Nikon Z30 thoughts

So I’ve had the Z30 for a few days now and I thought I’d share my thoughts on it. I made an unboxing video, which I’m going to edit when I’m back home but since then I’ve actually looked at some of the menu’s and used it!

First of all it is just right weight wise. I was initially surprised at the weight of it when I took it out of the box but now it just feels ‘well made’. You know that feeling? Carrying it round is a pleasure and I shot a time-lapse with it this morning. I didn’t even put it on a tripod even though it was a little bit breezy. It felt sturdy enough and was.

Speaking about time-lapse, I was excited to discover that it has the same exposure smoothing that the Z7ii does. I have been really tempted by the Z7ii but can’t justify switching from Fuji at the moment with all the glass I own. The exposure blended time-lapses though was one of the features that I was looking to explore on the Z7ii if I took the plunge but now it’s on the Z30 that is one more reason that I don’t need to switch. As it’s going to be my made vlogging camera, shooting a time-lapse while I’m waiting for the light is a great use of time. I sell quite a bit of video and adding to my collection is always handy. I love how, when you adjust the frequency of exposures it tells you how much footage this will give. The fact that it will balance the exposures makes creating time-lapses a better experience for the viewer and therefore more worthwhile. I can’t wait to try this out on a proper shoot.

The other feature I am excited to look at are the video profiles. Grading footage is something I don’t enjoy in FCPX and it will be good to have footage ready to go straight out of camera. I just need to decide on the look I want now, which won’t be easy.

I am already in love with Snapbridge. Photos and videos just download to my phone easily and quickly. So useful for my socials. DJI take note please as the same cannot be said about their drones or gimbals in my experience. Snapbridge is awesome!

Finally, I just wanted to mention the Nikon menu system which is so much easier than the Fuji system on my XT4. It just seems that the name of each menu item makes more sense than the way Fuji describe theirs. I’m not near the X-T4 at the moment but I love that the Z30 has little question marks that pop up when you are changing settings. It tells you the effect of changing them which let’s you make an informed decision. If the Fuji has this I’m yet to see it.

One downside though, no manual included. There maybe a digital version somewhere, I’ll have to have a look. It would be much nicer if it was embedded in Snapbridge (if it is and I’ve missed it let me know below).

Anyway, hope that’s useful to someone. Of on a sunrise shoot tomorrow and I’ll give it its first workout. More soon!