Our Nikon Z6ii experience, in harsh weather conditions

Our Nikon Z6ii experience, in harsh weather conditions

One thing I wanted to know, as soon as I bought my Z6ii, was to find out if it can stand the harsh weather conditions that I am planning to use it in. It’s not that I didn’t know the camera before. I had seen it in many photo exhibitions, held it in my hands, looked through its amazing viewfinder, testing the autofocus and its features and I had also seen sample images from it and they looked great. I knew that it’s a great camera and that is the reason I decided to purchase it. The only thing I didn’t know was how dependable the mirrorless system is, compared to my dslr’s.

With that being said, I never had any issues with any of my Nikon cameras so far, but I wanted to know if the mirrorless cameras are as reliable as the dslr’s are, with all the extra electronics they have inside their bodies. And though on papers the specs looked as good as its predecessors, I had to test it out and be sure about its endurance. I am planning on using the Z6ii as my main camera from now on, for all my photo trips, from the Greek mountains to the Italian and Slovenian Alps and all around Europe. So I need to know that I can depend on it.

So, the first thing I did, as soon as I received the camera, was to attach the screen protectors, that I have ordered from Amazon, the optical glass LCD screen protector and the top LCD screen protector. It’s something I do with all my cameras. First I attach screen protectors and then I am going to use the camera.
The second thing was to check the weather forecast. I received my camera at the last days of January 2022. And the weather forecast predicted snow, for the 4th and 5th of February. That was some great news! I would have the opportunity to try the camera in the cold weather and in the snow. At this point I should mention that along with me my brother also ordered the Nikon Z6ii at the same time, so he also received it the same day with me.

On the 5th of February me and my brother woke up really early, at 5:00am. It is about an hour and a half to the mountain we wanted to go and we planned to be there with the first light. We picked up our new cameras and all our photo gear and we set of for the mountain. We arrived at the mountain with the first light. The weather was really cold but unfortunately there wasn’t any snow at all at the forest. At least the moment we arrived. But about 15 minutes later a snow storm started! And now I would have the chance to try the camera at the conditions I wanted. The conditions that we will find at all the alpine mountains that we are visiting during winter, cold and snow.

I stepped out of the car, with the camera in my hands. A few minutes later the snow has started to cover the camera. I never had the chance to test the Z6ii previously and the first photoshoot I was having was in the worst weather conditions or should I say at the best weather conditions, (as it proofed to be later).

I was turning the camera on and off, using the zoom option of my lens to frame my photos, just like I would do on any other day. The camera worked flawlessly. If it wasn’t covered in snow I would say that it was a normal, sunny day. There was no lag of the shutter, no delay in the response time of the buttons, the viewfinder worked great and the LCD screen on the back of the camera, though it was covered with water, also worked great. I kept taking beautiful images, one after another!

In -9 Celsius and covered in snow the camera worked flawlessly! We spent about an hour walking around and capturing photos and some videos, before we decided to go back to the car. Not because of the camera, but because the snow was quickly covering everything on the road and it would be hard to get the car out of the forest. As you can see from the photos and the video below that day we had a lot of snow!

Conclusion

I really enjoyed shooting in these conditions. And I really enjoyed the performance of my new Z6ii. From that day forward I sold my dslrs and my Z6ii is the camera I take with me everywhere. I never had any issue with it and I still enjoy every minute of using it, up to this day!

If you are interested in the Screen Protectors from Amazon you can find the links below, for Amazon DE and Amazon UK.

ULBTER Screen Protector for Nikon Z 7ii / Z 6ii
Amazon DE https://amzn.to/4auDcRk
Amazon UK https://amzn.to/3TzaPvu