Back in 2018, somewhen around late October, the good old D750 decided to opt for the infinite camera heaven. With almost 200K shots on it, after surviving the temperature range from +40 Celsius to -35 Celsius the camera’s body started to slowly fall apart. This is pretty much the last photo the camera took at Peyto Lake in Canada:

So, it was about time for a new camera. But which one? Around November 2018 rumours were big that Nikon might release a new successor of the D5. Then, as another option, there is the D850. On the other hand Nikon decided to go mirrorless with the Z6 and the Z7.

As I love new technology stuff I was keen to opt for the Z7. A 45 Megapixels full frame beast with 9 images per second and movies in 4K, that doesn’t sound too bad, eh? But then again, there could be a D6 (maybe). Rumours were that the camera might be released in January 2016 at the CES fair.

The waiting game

At that point, late October 2018, I decided to get into the waiting game for the CES in January. The Canada trip was almost over, I planned to spend the next few months back home in Germany, focusing on the editing part. Which meant – less photography, more editing. The only camera available was the °drumroll° iPhone X. Yikes 😬

I’ll keep it short and simple as this article is more about the D850. But – not having a DSLR for a while really pushes the creative part. Shooting with a smartphone really brings back the creativity as the technical part isn’t there anymore. There is no thinking about shutter speeds, ISO and such. It allowed me to set the focus fully on the creating part – the joy of creating, the letting go of the technical part. The time without a DSLR taught be one big lesson:

Photography is not about the gear, it’s not about the equipment. It’s about the practice, about training the eye. A good photo is made out of 95% creativity and only about 5% technical knowledge.

Just a few examples, shot with an iPhone X:

CES 2019

As said, it was a waiting game. I spend most of the time with editing, still shooting with the iPhone. Then the CES fair in January started with – no new Nikon camera. Yikes. I was confronted with the same decision again:

• going with the D750 again. A camera that runs, that does the job perfectly
• opting for the D850, a 48 megapixel beast that will improve the image quality
• heading for the brand new mirrorless cameras with the Z6 or the Z7

The D750 is an affordable camera, I was keen to buy it again. But something in my head told me to get out of my comfort zone, to do a new step. I’ve started to compare the D850 with the Z7 – for like a week or so. Watched heaps of youtube videos, compared the specs, spend a lot of time thinking about my own photography and especially where I’m heading towards.

The finally final decision

D850 vs. Z7. Both are at the same price range. The Z7 got the more fancy technology, a big win. But then again, where am I going with with my photography? Outdoor portraits, events, weddings and my newest passion – wildlife photography. Now here’s the thing with the Z7. The battery life is not the best one compared to other cameras, especially when it comes to longer trips outdoors. There is no battery grip available for the Z7 either. Another negative point due to all the electronic stuff is an automatic standby function that set’s the camera asleep after 30 seconds or so in order to save battery. I get that point, but it takes something around two seconds the wake up the camera. A two seconds delay in terms of wedding or wildlife photography does feel like two hours sometimes 😬 The new mirrorless cameras are definitely something to consider, but the technology is not there yet in specific fields of photography.

So here we are, the finally final decision: the D850 it is.

Welcome to the family beautiful haha ❤️

Been shooting the D850 now for a while – man what a camera. It’s fast, it’s doing the job, it produces high quality images. The time with the iPhone taught me to focus more on the creative side of photography. Combining the new born creativity with a camera that allows me to shoot in pretty much any kind of light situation is just mind-blowing. It’s like having a flow of photos at the moment, it feels so good to be back in the photography game.

Shooting with the D850 has taught me another thing. Equipment does matter – when you know how to use it. Combining a creative approach with a deep understanding of technology does definitely produce fantastic images. But, there is no shortcut for that. One does need to practice pretty much on a daily level in order to get somewhere 🤙

That’s it from my side, thanks for reading my thoughts about the gear topic❤️ In case you’re thinking about upgrading, check out this article too: https://ingmarwein.com/crop-vs-full-frame-camera-better-need/

Lastly, here are some new photos that I took with the D850:

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Let me know your thoughts about the equipment/gear topic in the comments!

Have a good one,

Ingmar