Filming at night with the Nikon Z6III: an advanced guide

Twintheworld•Videografi•27 feb. 2025•6 min lesetid

Nikon Magazine - filming slow-mo and filming at night

Nature photographers and videographers Twintheworld, share their pro insights into filming at night

Swiss photography duo Twintheworld consists of cousins Roman Flepp and Valentin Manhart. With a shared childhood passion for hiking and landscape photography, they began capturing the majestic Alps with just smartphones and a Nikon Coolpix in 2014. Quickly mastering their craft, they upgraded to DSLRs – Nikon D5200 and Nikon D3100 – and expanded their reach on Instagram, evolving into sought-after professionals. Embracing the advent of Nikon’s mirrorless Z-line, particularly for its superior filming capabilities, the pair adopted the Nikon Z8, creating stunning visuals for tourism boards and international clients including Adidas Terrex, Land Rover, Bershka and Volvo. Despite achieving recognition on a global scale, Alpine landscape remains the heartbeat of their work and serves as the ideal setting to test the Nikon Z6III’s low-light and night filming capabilities.

“The challenge was to capture the mystery of the forest during autumn on a stormy day with dusk rolling in,” says Valentin, explaining their decision to choose Aletschwald – an ancient woodland deep within in the Swiss Alps, renowned for its amber and gold-hued larches and its breathtaking view of the mountain range’s biggest glacier, the Aletsch. “We wanted to highlight the interplay between light, shadow and movement in this forest of old. When filming in rough terrain – through uneven forest floors or near waterfalls – stabilisation and dynamic range are crucial. This made testing the Z6III particularly valuable, as we plan to use it for other film projects as well.”

Nature photographers and videographers Twintheworld, share their pro insights into filming at night

Twintheworld

Creator

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What’s in our kitbag?

Z6IIINext level, full-frame camera

NIKKOR Z 20mm f/1.8 SPro-grade ultra-wide-angle

NIKKOR Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VROne lens to do it all

Keep aperture wide

“Always use the lowest possible aperture to get the most light on to your sensor,” advises Roman, who teamed the Nikon Z6III with the NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.8 S, a tried and tested lens they have relied on for the past three years. “Its aperture is perfect when there is little light available. It’s also incredibly sharp and ideal for pinpointing mid-range subjects. We also used the NIKKOR Z 20mm f/1.8 S and the NIKKOR Z 85mm f/1.8 S to cover even more subjects within the Aletsch forest.”

While the pair initially considered customising the U1 and U2 settings on the Nikon Z6III for different tasks, they instead decided to split the roles between themselves. “If we had used it, we would have probably optimised U1 for wildlife (A-roll scenes) and U2 for more static B-roll scenes,” says Valentin.

Enable autofocus

As the blue hour gave way to night and the pair dove deeper into the forest, the only light Roman and Valentin used to illuminate their scenes came courtesy of the moon. “Since it had started raining a little bit, our idea was to capture the rain on the lakes that were situated on the other side of the ridge,” Valentin explains. “After that, we slowly and silently crossed the ridge, hoping to spot some wildlife. We were lucky that day! We succeeded in doing both. Chamois mountain goats stood calmly before us, almost like ghosts of the old Aletsch forest. After dusk, they are usually less sensitive, so we could approach very closely using the silent shutter. We think this feature would be very beneficial for all wildlife photographers!

“Initially we were worried that it might be too dark, but the autofocus was incredibly reliable, even in near-dark conditions. Even when the chamois were moving, the autofocus didn’t have any problems following them. But if you’re using a different camera, one where the autofocus doesn’t work correctly because it’s too dark, our advice is to be ready to switch to manual focus. It’s also helpful to enable focus peaking in this case.

“We’ve been working with the original Z6 for many years, but the performance of the Z6III really exceeded our expectations! There are so many improvements. Its performance in low-light situations in and above the Aletsch forest was crazy, the autofocus was particularly reliable and really helped us capture wildlife and the scenery.”

Nikon Magazine - Twin The World low light

“Our main challenges were capturing fast-moving wildlife and minimising noise in darker scenes. The camera’s low-light autofocus and advanced sensor capabilities effectively tackled both issues well. Also, the dynamic range was great. Even in dark conditions, it performed well, balancing the strong light from our headlamps that sometimes crossed the frame.”

Balance ISO

While taking full advantage of the lenses’ lowest apertures and a consistent shutter speed of 1/50 secs, the pros were more flexible when it came to choosing their ISO, which fluctuated between 1250 and 3600. “When setting ISO, be sure to balance sensitivity and noise to get the sweet spot for your videos,” says Roman. “With those settings, when it was almost pitch dark and we couldn’t walk without our headlamps any more, our videos of the rain on the lakes and even of the chamois were still sharp and not noisy. By adjusting the ISO manually between this range, we were able to find a level where the noise remained low and manageable.”

Superior settings

Eager to capture smooth, fluid motion, Twintheworld chose to film in 4K at 50fps, using ProRes 10 bit with the picture profile set to flat. As Valentin explains, “This set-up is essential for capturing fast-moving subjects like the chamois. Also, the limited light means that 50fps helps maintain sharpness and clarity in the footage, ensuring stability even in low-light conditions.”

Elsewhere, the team dialled in a White Balance between 4000-5000K. “This helped to preserve the cool tones of the darkening sky, still tinged with blue,” says Roman, who also reveals that their composition was aided by the Nikon Z6III’s helpful, fully articulating touchscreen. “We loved the tilted screen! We often film vertically for our reels we post on Instagram or TikTok, so the tilted screen helped us to compose close to the ground without having to kneel or lie down.”

“The tilted screen is helpful in general for filming. Often, we don’t film at eye level, and for all those cases it’s helpful to have an adjustable screen. We can imagine that it also might be very helpful when vlogging or interviewing."

VR is vital

“Stabilise your scenes! Use a tripod or, like us, the in-body VR for stability,” urges Valentin, who says filming in darkness often requires slower shutter speeds to increase light exposure, which makes relying on the Nikon Z6III’s Vibration Reduction (VR) essential. “VR compensates for the slow shutter speeds, preventing blur when filming handheld. This feature is ideal for us, as we rarely need a gimbal any more as the advanced VR technology in Nikon cameras minimises even minor blur. Additionally, VR was instrumental in maintaining focus on the unexpectedly moving chamois, allowing us to be instantly responsive.”

Post-production preferences

“Use ProRes formats to give yourself more flexibility and more dynamic range in post-production,” says Roman. “We really love to colour grade, and high-quality output formats like ProRes and N-Raw offer us significantly more choice within the colour spectrum. This is also beneficial for other editing tasks, such as subtly cropping the frame. Ultimately, it allows us to utilise much more of our footage than before. The dynamic range of the Z6III is particularly noteworthy, and features such as ProRes RAW make it an invaluable tool for our night sessions. It’s perfect for creators looking to push the boundaries in low-light filmmaking and photography!”

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