Nikon Z30 as a Street Shooter
16th Dec 2022
Since I won Nikon Z30 on Nikon Nepal Contest, I have been using it as a main camera to shoot street for past couple of weeks. Although Z30 is purpose-built mirrorless camera optimized for vloggers and live streamers, it’s also versatile enough to cater my need to shoot good quality images of street. Eye Detection AF has been handy feature during my experiment, which in not available on my main shooter, the Nikon D810.
I used the Nikon Z30 with the kit lens, the Nikkor Z DX 16-50mm f3.5-6.3 VR
I mainly took pictures during morning, few of them on harsh lighting.
- It’s lightweight which is very helpful for street photography. You won’t get noticed in street as compared to big bulky DSLRs.
- Built in Eye AF works well on most of the time. It struggled on challenging lighting condition and fast moving subjects but overall it is good enough.
- Metering is quite accurate. The quality of JPGs straight out of camera has good vibrant colour although it isn’t as detailed as some of Nikon’s other 20 megapixel APS–C sensor cameras.
- ISO perfomance is great. I tried taking photos in ISO 12800, and I had to look very closely if I wanted to spot grain.
- RAW files has decent details but it struggle on dynamic range. I was only able to recover about 2/2.5 stop overexposed shots. If you know the limitation of the dynamic range and shoot accordingly, you will get the desired result 8/10 times.
- The most significant missing feature is – it has no viewfinder. You have to use its back LCD screen as a viewfinder but on sunny days, it’s quite a struggle.
- Final Verdict : I can see myself using it a lot on travel where i want to travel light and still get good enough picture quality. For the street, because of it’s size and versatility, you can easily go incognito and take good street shots.
Very informative dai. was considering buying this z30 or sony6300. will definitely consider your points.
Love the photos you have taken with this camera, your signature dark bnw style.
cheers