Nikon Z6 III - Bird Photography

Nikon Z6III – Bird Photography

This is the second video of a series on the Z6 III in use. This time bird photography. I used the Z6 III in an early morning scenario shortly before and after sunrise. The wetland area was completely foggy and the light together with the fog gave great opportunities for landscape and “birdscape” photography. Many birds leave the wetland area in the morning looking for food. This includes the Common Crane, Grayleg Goose, and Egyptian Goose offering multiple options for bird in flight shots.

I am using the Z6 III and Nikkor Zoom Z 180-600 F/6.3 with and without 1.4 Tc. In the beginning I also used the AF-S 300 VR II F/2.8

What is in the video:

Intro: 00:00
Environmental Bird Photography: 00:19
Birds in Flight: 01:20
Picture Edit Examples: 04:30
Set-up Size and Weight: 05:18
Summary: 06:10

Environmental Bird Photography - I take some video and photos in the foggy sunrise conditions of my favorite wetland area early in the morning starting before sunrise. I think the Z6 III captures the atmosphere of the situation very well and I love the feeling of colors and the video footage.

Birds in flight – I found the camera to be great. Even in the foggy conditions the photo and video AF was fast and spot on. I was deeply satisfied with the tracking when using the Z 180-600 with a Tc. The birds did take off in a distance to take a turn flying in full speed directly towards me. The Z6 III and Z 180-600 + Tc combination was fast enough to take 100+ photos in a sequence with not a single loss of focus on the birds. Very amazing in combination with the huge buffer.

Photo Edit Example - I edit some pictures of birds taken in backlit situations, leading to shadow recovery and post editing. It shows that the Z6 III has a more granular look and develops a distinct noise pattern. I used these extreme examples on purpose to show how good/bad it gets and what you can make out of it. It is of course better to adapt the exposure compensation while taking the photo. However, this makes the Z6 III completely different to the Z6 and Z6 II. With some moderate post processing it is easy to recover nice images. The Z6 and Z6 II would have not managed to obtain these pictures at all due to other reasons. I personally like the look of the pictures a lot – which is of course a matter of taste. However, it is not a camera for people who love to pull shadows rather for the ETTR fraction. Maybe Nikon should have called the camera “Nikon ZS” (S for Special).

As you might have figured out – I do start to like the camera because it’s a lot of fun to use. Either way more videos on the Z6 III and exploring its possibilities and pitfalls will continue to come !


Link to the Nikon Z9:
https://www.nikon.de/de_DE/product/ca...

Link to the Nikon Z6III:
https://www.nikon.de/de_DE/product/ca...

Nikon Z9 review:
https://photographylife.com/reviews/n...


Nikon Z 180 – 600 review:
https://photographylife.com/reviews/n...