Z7 @ 120fps

I’ve already put my Z7 to some good use for work projects. As a side project Ellie has been busy baking and it’s been fun to document the process. We’ve made it into a little ongoing video series called Ellie’s Edibles.

I’ve really been loving the Nikon 60mm f/2.8 Micro. It’s great for product and food photography. Running it on the Z7 with the FTZ adapter doesn’t allow for autofocus but filming macro video I stick with manual focusing anyway.

I’d say the main trick to filming at 120 frames-per-second is having enough light. The camera is shooting at 4x it’s normal speed and to keep the image sharp when played back slow, the shutter speed must be at least 1/250th of a second. All this means the camera isn’t letting in much light. So we need an additional source, in our case, the FotodioX Flap Jack. It’s compact, battery powered, dimmable, and has adjustable color temperature.

I like to run the light source behind and slightly to the side of the subject. This helps provide a nice kicker light to things like the sugar and eggs as they fall into the bowl.

The little tripod I’m using is from a spotting scope. It just happens to be about the right height for countertop filming.

Food is a fun challenge to film. I’m just trying to keep it all looking clean. Check out the video below and let me know what you think.