gwilliams6

You have missed my point . As a working pro, if my gear handicaps me and I miss the decisive moment, it really doesn't matter how nice a shot I and my gear can produce.

I am 71 years old and have over 50 years as a Worldwide Award Winning professional photojournalist , and as an amateur before that. I have taught hundreds of university students in my courses I write and teach at a state university, including my courses in Digital Photography, Photojournalism, and 35mm B&W film photography. I know what things are important to teaching and nurturing young creative photographers . I have also mentored many others to their own successful professional careers as photographers and photography teachers.

My point was simply that gear and mastering that gear, at whatever level of the gear, does matter. And gear that better helps you create and capture your vision is important. Use the best gear you can afford, and learn to master it.

Cheers and best to you.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Successful photographers have the intelligence to buy a new camera.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Yea, it happens.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Being the richest person in the cemetery shouldn't be your life's goal. Try having the best camera instead.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

It still has the Z9 AF limitations though that are still behind the industry standard.

chrisg-optical Loc: New York, NY

You should be selling a line of photo t-shirts on Amazon with all of these sayings!

chrisg-optical Loc: New York, NY

When the Fed wants to stimulate the economy they don't lower interest rates, they call Paul!

IDguy Loc: Idaho

I much prefer SD cards. Much less expensive, a ailable everywhere, and go in my computer without adapter. I hate finding the adapters.

I have one xqd card and one CFexpress left over from my Z6 when I went to my Z7ii. I leave one or the other in so the slot doesn’t collect dust.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Sounds like a plan!

chrisg-optical Loc: New York, NY

Dentists don't die, they just decay....

My previous dentist, who passed away a year before the Z system was introduced, was an avid photographer on the side. For many years since I was a kid I would admire the photos on his exam room walls (as my teeth were drilled or cleaned) - all landscape or wildlife. I never knew those photos were his - I thought he purchased them. A couple of years before he passed I asked him about the photos and that's when he told me of his interest in photography. I asked him about the equipment he used and it was the humble D610 with a few wide angle to moderate telephoto lenses - all Nikkor. I'm sure if he was still alive we would certainly have been chatting about the Z cameras. Would the newest cameras have made him take better pictures? I doubt it as the pictures he took did not require any intense AF performance or super fast burst rates or super deep buffers. The equipment you use should be matched to the task at hand - credits are usually not issued for overkill. A plumber would not use a precision jewelers screwdriver, as a watchmaker would not use a monkey wrench. The "best" camera for you is not necessarily the most expensive. My dentist did splurge on related equipment - the lenses and a high end printer - he used to print his own pics. Think of the big picture (pun intended).

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

I agree completely, and why I always probe on what people want to shoot and what lenses they have already. A line of questioning that many times goes unanswered, maybe being missed in the other UHH responses that just dump camera model references of all sorts of capability, brands, and sensor formats.

We're in a golden age of photography, possibly the last such age. Every camera from the entry-level through the top professional tier is brimming with unheard of technology in the history of digital photography, and photography in general. If you have 20MP, preferably 24MP, you have all the camera you'll ever needed. Maybe you need some additional features like FPS or eye-tracking, but most of the UHH community pays a price-premium for 'new' and way 'more' camera than they'll ever need. Just witness the sub 10K shutter-count sales in the for-sale section. If people would just focus on their lenses, and their shooting and editing technique, they'd be much more successful than buying another duplicative camera to what they already have.

And we also need to recognize, all these modern wonders arrive right as the global market for such wonders collapses under the competition with cheaper and overall more capable mobile, pocket-sized cameras that also include a phone.

Flyerace Loc: Mt Pleasant, WI

I have always had the best equipment (IMHO) but when one is lacking "the eye", the end result isn't always a winner. I try hard, take many classes and have great glass, but I have to work hard to see what is right in front of me. Occasionally I strike gold, but most of the time, just in focus and normal. Ho hum. I'm boring.

Good luck to the Z8 users. It sounds like a really fun camera.

nikon123 Loc: Toronto, Canada

But its such a great looking camera.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

You make your own luck by working hard and buying a better camera.

Boris77

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...............
That's mirrorless for me. I bought a new water heater instead.
Boris