Yesterday, my wife and I walked over to Balboa Park, while we waited for the queue to shorten outside San Diego Zoo’s membership pavilion. We passed through the Spanish Art Village and entered the main thoroughfare within rock-throwing distance of the Bea Evenson Fountain.
Before buying Nikon Zf in December, I used fixed-lens Leica Q2 for five years (2019-2024) after moving from predecessor Q, which I owned for about 30 months. The Zf promises many similar ergonomic and stylistic benefits, while offering option of interchangeable lenses.
Q Series cameras are intimate shooters. With focal length fixed at 28mm, you need to get fairly close to your subjects; discretion is required, and it’s not always easy—even when zone focusing and shooting from the hip. Being super stuck-up about prime lenses, I accepted the trade-offs.
Sometimes we mature with age. Sometimes. Prime lenses can produce amazing photography. But their utility decreases before some modern cameras, like the Zf, which when matched with a good zoom lets you take intimate, candid shots from a distance.
The Featured Image is an example. This youngster and family members were just breaking out thermoses and sandwiches as I walked around the fountain. Vitals: f/6.3, ISO 200, 1/500 sec, 200mm; 11:38 a.m. PDT. Composed as captured. The second portrait is a mother and daughter taking a break. Vitals: f/6.3, ISO 100, 1/640 sec, 200mm; 11:32 a.m.
For the third, a pair of ducks nap. Vitals: f/7.1, ISO 100, 1/800 sec, 200mm; 11:37 a.m. Annie suggested the final composition, looking across the fountain to the Natural History Museum. It’s kind of post card perfect. Vitals: f/11; ISO 100, 1/320 sec, 24mm; 11:38 a.m.
So there you have both focal length ends, so to speak, of the attached NIKKOR Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 VR lens; it’s very versatile.