okay so today we're gonna do something kind of fun and interesting I'm going to
show you how I carry this large lens system when I go outside for nature
hikes and nature photography and things like that now this is the nikon 200 to
500 millimeter F 5.6 lens it weighs almost 5 pounds so this thing is heavy
now this is how I've set it up these are the settings I'm showing you up
close I have it on manual autofocus full range because they don't know if I'm
going to be close or far from what I'm trying to shoot the VR is on and I have
it on normal because I want to stabilize this in every direction this is the back
of the nikon z6 this is one of their new mirrorless cameras this thing is very
small so attached to this lens the camera really feels like nothing I'm using the
Nikon ftz lens adapter which is why I'm able to put this 200 to 500 lens on it
and these are the specs on the lens and we're setting up for the full range zoom and
here it is from the top so you can really appreciate the scale of the lens
to the camera ratio here now I don't use the z7 the reason I don't is because
that's a pixel pregnant camera I like the low-light capabilities of the
Z 6 and here is the tripod collar in its up position so some people use that
to carry and it is a perfect balance position but you want your hands-free
here it is zoomed out all the way to 500 so again you can kind of appreciate how
ridiculous this looks you're not going to hang this on your normal strap that
comes with your camera and I would not put this lens load on that connector
ring on the camera itself I'm also going to attach a shotgun stereo microphone
here this is the Sennheiser MKE 440 and I like this microphone when I go outside
because partnered with a zoom lens it focuses its sensitivity forward and down
range to whatever you're videoing so here's the back of the Z6 and it has an
articulated screen here and that allows you to hold this camera at a lot of
different angles and still see what's going on now I like this microphone
again because if you're behind the camera you're hiking around you
don't want it to pick up your breath and you know movements may be behind it you
want the sound to come from your subject matter and it plugs in on the left there
it's a little bit protected now you don't want your lens to creep out while
you're hiking around so this has a lock you pull it back to 200 millimeters and
set the lock then while you're hiking around the lens won't creep out it's
that simple and we're going to show you very soon how I carry the system and
these again are the settings now this has a 95 millimeter front element the glass
is thick and so when you're outside in the cold which I am for this
demonstration that lens gets cold when you come into a warm area it fogs up and
stays fogged up for a long time this is how we're going to carry it the cotton
carrier system this is a two camera carrying system and I like this one
because it has camouflage on it I have all their prior versions of the cotton
carrier I wear this daily and I wear them even when I shoot wedding so there
are formal versions of this I'm gonna give you a quick demo how to put it
together I like to clip it on the left side and
on the left shoulder you can release it that way you don't have to reach over
your head to put it on you've got these long straps hanging down so you can
cinch it up so start with them loose and then just pull it tight after you put it
on I'm gonna wear this really high on my chest and I think you know why we have
this huge camera and lens that we're gonna put on it and it also has the
second camera holster here this is nicely padded so when it goes on your
hip usually I carry a D5 on my side with the
70 to 200 but today I'm just gonna demonstrate this carry system with the
Z6 and the 200 to 500 millimeter zoom because that's what I think is most
interesting to wildlife photographers and there's a little pocket here in
front there's also a pocket behind that chest piece so you can slide something
in there if you want to keep it there's also a little emergency rain cover here
now this would cover a whole camera it was a normal size camera but we're
dealing with a larger system today so I'll show you more about that later
I also clip the retaining strap on the left hand side I take this little
plastic piece off they do provide a steel ring to go with it but I don't use that
because I want this system to be quiet and it's on a swivel so no matter how
you manipulate the camera you don't have to worry about your straps getting
tangled up and having to untwist them and things like that these clips are
really strong I've never had one fail and on the right side you want your hand
clear to get to that button for the shutter these are the buttons that we
use to attach the foot of your tripod collar to the cotton carrier system so
we have that tripod collar flip top for convenient so I can demonstrate this
there's a rubber pad that goes on first I like to wipe these down with alcohol
so that there's no slipping no moving and you see those grooves there those
are important too and pay attention to the arrows on top here because you want
those to line up with your lens it also has a quarter 20 threaded hole in it so
you can also put a tripod attachment or a monopod I'll show that later too so
here we're lining up the rubber pad this little button here is made out of
aluminum so it's non-magnetic I think the screw here is 400 series
stainless because it is magnetic we're going to tighten it right up and get
that little rubber grommet there to press out just a little bit and then
we'll know that's firmly in place because you don't want this to move
later now Ilike to give it a little added turn there and we're good to go it's a
patented locking system by the cotton carrier company and these are absolutely
my favorite things to use to carry my cameras so now that's on we're gonna put
the harness back on clip it on the shoulder again you don't have to pull it
over your head you can pull it in from the side and then you just use these
quick clips everything is sturdy this system is really quiet so there is a
strap across the front there that green strap that you can put around the lens I
didn't use that because it's velcro attached and when you pull it off it
makes noise and I want to be quiet so here we've got the camera the microphone the
z6 and we're going to switch this collar down to its bottom position line up
those little white dots there and then you'll know you have a perfect
orientation and then we're just going to put it right in there's yeah don't
forget to lock your your camera lens so that it doesn't creep out on you and
then we just put it in check it out it's locked in place right there and then
we're just gonna clip your retaining strap to the little d-ring here on the
side and it's good to go now when you go to lift it up and down it doesn't come
out you have to turn it 90 degrees and again you could have a second camera on
the right or in my case a video camera that white tag on the back I cut that
off with scissors because I don't like it and it doesn't come out until you
turn it 90 degrees and you lift it now you could turn it left or right and pull
it right out and then you're ready to shoot now it's high enough on your chest
you could sit down you could kneel down and this lens element is not going to
hit the dirt it's not going to be in the grass and it's not going to dip into
that River while you're wading so this is a fantastic carry method and as I
mentioned before I have all the other versions of the cotton carrier vet
system and they are my favorite there's formal or as casual as you want them to
be and I really like that just came out with this camo system underneath the
camera course the lens adapter has its own quarter twenty thread I would not
hang this lens off of that lens mount on that camera or the adapter you
definitely want the load to be taken by that tripod collar so there it is and
this is how the rig looks much better than walking around with this thing in
your hands I mean you just might be walking around a park or a zoo but this
is the best way I found to carry this camera system there's a little emergency
rain kit again we're going to show you it's a it's too small to cover the whole
camera but I do want you to know that this lens and this camera does not have
great weather sealing so if it's going to be raining beyond a normal mist you
want to cover that up until either you can get out of the system or
the rain backs off and you can uncover it again but the weather seal around the
lens does not quite reach the surface of the the lens ring on the camera body so
not impressed with that part of it but having this little rain kit is handy and
I just put it in my pocket now it comes attached to one of the upper rings I
don't like it swinging around so I just stick it in my pocket here we wad it
right back up inside use the velcro here and it is nice and tidy and put away and
then there's the clip that you can put on your belt loop one of the d-rings or
anything else I just stick it in my pocket now remember that that button
that goes into the cotton carrier receiver also has a quarter twenty
thread on it so I use this Manfrotto monopod and I just screw that up into
there and it stays in place on the tripod collar and we don't have to
remove it and then if you're shooting high school sports or something you're
good to go now here it is camo on camo so I'm all suited up gonna go outside
and wander through the woods down by the creek and by the pond and we're gonna
see if we can get some pictures for you guys but this is the reason I wanted
this vest just more for fun than anything obviously the camera's black
and dramatic contrast but look you could climb a deer stand you can climb a
ladder you can walk through crowds your hands are free and this thing isn't
going anywhere it's very comfortable so you take it out and you're ready to
shoot you sumit out take your pictures make your video at the end of this video
I am gonna show you samples of the rig and so you can hear how the microphone
works and you can see raw unedited video so here we go this is a still shot that
I took but the rest I'm just gonna let you watch audio and video raw out of the
camera and the stabilization is fantastic I really do like the cotton
carrier carry system and it's all I use
now the camera did a fantastic job of focus locking on these chickadees wood
of course it's a high contrast bird with the Black capped chickadee there it
stayed right on it we had a high wind situation and so the sennheiser
microphone also did a fantastic job with the wind and of course I couldn't find
any awesome wildlife but I did focus lock on this rooster and then I hand selected
a couple different chickens to see how it tracked and the focus tracking was
really good on the z6 you can hear the camera adjusting and the lens focusing
here again we're back to another chickadee and notice we have a lot of
branches moving between the chickadee and the camera so the focus lock worked
really well once I selected that chickadee it stayed right with it the
wind dampening of the sennheiser 440 was really good as well they also sell a
windsock that goes on it which I did not have in place so this is just the way it
is the way it comes right out of the box and remember all these sequences are
hand held so the stabilization on the lens is fantastic it should be noted too-
that the z6 also has stabilization in it and this is at maximum zoom this is 500
millimetres so normally there would be a lot of movement and holding sequence
like this these chickens are just foraging but the the stability of this
video sequence is pretty impressive now I chose this bird out here because we
have a light background I wanted to see what the resolution was remember
these are unedited so I did not use exposure compensation and just random
checking to see how the camera focused and what it selected on its own here I'm
pretty impressed so if you're any kind of nature enthusiasts and you want to
use a large lens and you don't want to carry it around in hand and you don't
want to be tired of hauling it around I'm going to zoom back here from 500 to
200 you can hear it sliding but I definitely like the carry system I like
the lens combination with the z6 it is fantastic this is a low light day and
thanks for watching I hope you found this review and demonstration helpful
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thanks again