Columbus Day 2024 Asbury Park, NJ
After finishing up the last few weddings of my 2024 season I needed to get out and shoot for fun - no client work. Ace and I had been trying to get together and head down to the shore and finally we caught a lucky break on Columbus Day - since he had off from his day job. It always feels like it’s been far too long whenever we hang out and also somehow like a single day hasn’t passed?
I got up early and headed out the door with my new equipment in tow. It would not only be a day of recreational photography - but I would be sneaking in a bit of work.
I JUST switched all my gear over to Nikon and after years of using Fujifilm I was trying to familiarize myself with the new menu system and lenses. I was testing everything and really just needed to get out and shoot so I can see how it performs and how I get along with the camera.
I used some film - my dad recently gave me a Yashica Electro 35 GSN - in almost mint condition. There’s a separate post about that coming soon. So I finished up a roll of Ilford HP5 Plus on that and shot my new Nikon Zf along with a bunch of different native Nikon Z lenses: 28mm f2.8 SE / 40mm f2 SE / 50mm f1.4 / 85mm f1.8 S.
The lenses all performed really well - my favorite of the bunch is shaping out to be the 85mm. I don’t know if it’s just the look of 85 or if the “S” is earning it’s place but it is a great lens. Tied for second place is the 50mm and 40mm. They are both very similar however so different in rendition that it makes it hard to choose. The 50 is a bit cleaner than the 40 so that is something I do like however they both have “character” and are imperfect compared to any of the “S” lenses. I plan on keeping them all since the SE lenses pair really well with the Zf for everyday usage and the 50 and 85 are good lenses to begin to build out my new lens line up.
Below are some highlights from the day. I was already shooting black and white film in the Yashica so I was inspired and leaned into a monochrome look although there’s some color mixed in there. I grabbed a few action shots of Ace firing away throughout the day along with the surfers catching waves. All photos below are from the Nikon Zf.
