Nearly two years ago I wrote an article where I mentioned my two full kits spanning two technologies. The article was titled "Make up your own mind". Two take-away threads there, the most obvious is to make up your own mind on your needs, and the second (less obvious) is that I had two full sets of technology.
That fall a friend of mine joined me in a shoot of fall colors. We also wanted to take some shots of a solar panel farm, and a few old barns and tractors. I also had a secondary purpose for this shoot ...
My friend is an avid photographer and has worked in the industry his entire life. He is a published author and has led photography tours in some of the most exotic destinations in the world. It was an opportunity for me to discuss which of these two kits to keep. I really didn't want two full kits, I needed to "cull" the gear down.
On one hand, the Nikon D850 is rated one of the best DSLR cameras in the world. Definitely a camera for enthusiasts (or prosumers) and professionals. The other, a Nikon Z9, is clearly for professionals. It far exceeds my needs.
To shorten the story, I ended up selling the Nikon D850. At just about the same time, our family had some profound changes. I ended up doing some renovation work on our house. I regret to say, the last time I used the Z9 was that fall. I didn't even have time to sell off any of the lenses or accessories. This got so involved that I even stopped driving a school bus – just too tired and struggling with the effect on my old bones.
In the final days of the garage renovation ... I added a storage loft and an elevator of my own design ... I ended finding a camera that I thought was lost. I really missed that camera too. It was my very first SLR, a Miranda film camera that I used for at least 30 years. When I purchased it, the Miranda was a compromise camera. I couldn't afford the top of the line Pentax that I wanted to buy so ended up buying the Miranda instead. The Miranda had one feature that I thought would help get me to the Pentax line: that is, it had dual lens mount system. I could use the Miranda bayonet mount lenses or the Pentax M42 screw in mount lenses. Over time, I could buy Pentax lenses until that point where I could afford a Pentax body. The Miranda, however, turned out to be an ideal camera. The quality was exceptional. My kit included a 50mm f/1.8 lens. Super sharp and quite satisfactory – so much so, that I ended up using that camera for over 30 years. The Miranda was in a padded case most of those years and was stored in that same case. And I lost it somehow.
The garage loft build was stimulation to go through all the storage boxes. And there it was in a mis-labelled box. My old-friend, the Miranda.
I ended up going through all my gear. All of it. In doing that, I came to realize that the Nikon D850 gave me the same satisfaction as the Miranda did. Exceptional image quality with a legendary 26.4 bit color depth at base ISO. 14-bit RAW image recording. A backside illuminated sensor that provides incredible image reproduction – and amazing color accuracy.
Don't get me wrong, the Z9 surpasses the D850 in most feature comparisons. Yet, the D850 meets all my needs. I realized that my decision in the fall of 2023 was wrong. I should have sold the Z9 and kept the D850.
I always glance through Kijiji. It's where I found a nearly new snow blower. Many of my Dewalt 20v tools. And I always look though the Nikon listings that are nearby. There it was, a Nikon D850. A commercial photographer was selling it after using it mainly as a tripod-mounted studio camera. It had a fair amount of shutter actuations, slightly more than 102,000. I know the D850 to usually go well over the rated shutter actuation life span ... and I doubt that I will ever take that many shots anyhow.
I listed the Nikon Z9 for sale. I set a fair price. Gheez, the camera is as close to new as you can get and barely broken in with fewer than 2000 shots on it. The buyer is retired, similar to me ... and his background includes commercial photography. We had many great conversations and I'm thrilled that he can find a renewed interest in photography. He is essentially starting anew ... he needs all new lenses to match this professional body. Lenses are far less about technology and specs. Don't read that wrong ... technology and specs are important, but the choice of a lens has more to do with the type(s) of photography planned. I've made it clear that I am more of a drive-by shooter. Because of health, I prefer to stay in the car (or very close to it) and take shots from there. That means my lens choices tend to favor zooms. Two of my favorites for the D850 are the Nikon 28-300 and the Tamron 100-400. And quite similar for the Z9, my favorites were the Nikon 24-200 and Nikon 100-400. The buyer of the Z9 is more into prime lenses with specific purpose. He tends to get closer to his subject that I can ... means he favors prime lenses.
To the title of this article: this buyer didn't lose track of his end goal. He wants total satisfaction. The Z9 gave him that for the body, now on to the lenses. Best of luck to him.
To the title of this article: after a short bend in the road, I am back on track and culling the gear down to one technology based on the Nikon D850. I am fortunate to already have the lenses I am comfortable with. And, by the way, I had one prime lens that is fabulous. One of the highest rated 50mm lenses, the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art. I always kept an eye out for a Sigma 85mm f/1.4 Art too ... and finally found one. A quick note about these prime lenses. The Sigma Art category of lenses are highly rated – so much so that they surpass the quality of the "brand name" equivalents.
There will be one photographer also reading this article that I want the title to also make sense: Don't loose sight of the end goal. Your camera is a tool that you use to drive income ... at least a part of your income. Your only consideration in choosing a camera body or lens is to make sure that new piece of gear supports you driving that income. The technology doesn't matter. The camera and lens have to support your workflow, have to support a duplicate gear strategy that is minimal investment (two bodies that support same lenses), sensor that matches your need to crop and get to the money shot, etc. You know the criteria that makes sense to you and your income. Don't get hung up on the tech ... keep sight of the end goal.