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Join me as I walk you through the meticulous preparation of my Nikon ZF camera for a high-stakes proposal session. If you're a photographer looking to enhance your gear setup for critical moments, this episode is a treasure trove of insights.
"An hour's worth of photos crammed into a minute— that's what proposal photography feels like. You need to be fast, efficient, and most importantly, prepared."
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Photo Breakdown is a podcast in which we explore the world of photography with a trusted guide, host Scott Wyden Kivowitz. His expertise and passion bring the industry to life as we explore the stories, trends, and ideas shaping it today. Join us as we dissect everything from incredible photographs and creative techniques to the latest gear releases and hot topics in the photography community.
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Join me as I prepare my 2nd camera body for a proposal session
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[00:00:00] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Hey friends. Join me as I convert. My Nikon, the AF from. My daily. With neck strap. Here's this. We'll get into that. To something else, for proposal photography.
[00:00:16] Okay. So here's the deal. My Nikon ZF. Or wherever you are Nikon dead F.
[00:00:24] Is set up typically. Now, if you're, if you're watching a clip. Or if you're yeah, if you're watching a clip of this on social. You'll see that I have. My, my knee, my Nikon. ZF. I've got little like leather grip. right now, have a plate on the bottom and I have a neck strap.
[00:00:42] It is set up as my daily camera.
[00:00:44] I just throw it over my shoulder. I go and I capture photos and so on. That's my daily setup for my Nikon ZF, because this is. In my opinion, one of the best for Nikon users. The best daily camera. if you're not an icon user, you might be using [00:01:00] a Fuji camera as your daily, because they're very compact things like that.
[00:01:03] But.
[00:01:05] That's besides the point now, when I am.
[00:01:09] need one camera. or two cameras on my hip for, let's say a family session where I don't need the speed. Of multiple cameras switching back and forth. I will typically take off the next rap. And I will use a plate. I have my spider holster clamp for my different cameras. And I have my spider holster that goes onto a belt. And I can have two cameras on my hips. Doesn't.they're perfect.
[00:01:36] Right there. There, they don't hurt my neck. Doesn't hurt my back. Doesn't hurt my shoulders. Very easy. Right.and there's a cure. The spider holsters.
[00:01:46] That's the lock that you're hearing. now.
[00:01:48] It's the best that I could. Ever ask for, I've been a partner of spider holster for years at this point. And I love their products. However, when I do [00:02:00] proposal photography. There is. It's a very finite. Amount of time. I have, I ha I have to speed through it. I need to go fast. Two. Capture the proposal. The moments leading up to it. During the proposal in the moment app after the proposal. this is
[00:02:17] An hour's worth of photos crammed into a minute, two minutes of time.
[00:02:23] So I have my Nikon.
[00:02:26]
[00:02:26] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: on my right side with a telephoto lens. You actually see it. If, again, if you're watching a clip of this. You'll see it. on the shelf behind me, it has a Tamron. was it 30 to one 50 F two to 2.8 lens on it? That is what I use for my proposals. To get the distance and things like that.But. The Nikon D seven to the body buffer and that on with full high Rez raw files, the buffer fills up pretty fast. So there are times. What I need to switch to the backup body, which is on my left side.
[00:02:59] Now, if I'm using the [00:03:00] spider holster, I can go pretty fast, but I can't quickly safely. Drop. The camera into again, that's the sound of. The spider holster going into the the pin going into the holster. I can't quickly safely know that I'm going to drop the camera in it and it's not gonna hit the floor. It's just the nature of it, because it's not as. First of all, it's not connected to anything.
[00:03:25] So what I do for four proposals. Is I got this bad boy. this is the sound. a Holdfast gear.it's the moneymaker, but I have the technically it's the vegan moneymaker. So it's, like a canvas material it's a strong fabric. No leather. All black and it's a cross body harness that will keep a camera on either side of me. Reducing some neck strain is still, you're going to feel some shoulder strain.
[00:03:56] you shouldn't feel some back strain so much because it is evenly [00:04:00] distributing the weight, but. It allows me to have. Both cameras. Quickly where I can just literally let go of a camera and grab the other. And I don't have to worry about anything dropping, hitting the floor. That is extremely important.
[00:04:15] And these straps, there's multiple brands that make these straps. if I was going to recommend you to get a harness strap, I would say either hold fast gear. Or. Was it Rose Anvil. Rose Anvil actually their strap
[00:04:29] design is a little different than Holdfast gear. What's really interesting is in the new twisters movie. that was made 2024. They actually ripped off. Actually purchased parts from Rose Anvil and ripped off the strap. That the star of the new twisters movie uses. That's besides the point I'm getting off topic. So because of the different harness, I need to prepare the Nikon ZF for the proposal session.
[00:04:58] So what I have to do is I [00:05:00] first have to take off. This plate that I have here. Which I have my really right stuff tool. With the right bit on it to take off the plate. The main reason is this plate that I'm using. First of all on my Nikon, Z7II my plate has,I forgot the name of the pin. But there's this type of quick release pin. That allows the camera to spin in all directions.it's pretty secure.
[00:05:26] I think it's QR. I think it's the technical, type of pin it's actually meant for a rifle. And the harness for a rifle, but. a lot of camera brands are like plates and are now starting to integrate it.
[00:05:38] This is typically on the bottom of sorry. My Z7II the plate I have from really right stuff already has a built in. So I don't have to remove that, but.I had this leather case on my. On my Nikon, ZF, it's just like half case. It's not a full case. And I need to remove [00:06:00] that. As well, so that way I can have the plate more secure.
[00:06:04] on the bottom of this camera. And. Then I have the pin going into the plate and everything is very secure. So you're going to see. Again, if you're watching clips, you'll see how secure this will be. But right now this is how my daily looks with the half case. And the neck strap.
[00:06:19] Okay, I'm going to take off the bottom.
[00:06:22] a leather half case.
[00:06:25] I got that off. Now. I can put the plate itself back on.
[00:06:29] All right. So the plate is on secure. I can open the battery door. No problem. this camera's going to serve as the secondary camera, as I said, for the actual proposal itself. I will have a 35 millimeter lens on this. So that way, as I'm walking in close from the distance for the proposal, I could easily drop the camera with the And two with the telephoto lens quickly switched to the ZF. That has a 35 fixed on it.
[00:06:57] And I can get those closeup folder photos. Now [00:07:00] I have to remove the next drop as well, because I'm not going to want that in the way. As I am capturing the photos of the proposal, because that will be extremely distracting. extremely frustrating for me to have an additional thing dangling off the camera. Now, this is actually one of the reasons why I typically don't use next raps. But when it's a daily camera, you don't always need.
[00:07:25] something like a spider holster.I don't know. it's just a thing I'm always going back and forth about. Okay. So now the camera is there? No neck strap. No, nothing.
[00:07:34] And then I have.
[00:07:37] the Holdfast. Cross body harness the Holdfast moneymaker. And you hear a lot of metal dangling, right? Now. This thing. Allows the camera to go wherever I needed to go. the hardware that they have designed. Makes adjusting. And maneuvering your camera. Seamless yes, it's going to [00:08:00] be a little dangly and metal clicking and stuff like that, but it's alright. Now. I bought these quick pins that I mentioned these QR, I think, I think is the, pin style allows me to adjust. Snap in the moneymaker to the camera and the camera will just dangle from my side. And then there is an extra clip. That I can attach to the little like a little. loops that are where. a neck strap would connect to. There's an extra piece that allows me to connect to that. For an extra safety.
[00:08:37] So just in case. The main point disconnects, I have the backup connection point. Connected to the camera as well. So that way the camera is no way at hitting the floor at all.
[00:08:48] I just wanted to go through that. And I thought I would record as I was talking about what I'm doing, why I'm doing. I know if you're just listening to this, it's probably a little confusing. So maybe [00:09:00] what I'll do is I will upload this full video as well, to YouTube. So you can see everything. And, And yeah, and I'll link to that in the show notes.
[00:09:08] I won't make it the video part fully public, but. I will have it unlisted on YouTube linked. So that way you could see it. If you want to see everything. Just to go over everything. One more time. I had the Nikon ZF. I had the neck strap that I removed. I had this half leather case that I removed by the way, the reason why I use the half leather case is. First of all, I wanted that extra tiny little bit of a grip that it gives you. for the fingertips, but also I like the look of the, of the, The fake leather over. Like a metal. Added little grip. Then I have the spider holes holster system that I typically use on both of my cameras. I used. a really right stuff and a small rig tool to get everything disconnected and reconnected.
[00:09:56] And then of course, The moneymaker.[00:10:00] from Holdfast. And I will link to all this. In the show notes for this episode, a lot of dangling and noises in this episode. But, I hope you appreciated this like brain dump of why I do the setup for proposals.and how I do it and, yeah. Thanks for listening.
[00:10:20] And again, if you want to watch the video of this, just go to the show notes, click the YouTube link and you can watch the video of this.