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21
Lens Talk / Re: The Voigtländer 180mm f/4 APO-Lanthar
« Last post by ggoodes on February 09, 2026, 18:12:51 »
Pro tip: Nikon's HN-30 lens hood (designed for the Micro-Nikkor 200/4 AF-D) is a GREAT solution for the 180/4 APO-Lanthar.  It is a high quality metal hood, with crinkle-paint exterior and matt-black ridges inside.  It is quite a bit longer than the other Nikon hoods mentioned above, which hopefully addresses the flare problems the 180/4 seems to exhibit.  The HN-30 will require a 49mm to 62mm step-up ring to mount it.  It's a bit of a rare hood, but I managed to find an old-stock in-box copy for a great price.
22
Your Weekly Blog / Re: February 2026
« Last post by Fons Baerken on February 09, 2026, 17:21:09 »
February 9

Zf  Z40mm f/2

23
Lens Talk / Re: The Nikkor AM-ED (APO-Macro) f/5.6 Lens
« Last post by ggoodes on February 09, 2026, 17:05:58 »
I know this thread is very old, but I recently purchased one of these lenses ($400 for 9/10 condition in box, so very happy with the price!), and had to adapt it to use on my PB-4.  I found this adapter from RAF Camera in Belarus: https://rafcamera.com/adapter-m32-5x0-5f-to-nikon-f.  It is a perfect fit to the Copal #0 32.5/0.5 threads, and when screwed onto the lens does NOT interfere with operation of the aperture mechanism (which happened with my first attempt to use a number of adapter rings to get to male 52/0.75 so I could use the K2 ring approach).  This adapter ring gives me a "one stop shopping" solution to mount the AM-ED 120/5.6 on Nikon F-mount, and I recommend it!

Now if I could only find a female T2 to male 52/0.75 adapter solution so I could use my Schneider Kreuznach Componon-S 135/5.6 stacked on other macro lenses.  I have only be able to find 42/1, not 42/0.75 rings.
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Lens Talk / Re: MF lens options with Nikon Zf
« Last post by MILLIREHM on February 09, 2026, 16:16:38 »
Yes. Easy adapting of the aperture on screen.
Thank you, I need to firmware upgrade to V.3 and look it up.
25
Camera Talk / Re: The Lens Adapter Nikon REFUSED to Build
« Last post by MILLIREHM on February 09, 2026, 16:10:05 »
I understand Les Olsons point in relationship with detailed sales numbers I am not aware of. But from a pure sales logic there never  should be lenses like The Plena or the Z-Noct. As Hugh was saying Nikon provided a minimal solution and I think (though I still wish Nikon would provide an Adapter like this) the time window is closing or had closed already. They  should have released this together with the Zf (which is by itself a classical design lacking the final consequences in some annoying aspects). And I see it by myself that a growing number of Z-Lenses in my arsenal reduces the usage of F-mount lenses with adapter.
So for our screwdrivers matured third party adapter appear to be the last hope.
26
Your Weekly Blog / Re: February 2026
« Last post by Ian Watson on February 09, 2026, 15:58:27 »
As an experiment, I found a photograph taken at ISO 6400 with my Zf. (I am assuming that the noise would be similar to the Z9 at a fixed output size, such as resized for NG.) Converted in Affinity Studio without any noise reduction. Just straight conversion to black-and-white, a touch of an S-curve for contrast and sharpening using the High Pass filter with the Soft Light blend mode.
27
Camera Talk / Re: The Lens Adapter Nikon REFUSED to Build
« Last post by Hugh_3170 on February 09, 2026, 12:36:16 »
Yes, I can see where Les is heading and agree with his numbers based analysis.

However the numbers for an FTZ adapter with an aperture follower, but no screw driver autofocus, would have probably stacked up.

So in setting the architecture and direction for their Z cameras, Nikon have clearly taken a position of providing a minimal solution to provide just a little bit more than their competitors in the support of legacy lenses - but only just!  That said, support for AFS and G and E type F-Series lenses is pretty seamless.

In any event, I concede that smarter firmware and just the current FTZ and FTZ II adapters could I am sure still do more with manual focus lenses - that is for both AI and AiS lenses.

In the meantime,  Voigtlaender have gone ahead and successfully built lenses with aperture rings and Z mount electronic connections. 

In another five or so years, I suspect that mainstream Nikon users will be firmly wedded to Z-lenses and only old guys such as myself will be pondering what might have been!   ;)
 


Convincing numbers, Les.
On the D500, off topic though, the comparison with a similarly-priced Z6II is not the right one, I think. When the D500 was released, it was 20.9MP while the norm on FX was 24MP. It is the combination of an action camera with a higher pixel density than FX that made it for me and many other nature photographers. A true D500 equivalent today would be a 40MP DX camera with Z8 capabilities, and personally, I would preorder it, even at Z8 pricing. That said, I agree the numbers are unfortunately not high enough for Nikon for prioritize it against other bodies with a much larger sales potential.
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Camera Talk / Re: The Lens Adapter Nikon REFUSED to Build
« Last post by Bruno Schroder on February 09, 2026, 11:24:10 »
Convincing numbers, Les.
On the D500, off topic though, the comparison with a similarly-priced Z6II is not the right one, I think. When the D500 was released, it was 20.9MP while the norm on FX was 24MP. It is the combination of an action camera with a higher pixel density than FX that made it for me and many other nature photographers. A true D500 equivalent today would be a 40MP DX camera with Z8 capabilities, and personally, I would preorder it, even at Z8 pricing. That said, I agree the numbers are unfortunately not high enough for Nikon for prioritize it against other bodies with a much larger sales potential.
29
Other / Re: Japan Nikon rebates!
« Last post by Hugh_3170 on February 09, 2026, 11:16:08 »
Ouch - this does not sound very good at all.

In Australia, one completes a short online rebate claim in the form of a questionaire before a due date (about a month after the end of the sale or promotion) and you must also provide scans of the your Nikon Australia Warranty and the invoice from the dealer.  Nikon then confirms having received the claim (about 1 to 3 working days later). 

One gets a choice of the money in the form of a debit card with a three year use by date or the money placed into your nominated digital wallet.  I recently claimed $A150 for a Nikon Zf (circa 150,000 Yen) and the debit card was delivered to my home via registered mail in 10 elapsed days - yesterday in fact.   ;D
30
Your Weekly Blog / Re: February 2026
« Last post by Frank Fremerey on February 09, 2026, 10:47:16 »

   I went to check:
In camera, high iso noise reduction "off"
                 raw compression "high efficiency" not sure if this has influence on the image's noise
                 shot in monochrome
                 everything else "off" by default

On NX Studio, contrast +1
                      straighten +6.0  (this was more tilted than usual )
                      noise reduction "original value" so...off
                      lens correction "lateral aberration" was selected, I don't remember doing it...

      That's it. Pretty much straight out of camera. The camera has been updated to the latest firmware and the image was developed in NX Studio.


With the newer Nikon bodies one can never be sure if chipdesign and firmware plus NX Studio do a kind of pre-cooking concealed to the public eye. Why do I think that?

Because in many cases it is rather difficult to "cook" the Nikon RAW (NEF) in third party tools to a quality that is already present opening same file in Nikon Software.
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