NIKON Z 8 (26mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO100)
Time to leave Osaka. I just found a hotel right inside the Kyoto station where we will spend two more nights in order to further explore Kyoto.
In the morning I decided to visit Yodobahi one more time before we leave. My wife stayed in the room to pack her suitcase. I looked through the toy section for a gift for a friend but I wasn’t successful. Guess I need to try it again when we are in Tokyo.
NIKON Z 8 (26mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO90)
NIKON Z 8 (26mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO280)
NIKON Z 8 (26mm, f/5.6, 1/100 sec, ISO450)
After the toy and model department I went to the camera floor to try out some lenses. At Yodobashi all lenses are on display and ready to be attached and tested on your camera. There was one lens I had to try out. The Nikon Z 135mm F1.8 S Plena.
The Plena looks huge but it is surprisingly light for its size. It feels like a perfect fit on my Nikon Z8. I owned and loved the Canon EF 135mm F 2.0 L when I was shooting Canon. Back then I took a lot of portraits and even shot at the wedding of a friend with it. Lenses were much cheaper back then. Now such a lens is much harder to justify but I would get it if I was sill into portrait photography. I just love the look of a 135mm lens especially for tight head shots. I wanted to take some portraits but with my wife in our hotel room I had to steal some images.
Of course I shot wide open. I love how the Plena handled the busy back- and foregrounds. For my eyes the Bokeh looks perfect, images don’t look sterile. This is an extraordinary lens.
NIKON Z 8 (135mm, f/1.8, 1/500 sec, ISO200)
NIKON Z 8 (135mm, f/1.8, 1/250 sec, ISO200)
NIKON Z 8 (26mm, f/2.8, 1/250 sec, ISO220)
Time to put the lens back before I get weak. I also briefly tried the Z 50mm F 1.2 S and the Z 105mm F 2.8 S. It’s just great to try out those super lenses so casually. Yodobashi Camera even has the big tele lenses on tripods to try them out. This is a playground for adults. Where you can find all the toys. Small or big.
Of course I can also try out those lenses in a store in Vienna but it is not the same. Every lens has to be unpacked and because of that it’s really only an option if you plan to make a purchase. Otherwise I think it would be not fair to the sales staff to try out many lenses just out of curiosity. That’s why I’m happy that I can give those lenses a try here even though I have no plans to buy them anytime soon.
Time to get back to the hotel room in order to leave Osaka for Kyoto. The fact that we stayed in a hotel that is part of the building that is also home to Yodobashi Camera Umeda, the second biggest electronic store on the planet, is amazing. What’s the biggest electronic store on the planet? Yodobashi Akiba in Tokyo that we will going to visit at the end of our trip.
NIKON Z 8 (26mm, f/2.8, 1/250 sec, ISO800)
NIKON Z 8 (26mm, f/2.8, 1/250 sec, ISO1400)
NIKON Z 8 (26mm, f/4, 1/250 sec, ISO900)
We managed to find the right platform but we were not 100% sure if it is the correct one. That’s when an older gentleman offered help. His English was excellent and he told us about his youth. He used to be in Sapporo during the Olympics Winter games in 1972 and watched some of the events. Imagine that! One of the countless encounters with very friendly and helpful people that seem to come out of nowhere every time we looked like we need help.
The last image I took on the platform is a testament that high ISO is practically meaningless today. Nikon cameras offer an ISO-automatic that chooses the shutter speed according to the focal length. Essentially it follows the 1/focal length = shutter speed rule but you can fine-tune it. That’s fine unless you shoot with wide lenses. With wide lenses you end up with shutter speeds that are too long to freeze subject movement or motion. That’s why I set it to 1/250s for normal shooting and change that to 1/60s is I’m inside a building. That way I don’t loose any images because a shutter speed that is too long.
NIKON Z 8 (26mm, f/4, 1/250 sec, ISO4500)