From cars and flames and sunsets to leaping into the vast blue sky. Vegas based athlete/performer Will Credell did great stuff out in the big nothing of the desert, from fashion to running leaps to a shot like the banner above. For that banner shot,I told him to think of it as an ad for a new cop show on TV.
Wide angle, one light pic, with Will vaulting off of braced apple boxes, as the sun plunged toward the horizon. Kept it simple out there, as I wanted to do so much in the short time I had the camera.
The camera is a game changer for me, and, I suspect, lots of photogs. I’ve always had a division of labor in my camera locker. D5 for action and toughness, D850 for studio and hi res, D500 for knock around. Same thing continues in the mirrorless world. The Z6 II is fast and has great low-light capability whereas the Z7 II is more for high res, portraits, and the like.
Now, everything lives under one roof, called the Z 9.
Raw flash used for these, to match the blazing sun. This set was shot around midday, with the sun well behind Will. Lots of previous cameras would have struggled to find the eye in that sort of backlight. The Z 9 was unerring. And I worked the new 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 like crazy. Great sharpness, and great versatility. Never moved my camera position during this fashion stint.
Using the same glass, I flipped to a running sequence, and then a portrait series.
Will was wonderful in front of the camera. There wasn’t any look I asked for that he didn’t deliver on. The whole desert crew was phenomenal, including first assistants Casey Mathewson and Kyle Thompson, director/cinematographer Andrew Tomasino, sound mixer Jason Mangini, field producer/digital tech M.D Welch, and pyrotechnic effects director René Diamonte running a well oiled production pieced together by the intrepid Lynn DelMastro over a period of about six weeks. Lynn had to drill through BLM permits, fire permits, insurance forms, COVID delays and protocols, transit to the desert…the endless to-do list of the producer. She then entrusted Reno-based photographer M.D Welch with all her careful prep and planning, and he marshaled our desert efforts in amazing fashion. The producers on jobs like these aren’t sung of too often, but without the details being hammered out fully and finally, you can find yourself out there with nothing to shoot.
It was great fun with the crew and M.D managed to quietly grab a bit of BTS…showcased in his IG feed 🙂
We made a quick cut from the terrific behind-the-scenes video that Andrew Tomasino shot (and edited by Dalton Tokarczyk) to demonstrate the Z 9 AF since there have been a lot of questions!
Tech specs, pricing and more on the Nikon USA website along with great photos and videos from fellow Ambassadors on the Nikon USA You Tube channel.
More tk…
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Lets see the Z9 do these action shots in low light conditions. There are a lot of cameras that can handle these shots in good light
More to come, David. I shot it in low light ISO 10000– check out the B&H video
I shoot sports and one of the most difficult is shooting evening soccer games using stadium lights who’s light pattern is not consistent over the entire field. So I need to shoot at 1000 sec+ . I use a D5 and it is usually at iso 12800.. look forward to more of yiur reviews
Joe, Your work and vision are amazing!. My concern with the Z 9 is that RAW images at higher ISO will have excess noise like those of my D850. 45MP was great, but I found the noise price at higher ISOs unacceptable. Will the Z 9 have less of an issue? Thanks, Jeff
Joe, these are gorgeous my friend!
Yes, there is much more to explore. I haven’t gone as high as 12800 yet. 10k looked quite good. More to do, but love the first dance with the camera.
Thank you Jeff! Don’t know on the question you ask, as I’ve only used the camera for a couple days. Loved it, but there is much more to explore. The higher ISO’s are not something I’ve worked with quite yet. You might check out Rod Mar and Andrew Hancock. They had assignments with the camera and are both sports shooters, and might have pushed their ISO’s a bit. All Best….
Thank you Donna! Hope to see you soon!
Thank you Joe