TALKING IMAGES 47 – A NEW CAMERA

 

 

The Z 6 with the FTZ lens adapter and a 50mm Nikkor lens + hood.  Note how the adapter protrudes a little below the camera’s base – the adapter is threaded for use on a tripod.

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I MUST BE MAD!!! I MUST BE REALLY LOSING IT!!!!!!  I can’t believe that in my previous Talking Images post , I was wittering on about the differences of a few grams between the weights of two cameras and lenses!!!  Maybe I’m getting too old – not too far from 70 now – or maybe I’ve just been back in the UK – back from Africa! –  for far too long.   

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I mean, before you know it I’ll be frequenting garden centres, and labelling whole swathes of Highly Enjoyable Things in Life as “inappropriate” >>> and perhaps even watching BBC’s Eastenders soap… I mean, watch enough of that (a program which I have long considered a Crime Against Humanity) and I could start going around looking miserable and being unpleasant or even actually nasty to people, while incessantly muttering “Can I ‘ave a word?”.  The blood runs cold … as Edmund Blackadder would put it, for me, the Renaissance would just be something that happened to everybody else …

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On the right, the big, really good, solid handgrip.  Below the Nikon name, the viewfinder protruding far out beyond the camera’s back.  Not as many useful dials and buttons as on the top of the X-T2, but still very customisable and useful.

Anyway, thing is, I’ve had a lightbulb moment, one of those times when the heart takes over control from the head and, really for the excitement and intellectual challenge of it – the sheer feeling of uncharted territory – I’ve bought one of Nikon’s new, mirrorless, full frame cameras.

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Although late in doing so (Sony has already produced several), Nikon has just produced two full frame, mirrorless cameras; and other large camera manufacturers are following suit.  The Z 7 has a whopping 45.7 MP sensor, which really I don’t need – I mean, the D800’s 39 MP are more than I need – I know just how demanding such high MP models are on camera technique – they show up every little mistake in technique that I make!  So I’ve chosen the 24.5 MP and significantly cheaper Z 6.

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And yes, my MAIN reasons for this choice are excitement, fun, and a sense of going into the unknown a bit!  I’d been considering a Fujifilm X-T3, but then really thought a bit too much like the superb X-T2 that I already use, too comfortable and unexciting maybe >>> and so to the unknown!!!

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My rough and ready pictures of the Z 6, taken with the Olympus TG-5, are shown here: click onto each one and a larger version will open in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it further.  You can find many more polished pictures (incl the inevitable camera porn) on Google.

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The back of the beast.  The touchscreen tilts, and I’m a complete fan of the large and perfectly sited AF-ON button.  Below this button is a joystick for moving the focus point around, and for navigating menus.  And pressing the top of the joystick locks the exposure, i.e. it acts as a well placed AE lock >>> so just what I want, AF-ON and AE lock right under my right thumb.  DISP cycles through viewfinder options, but does not allow the histogram to be displayed alongside the virtual horizon, which is possible on the X-T2.

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THE Z 6: FIRST IMPRESSIONS

• Well, first, the handling – the Z 6 is an ergonomic dream: it has a deep and very comfortable handgrip, and essential buttons fall very naturally under the fingers and thumb of my right hand.  This is to be expected from a company that has been making SLR’s and DSLR’s since 1959 – but I never quite trust camera manufacturers, even the best of whom have made some really poor choices in design and functionality before now.  And, also, in a bid to retain their legions of SLR/DSLR users, Nikon has produced the FTZ adapter that allows to use their existing F-mount Nikkor lenses on the new Z-mount of this camera – which means I won’t have to buy any new lenses!  (NB that only Nikkors with their own focusing motors will retain autofocus)  And I find that, since this new adapter protrudes a little downwards, it actually enhances the balance and feel of the camera when my lenses are mounted on it.  NB that this adapter should not be used with lenses weighing over 1300gm, it is not strong enough to support them.

• There is a wonderfully large and bright electronic viewfinder (EVF), which allows me to see clearly right into the corners with my glasses on.  But this wonderful EVF is not as good as that in Fujifilm’s X-T2 in two ways: the live histogram and virtual horizon cannot be viewed simultaneously in the EVF;  and the virtual horizon, while useable, is simply not as easy to use as the X-T2’s superb example.  I had ruled out buying any camera without an EVF, sometime ago.

• To help preserve battery power (see below), and also because I find it a good way of working, I have the Z 6’s EVF and rear screen set up as follows.  When the camera is switched on but my eye is not to the EVF, neither the EVF nor the rear screen is on.  When I bring my eye to the EVF, it automatically switches on, but the screen remains off.  The screen only switches on (a) when I’m reviewing images (NB that this function is NOT set to automatic; and that images can also be reviewed via the EVF); and (b) when I’m looking at the menus or the (very handy) i Menu.

• Having used Nikon’s D700 and D800 DSLR’s for years, I’m a HUGE fan of back-button focusing: the shutter button thus takes no part at all in instigating focusing.  And the Z 6 has a huge AF-ON button sited in exactly the right place – how could I resist that???  The X-T2’s AF-L button is far less easily used and sited (although it can be moved), and that camera’s autofocus is just not up to that on the Z 6.  The X-T2 is excellent for subjects that are not moving too fast, it is compact and a joy to use, and it produces colours to die for – I’ll definitely keep using it.  But the Z 6 is significantly lighter and more compact than the D800, and it balances very well with the lens I’m married to, the 70-300 AF-S Nikkor.  Its quite probable that Nikon’s new Z-mount lenses will autofocus faster than F-mount lenses used with the FTZ adapter, but I’m impressed with the latter so far.

• Also, I’m not getting any younger, and humping great lumps of photo gear around is becoming less “attractive”.  The Z 6 is lighter than the D800, and a little heavier than the X-T2, but I’m really quite shocked by the photo below – looking at the backs of these three cameras, the Z 6 is really not much larger than the X-T2, which I think really an achievement.

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Three excellent cameras.  On the left, Nikon’s D800 full frame DSLR – big, heavy, eminently capable and built like a tank, this camera really does the business.  In the middle, the Z 6, also full frame but a mirrorless camera, decidedly smaller and lighter than the D800 – and the electronic viewfinder takes away all of the guesswork of the D800’s optical viewfinder – you see exactly the image that you’re going to get.  And on the right the wonderful Fujifilm X-T2, an APS-C format mirrorless camera: this light and compact camera produces images and colours to die for, but its autofocus is not up with that of the Nikons – although that of the new X-T3 may be.  But the real stand out thing here for me is the Z 6’s size – certainly smaller than the similarly full frame D800, and almost the size of the APS-C format X-T2 – which to me is a real achievement. (the Z 6 seems to be sitting up, suspended a little just above the worktop surface – this is because the FTZ lens adapter protrudes down below the camera’s base a little)

 

• Getting older and more crusty, I’m a great fan of paper – I hate reading large amounts of blurb on-screen, and I like to have something in my hand that I can scrawl on in bright red biro.  So I’m pleased and relieved to find a 247 page user’s manual included, and other Nikon resources online.  And I LOVE the understatement on page 1 of this manual: “Take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the names and functions of camera controls and displays.”!!!  Well, I’m an old Nikon hand but it took me more than “a few minutes” >>> but then getting fully to grips with the camera, and availing myself of its myriad customisation possibilities, are two of the enjoyable, even exciting things I’ve been looking forwards to – for me, these aspects are part of what I’m paying for.

• I think until the end of March, Nikon (via London Camera Exchange and probably other dealers) are doing a special deal: the Z 6, the FTZ adapter and a Sony 64 GB XQD card (the camera only takes XQD cards) for £1,999.99 .  We can’t afford to eat now, of course, so please send food and money parcels soonest.

• Having a full frame sensor makes it easier to achieve shallow depths of focus, and also bokeh.  Also, of course, it provides greater freedom for cropping – but the files will take up more hard drive space!

• And being a mirrorless camera, it eats batteries: Nikon estimates 310 shots per charge.  But if this becomes a problem, as with the X-T2 I’ll simply carry an extra battery.

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The three parts of the beast.  On the right the Z 6’s body, with its very protruding viewfinder.  Next left, and almost featureless but with a large white spot, the FTZ lens adapter.  Left again, the 50mm Nikkor lens and its hood.

• The Z 6 has an (apparently) very useful touchscreen, something which is completely foreign to me.  However, I will try it – of course!  But I’m safe in the knowledge that it can be disabled.  This touchscreen tilts – most useful for someone who, now, finds getting down on his knees and getting back up again, not as easy as it used to be!!!  🙂

• The Z 6 has a DX (= APS-C size) crop mode, which multiplies the focal lengths of lenses by 1.5 (e.g. my 70-300 telezoom becomes a 105-450).  This produces a useful 10.3 MP file – and I can change from full-frame to APS-C mode at the touch of a button.

• I’m a huge fan of image stabilisation, as I can rarely be bothered using a tripod.  The Z 6 has in-body lens stabilisation (IBIS), and this works in concert with lenses which have their own image stabilisation built in (what Nikon calls VR), like my 70-300.  While I’m talking about this, it is important to reiterate the fact that all IBIS systems only really work for lenses up to about 300mm in focal length.

• The Z 6 has an on-demand 4×4 viewfinder grid, which is helpful >>> but which would be so much more helpful compositionally if it were a 3×3 grid, i.e. for the “Rule” of Thirds.

• Already I’m thinking about a plan for taking the Z 6 out onto the Somerset Levels.  Thus, the 70-300 zoom on the Z 6, which gives the potential for 70-450 if the APS-C format option is used;  and the X-T2 with the 10-24 zoom, which provides the full-frame equivalent of a useful 15-36 zoom.

So, hope this is useful / informative.  Comments / views??????? 🙂

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