Author Topic: Nikon Z6/7 mirrorless system  (Read 316145 times)

Frank Fremerey

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Re: Nikon Z6/7 mirrorless system
« Reply #15 on: November 08, 2018, 17:09:53 »
I think winning the lottery is a good idea and meeting NG in Scotland is another great idea. I hope I can join you in may if work and construction site allow. I am interested in the Z6 performance.
You are out there. You and your camera. You can shoot or not shoot as you please. Discover the world, Your world. Show it to us. Or we might never see it.

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Birna Rørslett

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Re: Nikon Z6/7 mirrorless system
« Reply #16 on: November 08, 2018, 20:50:36 »
I haven't won the Lottery for decades, yet here it is: the Z7. Seen with the FTZ adapter and the mighty 105 mm f/1.4 Nikkor, a combination that actually handles -- and balances -- very nicely. AF is on the slower side with this combination, but the very low light levels under testing probably didn't help. Focus was spot on, though.

To put things in perspective, the L-bracket for my Olympus E-M1.2 is very nearly a perfect fit for the Z7. The Z7 is the same width as the Olympus m43, but the body is a tad thicker and the viewfinder a bit fatter due to the FX coverage.

The small Foolography GPS unit (lifted temporarily from a Df until my new unit arrives) plugs into the USB port and does the job of plying the camera with GPS data without any problem at all.

golunvolo

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Re: Nikon Z6/7 mirrorless system
« Reply #17 on: November 08, 2018, 21:17:56 »
Very promising combination

Hugh_3170

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Re: Nikon Z6/7 mirrorless system
« Reply #18 on: November 09, 2018, 05:51:25 »
An Olympus E-M1.2 eh?  :o   I did not realise that you also had one of these machines from the dark side (yep, I have one as well and I also have the older E-M1 Mk 1).

Is your L-Bracket for the Olympus the two piece unit from RRS?  In searching for Olympus E-M1.2 L-Brackets, it is the only one that appeals to me.  How have you found yours?

..........................................................

To put things in perspective, the L-bracket for my Olympus E-M1.2 is very nearly a perfect fit for the Z7. The Z7 is the same width as the Olympus m43, but the body is a tad thicker and the viewfinder a bit fatter due to the FX coverage.
..........................................................
Hugh Gunn

Eddie Draaisma

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Re: Nikon Z6/7 mirrorless system
« Reply #19 on: November 09, 2018, 07:48:30 »
Some interesting things about the Z7 to be found on the site of Jim Kasson:

https://blog.kasson.com

Among various things a comparison between fully mechanical and EFC shutter w.r.t. vibration.


Birna Rørslett

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Re: Nikon Z6/7 mirrorless system
« Reply #20 on: November 09, 2018, 08:14:32 »
An Olympus E-M1.2 eh?  :o   I did not realise that you also had one of these machines from the dark side (yep, I have one as well and I also have the older E-M1 Mk 1).

Is your L-Bracket for the Olympus the two piece unit from RRS?  In searching for Olympus E-M1.2 L-Brackets, it is the only one that appeals to me.  How have you found yours?

I got the Olympus and the 7-14/2.8 lens for an underwater housing. Needed something "smaller" for my current project, which involves a lot of (air) travel. The camera works for the intended purpose, but otherwise I'm not particular smitten by it, to be honest, and the image quality leaves somewhat to be desired as well.

The L-bracket isn't RRS, but is in two pieces. Actually I got it on the whim that I might be using the Olympus system also for general photography, but any such thoughts were quickly put to rest once the Nikon Z6/Z7 were announced.

Hugh_3170

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Re: Nikon Z6/7 mirrorless system
« Reply #21 on: November 09, 2018, 08:45:39 »
Thanks Birna.

Sadly the RRS bracket wasn't available when I was buying, so the two piece bracket that I am using is marketed here as a ProMaster L-Bracket.  The side portion of the ProMaster has not been well designed in respect of either the fold our rear screen or access to the four connection sockets/ports on the left hand side of the body, so I often leave my side portion detached.

The 7-14mm f/2.8 lens seems to be getting a lot of indifferent reviews.  I have used one and it certainly has quite ugly distortion around the edges, so I went with the 9-18mm instead.

I got the Olympus and the 7-14/2.8 lens for an underwater housing. Needed something "smaller" for my current project, which involves a lot of (air) travel. The camera works for the intended purpose, but otherwise I'm not particular smitten by it, to be honest, and the image quality leaves somewhat to be desired as well.

The L-bracket isn't RRS, but is in two pieces. Actually I got it on the whim that I might be using the Olympus system also for general photography, but any such thoughts were quickly put to rest once the Nikon Z6/Z7 were announced.
Hugh Gunn

Birna Rørslett

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Re: Nikon Z6/7 mirrorless system
« Reply #22 on: November 11, 2018, 22:16:27 »
Now, back to the camera under scrutiny.

One reason I got the Z7 was to use it for macro work. A good start is exploring how it copes with photomacrographic lenses and auxiliary devices.

A potentially useful gadget for low-magnification work in the field with hand-held camera is a short-focal dedicated 'macro' lens in conjunction with a ring flash. Not the type of gear normally used for creative work, perhaps, but an indispensable tool for documentary  stuff.

I have used the old Olympus OM 38mm f/2.8 lens combined with the Nikon SB-21 ring flash for decades. The AS-14 controller for the ring flash can operate in M or TTL mode and the latter option hasn't been available since the opening of the DSLR era. No practical issue as using M with the AS14 and judiciously playing with the various settings on the ring flash itself allows for sufficient control of exposure (after a little practice ...).

Here is a snapshot of the photomacrographic setup on the Z7. I used the camera hand-held and as one can see from the 100% crop, results of this technique are excellent as the old lens is no slouch with the high pixel count of the Z7.

(images straight off the camera, no sharpening)

Birna Rørslett

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Re: Nikon Z6/7 mirrorless system
« Reply #23 on: November 11, 2018, 22:24:34 »
With the above-mentioned setup, the EVF no longer functioned well as the projected image gets very dark. One can increase the output of the rear LCD panel, but this makes for a rather tiresome and eye-straining exercise in the longer run. If lighting is predominately fluorescent some flickering is hard to avoid. This issue normally is no problem with ordinary use of the Z7 and its EVF or rear screen.

For optical viewfinders one could rely on the astonishing ability of the eye to accommodate low light, thus with proper focusing technique, focusing at high magnification was not too problematic. The EVF works differently as it increases gain instead and hence there is a point where the image in the finder simply breaks down in a sea of noise and no useful information can be gleaned.

Birna Rørslett

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Re: Nikon Z6/7 mirrorless system
« Reply #24 on: November 11, 2018, 23:23:04 »
Over to another field -- again.

One of the really exciting news of the Z system launch was the mighty Noct 58mm f/0.95 Nikkor S-line. I have pre-ordered it, as it would compliment the Nocts I already own (AI and AIS versions).

I have to make do with my "old" Nocts for now, but since this time of the year is really dark in my country, putting a Noct (+ FTZ) on the Z7 was mandatory. I'm pleased to say this combination handled very well and focusing via the EVF was quick and easy. Moving the zoom magnification feature to one or both of the front function buttons added to the ease of getting pin-point sharpness with the fast Noct -- even if it is "only" f/1.2.

Nikon Z7, Noct-Nikkor 58 mm f/1.2  @f/1.2, 400 ISO

Depth-of-field is very shallow even at this distance (around 10m), but the beautiful bokeh allows the transition to unsharp areas be very gentle.

Birna Rørslett

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Re: Nikon Z6/7 mirrorless system
« Reply #25 on: November 12, 2018, 12:12:30 »
Nikon always publishes a list of incompatible lenses for their new cameras (my manual has these listed on p. 223, but the actual page might differ between nationalities).

Once again, the list is a curious mixture of fact and fiction and I have this suspicion the text writers simply do a copy-paste from previous manuals?

In the case of the Z6/Z7 and the FTZ adapter, the usual stated exceptions for the older fisheye lenses (7.5/5,6, 8/8, 10/5.6 OP) no longer are valid. All of them mounts to the FTZ and work perfectly. The same applies to 200-600/9.5, the older 50/2, 180-600/8, 360-1200/11, 35/2.8 PC (first version), 200/5.6 Medical, the lens heads using CU or AU-1 focusing adapter, and so forth. A very few of the oldest pre-AI Nikkors might encounter problems if their aperture ring is too thick.

The vintage 2.1cm f/4 really is incompatible, as stated on the Nikon list, and fortunately will not mount at all on the FTZ. The older 5.5cm/3.5 Micro-Nikkor will mount, but not focus any further than approx. 2m due to its unusual rear lip design. 

The K2 extension ring is on the incompatible list, whilst strangely the K1 isn't. Both can be mounted to the FTZ, however the fit is very tight and one should likely trim each of these a tad to ensure they would not chafe on the CPU contacts in the adapter mount.

AF or AFD lenses with 'screwdriver' focusing will meter via the FTZ, but there is no AF since the mechanical linkage is no longer present.

Seen as a whole, Nikon has done a remarkably good job of keeping the famed backwards compatibility with the F-mount legacy.

Birna Rørslett

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Re: Nikon Z6/7 mirrorless system
« Reply #26 on: November 12, 2018, 13:01:12 »
I was very curious about the ability of the new Z system to use GPS recording. Medium-high end Nikons, with very few exceptions, have catered for this feature since the early 2000's. Being a botanist the capability to record geo-coordinates automatically and embedded in the file eXIF has been indispensable and all my Nikons (plus the Fuji S5Pro) have GPS devices attached to them.  However, at the European Z launch in London, UK earlier this year, none of the Nikon reps apparently were aware of any such feature. I examined the ports of the Z cameras and found the similar USB port as on my Df. After pestering higher-ranked reps afterwards I received an evasive statement to the effect, 'yes, we believe Z7 supports GPS" (but we don't know)'.

Later, at Photokina in September this year I spoke to Mr. Oliver Perialis, the CEO of Foolography, a Berlin-based company specialising in GPS devices for Nikons (and, more recently, Canon), and he told me they had tried their device briefly on a Z camera and it worked. Great news. I immediately ordered a module for my pre-ordered Z6/Z7.

Reading through the entire Reference manual  (pdf downloaded from Nikon), I think now I understand why Nikon has been so evasive. Their camera indeed has GPS support, as always, but their own GPS module has been discontinued!

Under Technical Notes in the Reference Manual p. 412, I found the following

When connected to the camera
accessory terminal, existing GP-1/GP-1A units can be
used to record the current latitude, longitude, altitude,
and UTC (Universal Coordinated Time) with pictures
taken with the camera. Note that production of GP-1/
GP-1A units has ended


How very Nikonesque.

For the record: the Foolography module (Dx000'09) plugged directly into the USB port of my Z7 and delivered GPS data to the EXIF seamlessly. No need for any special configuration.

Eddie Draaisma

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Re: Nikon Z6/7 mirrorless system
« Reply #27 on: November 12, 2018, 13:41:06 »
The Foolography website leaves the impression that they now only sell the new Unleashed product, to be connected to a smartphone.

I only need the camera's internal Bluetooth to connect with a GPS mouse, and I only need my smartphone to behave like a very reliable Bluetooth GPS mouse.

Birna Rørslett

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Re: Nikon Z6/7 mirrorless system
« Reply #28 on: November 12, 2018, 13:46:34 »
They still sell the older product.

Even with the new 'Unleashed', you don't need using it through a smartphone app. Any compatible BT unit sending out NMEA data will do.

Frank Fremerey

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Re: Nikon Z6/7 mirrorless system
« Reply #29 on: November 12, 2018, 14:42:56 »
has someone here been delivered an "Unleashed"???
You are out there. You and your camera. You can shoot or not shoot as you please. Discover the world, Your world. Show it to us. Or we might never see it.

Me: https://youpic.com/photographer/frankfremerey/