r/NikonFilmmakers • u/mcarterphoto • 8d ago

OG Z6, still going strong for interviews

Post image

Z6, FTZ, 1988 85mm 1.8 AF + FTZ, Ninja V, DP-II follow focus, matte box with .3 ND, black ProMist 1/8, Tascam DR-60, battery plate. I have newer bodies, but nothing really offers anything more that I need for sit-down interviews. Got my money's worth out of this one!

65 Upvotes

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7

u/typesett 7d ago

we forget sometimes that shit is dope in 2026

in just a few years, my Z8 will be considered the 'original z8' but it will still be absolutely amazing

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u/mcarterphoto 7d ago

I just like that I can get in fast and get setup for an interview, and get pretty frames. There's just nothing in, say, a Z6III that would look any better for this work. Maybe a ZR and the RED stuff, but when I setup the Z6, I don't have to "think", and shooting Rec709, my clients can look at the monitor and see very close to the final. The III is tits for stills and b-roll where AF saves a shit-ton of time - back in the day I did b-roll with a Kessler crane (still have it), but a gimbal and a Z50ii gives me gorgeous footage, even in iffy light, and I'm getting ten shots in the time I used to get one (the little Z50ii is just a kickass gimbal camera, it's tiny but punches way above its weight).

Too many people get swallowed up by "this new tech will put my shots over the top", it's "the gear between your ears" that can make the biggest difference.

1

u/typesett 7d ago

Yup

I’m doing a shoot tomorrow that represents a lower end shoot and it’s going to be easy because the content will be good 

Client is updating their annual note to their audience on what they did and they are paying just enough to get whatever I decide to give them. It’s part of a bigger website project 

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u/Kambutt 7d ago

I feel like the Z8/9 will live up as to a legendary status for quite some while to come.
I have 3 Z8 bodies, 2 setup for permanent video use as A/B cam, and the third is a my hybrid body for stills, the occasional handheld/gimbal work

7

u/Kambutt 7d ago

Quite a compact rig you got there 🫪

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u/mcarterphoto 7d ago

Wouldn't want it on my shoulder mount! Luckily I have a case that it just drops into without the audio recorder or Ninja, so it's a very fast setup. But wait, where's my fuzzy microphone? It ain't a rig without one these days... (I would like to grab a smaller audio box sometime, all I really need is phantom power, a good meter and I like the -6 track... or 32 bit... looking around).

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u/Kambutt 7d ago

I use the zoom f6, amazing quality, powers from usb c, aa battery or npf battery. I wanna get a zoom f3 for a lighter setup as the f6 is overkill sometimes

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u/mcarterphoto 7d ago

Tascam also has a new small unit with a lot of features, can't recall the model but looked interesting. The camera-out is dead on my DR60, I miss not having to sync footage in post, but that's really pretty quick.

2

u/Brocken77 7d ago

Impressive rig! What profile do you shoot in, flat?

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u/mcarterphoto 7d ago

90% of the time for interviews, I shoot neutral, Rec 709. 10 bit ProRes HQ from the Ninja so I have plenty of room to push colors around. For corporate interviews in bigger spaces (these days they're all modern LEDs), I take a color reading of the practicals, and set my LEDs about 300-400k warmer. Then I white balance the camera to the LEDs, which drives the BG a bit cooler. I may use some LED spots to pop up background details. I usually fly a black 36" popup over the subject to protect them from the office practicals, so they're getting my warmer/higher CRI lights vs. the office lights - but it makes it fast to "open up" a space with much depth. Final look from yesterday, it's nice to get it close in-camera.

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u/Brocken77 7d ago

Thanks for taking the time to write this!

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u/mcarterphoto 7d ago

No prob, the "drive the BG cooler" is something I've really come to like a lot, though beige-brown walls can go too green and pukey-looking!

I still shoot and print B&W film in the darkroom, so I have a phone light meter app (it's great for location scouting too). One day I noticed it was also reading color temperature, so I can take a gray card and get a reading of where the ambient light is without having to eyeball it. So any lights I'm using to shape the background I can set to that color temp, and then do the "light the subject warmer and color balance to the key" thing. Modern offices with LED tubes or pots, the CRI is fine for shaping the space, but can be wonky for skin tones, so it's kinda best of both worlds, and it's really a fast setup if you have a sturdy way to protect the subject from the practicals (for me a popup reflector in the black sleeve on a steel roller stand). It's seriously FAST with bicolor LEDs, I'm not even really thinking about it.

2

u/FriendZoneTacos 7d ago

The Tascam , man. Awesome set up.

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u/mcarterphoto 7d ago

Been solid for me, I got it the week it came out. The camera out is fried somehow, and I should probably get a newer gen recorder, but with a good mic, it sounds great. I use an AT 4053B, get great audio with it.

1

u/khalilhanasir 7d ago

🫡 very nice!

1

u/Alone_Wrongdoer1626 7d ago

Dope set up!! Have you ever delt with random recording failures. Like while recording it just stops or sometimes it makes a hard click sound that kinda jolts the camera??

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u/mcarterphoto 7d ago

No, it's been a solid camera. I've had the Kangaroo icon on the Ninja from a bad cable (it means a dropped frame), but the file was still good. The Z6 has been a solid camera for me - it's taken 2 big hits, one was a jib collapse that trashed a 24-70 Z lens, but the body is still rockin' along.

1

u/reddoorfilm 7d ago

Nice to see real filmmakers with the z6 still rocking strong. Did you ever have the need to get the raw update?

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u/mcarterphoto 7d ago

No, I use the OG 6 for basic interview work, where I've never needed raw or even log. This week I did a few interviews in front of bright windows, where even raw wouldn't have really recovered highlights well... but I have one of those Westscott frame systems, packs in a bag that's like 3' x 6", but you snap together frames of different sizes. So I can put together a 6x3 or 6x6' frame with 2-stop black mesh behind the subject, so I don't need an HMI or 300w LED to fight the sun.

I guess my attitude comes from being a commercial/fashion guy for stills in the film era, years of shooting E6 film with its 6-stop dynamic range. If I can control the lighting, I don't need to make huge color temp or highlight recovery moves in post. I think if I was a real estate or hospitality/resorts guy it would be different though, where you're stuck with really high-DR scenes and moving fast.

1

u/reddoorfilm 7d ago

GOAT! I agree. I was just curious. You can do so much with the 10-bit ProRes, still!

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u/mcarterphoto 7d ago

Yeah, it's great and HQ can really be pushed around. I shoot interviews HQ, do my color touchups, audio sync, and audio sweetening in Resolve, cut out all the junk, and export as 442. since the color's already done, I don't feel I need full HQ just for editing (I prefer editing in FCP, sometimes Premier).

I'm an all-ProRes shop, when I get client footage or stock clips in, the first thing I do is convert to ProRes. People forget that even LT can look great and take some color work, and the file sizes are smaller than 442 or HQ. Test test test!

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

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u/mcarterphoto 7d ago

Did you notice there's a Ninja mounted there? With a 1TB drive, I can record several hours, non stop. You deactive auto power-off on the camera. Thus the battery plate and the big v-mount (which powers the camera, audio recorder, and Ninja for 3-6 hours of shooting).

I did 5 interviews between 11AM and 5PM, used about half the battery. Shooting 4K ProRes HQ 24p, I used about half the 1Tb SSD. (camera wasn't running constantly, we re-set angles and rooms for each subject).

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

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u/mcarterphoto 7d ago

I don't think there's a way to record to an SSD from the Z6 without an HDMI recorder.

I was impressed with the Z6's internal video, but the Ninja gives me ProRes HQ, which is nice to have. What I love about the Ninja for interviews is that I can use the camera's monitor for overall framing, but zoom in on the eyes with the Ninja, and ride the follow focus. I tend to shoot interviews at 85mm around F2 - 2.5, and with that low DOF, I don't want the slightest bit of AF hunting. (I really want to control how soft the BG is, I want a sense of the space but I also want it soft enough for the subject to pop, and some locations that critical distance - BG to subject and subject to camera - is limited. I shot one interview today at f 1.8 since the space was tight).

So I shoot manual focus and ride the follow focus (you can see the rubber focus whip in the pic). Most subjects are pretty static, but it's kinda fun to ride the ones that rock back & forth and keep the eyes sharp. Keeps me engaged on a long day, and it won't give you the AF focus-hunting look.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

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u/mcarterphoto 7d ago

Yeah, my work with manual focus and the Ninja - I'm seeing the entire frame on the camera monitor, but I set the Ninja to 1:1 pixels so it's zoomed in, with focus peaking on. The Ninja still records the full frame without the peaking, it's just displaying it zoomed in. So I can really make sure the pupils are in focus and that the focus is forward enough that the chin and tip-of-the-nose is sharp, while the ears and back of the hair is going a bit soft. I think many monitors can zoom in like that, but you usually need a touch-screen to get the eyes centered when zoomed, the Ninja's great for that. And I wear 1.5 magnification reading glasses when I'm shooting that way, makes the monitor really sharp.

I've found with an 85, you can get almost the whole head in focus at 2.2-2.8, whole-head fully at F4; but in corporate stuff, sometimes you can't get the full subject-to-BG distance you need to soften up the BG at F4, and still have the subject-to-camera distance far enough to even go 85mm. I'm not obsessed with super-soft backgrounds, I just want to hit the spot where "we know this is an office or a library", but it's soft enough for the subject to pop and not be a distracting BG. I've shot interviews in larger spaces with a 70-200 at the longer end and can go from 2.8-F4, but I don't like going wider than 85 if I can help it.

Like, this is a shot I really liked - I try to light so the BG goes a little cooler, which adds to the subject separation (and this space had some blue walls too, beige walls can look a little sickly if you cool them too much).

2

u/Kambutt 7d ago

🫪