NIKON Z 8 (20mm, f/4, 1/500 sec, ISO200)
After a short uphill walk in the crowd we finally made it to our destination: the Kiyomizu-dera temple.
This is as touristy as it gets in Kyoto but for a good reason: the place is fantastic! This is a huge, beautiful temple very close to the city centre on a hill overlooking Kyoto. In a country where tourists mostly use public transport or their feet to get places this means that Kiyomizu-dera is both spectacular and easily accessible.
NIKON Z 8 (20mm, f/8, 1/500 sec, ISO200)
NIKON Z 8 (20mm, f/8, 1/500 sec, ISO200)
NIKON Z 8 (20mm, f/8, 1/500 sec, ISO200)
For my wife it is the first visit of Japan but even though I have been to Japan many times this is also the first time I have the opportunity to visit Kyoto. This is our second day in Japan. We just landed the day before in Tokyo, took the Shinkansen to Osaka, had dinner and went to bed. Today we took the train to Kyoto early morning and here we are: On a warm and sunny day in a city of spectacular beauty.
I’ve made countless long distance flights in my life but there is one thing that still amazes me. When you get from one part of the world to another within a day everything changes immediately. The people, the buildings, the culture, the food, the weather. It’s the middle of November which means at home, in Austria, all leaves are gone and the cold and grey winter has begun. Here it is warm, the sky is cloudless and the leaves just started to change color.
NIKON Z 8 (20mm, f/8, 1/500 sec, ISO200)
NIKON Z 8 (20mm, f/8, 1/500 sec, ISO200)
NIKON Z 8 (20mm, f/8, 1/250 sec, ISO280)
When my wife got the tickets I realised that I have not changed my lens on the camera since I left our hotel on the morning. I was still shooting with the fantastic Nikon Z 20mm F1.8 S. Of course in some cases a longer focal length would have worked better but there was no time to switch lenses. When I shot Fuji the great Fuji XF 14/2.8 R was my most used lens so I guess I got used to wide. A wide lens gives you to impression that you are right in the scene not an observer in the distance. In fact my shadow is visible in three of the shots because of the low sun.
When I decided for the Nikon system there was one lens that almost changed my mind in favour to Sony: the Sony FE 20-70mm F4 G. That lens would be almost perfect for me and it would cover 90% of my photography at least when it comes to cities. I hope that Nikon makes a similar lens or better if Nikon would make a Z 20-50mm F 2.8 S. I would get this lens in a heartbeat no matter the price. One lens that would handle the majority of my travel photography during day and night.
NIKON Z 8 (20mm, f/8, 1/250 sec, ISO560)
NIKON Z 8 (20mm, f/4, 1/500 sec, ISO200)
NIKON Z 8 (20mm, f/8, 1/50 sec, ISO125)
NIKON Z 8 (20mm, f/8, 1/250 sec, ISO400)
But there is one lens which makes a very strong case for Nikon if you are into travel photography: the Z 24-120mm F4 S. It is perfect? No but it is very close. The range of course is perfect. From wide to true tele with one lens. If you don’t care about ultra wide this could be your single lens solution for travel. With today’s cameras f4 is no real problem anymore even after dark. And the lens is sharp even at 120mm which means that on a high res sensor you could crop into the image a lot. i.e.: a 200mm crop would end up with 16MP which is still plenty in the real world.
As mentioned above I would love the see a wider zoom option like a 20-50/2.8 that I could combine with either a compact 70-200/4 or 50-400 depending on the destination. But I’m not complaining. The native lens options that are already available for Nikon Z are great but of course we are never going to be satisfied.
NIKON Z 8 (44mm, f/8, 1/500 sec, ISO200)
NIKON Z 8 (110mm, f/8, 1/250 sec, ISO320)
Japan is the land of cameras and though you still see a lot of real cameras there is no way to ignore that the real king is the smartphone. The perfect camera to cover the favourite subjects of our time: me, myself and I. How have we become so obsessed with ourselves? For many it seems that exotic places are nothing but fancy backgrounds.
I wonder when we will see selfie booths. You just enter the booth, select from a couple of backgrounds and shoot yourself in front of to the Taj Mahal or the Grand Canyon. No need to go places to get your perfect shot for instagram. Brave New World.
But luckily we are not there yet. Today nothing can beat the real thing. Like to be in beautiful Kyoto in the middle of November in short sleeves under a cloudless sky. Life is good!
NIKON Z 8 (34mm, f/8, 1/250 sec, ISO720)