I’ve been a Nikon shooter since I got ‘properly’ into photography with a Nikon F65 almost 20 years ago. During that time frame I’be progressed and spent the last 10 years a a full time photographer, shooting mainly corporate portraits for clients in London.

Although I’ve stuck with Nikon throughout my photography career, it’s not because I’m a fanboy or possess an undying loyalty to them. I see cameras as tools to do a job. Much like a plumber uses a pipe wrench to fit a pipe, I use a camera to make images that clients can use.

Certain technologies make a difference. When it happened, the move to full frame made a material difference to image quality as did improvements made to image sensors that improve low light abilities (because I also shoot some corporate events), dynamic range and resolution. Practically all of my images end up on the web so I don’t need more than 24MP.

I use my cameras until they reach the published shutter life expectancy, usually 150,000 actuations.

Essentially any full frame camera on the market right now would suit my needs. I have just 2 lenses (85mm 1.8 and 24-70 2.8) and my own lighting gear.

My last DSLR was a Nikon D750. I didn’t want or need the high resolution of the D850, in fact those larger files would have slowed down my workflow, and I didn’t need or want the speed, weight, or expense of the D6. The D750 was perfect for me in terms of resolution, size, weight,image quality and handling, plus good enough low light and AF capabilities. I had no need for anything more.

Early in 2022 the shutter count on my D750 hit the 150,000 mark so time to upgrade. In terms of full frame cameras I’d say that the Sony A7 series, Canon R series entered my mind (I run some photography courses so I get to handle a lot of cameras) and also the Nikon D780. But chiefly I was looking at moving to the Nikon Z series. I really like the sound of the autofocus covering the whole frame and its ability to track eyes. 

When I’m framing headshots, with a DSLR the eye is nearly always out of the area that the focus points cover. And I try to shoot people in a way that gets candid expression. This means they are often moving slightly, or I am, and combined with a lot of shooting at f2.8, means I sometimes slightly miss getting focus on the eye, which means the image gets deleted.

So, excited about the prospect of AF improvements I got myself a Z6II with the adapter to use my 24-70 and 85mm. Around 6 months later I sold the old 24-70 and bought the new Z series 24-70 2.8.

After 12 months of solid, day in day out use, here are my thoughts.

Mirrorless vs DSLR Handling

Moving from a Nikon DSLR to Nikon mirrorless has been pretty seamless. The menus feel the same and the button and dials on the outside of the camera are intuitive to me as a long time Nikon user. In the hand it feels comfortable holding the camera in both portrait and orientation modes and the camera feels well balanced with lenses including the new Z 24-70 f2.8. One thing I missed initially was the little AF switch near the lens, but I’ve overcome this by programming one of the many buttons around the camera so I can directly control AF area and mode. I’d say handling is actually slightly better on the Z series than a DSLR because the screen is touch sensitive which helps navigating images, focussing in live view and selecting functions.

Eye AF Is A Big Advantage Of Mirrorless Cameras

Initially I thought eye AF was going to be a complete game changer. When shooting portraits I would simply stick the camera in eye AF mode and let it choose where to focus. But after several thousand actuations I came to realise that it would mis-focus ever so slightly in a high enough percentage of shots for it to be a problem. Some shots that I really liked would have the eyes slightly out of focus. So, I switched to single point focus, moving the point over the eye and my hit rate returned to very close to 100%. I still use Eye AF when trying to get candid shots that involve movement of my subject towards or away from me, or within the frame. In those instances I can live with a few missed shots due to lack of focus. But for more static shots such as headshots I now use single point AF and rely on myself to choose the focus point. Having said all of that, I think Eye AF is a great thing to have; it enables me to get candid portraits that I would have missed with my old SLR, and the full coverage of the frame with the focus points is also super useful.

Battery Life – Mirrorless vs DSLR

I was actually worried about this, so bought 2 extra batteries, meaning I have 3 in total. One of my first jobs was shooting an event. By mistake I started out using the old battery from my D750 in the Z6 which depleted scarily quickly, but when I switched to the new battery designed for the Z series it barely only lost one bar of power over the next couple of hours of shooting. I feel like the Z6 batteries last as almost long as the old batteries in the D750 and my battery concerns are a thing of the past.

Size and Weight Differences

The body is a bit smaller and lighter than the D750, nothing to write home about. I have now sold my F mount 24-70 which was a beast in terms of size and weight and replaced it with the Z mount 24-70 2.8 which not only is excellent all round, but is noticeably smaller and lighter. So, moving to the Z6 has made my life way better in terms of size and weight, but that’s due to the lens rather than the body.

Mirrorless Lenses

At the moment I’m in love with the Z 24-70. Image quality is outstandings across the fream, it’s really well built, focusses quickly and is considerably smaller than the F mount 24-70. This lens alone is worth the move to mirrorless. I also have the pancake 26mm which is a fantastic lens for travel and street photography and the 40mm f2 which I also like.

Viewfinder Comparison

It is noticeably different using an electronic viewfinder when compared to an optical viewfinder. The main difference is a split second lag before you can see the image when you bring the camera to your eye. After some time this becomes barely noticeable but I know that I have missed a few candid shots at events because that split second makes a difference at times when I’m walking around looking for shots. I no longer notice and difference in the way the image looks in the viewfinders compared to an optical versions and there are some nice things you can do like review the image in the viewfinder and see extra information such as the virtual horizon,

Mirrorless Image Quality Compared To A DSLR

I haven’t done any major comparison of image quality differences and don’t notice anything game changing. High ISO shots are slightly better. I trust the pixel peepers out there who tell me things are improved!

XQD Card Speeds

I find transferring files to my Mac is noticeably quicker, which is a bonus

Video

I don’t shoot much video, mainly because I found it a bit of a pain on the D750, and it was never my focus. But I’ve now shot a couple of videos on the Z6ii and really enjoyed the experience. It made me want to shoot more videos. For me, this is about the AF being really good in live view on the Z6ii, which it definitely was not on the D750.

Conclusion

They are old news now, but mirrorless camera bring significant benefits in terms of size, video and overall handling. Image quality is not a massive step up from a DSLR.