Shooting Live Music with the mirrorless Nikon Z6 by Alexandra Shapiro 

Shooting Live Music with the mirrorless Nikon Z6

by Alexandra Shapiro 

All Photos and Text by Alexandra Shapiro

I recently tried out the Nikon Z6 while at Harlem Nights, a fun nightspot in Manhattan that features live music in a relaxed setting.  The food is quite good; I highly recommend the wings (they have several varieties).  On this particular evening, there were multiple musicians who each performed three or four songs.  The genres varied from hip hop, to blues, to chanteuse, and it was a great way to sample the work of some interesting local artists.

I have really enjoyed shooting with the Z6, and it was great for this setting.  After a few shots with the Nikkor Z 35 F1.8 S, a native lens, I switched to the Nikon 58 F1.4G using the FTZ adapter to get a bit closer.  The camera had no problem auto-focusing either lens in this environment, and the EVF is great.  I liked the black and white conversions best but included a color photo of one of the rappers.

The first three photos were taken with the native 35 lens, and the rest with the 58.  

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If you enjoyed these photos please check out some of my other work on Steve’s website HERE and HERE, and/or follow me on flickr HERE  or on Instagram @aaesphoto.

11 Comments

  1. Hi I just got the Z7. How did you like the combination of the Z6 and the 58 for handling? Was it still a pretty compact combination with the adapter and that lens? Great picture as well. Thanks for sharing.

    • Hi, it’s still quite compact, and handled nicely as a combo. Definitely a great lens to use on the Z series cameras.

    • It’s still quite compact, and handled nicely as a combo. Definitely a great lens to use on the Z series cameras.

  2. beautiful set of images
    the BW conversion weren’t done in camera, were they? they look great

    • Thanks. No, I converted them from RAW in lightroom. As noted below, Lightroom just issued an update with support for the NEF files, but at the time I had to first convert them to DNG.

  3. I just bought a Z6 with the 35 lens. How did you like using this combination? Are your shots in this article converted from RAW or B&W JPGs? Thanks.

    • Hi, I like the 35 quite a bit. It’s a bit pricey for a 35 F1.8, but pretty sharp and pairs nicely with the camera. These are converted from raw. Lightroom just updated with support, but I converted them last week and first had to use Adobe beta converter to convert from NEF to DNG, and then converted from DNG to JPG in lightroom.

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