It’s a dawn of a new age. As a Canon user for the last 17 years, I have made the switch *back* to Nikon.

Today I took my Nikon ZF and Z8 for its first sports event outing. They performed superbly. It’s also my first sporting event too. I have never shot anything like this. It was a test of my skills more than the cameras. I brought with me a 24-70 f4s, a 50mm f1.8s and a 70-200mm f2.8s. When going into any kind of unknown photography event. I simply remember what was told to a then unknown Steven Spielberg by director John Ford. “If the horizon is on the top of the picture, it’s interesting. If it’s on the bottom of the picture, it’s interesting. If the horizon is in the middle of the picture, it’s boring as hell!”

Middle of the Mens Category 1/2/3 race. Shot on the Nikon Z8 with 24-70 f4s. Being on the inside of the turn and coming around back is one of the best places to photograph the racers.

Shot on the Nikon Z8, 24-70f4s. Another corner, but now coming down hill. I sped up the shutter for this shot to get less motion blur. Finding just the right amount of blur was the most challenging for me during this race. Too much blur and it looks too wild, not enough blur and the racers look frozen in time, too boring.

Nikon Z8 w/ 50mm f1.8S. Shot wide open at f1.8 with 1/12,000 shutter speed. Not enough blur, racers look too frozen in place. It’s the slight blur of the wheel spokes to add to the effect of speed. On the 2nd day, I’ve discovered that 1/320 of a second was perfect for just blurring the spokes a little while maintaining background clarity as well.

Mens Category 4/5. A mixture of blur and in focus. Shot on the Z8 with the 70-200 f2.8s. Another challenge was framing. I usually like to frame ultra tight. I find it more cinematic, but when the bicycles are coming so quickly, it’s hard to frame and focus at the same time.

Almost perfect, if I zoomed out a little faster, I would have gotten Alex’s bottom wheel. Hard when they’re coming down at 35 miles an hour.

Nikon Z8 with 70-200 2,8s. I thought this was a cool shot, horizon high with the silhouettes of the racers. When I pulled into the parking lot and saw racers practicing, I knew I wanted to get a shot like this before this race. Unfortunately this was the beginning of the race when everyone was still chilling and none of them were in proned riding position. By the end of the race when it was picking speed, I couldn’t get back to that location fast enough, it was all the way across the course. That is the thing about shooting even a small criterium course, you only have so many opportunities to shoot from certain vantage points.

Nikon Z8, 70-200 f2.8s. One of my faves shots, and completely unplanned. The shapes of the bystanders in the foreground looked good. Neutral colors, modern clothing and not distracting. Sitting still and I thought…wouldn’t it be cool to have the racers fly them but blurred for a sense of speed? Shutter speed was 1/60, Aperture was f16. One of my fave things about the Z8 is the ultra low ISO it can achieve. The other thing I wanted to try was to focus and pan on the racers so that they were sharp, but the couple in the foreground were blurred. I think that would have been really cool as well albeit much more difficult to achieve.

Nikon Z8 70-200 f2,8s. An example of horizon at the bottom of picture makes for a little more interest.

Nikon ZF 24-70 f4S. A lot of times I just just sprayed and prayed. This was from the Zf this time, zoomed out and just turned the camera as they came around hoping the focus would lock onto something.

Nikon Z8, 50mm f1.8S. Here I experimented shooting wide open at 1.8, because I had 1.8, why not use it?? For sport, honestly ultra large aperture is not necessary and doesn’t really add to the photo, in fact I feel like it gives it some weird miniaturization effect which I think looks cheesy. It’s great for pre and post race moments when focused on the people.

This is when the horizon is in the middle. It’s just not interesting, but less abstract/artistic shots like these are what racers want usually.

Nikon Zf w/ 70-200 f2.8s. This was the tail end of the mens race, after 40 minutes, everyone was pooped. The 2 guys in turquoise, Jeremy and Jared, are in a cycling club that I was invited to join. It was the perfect in to come photograph these races. Sometimes having a purpose is nice for motivation, even if it’s unpaid. Sometimes it’s not necessary, but for me having an end goal to help market or create content for something bigger than me, is good motivation; otherwise I might not feel the need to get out of bed at 7am in the morning lol.

Canon Zf 70-200 2,8s. One from the beginning of the race when everyone is looking chipper and optimistic!

Nikon Zf 70-200 f2,8s. End of the race, winner was Jonas who apparently keeps winning these things and was the “one to beat”. This was a pretty boring photo and not the best photo finishes. I was hoping for a single group of 3 sprinting in the front with a large peloton of riders behind them waiting to swarm.

Nikon Z8 24-70 f4s. Here is the start of the women’s Category 1/2/3 race. The women race was interesting, instead of ripping it off the go, it started more as a fast group ride. Everyone was sort of sizing each other up! But it did allow them to be easier to photograph, they weren’t coming by as fast at first and I had time to mess with my settings!

Nikon Zf 70-200 f2.8s First descent of the race, Love how they’re leaning into the corners, knees popped out for stability. Hate the brown trees in the background…

Nikon Zf 50mm f1.8s. Now they’re starting to give it some gas 20 minutes in, giving it more of the beans up hill.

Nikon Z8 24-70 f4s. Now they’re starting to give it the beans, 8 laps left. This was part of the break away group, but…

Nikon Z8 24-70 f4s. This girl was fast. This racer broke away and rode alone in the front for about 7 laps I think. The peloton never caught up. She ended up finishing first, but I missed her finish and decided to keep covering the main group. Sometimes when the race for first isn’t even close, it’s kind of boring. But props to her, everyone was saying she was a crazy strong rider.

Nikon Zf 70-200 f2.8s. And here’s the field sprint for 2nd and 3rd!

Overall it was a really fun experience and I can’t wait for the next one to happen when the foliage is in bloom or attend races that happen inside urban areas or cities. I think that will make for a much more interesting backdrop. Stay tuned for more! Another problem that I’ve discovered with the Z cameras is the amount of dust that gets into the sensor after a lens swap in the field. It’s the worst that I’ve ever experienced!