Nikon Z6/7 mirrorless system

[Birna Rørslett]

Alternatives none, intention to return it for a refund.

[CS]

Alternatives none, intention to return it for a refund.

I suspected that there wasn't much you could do with that banding issue but I didn't know that returning it was an alternative, since it has been modified.

[Birna Rørslett]

The camera was bought new via Life Pixel and modified by them, before sending it to me.

[golunvolo]

Sorry to hear that. I was very interested in your findings. There is still hope as may be a faulty camera or conversion. Will see.

[golunvolo]

To continue praising the Z6 using older manual lenses:

   I went home with the Z6, 105 2.5 (with CPU) and 35mm 1.4. I´m very happy with the results but will show here some challenging scenarios at night. 105@ f2.8 and 35mm @ 1.4 ISO 3200 was needed and the magnification on viewfinder continue to work with no problems. I¨m well know for my lack of skills for manual focusing...

 

[gryphon1911]

Youth Soccer and the Z6 + FTZ + TAmron 70-200/2.8 G2

[Hugh_3170]

I like these images Andrew. 

The rising American interest in soccer amongst its youth and womens teams augers well for the sport and the US as an emerging soccer force - good stuff.

[Bent Hjarbo]

The Z system seems ok for sports.
Nice pictures.

[Airy]

I could test a Z7 for about 3/4h today. The lens was a Summicron-R 50/2 (adapted to F-mount), so I had to work in stopped-down mode.

EVF is comfortable to the eye. It gets a bit muddy when stopping down to f/8 in a dark place - well, that's hardly surprizing. When using focus peaking, manual focus is relatively easy, but the Df is at least as good in that department. Using magnification seems indispensible to get pinpoint focus accuracy. Using the ill-placed (+) and (-) buttons for that purpose is a pain in the neck, though. I wish there were a loupe function at half-pressed shutter release, but could not find it.

The stabilizer works reliably down to 1/8s. Consistently getting sharp shots at 1/4s proved more difficult; for that purpose, I activated the silent mode, electronic 1st curtain, and 0.2s shutter delay, and all was fine. Stabilization is very good, but not overwhelmingly so: I could get the same result with the Tamron 45/1.8 VC on the Df, and could go down to 1/2s with the Olympus E-MD OM-1. Still, it is a useful feature. Combining stabilizer and magnifier indeed allows precise manual focussing, and that's essential.

Needless to say, image quality is outstanding. Lots of pixels for sure, but darn good pixels. Cropping is certainly an option with that sensor.

Handling is OK. Probably a bit better than the Df (rudimentary grip!), but still not the best fit for my hand. Menus are similar to Df, I'd say: so-so. Customization is possible, and needed.

Bottom line : I think I'll resist the NAS. But that's because the Df is so well-designed. I'll probably wait for the next iteration, hopefully with better battery life and a half-pressed-shutter-release-loupe-mode. If you do not have a Df, beware...

[Airy]

For reference, here's a 100% crop of a picture taken, handheld, at 1/4s. Remember, there are 45 million pixels or so.

[Birna Rørslett]

The + and - buttons on the rear are indeed awkward to use and most suited for working with a tripod-mounted camera. The usual work-around is putting the zoom function to the Fn1,2 buttons on the front as they are easily engaged when you look into the finder. They also have the advantage of being on/off meaning first push to zoom in, next push to zoom out. Quite practical.  I use 100% and 200% zoom factors on my cameras.

In poor light and in particular in conjunction with wide-angle lenses of the less than very bright variety, getting pin-point focusing accuracy with a mirrorless camera is not easy. The enlarged finder image tends to break up and having focus peaking engaged only adds colour to the grain noise. Under such situations using my Df with its split-image screen is far superior.

[Airy]

We both own at least one Df, but you have a Z7 and I don't. Lucky you. That sensor is really, really good.

[Birna Rørslett]

We both own at least one Df, but you have a Z7 and I don't. Lucky you. That sensor is really, really good.

I also have 2*Z6, of which one is modified and not to my liking. The stock Z6 is the Z camera most used by me. Waiting for delivery of the 14-30 Z which should be a nice combination with either Z6 or Z7.

[Airy]

Why does your Z6 see most usage?

[Birna Rørslett]

Why does your Z6 see most usage?

I purchased the Z7 mainly for close-up and photomacrographic work, and the season for those fields is still in its infancy.  No need for 45MPix otherwise. Anchored to its Stackshot rail, the Z7 now sits patiently waiting for tasks. It will see extensive work later this year, though.