Gear Talk > What the Nerds Do

Guidance on Moving from F to Z mount

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ColinM:
With the Z bodies having been out a few years, is there a "Moving from F to Z mount" guide anywhere?

Many of you seem to have searched out ways to improve the handling & ergonomics of the Z bodies, or attach lenses from a wide range of suppliers.

By now, I'm sure many of you have found devices, settings or practical approaches that really help you get the best out of
- grips, shutter buttons, remote shutter releases etc for the various Z bodies
- adapters to allow other lenses that you can now attach to a Z nikon body
- strange Nikon design decisions in hardware, menus etc
- or just be able to do things that you couldn't achieve so easily with your previous F mount setups?

Can anyone point me to some FAQs or websites where I can benefit from the hard work others have put into this :)

paul hofseth:
Sir,


as an unreformed neoluddist I never use autofocus (but do have an Angenieux screwdriver autoforus lens) which focusses well on igts own, I do, however really like the eletronic  viewfinder which makes lens speed and aperture irrelevant for focussing once the ampification button is pressed. I detest the excessive buttonry and  random control movements which may force you to look at all kionds of displays insted of the motive. The over(undr exposure wheel lacking a lock is number two on gthe dislike scale after the unpredictable spotmeter and focussing point. Yes ooen can press teh "no joy" stick to interrupt what oen is doing IF one has noticed.

My neoluddism also extends to never using Exif , so I can use cheap mechanical adapters to fit my library of unfashionable lenses. never worrying about whether AI or other flavours vill work.

in short, i would recommend anyone to move from the Fmount to the Zmount. Not even my old leitz wide angles misbehave on its sensor.

p.

Ian Watson:
I am not aware of such a guide. So let us make one here!

The Z-mount bodies share the ergonomics that endeared us to their F-mount brethren. Or frustrated us, in Paul's case. That part of the transition is easy.

The big difference is the electronic viewfinder. I started as one who detested the idea but now love it. In good light you might not notice the difference. In bad light you will be able to see better.

There are various options but I like the one that gives preference to the viewfinder. It behaves much like a DSLR but, when you want to review something on the rear screen, you can look into the viewfinder and see it there. As one coming to terms with presbyopia, I like being able to see menus or photographs taken without having to resort to my reading glasses.

Manual focus is now so much easier. There is no more peering at small, dark screens that are ill-suited to the task. The buttons for zooming in or out work but are not convenient. So assign the task to the button of your choice. (I use the video recording button generally. When going out with manual lenses, I re-assign the AF-ON button to 100% zoom and the FN-2 button to selecting the programmed manual lens.)

As a former computer instructor would say, the big piss-off is that the square showing the focusing are does not turn green when focus is achieved unless one is using a lens with a chip. Otherwise one is restricted to zooming in to the area under the square. I see no reason for this restriction. On the other hand, it generally works better than with a DSLR.

If you want to use off-camera flash then set the viewfinder to disregard the "LiveView" settings. This makes it mimic an optical viewfinder. Otherwise it would try to show the scene according to your settings, which would probably be a bit darker than you had in mind.

The Z-mount enjoys a very short register. (My apologies if that is the wrong term for the distance from the mount to the sensor.) So one can adapt just about any lens. The trick is to buy a good adapter. I followed Akira's advice and bought one from Rayqual. It is very, very impressive.

Battery life is a bit shorter compared with your DSLR habits but not terribly so.

Autofocus has some different quirks. My guide there was Thom Hogan. Nothing earth-shattering but you should practice and not be discouraged.

Mine is a Z6. The limiting factor is definitely the photographer  ;) The files are gorgeous in post-processing!

Anthony:
For Z autofocus, try Steve Perry's "Secrets To The Nikon Autofocus System: Mirrorless Edition". Very practical, and regularly updated to take account of firmware changes. Also, his "Secrets To Stunning Bird-In-Flight Photography" would be of interest to you.

Enjoy!

ColinM:
Thank you Ian and Anthony.

Paul, I appreciate your thoughts.....
....I've added some emphasis to my original question to show the keys areas I'm interested in

For example Ian naming the adapter that Akira recommended is a great example of what I needed.
:)

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