Z fc - the thread

[David H. Hartman]

You might have the wrong smart phone. Newer models have almost no lag, and have live mode which is essentially a short clip from which you can select the image in which your subject doesn’t happen to have their eyes closed. I get great images from my phone. It’s not a substitute for a dslr, but it is better than any instamatic.

A smart phone does not offer an eye level viewfinder like a Kodak Instamatic 100 nor a tilting LCD monitor for waist level shots like using a waist the waist level viewfinder of a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye. I love the way people ignore you when using a waist level view finder. A 60ms or less shutter release would help but a smart phone requires the "night of the living dead" method of holding the phone. I reject the smart phone as a useful tool for taking candid photos of people.

A short clip? How many frames per second? Is it fast enough to record the decisive moment among a few hundred frames by chance? A competent photographer can record the decisive moment in one frame. 

Dave

[David H. Hartman]

I am not sure if they know who they created the camera for. For me, the camera would get more attention from old school photographers who have great sentiments for the old analogue photography time.

I think you are right. One thing that is desperately needed for the Nikon Z fc is small, light or moderately light DX lenses. A 35/1.8 or 50/1.8 Z mount FX lens does not fit the bill. This group has many who use vintage lenses on mirrorless cameras so such DX lenses are not that important. Even the Z mount FX lenses are too damned big and an f/2.8 or worse an f/3.5-6.3 lens does not cut it for me. True Z mount DX lenses with f/2.0 ~ f/1.4 that are designed to be small and light are needed. Does anyone remember the AF 50/1.8 plastic Nikkor? It was small, light and cheep. I have one that binds just enough to make manual focus pretty much impossible but it does AF fine and it produces excellent images. If I owned a Nikon Z fc I would not enjoy an AF-S 50/1.8 Nikkor on an FTZ adapter. For *my* purposes Nikon doesn't make useful DX lenses for the Z fc. I guess there is no market for them.

Dave

[Gerhard2006]

I think you are right. One thing that is desperately needed for the Nikon Z fc is small, light or moderately light DX lenses. A 35/1.8 or 50/1.8 Z mount FX lens does not fit the bill. This group has many who use vintage lenses on mirrorless cameras so such DX lenses are not that important. Even the Z mount FX lenses are too damned big and an f/2.8 or worse an f/3.5-6.3 lens does not cut it for me. True Z mount DX lenses with f/2.0 ~ f/1.4 that are designed to be small and light are needed. Does anyone remember the AF 50/1.8 plastic Nikkor? It was small, light and cheep. I have one that binds just enough to make manual focus pretty much impossible but it does AF fine and it produces excellent images. If I owned a Nikon Z fc I would not enjoy an AF-S 50/1.8 Nikkor on an FTZ adapter. For *my* purposes Nikon doesn't make useful DX lenses for the Z fc. I guess there is no market for them.

Dave

Actually Viltrox just came out with AF 23,33,56 mm lenses all 1.4 and they are quite small walk around lenses for the fc Nikon body. Check them out on Nikon Rumours. More and more 3rd party lenses are coming out for this camera because they can see it will be popular with even young people thinking they’re using the same camera their dad used to when they were little. Regards Gerry

[Gerhard2006]

Here’s a link to lenses for under $100 or 1.4 and 1.2 lenses for the Nikon FC

https://nikonrumors.com/2021/08/13/announced-three-new-silver-ttartisan-aps-c-lenses-for-nikon-z-mount-all-under-100-a-perfect-match-for-the-nikon-z-fc.aspx/

[Birna Rørslett]

I just ordered the Viltrox 23mm f/1.4 as it apparently has the electronics so can communicate with the camera.

[David H. Hartman]

Here’s a link to lenses for under $100 or 1.4 and 1.2 lenses for the Nikon FC

Interesting but not AF so not particularly useable for me.

[MEPER]

They call them APS-C autofocus lenses......so I guess they should autofocus?

[David H. Hartman]

They call them APS-C autofocus lenses......so I guess they should autofocus?

The linked page for the TTartisan APS-C lenses says they are manual focus lenses. Maybe we are talking about different lenses?

Dave

[richardHaw]

I just ordered the Viltrox 23mm f/1.4 as it apparently has the electronics so can communicate with the camera.

does it? id like to see the rear good if they do, the chip could be used for something else
they also come in different colors to match the Zfc but the colors actually do not match very well, making them look uglier

[Kenneth Rich]

Well, Birna, taking a step backwards from the sophistication of these new lenses, I can report that I hope for my promised efforts to embrace the new camera are over, as my adaptor arrived today. It is a NIK- NIK Z K  & F Concept adaptor for full frame Nikons, namely Z6 and Z7.  Have I assumed correctly that it will do the job on the new Nikon, or do I have it all wrong, and will have to buy another dumb adaptor and have to wait for the full framed version, in order to use it? It looks like one of the adaptors featured in recent posts in this forum.

[Luc]

does it? id like to see the rear good if they do, the chip could be used for something else
they also come in different colors to match the Zfc but the colors actually do not match very well, making them look uglier

It looks promlsing, exif info/rear electronics

[Birna Rørslett]

That is the lens I have purchased. I was just notified the lens is on its way, but of course making it through Norwegian Customs can be a tall challenge.

Kenneth, the K & F adapters are well made and should work to satisfaction. I have the adapters for Nikon RF(S) and M42 mount.

[richardHaw]

KF is the better chi-com brand. the best ones in my experience are made in Taiwan (Hawk's) and Japan.

they're not cheap of course but they're worth it.

[RobOK]

There was a video on the Z50 when it came out that suggested Nikon made a mistake by using the Z mounts as is on the DX mirrorless… that the opening dwarfs the size of the sensor and the sensor only uses some percentage (60?) of the light. (I didn’t totally understand that point).

That putting Z full frame lenses on a DX rarely makes sense.

Obviously Nikon gets manufacturing economies.

Tying this back to the Zfc, I wish the mount was smaller allowing for high quality, fast lenses in a small package, closer to Fuji.

Is there any chance of a shorter FTZ adapter (third party) or is that plain physics in adapting the mount sizes?

[Kenneth Rich]

Thank you Birna and Richard.