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I got the Nikon Z50 with the two-lens kit (16-50mm + 50-250mm), along with an additional battery, from Amazon for around ₹80k during the recent sale. I also got a rarely used FTZ adapter for ~₹8k.

One of the main reasons I picked the Z50 over others was the price. And, the FTZ adapter seemed like the best option to use my existing prime lens and allow the camera to support more lenses.

I haven't used it much but I'm happy with the initial impressions. Coming from a DSLR, the battery seems to drain quickly. The FTZ adapter works fine, though it's a bit noisy when focusing and even when turning the camera on and off.

I hope this update helps someone. Thanks for all the suggestions! :)

Went on a family trip to Kovalam, Kerala and tried out my hand at the new camera, Sony A7IV with the kit lens. A few of my favorite pics are attached.

Very nice! Welcome to the A7iv club. It's a super camera which will give even better results if you can go for prime (or two... or more... Ahh, the slipper slope of buying camera stuff lol: ).

One accessory, more affordable than lenses, that I strongly recommend, is David Busch's book. I'm on my third Sony, and I have one for each. It's great for understanding the new features as well as reminding me of stuff I actually had before but didn't realise or forgot.

If you are new to this camera's generation of AF, it is invaluable.

In terms of menu options and possibilities, this is a very complex camera. With the help of the book and some great youtube videos, it has, for my usual photography, become the simplest camera to use --- all because of it's AF tracking/focus power.

Dear Sir,
Thank you for your guidance. I am new to the Sony system and discovering new things everyday. Have watched some videos of Jason Vong to guide me with the initial set up. The book recommended by you would be of great help.
The lens+accessory purchases will start soon as these are too tempting.
Wishing you a happy World Photography Day!

Nikon Z 85mm f/1.8 S

Recently bought the above lens for using with my Nikon Z5 camera. I was thinking of buying this lens for my general travel and car photography, because of my preferred 85mm focal length for many of my compositions, the fast 1.8 aperture and great reviews all around! This is one of the sharpest lenses Nikon ever produced, and the "S" designation - for pro category lens in Nikon speak - indicates absolutely top class optical qualities. Every review I read had great things to say about this lens.

I love fast primes (I have a few in F mount too), and this is one of the best of the fast primes Nikon produced so far.

While 85mm is generally considered as portrait focal length, I love 85mm for other uses too. Most people, reviewers as well as photographers, instantly mention this as a "portrait lens". Even the expert salesman at Foto Circle in Bangalore (from where I bought this) thought I want to do portraits with this lens.

While this lens is amazing for portraits (and I did try some portraits in the family and the results were indeed nice), I will use it for my car photography and travel photography. I love 85mm for car photography - it renders the car absolutely perfectly with zero distortion, and gives a nice proportional feel, and the background compression adds to the overall effect that I love. Also, shooting cars with f/2.8 (f/1.8 is probably an overkill for car photos and will cause overly shallow DOF), gives a nice effect of isolating the car from the background.

Note: all photos below taken with this lens on my Nikon Z5 camera body.

Here a couple of car photos I took with this lens recently:

This one was with f/4:




And this with f/2.8:



Not just for cars, but even for landscape photography, I often prefer 85mm and longer focal lengths. It helps form a nice frame, and again without any distortion whatsoever, renders a nice frame, and the telephoto compression is something I again like. Even with my other travel lens, the Nikon Z 24-200mm lens, I often use the telephoto range of focal lengths for landscapes. That is just my preferred style of landscape compositions. I plan to do plenty of landscapes with this 85mm lens.

Here are some examples of these 85mm landscapes I shot with this lens in Hampi in my latest trip there:


















Some examples of general travel photography:











And of course, this lens is wonderful for many other types of photography with a lovely bokeh too. Here are some general examples:










And finally, although this is not a macro lens at all, I still enjoyed such photography experiments with lovely bokeh:


I got this from Foto Circle in Bangalore, for ₹50k. So far totally loving it, and planning to do lot more photography with this lens in my next few travels.