I went to Iceland with the family in 2016. I was shooting DX at the time, and Nikon's DX 18-300 mm was perfect for landscapes as well as whales and birds. On the whale watch, there was another photographer who had a professional set (24-70 and 70-200, I assume), and he missed a number of shots due to having to change lenses. The flexibility and lighter weight of a super-zoom was worth the compromise in image quality IMHO. At any rate, Iceland is magical and extremely photogenic. Enjoy!

+10000. I follow and admire a nature photographer on FB, and she almost always includes information about exposure as well as camera and lens used for almost every shot she posts. A few others do, as well. I find such information to be invaluable and it enhances my understanding of the shots as well as my own equipment, and occasionally challenges my assumptions of what can be achieved, especially with modern cameras. I try and follow her example when I post my shots in case others may find it useful or interesting. I am not a pro but neither am I a novice, having enjoyed the hobby of photography for nearly 50 years and I am still learning.

👍+1. We stayed there two years ago and it was great, although timing the border crossing can be an issue. However, I don't recall seeing any pets while we were there.

I use either a CPL or a clear UV filter on all of my lenses, for reduction of glare and unwanted reflections (CPL) and protection of the front element. My brands of choice are either B&W or Breakthrough. Both use the same glass (Schott) and the Breakthrough is a little cheaper, but superb quality. Most of my shooting is outdoors, so there is a risk of blowing sand, dust, moisture, finger prints, as well as scratches and worse. I have never been able to see any degradation in image quality from the filters, and it is much cheaper to replace a filter than a front element or entire lens. I also use a lens hood for protection, so maybe I am just overly obsessive-compulsive but my lenses are all "like new" optically.

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Thanks, Mike, for sharing that beautiful video. It brings back many memories, including one year, 1961, when I was 5 and my mother took me skiing there almost everyday. I was too old for preschool and too young for kindergarten, so what else was I supposed to do, lol? One week, we got stranded for several days -- interlodge -- and couldn't even leave the lodge due to avalanche danger. Made me a lifelong skier but I miss Alta more than anywhere. Congratulations to you on skiing for free at Alta: that's a goal of mine!

I beg to differ. I owned a 1955 XK140 OTS in BRG over Biscuit, exactly like this one, so much so that I did a double-take. (Mine was sold to a buyer in Belgium a few years ago.) The OTS or open two-seater, had a chrome window frame. I think you may be thinking of the convertible, aka drophead coupe (DHC), which had a body-colored windshield frame. The XK140, like the XK 120 before it, came in three different body styles: OTS, DHC and fixed-head coupe (FHC). The most obvious differences between the XK 120 and XK 140 are the larger bumpers and the slightly larger cockpit, better brakes, etc. It was a beautiful car in all body styles.

I second all of the good advice provided so far (especially about Steve Perry's videos and books which are great). I write to suggest one other source for setting up your Z8: Hudson Henry has two videos out, which I found very helpful in setting up my Z8 and especially the "banks" which are very useful if you shoot different types of subjects (e.g., wildlife, landscape, portraits, general, etc.). The first one is found here: https://youtu.be/4XlJnkRejuo?si=33R2jTe_AXtI-F5i. The second one is here: https://youtu.be/W31tyl8f3C8?si=5KoBiVqhS2e2BLGX. These allow the user to customize settings and get to them quickly. There is also a great deal of customization of buttons, etc., which can be confusing but add to its capabilities. The Z8 is an amazing beast, but it takes time and experience to learn all of its capabilities. I have had mine since June (came from a D850), shot thousands of images of all types, and am still learning. Good luck and have fun!

I live in Colorado and am a fan of Valleret photography gloves, and own and use the Tinden and soon the Markhof Pro V3. They have gloves for different ranges of conditions, plus they are made in Norway, I believe. They also sell other gear and their website has photography tips for a variety of places, including Lofoten Islands. https://photographygloves.com/blogs/vallerret-blog/best-photographer-gloves-winter. They are a bit pricey, but worth it IMHO.

I use Breakthrough CPL filters interchangeably with B&W KSM HTC MRC CPL filters and cannot tell any difference in optical quality or light transmission, as both are superb. I use them all the time unless the light is really low. The Breakthrough is less expensive and seems to be a little more sturdy and turns a bit more stiffly, but really picking nits.

I own the Nikon 18-300 3.5-6.3, mounted on a D7200. It is a good travel and walk-around lens, as the flexibility of zooming from 18-300 mm (27-450mm FF equivalent) in one turn makes it possible to catch shots that you could not get with bigger and better lenses. Example: we were on a whale-watching tour in Iceland, and I was able to capture some great shots of the whales breaching even though we could not predict which side of the boat they would appear or how close they would be. Another photographer was on the same boat with a big Canon camera and two large telephoto lenses, and I am not sure he was ever able to get a shot off as he was fumbling with which lens to use.

That said, it is not the sharpest lens as others have noted, and so I have upgraded to full frame and now mirrorless full frame in search if better image quality. I rarely use the D7200 w/18-300 now, as I can crop 46 mb images where necessary if I don't have enough reach in my lens. The full frame set up is bigger, heavier and cost more, and so I plan to keep the 7200 and 18-300 for those times when I don't feel like carrying the extra weight.

Absolutely gorgeous!

Stein: I use the Photos App that comes pre-installed with Apple devices (Macs, iPads, etc.). I have always been able to "eject" the disk from within the app with XQD and SD cards by clicking on the "eject" button, and it is seamless and ejects the card within the app so I can safely remove from the card reader. Not so, with CFExpress. When I click on the "eject button", nothing happens. But now I have a work-around using "Finder", so all is well.

Thanks, everyone. Ejecting from Finder seems to be the solution. I also reformatted the disk, restarted the computer, and it still would not eject from the "Photos" app. Clicked on Finder, and ejected from there, and it worked. Must be some incompatibility issue with the Photos App and CFE cards, but not XQDs. Also, I had read elsewhere that Macs seem to see CFE cards as "drives" and not removable disks, so perhaps that has something to do with it, as well. Anyway, thank you!

Greetings:

I have a problem with ejecting the CFExpress Type B card from my Mac computers running the latest version of Ventura and the Apple Photos app. The card is recognized and I have no problem uploading images, but when I go to "eject" the device, it will not do so in the app. I can eject the device manually by physically removing the card, but then get a warning that the "Disk not ejected properly. "Eject NIKON Z8" before disconnecting or turning it off." Aside from that, it seems to work fine.

I have successfully used XQD cards from my Nikon D850 as well as my new Z8 with no issues, and, until recently, I have never felt the need to move to CFExpress. I use both an iMac (2020) and a MacBook Air M1 to read the cards and do light processing using Apple Photos. I recently purchased a CFExpress Type B card (ProGrade 256GB) and currently use a Sony CFExpress TypeB/XQD reader (MRW-G1). I first used a different reader which had the same issues and which I sent back to Amazon believing it was defective in favor of the more expensive Sony.

My questions are: (1) Is this problem shared by others?; (2) Is it doing damage to the card, its data, or anything else when I remove it from the reader without "ejecting it" from the app.?; and (3) can I just ignore the warning since it otherwise seems to work fine?

I have Googled the issue and searched this forum and found that similar issues have cropped up but so far have found nothing definitive to answer my questions.

Your wise counsel is appreciated.

Cheers, Peter