Tag: Photography Blog

Nikon Zf – What an autofocus

Two ladies going shopping in Genoas Centro Storico - an opportunity for me to try the Autofocus of the Nikon ZF
1/8000 sec | f/2 | ISO 6400 | 40mm

Ok – this is not the prettiest of street photographs. But it shows a couple of things from putting my new baby, the Nikon Zf, through some initial tests on the streets of Genoa. The 24.5-megapixel full-frame BSI CMOS sensor combined with the EXPEED 7 image processor produces awesome results, delivering beautifully rendered images with a high dynamic range.

The autofocus of the Nikon Zf is a true champion

But what an autofocus the Zf has. It was already getting dark in the alleys of Genoa’s Old Town. I dialed in ISO 6400 (which produces absolutely usable images with little noise) and the max aperture of f/2 to shoot wide open. This resulted in a shutter speed of 1/8000 sec, enough to freeze any action.

I dialed in wide-area autofocus with eye/face detection. It totally amazed me how easily the camera picked out the faces of oncoming people and nailed the focus on their eyes. I walked towards the also quite fast walking oncoming ladies and pressed the shutter. E voilà, a sharp image. The Leica SL2-S could never ever have done this.

I took this street photograph with my Nikon Zf and the Nikkor Z 40mm 1:2 SE. It is a jpg out of the camera using the Zf’s default black & white mode. I could quick-select this mode by turning a dial on top of the camera. This is another awesome feature of this amazing camera. Stay tuned for more feature reviews as I continue to discover and learn my new camera.

So far, I can only rave about the Zf and say that I’m truly glad I replaced the Leica SL2-S with the Nikon. I’m also amazed at how superior the Nikon is compared to the much more expensive “high-end” Leica. Especially, the autofocus simply blows the SL2-S away. I have found my perfect street photography camera.

If you are looking for tips and inspiration around street photography, check out my free Learning Center.

Have a great Friday!

Marcus

Related Posts:

A very special visitor

Yashica Auto Yashinon-DX 1:2 50mm

Instant Inspiration (20) – Backlit Fountain

Lensbaby Streetshot

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Fearless

Man looking fearless at a grinch mural
Fearless | Genoa | 2025

We are living in a crazy world. There are plenty of things around us that cause anxiety. But at least we all should do the things we can do to make things better, safeguard democracy and keep the planet afloat for our children and future generations. Like casting our votes in general elections. It won’t help to stick our heads into the sand. Germany is voting today. Let’s keep the faith that everyone has realized what’s on the plate.

This is the first street photo I have taken with my new Nikon ZF and the Nikkor Z 40mm 1:2 SE on a walk through Genoa’s historic center yesterday. It is a jpg straight out of camera, only some cropping in Lightroom Classic. Images specs 1/1250 sec @ f/4 and ISO 6400, 40mm focal length. I love my new camera more every day!

If you feel like picking up your camera (or smartphone) for a Sunday walk and are looking for tips and inspirations around street photography, check out my free Learning Center. 

Let’s all be fearless!

Have a great Sunday

Marcus 

Related Posts:

Street Photography Quick Tip 1 – A way to shoot inconspicuously

Street Photography Quick Tip 15 – Get close for more intense street portraits

Instant Inspiration (4) – Juxtaposition

Instant Inspiration (30) – Look for that different face

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Nikon Zf – A Retro Beauty with Modern Power

Nikon Zf – A Retro Beauty with Modern Power
My New Baby | Nuremberg | 2025

After my tumultuous journey with the Leica SL2-S, marked by repeated hardware failures and frustrating customer service experiences, I had decided to move on. Prerequisite was to get another full frame camera, as the larger sensors ensure better low light capabilities, greater dynamic range and more depth-of-field-separation (bokeh) when shooting wide open. And I was looking for a camera that is (like the Leica from its design and haptics doubtless also was) a joy to pick up and makes me want to go out and shoot. Only reliable.

Going through all the current full frame models on the market, I quickly set my eyes on a particular model. The brand I knew well from my early DSLR shooting days. These cameras never failed me and were reliable work horses. I knew I needed to look no further. There was a camera I instantly fell in love with. Enter the Nikon Zf – a retro beauty with modern power….and my new baby since a couple of weeks now….

Continue reading “Nikon Zf – A Retro Beauty with Modern Power” →
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Ice Ice Baby

Ice skating little boy
Ice Ice Baby | Nuremberg | 2025

Walking into the city the other day, I was quite surprised to see an ice skating rink on the Main Square in Nuremberg’s Old Town. And many people, old and young, obviously enjoying themselves. An awesome opportunity for some low light street photography. Ice Ice Baby….

Continue reading “Ice Ice Baby” →
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The End is Near

a skeleton in the middle of people - the end is near
1/60 sec | f/2.8| ISO 6400 | 70mm

No, the world will not end tomorrow. Also the reaper is (hopefully) not looking over my shoulder. Nothing nearly as dramatic. But there is change ahead, after (yet another) big emotional disappointment. I’m really loyal to the brands I use. But there are limits. And I don’t like to be taken for a fool. So the end is near.

Image taken with the Leica SL2-S and the Vario-Elmarit-SL 1:2.8/24-70 ASPH. Post-processing in Lightroom Classic.

Have a great Saturday

Marcus

Related Posts:

My Leica failed me

The Leica is back

My photographic journey 2022

Night Vision Lens

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Visual Push-Ups for January 18, 2025

Forest weeds
1/80 sec | f/8 | ISO 3200 | 200mm

Finally weekend! Fighting a little cold, I took it easy all day. But late afternoon, I felt an itch to go outside. And do some photography. So I grabbed my camera and went for a little walk into the woods around our house. And do my visual push-ups for January 18, 2025 . Click below to join me on my little photographic exercise…..

Continue reading “Visual Push-Ups for January 18, 2025” →
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Up

Up | Genoa | 2025

Up was the motto of the day! We went up the map, driving from Genoa north (up the map ) back to Nuremberg. The drive was uneventful, and even going up San Bernardino pass in Switzerland while crossing the Alps was on clear roads under a blue sky through snow capped mountains.

“Up” is also the name of the heartwarming Pixar movie about an elderly widower, Carl Fredricksen, who ties thousands of balloons to his house to fulfill his late wife’s dream of adventure.  Obviously the four balloons of the “balloon man” in Genoa’s Porto Antico are not enough to make him levitate. But the balloons will be the perfect segway into my next post, that will be about a little mountain village on the Ligurian coast that has made balloons its claim to fame.

This street photograph is a snapshot taken with my iPhone 14 Pro with some post processing in Lightroom Classic.

If you are looking for some tips and inspirations around street photography, check out my free Learning Center. 

Have a great Tuesday

Marcus

Related Posts:

Around the World in Twelve Days

Oregon International Air Show (and how I photographed it)

StoNur on the Road – Vintage Propliner

PNW Explored – Olympic Peninsula

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A nightly view of our city

Genoa by Night
Genoa | 2025

Last night, The Significant Other and I have enjoyed a fancy dinner. We’ve cooked the handmade pasta (flavored with Red Beet) that Big Boy has produced as Christmas gift for parents, sister, grandparents, aunts and cousins. It was really yummy. We added some ricotta cheese, lemon zests and olive oil and had a bottle of Barbera d’Asti Riserva to go with it. Sure enough we needed to go for a walk after dinner. It was helped by the fact, that the heavy rain that had plummeted on Genoa all day, had subsided to a light drizzle. Taking the Fuji X-T2 with the Fujinon XF18-135mm F3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR along, we walked over to the nearby Belvedere San Rocco di Principe for a nightly view of our city. Aside from an unobstructed full view of the Old Town and the inner harbor, called Porto Antico, the little Belvedere also features a little wall to put the camera on for the long exposure night shots. For a couple more detailed images and to see our 500 year old lighthouse at work, continue after the jump….

Continue reading “A nightly view of our city” →
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This House is on fire

This house is on fire - La Lanterna, the historic lighthouse of Genoa
La Laterna | Genoa | 2024

This house is on fire – as a lighthouse should be. Only that the backlighted illumination of Genoa’s historic lighthouse, La Lanterna, is natural, with the sun setting directly behind the almost 500 year old structure guiding to the entrance of the port of “La Superba”, as Genoa is also known since medieval times. The photo is a throwback to last November, when, during the first days of the month, the sun is setting directly behind the Lanterna, with 77 meters height the tallest lighthouse in the Mediterranean and still the second tallest in Europe.

The Significant Other and I left Austria on New Year’s Day to spend the last days of our Christmas break at our “Southern Home” in Genoa on the Ligurian Coast in Italy, enjoying the perfect weather, as beautiful as on that November day when I captured the lighthouse on fire with my iPhone 14 Pro while strolling along the Porto Antico.

I hope you all had a great start into 2025.

Wish you a great Friday

Marcus

Related Posts:

Genoa from above

It also rains in Genoa

A weekend in La Superba

Luna Park with an iPhone

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Final sunset of the year

Last sunset of 2024
Final Sunset of the Year | Lungau | 2024

This is it – we’re (almost) done with 2024. The final sunset of the year has happened, and I captured it. I’m soooo ready to turn the last page and close the book on the old year. And this picture is my epitaph for 2024. Too many people we know have passed away. Too many people we know have fallen seriously ill. The corporate rat race has exceeded any previously known limits and has drained us more than ever before. And I wouldn’t say the world at the end of 2024 is a better place than at the start of the year. While also many positive things happened to us and we for sure realize that we are much privileged in many aspects (and we are totally grateful for all of that), The Significant Other and I won’t shed much tears for the old year.

We will spend the evening celebrating friendship over a relaxed dinner and with some good drinks. And then we will welcome 2025. May it be a better year for all of us! And let’s all do whatever we can to make 2025 a truly better year. For all of us!

Happy New Year

Marcus

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Lungau Landscapes with the Fuji

Sonnenuntergang an den Niederen Tauern
1/210 sec | f/5.6 | ISO 200 | 18mm

With the skiing slopes much too crowded, The Significant Other and I are doing a bit of winter hiking through Austria’s Lungau region between Mauterndorf and Mariapfarr. Along came the Fuji X-T2 with the Fujinon XF18-135mm F3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR travel zoom. The color photographs in this post are all jpgs out of the camera with the Fuji Velvia film simulation, the monochrome jpgs were shot with the Acros B&W analogue simulation. To see more Lungau landscapes with the Fuji, click below…

Continue reading “Lungau Landscapes with the Fuji” →
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Smoked Up

Kiss the Hand
Kiss the Hand | Nuremberg | 2024

Nuremberg’s historical Christmas Market has been closed for the year on Christmas Eve. But there is still time to share some street photographs I took at the “Schaschlik-Bude”, were the staff was working hard and all smoked up to prepare little meat skewers that were one of the culinary attractions of the market.

Fore some more images of the steamy food stall continue after the jump…

Continue reading “Smoked Up” →
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