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FIRST REPORTED BY ROBERT G ALLEN PHOTOGRAPHY: Nikon will release firmware version 3.11 for the Z8 with the following changes tomorrow:

• Fixed the following issues:

• - Unsupported features would sometimes become selectable when wirelessly connected to NX Tether.

• - The [High-frequency flicker reduction] setting would sometimes change when [High-frequency flicker reduction] and another role, such as [Protect], were assigned to the same custom control.

• - The camera would sometimes stop responding during shooting if certain operations were performed after settings were made in [Manage Picture Control].

The firmware update can be downloaded at Nikon’s download center at: https://downloadcenter.nikonimglib.com/en/index.html

Let me know in the comments below (no-sign in required) what other Z8 firmware updates are needed.

In the meantime, here are a few more recent Nikon Z8 event photos:

Today, I received the Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.4 mirrorless lens from Pictureline.com

Considering that it’s not an S line lens, the build quality is pretty good. It’s light and the lens hood is not too big or too small. I would say overall, the design has a pleasing esthetic compact look.

I have not had a chance to use the lens so I have included a few sample ones from Nikon:

I plan on using this on a trip to photograph the stars next week so I will add those photos after I return. As always, thanks for stopping by!

To commemorate 25 years since 9/11, I would like to share this transcript and video below of an interview with photographer Robert A. Cumins who shot one of the most iconic photos of 9/11 using a Nikon F4 film camera.

What follows is the transcript taken from the above video:

As the country marks the 25 years since the 9/11 attacks, a photographer who documented the horror of that day reflects on how he captured a defining image of the tragedy and the significance of the photo today.

Bob Cumins is behind the wheel of his car just as he was the morning of September 11th, 2001 when he flipped on the radio. So I turned it on and I'm listening to a helicopter report from WCBS News 880. Something is going on.

At the tower, we are still looking at smoke billowing out of tower number one. It was 8:58 A.M and Cumins' instincts as a professional photographer kicked in.

He'd had a long career working in the Middle East documenting presidents and prime ministers, so he went home here to his balcony. How far are we from lower Manhattan? As the crow flies 15 miles. With his camera and a roll of film, he looked through the viewfinder at 9:03 A.M. and at that point I saw a plane in lower Manhattan. I figured I'll take a picture of the plane juxtaposed against the skyline. So I made 2 shots. He took this a split second before the 2nd plane made impact. So it was the first picture you shot. It was the 1st picture. He had to wait until the film was developed to see it as a professional.

I was put here to make that picture. You never imagined that the most historic photograph of your life would be taken from your home, right from the balcony. People magazine published Cumins's photograph on the cover within days. Does it matter that you shot it on film? I'm glad I shot it on film. It can't be challenged. He showed us the original roll of film from his archive with 19 frames. The second one, you see the tail of the jet. That analog record is maybe even more important 25 years later. In today's world of conspiracies and what have you and fakery with digital, the film is it. For Cumins, they are images that live in his mind. One split second after this picture was taken, 2000 lives are gone, a moment in history captured through his camera.

Interview with photographer Bob Cumins who took a photo just a split-second before the second plane made impact during the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 using his Nikon F4 camera.

Bradley Blackburn, CBS News, Verona, New Jersey.

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Nikon issues firmware 1.1 for the COOLPIX P1100 with the following changes:

Fixed the following issues:

• In rare circumstances, the camera would stop responding when adjusting zoom during burst photography.

• Some timestamps in the metadata of video files would differ from the actual date and time of recording.

The firmware is available now for download at: www.NikonUSA.com

See my current Nikon gear list at: https://www.robertallen-photography.com/my-nikon-gear-list

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Nikon posted a firmware update for the COOLPIX P1000 camera with the following changes:

• Fixed an issue where, in rare circumstances, the camera would stop responding when adjusting zoom during burst photography.

Let me know below in the comments if you had this issue with your P1000 camera (no login required to leave a comment).

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Be sure to visit my Nikon Z5II sample image gallery at: https://www.robertallen-photography.com/blog/nikon-z5ii-z52-sample-photos

Nikon released a new firmware version 1.20 for the Z5II camera with the following changes:

■ Still Photography

• Changed the available shutter speed range for [ISO sensitivity settings] > [Minimum shutter speed] in the [PHOTO SHOOTING MENU].

■ Still Photography/Video Recording

• Changed the following item names in Picture Controls:

  • - [Cloud Picture Control] changed to [Imaging Recipe].

  • - [Add Cloud Picture Control files] under [Set Picture Control] in the photo shooting and video recording menus changed to [Download Imaging Recipes].

■ Controls

• Added [On saving user settings] to [Save focus position] in the [SETUP MENU].

■ Displays

• Added [Automatic monitor display switch] to the [SETUP MENU].

■ Network

• Added [Wi-Fi Always ON] to [Connect to smart device] > [Wi-Fi connection (AP mode)] in the [NETWORK MENU].

• Added [Inactive connection timeout] to [Connect to FTP server] > [Options] in the [NETWORK MENU].

■ Other Changes

• Aperture is no longer restricted when recording videos in mode S (Shutter-priority auto).

It’s my main workhorse for professional assignments along with my Z8. As an event photographer, I’m often shooting in low light situations. Knowing that it will have the lowest noise from any of the cameras that I currently own (https://www.robertallen-photography.com/my-nikon-gear-list) gives me confidence that what I deliver to my clients will meet their requirements as to image quality. I hope these photos serve as an inspiration as to what can be accomplished with the little Z6II. After a little more than 30,000 photos taken with the Z6II (the most of any camera in my Capture One database), I have learned a thing or two about this camera and (surprisingly)what it is capable of.

After looking at 30K photos shot with the Nikon Z6II over the years, here are a few photos that I have had the pleasure of taking and have included in the gallery below:

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Let me know in the comments below your thoughts on the Z6II and if you have the camera.

Today, Nikon discontinued the D6, their flagship DSLR camera. This leaves the D7500 (crop sensor), D780 and D850 as their only DSLR cameras available to purchase.

It was only last week that Nikon issued a firmware update for both the D6 and the D780. Very strange that they would pull the camera so soon after the new firmware updates were just issued a few day ago.

I owned the D6 and I can honestly say it was one of the best cameras I have ever used. I would have never changed over to mirrorless if the D6 worked out for me. So, what was the issue that was the deal breaker? It had fantastic autofocus, excellent image quality, great high ISO performance. So, what could have been the issue with the D6? The loudness of the shutter! (see my article on Nikon DSLR shutter noise levels at https://www.robertallen-photography.com/blog/how-loud-are-nikon-dslr-camera-shutters ).

As a professional event photographer, when shooting in a quiet room when someone is making a speech at the podium, believe me, you don’t want to be shooting with the D6! Prior to changing over to mirrorless, I used the D780 as my main event camera, mainly because it had a mirrorless mode on it. With the D780, if you shot with the rear LCD panel, it essentially became a mirrorless DLSR since it used the same autofocus system employed in the Z6 when shooting using the rear screen.

OK, back to the D6. It was a fantastic body and really eclipsed all of their other flagship DSLR cameras. I shot a total of 9,979 photos with the D6, according to my Capture One library. Not a lot of photos by my standards (especially considering it shoots at 14 frames per second) but again, I didn’t own it for very long due to the shutter noise.

Here are a few photos shot with the D6 with an assortment of lenses. These are from a mixture of paid and personal assignments. Let me know in the comments below if you owned the D6 or if you have any questions about the camera.

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Be sure to check out our blog homepage at https://www.robertallen-photography.com/blogto see all of my latest Nikon and Capture One blog posts.

All photos were taken using the Nikon Z8 with varouse Nikkor lenses. Let me know in the comments (no sign-in required) if you have any questions on any of the photos. I would be happy to answer them. Thanks for visiting!

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Be sure to check out our blog homepage at https://www.robertallen-photography.com/blogto see all of my latest Nikon and Capture One blog posts.

I have finally setup my first single topic portfolio on aviation. Aviation is one of the subjects that I seek out, both when at home and while traveling. It’s been a passion of mine for a long time. Hence, I have accumulated a lot of portfolio worthy content from shooting mostly planes over the years.

The proof is in the pudding as they say so take a look yourself at:

https://www.robertallen-photography.com/aviation

Let me know what you think in the comments below. Tell me if I need to remove any photos that don’t make the cut.

There will be more single topic portfolios in the future so stay tuned. Even the aviation one will change with new additions going forward.

Remember to visit the blog home page to see more articles at: https://www.robertallen-photography.com/blog

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This is a very small update for a very small camera:

• Changed some menu item names in Chinese (Simplified and Traditional).

That’s it folks. No improvement in autofocus, frame rate, ISO performance etc….

To download the update go to: https://downloadcenter.nikonimglib.com/en/download/fw/605.html

Be sure to check out our blog homepage at https://www.robertallen-photography.com/blogto see all of my latest Nikon and Capture One blog posts.

Be sure to check out our blog homepage at https://www.robertallen-photography.com/blog to see all of my latest Nikon and Capture One blog posts.

Watch as Andrew Hancock discusses his approach to capturing the largest sporting event in the world and why he has with him no less than 5 Nikon Z9 cameras.

Be sure to check out our blog homepage at https://www.robertallen-photography.com/blog to see all of my latest Nikon and Capture One blog posts.

Be sure to check out our blog homepage at https://www.robertallen-photography.com/blog to see all of my latest Nikon and Capture One blog posts.

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Nikon has mentioned that the Z8 is the mirrorless version of the D850. While they may spin it that way in their marketing approach, I’m not convinced of this. Within Nikon’s current line of DSLRs, the D850 is the high resolution camera and the flagship D single number series (D6) have lower resolution but have higher frame rates. Within their Z line of cameras, this pattern is not the case. The Z8 and the flagship Z9 both have the same resolution sensor and frame rate. Now, if Nikon used the 66.8 MP Sony sensor found in the A7RVI camera and a lower frame rate for the Z8, then I would say the Z8 is the mirrorless version of the D850.

Now, let’s move on to what the title says this article is about; A specification comparison of the Nikon D850 and the Nikon Z8:

Let me know in the comments below (no sign in required) your thoughts. Is the Z8 the successor to the D850 or just a slimmed down Z9?

Be sure to check out our blog homepage at https://www.robertallen-photography.com/blog to see all of my latest Nikon and Capture One blog posts.

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In July, the city of Boise host the Boise Twilight Criterium bike race yearly and I usually attend to see what I can capture with Nikon’s current best in class hardware, currently being the Z9 with the Nikon NIKKOR Z 600mm f/6.3 VR S and the Nikon NIKKOR Z 400mm f/4.5 VR S lenses. All photos processed with the latest version of Capture One.

There is no better way to test autofocus on a camera then getting up close to bicyclist going 30 plus miles per hour around a one mile square course.

Guessing what focus mode to use, I tried several arrangements, from 3D to Auto area, all with continues AF. I finally settled on Auto Area, Continues AF with Auto Subject Detection and stayed with this choice for the remainder of the day with the following results:

The NIKKOR Z 600mm f/6.3 VR S lens allows me to get right up to the riders as if I’m standing in their way but trust me, you would not want to get in the way of these racers, I’m sure it would lead to severe injures.

One thing with the NIKKOR Z 600mm f/6.3 VR S lens is that the bokeh can be inconsistent. This is caused by the fact that the lens is a Phase Fresnel type lens. This type of lens helps keep the size and weight down and is why the lens is small and light. The shot above shows what I think is good bokeh from the 600.

The shot above shows what I think is not great bokeh. It’s not terrible but could be better. It was also over 100 degrees when I took this photo so we also have heatwaves in the background which doesn’t help any.

My other relevant camera settings on the Z9 were shooting lossless RAW files, my low frames per second was set at 5 and the high rate was set at 10 FPS. I rarely shoot at the Z9’s maximum 20 FPS RAW format.

I took about 1,400 photos and my selects totaled 135. The difference between the total and selects were not the result of photos that were not in focus (although there were a few that were not in focus) but because I was looking for expressions on the racers faces that represented the true grit that you need to successfully complete the race.

Overall, I was pleased with the results with the Z9 and the 400 and 600mm lenses.

Let’s look at a few more shots from the race:

Let me know in the comments below (no sign-in required) if you have any questions for me or comments about the photos.

Nikon gives the Z50II a firmware update with the following changes:

■ Still Photography/Video Recording

• • Changed the following item names in Picture Controls:

  • - [Cloud Picture Control] changed to [Imaging Recipe].

  • - [Add Cloud Picture Control files] under [Set Picture Control] in the photo shooting and video recording menus changed to [Download Imaging Recipes].

■ Controls

• • Added [On saving user settings] to [Save focus position] in the [SETUP MENU].

■ Displays

• • Added [Automatic monitor display switch] to the [SETUP MENU].

■ Network

• • Added [Wi-Fi Always ON] to [Connect to smart device] > [Wi-Fi connection (AP mode)] in the [NETWORK MENU].

• • Added [Inactive connection timeout] to [Connect to FTP server] > [Options] in the [NETWORK MENU].

■ Other Changes

• • Aperture is no longer restricted when recording videos in mode S (Shutter-priority auto).

• • Changed the specifications for uninterrupted video output to HDMI devices such as external monitors when recording ended.

Nikon recently released their 2026 financial statements for their fiscal year (April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026) and this year’s results do not look good. And when comparing this year to last year, it’s even more menacing. Let’s examine my concerns in more detail.

Let’s start with the overall gross sales for all 5 divisions of Nikon. Overall sales were down 5.3% for the whole company compared to Fiscal Year Ending (FYE) 2025. And, in 2025, Nikon as a whole, was profitable (ever so slightly) but in FYE 2026, a large loss has been incurred overall.

Now, let’s look at only the camera and lens part of Nikon, what Nikon calls the Imaging Products Business. This is their largest division out of their 5 total divisions. Again, we see an overall decrease in sales of 1.8%, not too concerning. However the operating profit of the camera and lens division decreased by 59.5%, leaving a very slim amount going to the bottom line.

Nikon tries to explain the poor Imaging results by saying the following:

“Revenue was mostly in line with plan - Operating profit missed plan due to ¥3.2B in one-time costs related to the contract to sell MRMC shares, an increase in R&D expenditures, and other factors.

- The DCIL market has grown steadily. In the near-term, however, we have observed a downward shift in product mix, effects from price increases due to tariffs, and slowing growth in certain emerging markets

- Sales volumes grew, mainly in the volume-zone “Z5II” and “Z50II” and our first digital cinema camera “ZR”, which incorporates technology from RED. However, revenue and profit declined on one-time costs described above, tariff impacts, lower ASPs driven by product mix changes, and increased promotional spending in the face of intensifying competition.”

First of all, if you read their explanation above of the poor results, they are not saying much, much at all! I would guess that the competition between Canon, Sony and Nikon is so intense that none of them want to say much when it comes to explaining any anomaly in their financial statements for fear that it may give away some insight into their internal operations to their competitors.

However, this is what I can surmise from their evasive commentary.

First, we have no idea what change in product mix means. I can’t even guess. What is more clear to me is that they are forecasting greater research and development expenditures for the following year (the current year we are in now). This may mean that these additional R&D expenses could be related to the development of the Z9II (we can only hope!) or the Z7III. Second, they clearly indicate that their top camera sellers are the Z5II, Z50II and the ZR Cinema camera.

Only time will tell as to how Nikon will fare financially going forward. I will try to keep my site updated as the year progresses. They should be releasing their 2027 1st quarter financial results soon.

Let me know in the comments below your thoughts on Nikon’s financial position (no sign-in required).

Nikon says of the P1100 camera: “Travel to the moon. Soar with the birds. Or keep your feet on the ground and explore the tiny details of nature—all with one extraordinary portable camera.”

I have owned the Nikon COOLPIX P1100 for a couple of years now and have to agree with Nikon’s description above. Overall, I have been impressed with the content that this camera puts out. Under the right lighting conditions, it can produce quality photos that equals that of Nikon’s full frame cameras. Of course, (and this is no minor detail) with an equivalent focal range of 24 - 3000mm, it’s unrivaled in the camera world in its ability to get close to your subjects. Generally speaking, if you can see it, you can photograph it with this camera, and in most cases, even fill the frame!

To achieve this incredible zoom range, some tradeoffs exist. Photos normally have higher noise levels than Z cameras, are not as sharp as ones taken with Nikon full frame bodies and are not ideal for capturing fast action shots. However, just when I say that about actions shots, the first photo that appears in the gallery below is an action shot at our local dirt track field. Just like anything else, there are always exceptions to everything I guess!

The P1100 is also compatible with Nikon’s mobile device program SnapBridge.

Once you have viewed the images, let me know in the comments below (no sign-in required) if you have any questions about the Nikon P1100 or the photos in the gallery. Thanks for stopping by!

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Nikon releases firmware updates for both the Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.4 and the Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.4 lenses, bringing the firmware version from 1.00 to 1.001 with the following changes for both lenses:

• Changed the position of focusing lenses when the camera is turned off to improve startup reliability.

Let me know in the comments below if you own these lenses and if so, how they have been performing for you (no sign-in required).

Today, Robert G Allen Photography reached a major website traffic milestone: we surpassed 100,000 website sessions as measured by www.statcounter.com

First, let’s explain exactly what a website session is according to statcounter: a single, continuous period of activity by a visitor on your website. It encompasses all the actions a user takes, such as page views, clicks, and downloads, from the moment they arrive until they leave or go inactive. So, basically, when a visitor comes to the website and then leaves the website in one continuous visit, that counts as one website session.

A website session is not the same as a website visitor. A single unique visitor can have multiple sessions in a single day, week, or month. One session represents one individual "visit" to a website.

With all the details out of the way, let’s reflect on this accomplishment. I’m aware that some sites get to 100,000 sessions in less than a minute. This website was started in September of 2020. As you can imagine, that was a perfect time to start and build a website since it was during the COVID pandemic when I had very few event assignments. I have always wanted another website, separate from my event photography site ( www.ProImage-Photo.com ), to showcase my non-event photography content. That’s when www.RobertAllen-Photography.com was conceived.

To all my visitors, I hope you have enjoyed reading the articles and viewing the photos on my site over the past 6 years and hope you continue to return as new articles are posted weekly.

In the comments below (no sign-in required) let me know how the sight can be improved and what you like or dislike about my content.

A sincere thank you to all of our new and returning readers!

In case you didn’t notice, I thought it was time to do a refresh of the blog header photo collage. At first, I was only going to replace a few of the photos. But upon further thought, I decided to replace them all. So, I went into my Capture One 250,000 photo archive and looked for 7 replacements that would adapt to a vertical slanted format.

Here is a little context for each of the photos in the new collage (moving from left to right):

1) Early morning sunrise on Redfish Lake in Stanley Idaho. This photo was shot horizontally but cropped showcase just the red clouds reflecting in the water.

2) Sparrow as seen in a marsh along the Hidden Springs nature trail near Boise Idaho.

3) Flowers as seen along the nature trail near Hidden Springs.

4) Outdoor model shoot near Stanley Idaho.

5) Rainbow near Hidden Springs Idaho.

6) 747 flying overhead in Alaska. This represents the best overhead high altitude airplane photo I have in all of my portfolio.

7) A shot from one of my early wedding assignments.

As always, I try to showcase the wide interest I have with many genres of photography. Let me know in the comments below (no sign-in required) your thoughts with my selections.

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