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I finished watching The Godfather with my eldest daughter last night. What a special experience to watch it together. It was my first time watching more than just a few minutes from the beginning of the film. This type of film was not my cup of tea decades ago.
But this version of me loved it. Even better was sharing it with my daughter.
Apple Vision Pro was announced this Monday. Today is Friday.
I’m excited for what this could be. I don’t know what that is.
But today it occurred to me while watching the keyboard entry animation at the top of this article, that the Vision Pro could be of considerable value to users with certain disabilities and difficulties. I don’t know what those benefits would be and I don’t know what users they would help. But it feels like it could change lives. That’s powerful and important.
I had the nearly simultaneous idea that the Vision Pro (some version of it as it will evolve over time) could wind up gaining traction with some disability niche but then eventually (more slowly) be adopted by mainstream users. And the mainstream users would be late to the game.
This article only includes a screenshot of that animation, not the actual animation.
I’ve been shooting a Nikon D810 body for five years. I have two complaints:
1. It’s noisy. This is bad (in my view) for indoor school shows, which is half of why I keep a DSLR around anymore.
2. It’s relatively slow (frames per second, FPS). Not great for sports. Not great for dancing schoolchildren.
So last week, on a lark, I went to Buy&Sell on FredMiranda.com to see if someone was selling a Z6 II. I want that over a Z6 for its autofocus improvements and faster shooting. I want it over a Z7 II for its better low-light sensitivity (or maybe it was low-light AF) and its faster shutter speed. I don’t need those big ol’ Z7 II images.
I found one. Nice seller on FredMiranda.com. I bought it. Z6 II plus a 24-70 f/4 Z lens for $1650 shipped. Good deal. Best new price ever for this body was late 2022 at $1,699. Regular price is $1,999. Lens goes for a grand, but it sells all day used for $350.
I’m okay with this deal. ~12,000 shutter actuations on the body.
Interestingly, I wasn’t excited about this. But I’ll use it and I wanted it.
I’m more excited about glass.
Note: I didn’t have enough whatever, so I paid $15 to FredMiranda to be able to buy on the site. Worth it.
One surprise is that I now don’t have a tele zoom to use for school shows with this lens. I have a Nikkor 100-400, but it is not AF-S. So… lens time. I didn’t realize that when I bought the Z6 II.
I bought a mint-condition specimen 70-200 f/4.0 from robertscamera on eBay. I’ve been buying from them for a while now and I trust them. I got my 200mm f/2 VR II from them.
This lens is tiny! So thin! And I love that it is internal-focus. Nothing sticks out as you zoom or focus. I had no idea this lens was so skinny when I bought it. Zero. And it’s super light. Even if I buy a 70-200 f/2.8 some day, I think I’d keep this little guy for when weight or size matters. It’s just lovely. Plus I bought an RRS ring and foot for it, so I basically invested in it.
This lens would be good for shooting basketball, too. The 200mm f/2.0 is so sharp and I don’t mind the weight, but it’s not a zoom.
I bought an FTZ II adapter via eBay. And a Nikon NC filter, as always, for the lens below. And a Nikon MB-N11 battery grip from someone else on FredMiranda.com. Plus a couple extra batteries from Amazon.com. These things eat batteries, according to the specs.
1 July 2023 Update: These don’t eat batteries. I shoot a few thousand photos and only make a dent in one battery. Very nice. But I keep the back screen off, which certainly helps.
While researching price, I found that Canon’s R6 II does 40FPS. Whoah. That beats the 12FPS or whatever I can get out of a Z6 II. And I read that the R6 II is completely silent (or has such a mode). $2,500 right now to get one.
And I’d buy a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM (link). That lens would, I think, replace:
I think I could just have that Canon body and one lens. But I don’t want to get rid of some of my lenses (like my recently acquired 200mm f/2) and I don’t know that I need 40FPS. 12FPS, the top speed of the Z6 II body, is much faster than my D810, so I plan to just see how that goes.
I put the 200mm f/2 on my Z6 II (sans battery grip) and brought it in to show my wife. She laughed and laughed.
Now my D810 is my backup. And something I can shoot my non-AF-S lenses with.
I’ll probably sell a ton of AF lenses. I only shoot the telephotos.
But this Z6 II is a nice little body. Maybe I’ll walk around with it? Probably not, but we’ll see.