The new Nikon mirrorless system

[Wannabebetter]

I'm curious about focusing old lenses, how hard or easy is it?

I was wondering myself and whether or not the EVF would allow for zooming in on the image frame as an aid to critical focusing. I can't think of any reason why manually focusing legacy F-mount primes, even Af-D lenses relegated to manual focusing, should be a problem. In fact, I suspect it would be easier, now.

Like I've already intimated on a couple of threads, I believe the Z6 will quickly come to be regarded as "the digital FE", poor photographer's alternative to the Df, and hipsters tool of choice. (The latter somewhat redundant, much like a horse riding a horse... LOL)

All that wistful if wishful musing, and provided the production model doesn't reveal itself to be an absolute lemon, just in time for the holidays. (Says the man who only today received a gold-box D610 from Melville, in exchange for a four-times returned D600 "refurb" purchased used; only to discover the new camera doesn't function properly. Ugh! Somewhere out there is a lonely, used D810 looking for a good home. Mine! Someday... And sorry for the way off-topic digression and navel gazing.)

[pluton]

For critical focusing, the ability to push a button...a button that is already located under a convenient finger... to zoom in on the image is one of the nicest features of ML cameras in general.  It is inconceivable that these new Nikons wouldn't have this feature.

[tommiejeep]

Keith, I agree.  I have more MF lenses for my two Sony Bodies than native lenses  I do use some Nikon lenses on the Sony bodies.  Focus peaking is not that reliable on its' own but used with Magnification (I assume same as the referred to Zoom) MF is easy and fast.   I've been using Sony for a couple of years now and Olympus for longer but when I pick up the DF or D500 I really feel at home.  Even though I get images I like from both shooting has to be fun , for me, and not hard work.  The big question for me is can a Z6 replace my Df.  So far neither MILC has been suitable to fast action, birds and active Events so D500 and my long lenses are not going anywhere.
Tom

[armando_m]

Focusing, as in see the focus on the EVF?

right

[Airy]

EVF zooming and stopped-down operation (overcoming focus shift troubles) are my most wanted features in relation with legacy lenses. Olympus made them both available long ago with their OM-D bodies and they all worked very well. So I expect something here

[MFloyd]

A lot of debate about the lack of a second card slot. Personally, I don’t care. I never had a card failure when shooting, and I take about 15’000 shots / year. My question is: is this not a remain of older times, where cards were less reliable ? A little bit in analogy with the many nowadays cars lacking a spare tire.

[Eddie Draaisma]

A lot of debate about the lack of a second card slot. Personally, I don’t care. I never had a card failure when shooting, and I take about 15’000 shots / year. My question is: is this not a remain of older times, where cards were less reliable ? A little bit in analogy with the many nowadays cars lacking a spare tire.

I lost a file only once, it was with a camera with two filled slots in backup (parallel writing) mode. The file was corrupted on both cards, so a double slot config isn't failsafe either...

The hot debate about the single slot will shorten the waiting queue, so it is a good feature 

[Pistnbroke]

 Any one seen anything on the silent mode
Card failure  ..oh yes a 64 GB lexor used it about 20 times before it failed..but I had two slots …..lucky bride ,lucky me

[chambeshi]

How much would it have cost for Nikon to have had 2 card slots ?

There's a fair volume of bleating on other forums about singular single card slot. I've only been using XQD cards since late 2016 with the D500, and now D850. (but use SD in my Df obviously). Many of us relying on the fast buffer for wildlife etc, have been relying off a single card only for practical reasons of write speed and compatibility. Well...Zero problems thus far. I've yet to read of a XQD failure (?)

One assumes Nikon did not make a facile decision on core design of the Z6 and Z7. Anyways preordered my Z7 yesterday :-) I'm confident in the robust reliability of XQD technology. The Silent-shutter and allied specs will compliment the D850 for mare clandestine work that I'm developing on selected wildlife subjects. Only apprehension is the relatively short battery life, especially with a MILC mounted remotely etc. So hope the MB-N10 grip appears soon AND that it takes ENEL18's (not stated).

One reads the grip can be charged via USB, specifying the EH-7P Charging AC Adapter: https://www.nikon.com/news/2018/0823_mirrorless_01.htm
A USB cable should charge off any AC adapter (?)

But the CNC machines in china are likely warming up to clone this grip too (judging on the timing of 3rd party grips appearing for the D500 and D850)

The one Spec there should be more cheering about is Nikon have retained the EN-EL15b. A big relief and sooo much less cost and hassle. Thanks very much Nikon 

[MFloyd]

Any one seen anything on the silent mode
Card failure  ..oh yes a 64 GB lexor used it about 20 times before it failed..but I had two slots …..lucky bride ,lucky me

Anyway, likely she’s divorced by now 

[chambeshi]

Anyway, likely she’s divorced by now 

Wonderful Quip  appeals to my cynicism!

My final sixpence on Single Slot (yes I'm an unrepentant Nikonian of 34+ years). Brutal reality in the real World (beyond keyboards)... A Sony MILC (with 2 slots) is far more likely to fail than a XQD card (or a Nikon body in fact).

[Peter Forsell]

I'd be interested in finding out which buttons have secondary functions not printed on the button, and if some of these controls actually don't have their own dedicated button at all.

I have set up my DSLRs to use the Fn buttons as:
- non-CPU lens selection
- image area

and the Z6/Z7 seem to have only two Fn buttons.

This leaves at least these 6 dedicated buttons missing from the Z6/Z7
- flash compensation
- bracketing
- DOF preview
- metering mode
- white balance
- quality

I'm sure they are as secondary functions in some buttons and only the label is not printed on the camera body or button. Will be hard for an old geezer like me to remember which is where. 

Is the user manual available for download somewhere? I couldn't find it.

[Ilkka Nissilä]

A lot of debate about the lack of a second card slot. Personally, I don’t care. I never had a card failure when shooting, and I take about 15’000 shots / year. My question is: is this not a remain of older times, where cards were less reliable ? A little bit in analogy with the many nowadays cars lacking a spare tire.

I don't know if cards were less reliable in the old days, the capacity was a lot smaller so the loss in case of card failure was less severe in terms of potential quantity of images lost. But I never lost an image in the early days of digital photography, only recently (a few years ago) two Sandisk Extreme Pro SD UHS-I cards stopped working and some video files were lost on a Memory Stick Pro card. I have not lost anything on CF or XQD cards, but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen.

I think if one has a single card slot, and shooting a critical event, one should at least shoot two cameras and swap often. If one shoots subjects for which retakes are possible, then it should not be a big issue.

For weddings in the US I remember that restaging of the key moments of the ceremony were a normal technique to clear the ceremony itself of disturbing photography and to allow the photographers to get formal and technically good images of the event even if not genuinely "those moments". If a card should fail and the photographer noticed this maybe this is a possible solution to re-enact the moments for photos.

I only use the dual-card parallel writing feature when shooting critical events. I understand that it doesn't guarantee there is no loss of images but it reduces the likelihood.

[Jan Anne]

Still trying to figure out what comes extra with the Z7 over de Z6 that explains the hefty premium in price.

So far the only differences I could find are of course the different sensors with roughly double the MP's and AF points, different ISO range (lower) and probably a higher DR range. Besides the sensor there seems to be a more efficient (or less powerful) wifi and bluetooth radio on board but should not be really relevant for the price I guess.

With the Sony a7 range the R models came with a full metal vs plastic shell, metal vs plastic buttons, bigger and better EVF with Zeiss coatings, PDAF and CDAF vs only CDAF, etc whereas the Z6 and Z7 seem to be the same construction and feature wise.

What am I missing here?

[Øivind Tøien]

A little side note, from the Z7/Z6 brochure, page 53:

"Nikon’s Capture NX-D software is the best way to process original RAW (NEF/ NRW) files without losing any of their extremely rich data. You can adjust options such as exposure compensation, white balance, Picture Control, Active D-Lighting and noise reduction using a slider. It also incorporates color control points that let you edit the hue, brightness, saturation, contrast, etc. of a selected area. JPEG and TIFF files are also compatible."
(emphasis by me)

So it could look like we are getting the control points back in CNX-D.