Thomas Detert 12/12/20 Thomas Detert 12/12/20

Nikon Z6 II - Trial Run on Lake Superior

Reflections of a Moody Cove - Lake Superior

On October 6th, 2020, there was a tragedy in my life. I slipped while crawling along a granite slope and fell over 10 feet into a small “pond” that was about 2 feet deep with a granite bottom. Besides getting soaked head-to-toe, and sustaining severe injuries to my pride, I utterly destroyed my Nikon D810 and attached wide angle lens. And, last but not least, I hurt my left ankle!

I tried desperately to dry both the camera and lens out. 24 hours in dry rice, dry heat from the wood stove, hair dryer, etc. But the body of the D810 was actually somehow warped and the battery door and memory card door would not close again properly. Shocking considering the frame of that camera is made from a magnesium alloy.

Luckily my body (and my pride) healed without incident!

However, losing my main landscape camera and lens, I was left with tough decisions to make as to what to replace the Nikon D810 with. Was it time to upgrade to the Nikon D850? Or should I switch to a mirrorless Nikon Z camera. Nikon was just releasing the Nikon Z6 II with the Z7 II I to be released in December 2020. Or was it time to look at Canon, or Sony options??

Well, as you may have guessed from the title of this story, I went with a Nikon Z6 II and a Nikkor Z 14-30 f/4 lens.

The Nikon Z7 II has only one real advantage of the Z6 II and that is sensor resolution. But that is a double-edged sword. The Nikon Z6 II out-performs the Z7 II in several ways including better low-light performance. Once the firmware update is released in February 2021, the Z6 II will have equal video capabilities. Yet the Z7 II is over CDN$ 1300 more than the Z6 II (at the time of purchase in mid-November 2020)! And now the technology exists to upgrade the resolution of a digital still using AI (artificial intelligence) algorithm-based software. (See https://topazlabs.com/gigapixel-ai/ for more details). So the only possible advantage of the significantly more expensive Z7 II for my needs (sensor resolution for larger prints) has been negated for the price USD$ 99!

So, I took my newly purchased Nikon Z6 II along with me on a drive along Highway 17N, going north of Sault Ste. Marie, along the Lake Superior Shoreline and into Lake Superior Provincial Park.

With a moody lake and sky, lighting condition were challenging. And despite inadvertently shooting in JPG as opposed to RAW, I am very happy with the quality of the images. The Z6 II feels very comfortable in my hands, and I believe that any experienced Nikon DSLR user will find making the switch to the Z series cameras to be a pleasant and rewarding experience.

Shout out to James at Camera Craft for helping me think through my purchase options! If you live in the Sault Ste. Marie or surrounding area and are looking for any new gear (cameras, filters, tripods, lighting etc), he’s the man to see!

These photos and many others are available for purchase as fine art prints!

Thomas Detert is a landscape photographer based on St. Joseph Island, Ontario, Canada. You can see more of his work at https://www.tomsview.ca.

Thomas Detert 9/9/20 Thomas Detert 9/9/20

Moss on a Rock

Pukaskwa National Park is located near Marathon, Ontario Canada. A 5 hour drive north-west from Sault Ste. Marie, near the Pic Mobert First Nation.

Pukaskwa has a lot to offer the adventurous, thrill-seeking traveller, as well as the beach goers. It has beautiful hiking trails that are short and easy, medium trails, and even an 18 km (11 mile) round-trip hike to a suspension bridge over a river. There are two sand beaches to choose from. A recently renovated and modernized campground offers an affordable and fun place to stay.

What brings me back to Pukaskwa, time and time again, is the kayaking. Within paddling distance are several coves, each with its own unique spectacles to offer. I love spending hours on the water exploring the shoreline and adjacent coves.

You could paddle morning, noon and evening to the same coves and each time the views would be dramatically different. The morning sun and the evening sun highlight different sides of the cove.

I must have passed by the above granite shore a dozen times in the last two years. But it wasn’t until sunset on August 13, 2020 that I saw the light playing with the calm water, the exposed granite, and the multi-coloured, mutli-layer moss.

I love this photo so much in fact that it is my current desktop background on my laptop!

For the techie in you.. This was shot with a Sony RX10IV camera at 24 mm @ f/16, handheld from my kayak. It was shot handheld, and processed in Adobe LightRoom.

Pukaskwa… I will be back!

Thomas Detert 3/15/20 Thomas Detert 3/15/20

Icy Reflections

The Story Behind Icy Reflections

It was a beautiful, sunny and relatively mild winter day in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. My friend Jake Cormier and I decided to take a drive north of the city, along Highway 17 to explore the Lake Superior Shoreline.

As we headed north, we lost the sunshine, and the vast majority of the wind.

We drove all the way up to Agawa Bay, located in the southern end of Lake Superior Provincial Park. The experience was surreal. The lake was completely open and with the exception of some snow in spots along the shoreline, it looked and felt like a cool summer day.

You could see the sand, the sand bars, and even some remnants of the grass blades growing out of the sand.

We worked our way down south, back towards Sault Ste. Marie.. We stopped at a popular photo spot known as SawPit Bay. It was at this location I photographed “Icy Reflections”. We were losing the light. However, the darkening light and sky made for a nice somber mood to photograph little microcosms in the bay.

Icy Reflections is the ultimate photo from the day’s shoot. I really love the mood it captures.