Elegant Pre-Wedding Dinner Photography | Italy | Nikon Z8 Test
V+J | Villa Sigurtà | First Nikon Z8 Field Test
Hey there! Time to write something on this almost-dead blog!
So I want to keep the circumstance of a new camera to be tested, to tell you about my latest photography adventure. I had the chance to shoot my first event (an elegant pre-wedding dinner, hosted close to the beautiful city of Verona, talking a bit about it later) with the Nikon Z8; let me tell you, it was an incredible experience. The camera is hands-down the best mirrorless camera I have ever tried (and I tried A LOT!), especially for wedding photography. The usual Nikon interface made it extremely easy to use – especially if you’re familiar with the brand – and the ergonomy was the best I’ve ever tested. In the end, taking pictures with the Z8 felt as natural as using the naked eye! If I have to describe it with a few words, it’s like using a D850 under tons of steroids. What I loved a lot is that the colors remain almost constant throughout the ISO range. Considering the event’s atmosphere, this time, I preferred not to use the flash, keeping the warm tones of the light strips. Scroll till the end of the post to see how amazingly well this camera can render low lights (without speaking about the killer AF performance!). I’m not interested in digging deeper into the Nikon Z8 tech specs, but if you want to have a list, I paste them at the end of the post. Wath I care about the most is that this camera is definitely the best thing I ever tried for wedding photography. My only concern is that each battery lasts around 3 hours, so you need 4 to 5 batteries for each camera, to cover a full wedding day. But this is well known since the world moved from reflex to mirrorless cameras.
The event itself was absolutely stunning, and I strongly suggest couples add pre-wedding dinner photography coverage to their photo service. It’s good both to be familiar with having a photographer around you on the wedding day and to create a sort of chapter one to your wedding photography set of photos. To be more specific about this event, it was a pre-wedding dinner hosted by an American couple at Villa Sigurtà, near Verona, in Italy. We took a romantic stroll through Parco Giardino Sigurtà and captured some amazing photos of the couple. Then it was time for the guests to arrive, and the couple greeted them with a hand-made pizza, made by expert Italian hands chef in the traditional way. The best part of it is you can even try it! If you ever find yourself in Florence, you must search for Pizzeria Giotto, and you’ll discover a beautiful newly renewed restaurant close to the central train station – it has even been awarded as one of the best in the world. After dinner, the couple’s best friends gave speeches under the starry sky, filling the laidback atmosphere with laughs and tears. It was a beautiful moment I was lucky enough to capture (awesome test in low light or the new Nikon Z8s).
All in all, I can confidently say that the Nikon Z8 is the best Nikon camera ever. It’s perfect for any photography project, especially weddings (we missed a good camera like this lately…). If you’re a photographer looking to step up your game, especially if you left Nikon because of some lack of performance (how to blame you…), I’d recommend trying the brand-new Nikon Z8. Trust me: you won’t regret it!
NIKON Z8 Specs
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Type of camera |
Digital camera with support for interchangeable lenses |
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Lens mount |
Nikon Z mount |
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Compatible lenses |
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Effective pixels |
45.7 million |
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Type |
35.9 x 23.9 mm CMOS sensor (full-frame/FX-format) |
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Total pixels |
52.37 million |
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Dust-reduction system |
Image sensor cleaning, Image Dust Off reference data (requires NX Studio) |
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Image size (pixels) |
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File format (image quality) |
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Picture Control system |
Auto, Standard, Neutral, Vivid, Monochrome, Portrait, Landscape, Flat, 20 Creative Picture Controls; selected Picture Control can be modified; storage for custom Picture Controls |
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Media |
CFexpress (Type B), XQD, SD (Secure Digital), and UHS-II compliant SDHC and SDXC memory cards |
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Dual card slots |
Either card can be used for overflow or backup storage, for separate storage of NEF (RAW) and JPEG or HEIF pictures, or for storage of duplicate JPEG or HEIF pictures at different sizes and image qualities; pictures can be copied between cards |
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Viewfinder |
1.27-cm/0.5-in. approx. 3690k-dot (Quad VGA) OLED electronic viewfinder with color balance, auto and 18-level manual brightness controls, and support for high frame rates |
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Frame coverage |
Approx. 100% horizontal and 100% vertical |
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Magnification |
Approx. 0.8x (50 mm lens at infinity, -1.0 m-1) |
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Monitor |
8-cm/3.2-in., approx. 2100k-dot vertically and horizontally tilting TFT touch-sensitive LCD with 170° viewing angle, approximately 100% frame coverage, and color balance and 15-level manual brightness controls |
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Type |
Electronic shutter with shutter sound and sensor shield |
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Speed |
1/32000 to 30 s in steps of 1/3, 1/2 and 1 EV, extendable to 900 s in mode M, bulb, time |
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Flash sync speed |
Flash synchronizes with shutter at speeds of 1/250 or 1/200 s or slower (but note that the guide number drops at speeds of 1/200 to 1/250 s); sync speeds as fast as 1/8000 s are supported with auto FP highspeed sync |
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Release modes |
Single frame, continuous L, continuous H, highspeed frame capture with Pre-Release Capture, self-timer |
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Approximate frame advance rate |
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Metering system |
TTL metering using camera image sensor |
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Metering modes |
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Metering range |
-3 to +17 EV |
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ISO sensitivity |
ISO 64 to 25600 (choose from step sizes of 1/3 and 1 EV); can also be set to approx. 0.3, 0.7, or 1 EV (ISO 32 equivalent) below ISO 64 or to approx. 0.3, 0.7, 1, or 2 EV (ISO 102400 equivalent) above ISO 25600; auto ISO sensitivity control available |
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Active D-Lighting |
Auto, Extra high 2, Extra high 1, High, Normal, Low, and Off |
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Multiple exposure |
Add, average, lighten, darken |
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Other options |
HDR overlay, photo mode flicker reduction, high-frequency flicker reduction |
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Type |
Hybrid phase-detection/contrast AF with AF assist |
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Detection range (in photo mode, AF-S, ISO 100, f/1.2 lens, 20°C/68°F) |
-7 to +19 EV (-9 to +19 EV with starlight view) |
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Focus points (in photo mode, single-point AF, FX format) |
493 points |
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AF-area modes |
Pinpoint (available in photo mode only), single-point, dynamic-area (S, M, and L; available in photo mode only), wide-area (S, L, C1, and C2), and auto-area AF; 3D-tracking (available in photo mode only); subject-tracking AF (available in video mode only) |
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Camera on-board VR |
5-axis image sensor shift |
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Lens on-board VR |
Lens shift (available with VR lenses) |
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Flash control |
TTL: i-TTL flash control; i-TTL balanced fill-flash is used with matrix, center-weighted, and highlight-weighted metering, standard i-TTL fill-flash with spot metering |
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Flash modes |
Front-curtain sync, slow sync, rear-curtain sync, red-eye reduction, red-eye reduction with slow sync, off |
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Nikon Creative Lighting System (CLS) |
i-TTL flash control, radio-controlled Advanced Wireless Lighting, optical Advanced Wireless Lighting, modeling illumination, FV lock, Color Information Communication, auto FP high-speed sync, unified flash control |
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White balance |
Auto (3 types), natural light auto, direct sunlight, cloudy, shade, incandescent, fluorescent (3 types), flash, choose color temperature (2500 to 10,000 K), preset manual (up to 6 values can be stored), all with fine-tuning |
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Bracketing types |
Exposure and/or flash, white balance, and ADL |
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Metering modes |
Matrix, center-weighted or highlight-weighted |
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Frame size (pixels) |
Note: Actual frame rates for 120p, 100p, 60p, 50p, 30p, 25p, and 24p are 119.88, 100, 59.94, 50, 29.97, 25, and 23.976 fps respectively |
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Frame size (pixels) |
Note: Actual frame rates for 120p, 100p, 60p, 50p, 30p, 25p, and 24p are 119.88, 100, 59.94, 50, 29.97, 25, and 23.976 fps respectively |
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File format |
NEV, MOV, MP4 |
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Video compression |
N-RAW (12 bit), Apple ProRes RAW HQ (12 bit), Apple ProRes 422 HQ (10 bit), H.265/HEVC (8 bit/10 bit), H.264/AVC (8 bit) |
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Audio recording format |
Linear PCM (48 KHz, 24 bit, for videos recorded in NEV or MOV format) or AAC (48 KHz, 16 bit, for videos recorded in MP4 format) |
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Audio recording device |
Built-in stereo or external microphone with attenuator option; sensitivity adjustable |
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Exposure compensation |
Range: -3 to +3 EV in steps of 1/3 or 1/2 EV |
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ISO sensitivity (Recommended Exposure Index) |
Note: ISO sensitivity is limited to 400-25600 when HLG is selected for tone mode |
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Other options |
Time-lapse video recording, electronic vibration reduction, time codes, N-Log and HDR (HLG) video, wave-form display, red REC frame indicator, video recording display zoom (50%, 100%, and 200%), extended shutter speeds (M mode), and dual-format (proxy-video) recording for RAW video; extended oversampling available; option to view video recording info available via i menu; Hi-Res Zoom |
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USB |
Type C USB connectors: USB data connector (SuperSpeed USB) and USB Power Delivery connector |
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HDMI output |
Type-A HDMI connector |
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Audio input |
Stereo mini-pin jack (3.5-mm diameter; plug-in power supported) |
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Audio output |
Stereo mini-pin jack (3.5 mm diameter) |
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Ten-pin remote terminal |
Built-in (can be used with MC-30A/MC-36A remote cords and other optional accessories) |
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Wi-Fi |
Available |
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Bluetooth |
Available |
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Battery |
One EN-EL15c Rechargeable Li-ion Battery; EN-EL15b and EN-EL15a batteries can be used in place of the EN-EL15c |
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Battery pack |
MB-N12 Power Battery Packs (available separately) taking two EN-EL15c batteries; EN-EL15b and EN-EL15a batteries can be used in place of the EN-EL15c |
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AC adapter |
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Tripod socket |
0.635 cm; 1/4 in., ISO 1222 |
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Dimensions (W x H x D) |
Approx. 144 x 118.5 x 83 mm/5.7 x 4.7 x 3.3 in. |
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Weight |
Approx. 910 g (2 lb. 0.1 oz.) with battery and memory card but without body cap and accessory shoe cover; approx. 820 g/1 lb. 13 oz. (camera body only) |
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Operating environment |
Temperature: -10 °C to 40 °C (+14 °F to 104 °F); humidity: 85% or less (no condensation) |
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Supplied accessories |
EN-EL15c Rechargeable Li-ion Battery, MH-25a Battery Charger, HDMI/USB Cable Clip, AN-DC26 Strap, UC-E24 USB Cable, BS-1 Accessory Shoe Cover, DK-33 Rubber Eyecup, BF-N1 Body Cap |
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Looks like you got on well with the z8/
This camera is nothing but what I dreamed for from Nikon. I just hope in a few updates with the next firmwars to make it even more powerful. 🙂
I have been following you for a long time and it’s always a big pleasure to look at your photos. Regarding your experience with Z8, can you share how many pics did you take with a single battery and wich lenses did you use? Thanks in adavance.
Thanks so much, Danilo!
About your question, it depends by the setting I use. Basically, if I deactivate the stand-by to have the camera always on and ready, I need a battery every 2 hours, no matter how many photos I take. Otherwise it could vari depending on the use of the evf/LV, but I can easily go over 1000, I’d say I can reach 1500 or even 2000, id I don’t do a lot od play/review actions. I mainly use 28 F1,4E + 58 f1,4G, with the FTZII adapters.