The new Nikon mirrorless system

[Birna Rørslett]

Nikon has traditionally hidden away all the required data in unorthodox places, if one mounts a non-CPU lens and enter it from the menu list. Thus no wonder many programs read nonsensical information such as 0.0mm f/0 afterwards from the EXIF. I will, of course, mine the Z EXIF for useful information.

Birna might have difficulty to find a non-CPU'ed lens...
--

No worries -- I do keep a few pre-AI non-CPU-modified lenses around for testing purposes

[Roland Vink]

My understanding (which might be wrong) is that the EXIF data includes the CPU data entered into the camera, i.e. the focal length and maximum aperture. Since the adapter has no way of sensing how far the aperture ring is turned, it cannot pass on the stopped down shooting aperture to the camera, so that will be missing from EXIF data.

[Eddie Draaisma]

My understanding (which might be wrong) is that the EXIF data includes the CPU data entered into the camera, i.e. the focal length and maximum aperture. Since the adapter has no way of sensing how far the aperture ring is turned, it cannot pass on the stopped down shooting aperture to the camera, so that will be missing from EXIF data.

Your understanding is correct, I actually can see both focal length and maximum aperture in the metadata.

[Erik Lund]

My understanding (which might be wrong) is that the EXIF data includes the CPU data entered into the camera, i.e. the focal length and maximum aperture. Since the adapter has no way of sensing how far the aperture ring is turned, it cannot pass on the stopped down shooting aperture to the camera, so that will be missing from EXIF data.

Leica solved and Patented this by having a light meter on the front, outside of the Leica M, that measures the light directly and compares it with the light entering through the lens and on to the internal light meter, then having the lens data, focal length and max aperture, entered manually or reading the 'engraved' 6-bit lens code, the camera software can make an educated guess to what aperture value the lens is stopped down too. Works quite well actually in real life shooting

[tommiejeep]

My understanding (which might be wrong) is that the EXIF data includes the CPU data entered into the camera, i.e. the focal length and maximum aperture. Since the adapter has no way of sensing how far the aperture ring is turned, it cannot pass on the stopped down shooting aperture to the camera, so that will be missing from EXIF data.

Thanks All.  Roland, that is sort of what I'm expecting.  There is a thread on FM with folk playing with LM to Z adapters:
https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1559075/11
  Eventually more folk will have to hand and may learn more.   There appear to be some 'tricks' not covered in the Manuals 
Cheers to everyone
Tom

[Eddie Draaisma]

Thanks All.  Roland, that is sort of what I'm expecting.  There is a thread on FM with folk playing with LM to Z adapters:
https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1559075/11
  Eventually more folk will have to hand and may learn more.   There appear to be some 'tricks' not covered in the Manuals 
Cheers to everyone
Tom

The EVF of the Z series works very well with the old MF lenses, very easy for precise focussing, but the handling of the lenses in combination with the adapter remains IMHO a PITA. I would have been perfectly happy with an F-mount body with an integrated EVF.

[tommiejeep]

Hi Eddie, Nikon has filed a few patents for Hybrid VF over the past few years, sort of thought the new bodies might have.  I am interested in how well Nikon has implemented Focus Peaking.   With my Sony bodies it is really only good for 'Ballpark" and I have to use magnification to get as sharp as I want.   Sounds as if Nikon may be better  .  Also seems there may be some lag in magnification on the Z bodies but seems dependent on other settings.

I am not too interested in the Z7 , at the price, but very interested in the Z6.
Cheers,

[Erik Lund]

IMHO it's very subjective how good this focus peaking works, there are several settings to fine tune but it really comes down to what would you use it for, what type of photography, scene, light contrast, slow fast etc.


Fo me the difference between EVF of Z7 and a Zacuto finder in live view on the D850 is similar,,, for slow paced work like using a PC-E nikkor for architecture.


I would not recommend Z7 for fast paced work with f1.2 or f/1.4 manual focus as a substitute for a D850.

[Tom Hook]

I wanted to take a picture of my microphone. I was curious how well the Z7/35S combo would capture the texture of the velvet sleeve the microphone wears when not in use. I took a picture and the result was photo number 1.

I didn’t understand why the camera rendered the scene so bizarrely. I took a couple of more snaps and the issue became almost totally washed out by this interference. See photo number 2. (While concerned at the time by what was causing this problem, I was somewhat attracted to this second image for its outré strangeness)

Anyway, after turning off the camera, taking out the battery ( etc.) and testing it by using it satisfactorily in other rooms, I figured that there was some sort of electronic interference because of all the electronica in my man cave. I put the computer to sleep, turned off the lamp on my desk, but the problem persisted. Finally, I turned off the printer and the problem went away. While I hardwire the printer to the computer, when I set it up I must have left the wifi connection active and it clearly fouls up the Z7.

So, I took picture number 3 and am amazed how well it looks in a room with only northern light on a rainy, cloudy day. It was taken at iso 3200; 1/13th of a second, f/4 and handheld.  f/4 was chosen to get some depth of field, The focus is on the bottom flap of the sleeve. I like the sharpness, color and bokeh, and the pronounced blown highlights kinda work for me.

Most importantly, it captured the velvet texture to my satisfaction!

In the pursuit of some sort of standardization, all photos are undefiled by post production except to convert the raw files to jpegs using Capture NX-D.

[Birna Rørslett]

Reminds me why I always use cables not wireless in my office. Something to ponder while UPS shuttles my Z package all over Europe. Maybe it ends up at the correct address in the not too distant future??

[Tom Hook]

Birna, how right you are. And, UPS is not always so kind to packages that come my way.

[Frank Fremerey]

Tom Hook: I put my D500 & D850 to airplane mode to avoid interference but I never have seen such a stark interference. How very intersting.

[Jack Dahlgren]

I wanted to take a picture of my microphone. I was curious how well the Z7/35S combo would capture the texture of the velvet sleeve the microphone wears when not in use. I took a picture and the result was photo number 1.

I didn’t understand why the camera rendered the scene so bizarrely. I took a couple of more snaps and the issue became almost totally washed out by this interference. See photo number 2. (While concerned at the time by what was causing this problem, I was somewhat attracted to this second image for its outré strangeness)

Anyway, after turning off the camera, taking out the battery ( etc.) and testing it by using it satisfactorily in other rooms, I figured that there was some sort of electronic interference because of all the electronica in my man cave. I put the computer to sleep, turned off the lamp on my desk, but the problem persisted. Finally, I turned off the printer and the problem went away. While I hardwire the printer to the computer, when I set it up I must have left the wifi connection active and it clearly fouls up the Z7.

So, I took picture number 3 and am amazed how well it looks in a room with only northern light on a rainy, cloudy day. It was taken at iso 3200; 1/13th of a second, f/4 and handheld.  f/4 was chosen to get some depth of field, The focus is on the bottom flap of the sleeve. I like the sharpness, color and bokeh, and the pronounced blown highlights kinda work for me.

Most importantly, it captured the velvet texture to my satisfaction!

In the pursuit of some sort of standardization, all photos are undefiled by post production except to convert the raw files to jpegs using Capture NX-D.

From the trail from the blue light it looks like shutter stayed open for an extended time. It is very odd that the printer wifi would affect how long shutter stayed open. Is there an IR connection?

[Tom Hook]

Tom Hook: I put my D500 & D850 to airplane mode to avoid interference but I never have seen such a stark interference. How very intersting.

Frank, airplane mode is a good idea, thanks.

[Akira]

From the trail from the blue light it looks like shutter stayed open for an extended time. It is very odd that the printer wifi would affect how long shutter stayed open. Is there an IR connection?

According to the exif data of the first image, the shutter speed was 2.5sec. at ISO200.

I would suspect that Tom moved the camera thinking that the exposure had been completed while the shutter was still open.

The shutter speed of the second image is as long as 6sec., again, according to the remaining exif data, which would well explain why the image is blurry and overexposed.