Here’s the story behind this photo: It’s just another one of those crazy situations a landscape photographer finds themself in. High north above the Arctic circle in early December I was set up on a snow-covered beach with a nice field of view hoping to get a shot of the northern lights. After 90 minutes out in the freezing cold, wearing three (!) pairs of trousers, a pair of photographer gloves with special photographer mittens over the top, I did get some decent shots, but not before the tripod fell over lens down into the snow.
The all-rounder: my Nikon Z7II
I switched from Canon to Nikon a few years ago. Apart from having to un-learn everything about the Canon and learn everything about the Nikon (including the fact that almost everything works the other way around), it was a major switch from a DSLR to a mirrorless camera. Some of the pros are having a much bigger resolution and a larger sensor, but when I start to list them I find that the negatives almost outweigh the positives. The electronic viewfinder is not great for astrophotography, since it doesn’t pick out the stars very well; the lack of a mirror means that the sensor is exposed to the elements and it’s easy for dust to get in and ruin your landscape shots at high apertures (note to self: point camera down and be very careful when switching lenses - and remember to blow-brush the sensor!); plus I’ve never really got the autofocus to work how I want. This is not an issue for landscape photography, but has led to some disappointing results with street photography.
What else is in my bag? The list is long:
Nikkor 14-30mm f4
Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8
Nikkor 105mm f2.8 macro
Nikkor 50mm f1.4
Samyang 14mm manual focus lens
Battery grip
Small rig L-bracket for shooting horizontally and vertically on a tripod
Cable release
Rollei C6 carbon fibre tripod
Nisi filter set and separate GND filter for sunrises and sunsets