The new Nikon mirrorless system

[Erik Lund]

The rangefinder cameras like Leica M actually has a quite a feature in that with most lenses you have a completely clear view directly of the whole scene and at the same time you can actually through the viewfinder see what is going on outside the image frame, this can be an extremely nice advantage for reportage and PJ style shooting. same as shooting a DX lens on a FX camera with the masking off, takes some getting used to but works,,, Just a heads up from the Leica M camp

Just remember:


Masking is only possible with D700, D800 and D810 if AF point illumination is turned off     

[Seapy]

I spoke with the Really Right Stuff staff and they tell me they are very aware of the problem of attaching the FTZ adapter has to be taken into account when designing an L-Bracket. While not promising a solution, they are on the case.

Seems to me an FTZ variant along the lines of the PN11 extension with a foot, possibly rotatable or offset to allow fitting, depending on the arc needed with the four prong bayonet mount.

If somebody could get one of those made it would be a big advantage for heavy lenses and studio work.  While the larger mount would seem strong, the thin body appears flimsy compared with a thicker DSLR.

[Erik Lund]

The Z7 body is assembled out of cast magnesium parts, it's quite sturdy and well capable of withstanding bending and certainly no risk that the Z-mount bending or coming off during normal use, the screws are directly into the casting unlike many DSLR, even the D810 for instance has plastic under the F-mount itself ,,,


The Z6 and 7 castings are not similar to for instance a D5, the Z body is made out of several parts that are put together, so yes less strong than the some of the Pro DSLR.


There will for sure be a lot of plates both for the FTZ and Z7, may I suggest a bit of patience,,, 

[Bent Hjarbo]

Just remember:


Masking is only possible with D700, D800 and D810 if AF point illumination is turned off     

Just what I wanted to know, as I sometimes use my D800 in DX mode.

[Eddie Draaisma]

There will for sure be a lot of plates both for the FTZ and Z7, may I suggest a bit of patience,,, 

All the patience is already needed waiting for the S-Line 85/1.8S and 20/1.8S.   

[Frank Fremerey]

That's with a D810.

With a D850 there is a dramatic difference between maximum burst depths obtained with 14-bit and 12-bit lossless compressed (51 vs. 170 images at 7fps; 54 vs. 29 at 9fps), according to the user manual (7fps) and menu guide (9fps). So the most important thing to do is when expecting the buffer to limit one's shooting, use 12-bit recording instead of 14-bit with this camera. And use a fast XQD card. The max burst depth figures in the manual seem to be taken with lens cap on and base ISO, in real-world subjects you typically get fewer shots but it still holds true that the 12-bit recording gives significantly longer bursts. A slight additional gain is achievable if you turn on compressed NEF instead of lossless compressed NEF (200 vs. 170 for 7fps; 56 vs. 54 for 12-bit 9fps).

thank you very much!!!

[Frank Fremerey]

No difference in AF speed in connection with grip and EN EL18 or other options.

Did you try it? How did you measure it? I just remembered I read it befor but it might be I remember wrong.

I am quite positive that screw driver AF is much faster on 11.4V than it is on 7V

[Erik Lund]

The speed of the AF is chosen according to the lens mounted on the camera and if a TC is mounted and what TC it is.
If the AF is too speedy accuriring and locking might fail more often. As usual it's a value conservatively chosen by Nikon engineers.
Only tweak I know of is to remove the last pin connection on the 2xTC's to speed up the AF,,, and yes then it can miss acquisition,,,

[Erik Lund]

The easiest af speed test is to mount a lens cap and shoot a video of the focus scale while the lens is hunting for focus between the two end stops.

[Frank Fremerey]

Thank you, Erik

[Ilkka Nissilä]

The easiest af speed test is to mount a lens cap and shoot a video of the focus scale while the lens is hunting for focus between the two end stops.

That doesn't take into account how much time the camera spends processing that data and making a decision about focus adjustments. One would need to trigger the AF electrically and then record the trigger signal in a synchronous way with the video to see how much time the camera spends from the command to focus until completion. I suspect one would need to repeat this procedure many times with different scenarios to see what changes there are, if any. We know the mirror moves faster with the EN-EL18 series battery, which also creates a louder and higher pitch sound. However, it is harder to make definite evaluation of AF performance.

[Erik Lund]

The easiest ,,,,

 

[Ilkka Nissilä]

 

Right, I understand your point, I just wanted to emphasize that it is not a simple thing to prove that there is no difference, or measure how large the difference there is.

I can consider setting up an experiment; I guess if I used the audio channel of a video camera to insert the trigger signal it could work, at least if there is no delay associated with the input. But this won't happen soon; I just don't have the time to put into it, and since the camera works great I don't have a pressing need. 

[Frank Fremerey]

AF speed does not only mean how fast the motor drives the lens which is very difficult to measure because some lenses AF well with one camera and not with others. For me AF speed means how fast and how often critical focus is acquired. That I cannot measure with a lens cap on.

[Erik Lund]

We were focusing on speed, yes


Acquisition and locking on depends also on how long time the mirror and sub mirror are in the correct position for the AF module to work properly, and since the mirror is definitely behaving differently so will the sub mirror be,,, Here the grip will make a difference,,, how much, not sure, will be very difficult to measure,,, but try it out


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dVmGVa3Rbw


Here the clear difference between a couple of old workhorses