Stay tuned for a full video about the videography capabilities of the z8. Also if you want to follow along with the daily photo project (and get insights into the photo edits from this video) here is a link to that instagram- instagram.com/evanranftphoto

Switched from Sony High end (A7s3 and a7m4 with gm glass) to nikon z8…has absolutely improved my work…the colour and contrast rendition on the z8 is absolutely gorgeous…

So stoked you shoot Nikon, so tired of creators bashing it all the time. Joke or not, kind of over it.

Just got a z8 and I'm in love with it. It's everything I ever wanted. I had a z6 for 4 years. And built up my lense kit. After getting the 50 1.2 and 85 1.2, I felt it was time to have these lenses a more suitable home. The z8 is amazing.

Here is a tip for your autofocus convenience;set the default af to 3D and then set map your AFON button to wide area small ,these two af options are all you need for 90 percent shooting scenarios . . If you want to take it further map your video record button to “cycle af” limit the af area options to the few you want to be using then you are all set . I added single point to the existing 3D to mine and that’s all . Try that and let the community know your finding .

Hopefully getting a Z8 in to test very soon. Been testing the Zf for the past month, and it has been an absolute pleasure shooting with. Z8 looks so appealing as a hybrid camera. Great video. Super fun project.

Great video and I love your perspective. Hopefully we see more videos of you using the z8 !

This video shows what a great eye for a picture you have Evan

You’ve got a great eye for composition.

Nice video. You do great work Mr. Ranft. How is the Z8 with video?

Great vid thanks! Subbed.

Would absolutely love this camera, currently I have the Z5. Honestly though I want the ZF and just with it for the next indefinite years. Love your photography man, keep up the great content!

Love nikon and your style! I have the z5 and I’m definitely ready to upgrade!

Nice dude! What focal length in that 24-70 range did you end up using the most? Thanks!

I've been using the Z6 for 4yrs and I just upgraded to the Z8 a week ago, so stoked! it's an amazing camera indeed.

damn straight it is the best camera of 2024 - I upgraded from a D810 last summer and have been loving it ever since. The adaptor for the older nikon DSLR lenses works like a champ without any issues so all my glass from my d810 works great. Also, believe it or not, the 24-120 f4 S lens is a great all around lens with awesome detail & sharpness - even with all of my other glass, I find that 24-120 is the one I use the most.

Have the Z6 and Z9..waiting for Z6III hopefully it's a ZF with better ergonomics.

Very nice video thank you for posting, I have a question for you, what Color profile did you use here the Color’s look so vibrant, or did you edit with your own preset ? Are they for sale ? Thanks

Evan who would have the better 24-70mm f2.8 the Nikon or Panasonic? Be interested in seeing a VS video or just your take on these two lens.

This is ao crazy! I scored the Nikon Zf a month ago. Not selling my Fujifilm gear though!

1:26 is such a great photo. I can look at it all day and it makes me feel in peace

What camera did you use for the talking-head? I love the colors and the overall look.

Been shooting Nikon for 35 years. I love the Z8 but usually carry the Zf because of the size. As great as it is on the Z8, the image stabilization is still better on the Zf than the Z8. My IG has a couple of hand held 1 to 2 second exposures.

You’ll like the Z 26mm pancake. It’s saturation is fantastic

Seaside Florida! I live in Destin and go there all the time. Love your video!

100%, that camera is outstanding.

The lens hood kills me here

Why reversed lenshood while taking photos? Just curious.

Evan. Great video and I love your work (especially since I’m a fellow ATL resident). Question for you, I’m a Nikon D810 shooter with 5 lenses for it (3 Sigma Art and 2 Nikon FX). I’d like to eventually get a Z8 but don’t want to have to trade in my FX lenses for Z lenses. Have you used the Z8 with the FTZ adapter and if yes, how did it do? Any loss in image quality or focusing ability?

Z8 is so good. I have been all over the place from Nikon D850, to Sony, to Canon, to Sony and then the Z8. I haven’t looked at BH for a year. Never been so happy with a mirrorless camera. R5 was close

I’m trying to do macro photography. I have a nikon z5, with a nikkor 24-200 zoom lens. My shutter release doesn’t work past 70mm zoom. Why can’t I do macro at full zoom?

This is a cool project

great review and showcase for the Z8... But what did you do to your D810? LOL That looks like it went through a war zone. I used full frame rigs when I worked in Radio and TV, because iheart radio and NBC paid for them, outside of that I shot on film cameras and crop sensor DLSRs. My wife surprised me with the Nikon D7200 when it came out and It included a couple of kit lenses, but she also got me a Nikkor 50mm 1.8D and the Sigma 18-35 1.8 Art. I fell in love with it and didn't feel the need to upgrade to a Full frame camera or Mirrorless. I've enjoyed this camera for 9 years now and It just does everything I need it to. But I'm going to be filming more and although I will not be giving up my D7200, there is just somethings it just doesn't do well enough for what I need. So I'm looking to add the Z8 to my kit. I'll have send you a pick of my rig, my wife teases me that I take better care of my Camera gear than I do my wedding ring. It's not my fault I have a habit of taking it off when I'm working around the house or she needs a foot rub and I forget where I put my ring. Normal right? Anyway love your content and I've been following you for years. Keep up the great work!

All cameras these days are good... It jus up to preference. Good images by the way.

I loved my Nikon D4s’s and switched to mirrorless for size reasons (love the smaller bodies) tried the Z8 a couple weeks back and we’re in the d850 size/feel…..great workhorse but no fun….

I love photography, and filming and just made a doc from RED, but what i wonder is does anyone care for photography or good filmmaking anymore? you can take the worst headshot of yours, put it in an A.I. app and boom it'll look like a GQ or Vogue cover. Sad reality but that's what change is about, it keeps changing things. 90% of people out there only watch smartphone videos now and think that's amazing production.

Love it! I want to get a similar camera! Haven’t upgraded mine in a few years! Side note - why do u sound like Patrick mahomes ! 🏈

Hello Evan, why didn,t you used your lens hood on any of those pictures?, love your work and color choice. the 24-70 rocks!

Nikon Z8 🎉on my wishlist

Where were you taking these images? Seems like a house belonging to Indians with the painting of Lord Ganesha, behind banana leaves. Is it Santa Rosa beach in Florida? Lovely colorful place.

I'm a ex Nikon shooter presently shooting Sony. What Nikon needed to do was a Z6 body with no shutter like the Z8. If the Z6III had no crop 100fps maybe they could have gained some meaningful market share back. As a Sony shooter, there is no reason for me to go back.

Nice review. Really interested in the Z8. Like the natural colour science. How does it compare to the Leica in that regards?

It all comes down to what you really need a camera to do, your overall knowledge and skill level and the lens system you have available. A truly great photographer can take the same picture with any of a dozen or more cameras and no one would know whether it was Nikon, Sony or Canon full frame or even in many cases the better APS-C or micro four third offerings on the market. The cases for Cameras like the Z8 or a Sony A1 are so specific and limited where you actually need the greater capability that even for most pros they are overkill. In all honesty what a lot of these flagship cameras are best at is letting lazy and inexperienced photographers get nearly the same pictures as dedicated pros can.

Nikon has always been one of the best photo cameras outside Phase One. So under rated.

Why do you and others keep the lens hood stowed?

Nikon has been making moves recently. 🙏

I watched your video about why you shoot nikon as a video cam. lol CAs you are a photographer first turned KZfaqr

+Z8 is the best Video Camera in the mirrorless full frame category too (in my opinion)

I can tell you a few weaknesses. One the camera doesn’t feel great in the hands. Canon R5 and R6ii feel much better. Secondly, the camera weight, it’s chunky and when I paired it with the Z 70-200 f2.8 it was extremely heavy. Third, and I know people rave about the viewfinder being great but there’s no reason this camera shouldn’t have a high resolution viewfinder. The R5 viewfinder is like night and day compared to the z8’s. Of course the z8 has many other great features that the Canons don’t. Myself being a Nikon shooter since 1999, will most likely move to the Canon r5 Mark ii when it is released or wait for the Z9/8ii.

Hi currently I have a Z5. Right now I am thinking of buying a Z7ii or a Nikkor Z 85mm f1.2. I only have the budget for one of them. I can't decide on one of them because I really like both the Z7ii and 85mm lens. Can someone kindly advice me on which i should choose. Thanks😊

Hi Evan - thank you for this honest review of the Nikon something that is uncommon among your KZfaq peers (many of whom are fully beholden to Sony). To reiterate and build upon what you are saying for the sake of your audience: The Z8 is definitively the best hybrid full frame camera on the market - simply put nothing out (as of the time of this comment) comes close to competing with it across all aspects of hybrid shooting (stills and video). Additionally, it has the best build quality, excellent ergonomics, class leading RAW files, class leading lens options (Nikon is a premier optics manufacturer - the only one to still grind their own glass), and of course the Z mount which is far and away the best mount on the market with its 55mm throat diameter and 16mm flange distance it allows for the most advanced lens designs (look up angle of incidence with respect to optical design if you don't know why). Additionally, due to the parameters of this mount it is possible to adapt ANY other lens from any system to this mount, but the reverse is physically impossible. Current adapters that exist which give native or near native performance are Sony E to Z, Canon EF to Z, Leica M to Z, and Fuji X to Z - it will likely not be long until there is a Canon RF to Z especially now that Nikon owns RED that have a license for the RF mount. Simply put, Nikon is at the forefront of the hybrid camera industry as of 2024 both with the Z8/9, Zf and upcoming (any month now) Z6III, and all of the exceptional optics that are out for the Z mount that are unrivaled by other manufacturers (and there are many). NIkon video has also leaped the competition with the capabilities of the Z9/8 and now with the purchase of RED, Sony and Canon video have little hope of recapturing their dominant video position over Nikon in the years to come. Great time to be a Nikon shooter, but then again for those of us that know it always was. Thanks again for the interesting video - I look forward to your comments on the video of the Z8, but we already know that it is literally class leading in the hybrid market :) -PD

Jesus, those colors are incredible. I miss Nikon

Nikon sent me this for 3 months and so far im loving it. I wish they would just let me keep it lol

There is no "best" camera. There are a lot of good cameras for different photographers with different needs 😊

This is a camera that got recalled because Nikons QC is so poor they released the camera to the market even though didn't allow lenses to be rotated into the locking position. Then you have all the firmware changes required to get it up to standard - it's a decent camera now - but for this sort of money it should never have been released until Nikon got it sorted out. The Z9 also had lens mount issues [though the complete opposite issue].

NIKON will always be my first love even though I no longer shoot with them…I still miss my D4S😢

Man your old D810 is battered!

If you want to be taken seriously by your peers, you've got to understand what a hood is for. Either take it off or be a pro and put it on like you're supposed to [NOFI}. Otherwise a good vid, great eye for pictures.

Maybe it because I like Porsche but I'll give that Porchea photo 5 out of 5!

The Z7 and Z7 II have better image quality. I have the Z8 and I’m going to sell it when Z7 III is released.

All modern cameras are good cameras, it is the person behind it that makes all the difference. I have many cameras including a 5MP bridge camera that I occasionally use. I print my photos to A3 and people often ask me for prints and even have them professionally framed. Having said that, I don’t consider myself a particularly good photographer, but might have a bit of an ‘eye’ for photos. Thinking about and working on composition makes all the difference, but a lot of people seem happy with ‘snaps’ that have little thought put into them.

What does it say that all these videos presumably about still photography are ... videos?

I love Nikon.

Nikon Z8 is everything. Can't fault it.

3 seconds into the video and ready to argue for the gfx 100 ii lmao

Why not Z9? I need to deep dive the comparison of the top Z cameras.

my oldie a7R is the best photography camera i got, unless you telling me Nikon also makes a good cup of coffee on these cold winter days, then no, not interested. But hey I commented and helped you with the algorithm, you're very welcome

Very arguably

Nikon is making some real waves and making the bigger players outdoing themselves. We all win in the end.

Im sure the Z8 is a fabulous camera, but to be honest, I think my D700 could match the image quality you share here.

Sony knows for Walkman and Nikon knows for Photography!

Im a sony shooter ❤

I concur. As of yesterday, May 1, it was on sale for $3500.

The Porsche photo… wow

The PPA only pay a depreciated value of equipment, not the cost of purchase. It''s depreciated by age of the equipment. Not sure how much peace of mind that will give me. I will go with Allstate instead. I don't see any other value of the PPA.

4 bands for a camera better be the best

I never will understand why someone is using the lens hood mounted backwards and for that tripple useless, not preventing from lens glare, abstaining best front element protection ever (its a fairytale filters will do that job, if you bump it into something, the filter and the front element will be gone) and covering at least the focus or zoom ring. Evan, please don’t take it personal, it’s something I see on many US and Canadian photography channels. I simply don’t get it.

So why are you shooting with the lens hood reversed all the time? If you are not going to use it, why leave it on reversed? It just gets in the way of operating the zoom.

The Z8 has a weakness. It has banding issues with led low light in nightclubs because it only has electronic shutter. If you take a lot of those photos the Zf still has a mechanical shutter.

No arguments here!

Anyone bashing or sleeping on Nikon is either a troll or just ignorant. Nikon grabbed the rings back with the Z9 and haven’t let go since.

The one at 0:50 also

Why aren't you using the hood??

I think you mean Nikon are back, and yes, you may be right.

Couldn't afford it!

What? A Leica is shit in low light? Ha ha! Camera brands are something. I grew up with Nikon in the film era. But I owned Canon from the 40D days to now. I am not a $50 000 a year budget gear fan. But my modest R7 kicks ass even with lenses like my 25 year old 400 L 5.6. I would love those crazy RF L glass and an R5 ii when it comes but there is nothing I lack in my present setup. No I think there are many “best” photography cameras from the various brands, but switching systems between Sony and Canon is silly- its a personal preference so stick with your preferred system of bodies and lenses.

It isn’t back

If only skin tones were not so off when used in the studio.

Who took my Nikon sucks post down??? Just joking. Ah, the big Nikon push. Man, LEICA IS GONNA BE PISSED!

So whats the catch. The z8 came out a year ago yet all the big names released these videos within the past week. Did Nikon pull a hail mary to try and sell them by giving a bunch away?

Just in time for the entire industry to be dead within 10 years, LOL

Arguably The Best Photography Camera in 2024 ??????????????? I fear an argument

Too big, too heavy.

Not for me. 61MP or hit the road.

The best ? How much Nikon paid or Nikon has offered that Z8 ? It's an excellent camera but as many and many camera nowadays . At 58 years old, i don't know how many camera I had ... but I'm sure everyone can use and old camera and be happy , no need the last one , expansive even if everybody tries to make you think you need it ..

Yup, a "pro" photographer who's yet to discover the purpose of a lens hood; "Um, it's to prevent me from using the manual focus!?"

All of the photos you took could have been taken with any camera, really. That's nothing against your photography, which is good, but it doesn't scream "Only a Nikon can do this."

Nikon Z8 has poor battery life. Not worth it.

Not going to support Nikon’s decision to cut the top view screen in half. The MOST VALUABLE real estate on the whole camera and they chop it in half and reduce the available information in half. That is such an incredibly stupid design flaw I have to actually boycott this camera. It’s like the D7500 only having one card slot AT THE SLOWEST SPEED.

I think Sony has the best lenses, Nikon has the worst IMHO...