelapse photography checklist PDF:
I've been making timelapse videos in the last 10 years, so now I've decided to show the basics of timelapse photography.
Using these techniques, you can easily create your own timelapse video.
The good news is you don't need any expensive cameras!
In fact, many of my timelapses were captured with very old DSLRs.
What you only need:
- a tripod,
- any camera capable of shooting in Manual mode (DSLR, mirrorless or compact),
- intervalometer device / timelapse program
In the video I cover:
- what is a timelapse video?
- why isn't it enough if you just speed up a normal video?
- how many seconds apart you should be taking photos?
- what subjects work best for timelapse videos (useful to know when composing)
- how to set up camera for smoothly flowing timelapse videos
- why exposure time is important (aka what is shutter angle)
- how to set up the intervalometer or the built-in timelapse program
- how many second long intervals are best
- why it's better to capture more frame
I also give a super simple formula on how to calculate the necessary time to collect enough photos :)
In the post-processing part, I go in detail into:
- editing workflow in Adobe Lightroom,
- the crucial step in editing - synchronize settings,
- merging the photos into a video in Adobe Premiere Pro
Manual focusing in more detail:
Night photography tours in Budapest, Hungary:
In-depth tutorials in night photography:
Music: Bensound.com
Secret of sharp photos: how to handhold the camera properly
I've noticed that are a few photographers who can't handhold normal shutter speeds, and they end up with a slightly blurry shot...
The main reason behind this is the way they hold the camera.
That's why I decided to make this video: to share the 3 key elements that go into properly handheld shots.
So here are rules:
#1: Have a proper grip on the camera
It should be always left hand underneath the camera and right hand on the camera grip.
This is very obvious in landscape mode, but in vertical, it's not.
And when shooting vertically it makes a huge difference in terms of stability in which direction you turn the camera.
I think the right hand should be always up, and the left hand should be under the camera, supporting its weight, not the other way around.
#2: Use three points of stabilisation
Your two hands are not enough... Take advantage of pressing /pushing the camera against something.
It could be your face, your neckstrap or whatever that you apply some force against.
#3: Don't touch the focus ring on the lens
It's very easy to accidentally touch the focus ring, and in this case, the autofocus of the camera will be worth nothing.
If you apply these rules, you should be able to handheld around 1 / focal length in seconds shutter speeds.
So for example, on a full-frame camera, with a 50mm lens, you should have 100% sharp pics with 1/50 seconds. If you are good, you may go down to 1/30 sec as well.
Good luck, good lights!
Links that may be useful:
Night photography tours in Budapest, Hungary:
Straight to the point, detailed photography articles:
Sharpening in Adobe Lightroom - make use of all the sliders for crispy images with no noise!
Sharpness is a crucial element in a great picture. Who would like a soft picture? Not me...
RAW files are inherently soft, as they are not sharpened by the camera. So when you process them, you have to make sure proper sharpening is applied.
In this video I'll show you my method on how to obtain maximum sharpness and detail, with having as little noise as possible.
Noise? Why am I talking about noise?
Because if sharpening is not done properly, it can introduce a lot of unwanted noise.
Luckily, Adobe Lightroom has 4 sliders that can fine tune the sharpness. Especially the Masking slider is important to have noise-free images.
Also, many people forget that sharpening has to be done every time a picture is resized. So when you resize upon exporting from LR, make sure you apply Output sharpening.
My article on sharpening:
All the small technical info from Cambridge in Colour:
Links that may be useful:
Night photography tours in Budapest, Hungary:
Straight to the point, detailed photography articles:
Manual focusing with any camera for tack sharp photos!
Sometimes the camera's autofocus just can't find the right focus...
Or often I just want to be 100% sure my focus will be spot on shot after the shot.
This is when I use Manual Focusing. This technique saved me so many shots from ending up blurry...
Manual focusing is relatively easy if you do it right. But people often make a mistake that I point out in the video.
The crucial part is that you have to use Live View mode, and you have to magnify into the view to be able to judge if it's focused or not, especially when using wide apertures resulting in shallow depth-of-field.
For Harry Potter fans, there's a question in the video :) If you know who Merope is in the books, tell us in the comments pls!
Links that may be useful:
Night photography tours in Budapest, Hungary:
Straight to the point, detailed photography articles:
Boglárka Csősz in 25 Dollars Film- Official Trailer
IN 1912 PAOLO, A YOUNG IMMIGRANT OF HUNGARIAN-ITALIAN ORIGIN ARRIVES FROM HIS INHERITANCE TO AMERICA WITH HIGH HOPES. HE BECOMES ADDICTED TO THE SOUNDS COMING THROUGH HIS NEIGHBOR'S WALL. FOR LONG YEARS WHILE FOLLOWING ADOLPH ZUKOR'S, THE PARAMOUNT PICTURES FOUNDER'S LIFE HE LOSES HIS OWN.
ALL CAST AND CREW:
Paolo - ADORJÁNI BÁLINT
Landlady - CSŐSZ BOGLÁRKA
Actress - UBRANKOVICS JÚLIA
Adolph Zukor - ERŐSS IMRE
Adolph Zukor voice - EPRES ATTILA
Brother in law voice - MIKÓ ISTVÁN
Director - JIMY J. HOLLYWOOD
Writer - BORBÁS EDINA
Cinematographer - MAYER ZOLTÁN
Producer - CSŐSZ BOGLÁRKA
Production Manager - GÁL KORNÉLIA
Supervising Editor - TIHANYI KATALIN
VFX - MANGA ISTVÁN
Letter Animation - KRISTON CSABA, SZÍN RÓBERT
DCP - VARGA ZSOLT IVÁN
Camera - FÜLE ZSÓFIA
Fővilágosító - VAJDA LÁSZLÓ
Világosító - GRÁTZ MÁRK, HALMAI ANDRÁS
Sound editor - KISS DÁNIEL
Sound recordist- KEREKES GÁBOR
Dubbing - SKOVRÁN TÜNDE - VOXX STUDIOS
Composer - GRÓSZ ARTHUR VALENTIN
Technical team - MIKLÓS GÁBOR, NAGY RICHÁRD, VANITY CORE
Script - MAGYAR CSABA
Clapper board - PÓR DÓRA
Stylist - KISS-MATYI MÓNIKA, KISS VIKTÓRIA
Hair - BARANOVSZKY JUCI
Make-up - GILA OLGA, SCHLOVICSKÓ KATALIN
Location - MÉHFÉSZ BT, ORBÁN KÁROLY
Set decorator - LÁSZLÓ SÁNDOR
Catering - BANDULA KISVENDÉGLŐ, BORBÁS LAJOS, BORBÁS LAJOSNÉ, NAGY RICHÁRD
Accessories - JUCI NÉNI, BURGER EDINA, GLÓZIK ILDIKÓ, SÁNDOR DÁNIEL
Animal Care - HARTH SZABOLCS
Graphics- POZSGAY GYULA, POZSGAY GÁBOR
Dramaturgy - KESZEI ADRIENN
How to achieve best lighting for your landscape photos (understanding the Sun)
In landscape photography the importance of lighting is often so forgotten!
But this one element can be the difference between an OK and an outstanding shot.
With real life examples and illustrations, I cover in the video:
1. What is usually the best lighting for landscape shots
2. How you can plan the Sun's movement
The Photographer's Ephemeris app, that I mention in the video:
With this, it's so easy to plan sunrise / sunset shots!
Good luck, good lights!
Links that may be useful:
Night photography tours in Budapest, Hungary:
Straight to the point, detailed photography articles:
How I edit night photos in Lightroom - using my own preset pack
Important: this Preset Pack only works with Lightroom Classic 7.3 or newer, and with Lightroom CC.
Download my Lightroom Preset Pack over here:
Editing night photos is easy!
I've been processing thousands of night images in the last ten years, and I've distilled down the editing into 3 steps:
1. Adjusting the White Balance
At night, the camera often cannot set the color temperature correctly, so we have to do that in post.
2. Brightening the shadows, bringing down the highlights
When shooting lit up cities, I always expose for the highlights, because that's where the details are. This also means that the rest of the frame is very underexposed.
So we have to make the blacks/shadows brighter, and the highlights less bright.
When editing a Milky Way shot, it's a bit different, because we have to make the stars pop out from the dark background.
3. Add some extra color / brushes (optional)
Often I give some coloring to my shots, because at night it's often just the not-so-fabulous yellow lights.
My favourite preset here is the Blue Hour look, which elevates the blacks a bit and pushes them towards the Blue
So when I edit my night photos, I always go through the above sequence.
Following this logical order, I can save so much time!
Read more info about the preset pack on my website:
Night photography tours in Budapest: