Nikon Z6/7 mirrorless system

[Birna Rørslett]

It'll be interesting to learn your experiences with the Z50. As told earlier I got the Z50 because the kit with the camera and FTZ had a good price and I needed a (third) FTZ. One of my exiting FTZ units had to be extensively modified to allow correct focusing on my modified Z6. It shouldn't be used with other Z bodies. Thus I only have the Z50 and none of the DX-Z lenses. Most of the time I put various old-timers on the Z50 any way.

[MEPER]

Yes, will be interesting to try it out. I like the form factor of the camera and the built-in flash which can be useful for fill-in purpose. How well it would cover for macro I don't know yet. Will depend of the lens size and distance from object. I have a spare battery on the way also but I am still on first charge.
Think it should be possible to make a FX version in same housing. But maybe a FX sensor uses so much power that the EN EL25 battery will be too small in capacity. 
I wonder why it has mechanical shutter. As far as I know the Nikon 1 system only had electronic shutter. I can see my is configured to have electronic first curtain which should be an advantage for tripod use. I guess the mechanical shutter can prevent some distortion artifacts but it seems a little bit "old fashioned" with mechanical shutter. I was thinking if it would be possible to avoid any blackouts of the viewfinder if a pure electronic shutter was used. Then the sensor should handle both image taking and deliver data to the viewfinder simultaneously. Why not?   I think hand holding of low shutter speeds will be easier without blackout.
I Look forward to 50/1.8. With DX sensor I will only use the best part of this lens.   

[mxbianco]

... wonder why it has mechanical shutter. As far as I know the Nikon 1 system only had electronic shutter.

No, the Nikon 1 system has a mechanical and electronic shutter, configurable on some models by a dedicated button. You can select

• Mechanical
• Electronic
• Electronic (Hi-speed)

And if you dig deep in the menus, you can further configure the Electronic (Hi-speed) mode by selecting the fps between 10, 30 and 60 fps

Ciao from Massimo
 

[MEPER]

OK, Could be interesting to watch the mechanical shutter in action. I may always have set it to electronic on Nikon 1.
I still wonder why it is necessary with a mechanical shutter. It must be in some circumstances where the electronic shutter is not reacting fast enough to either start or end an exposure. 

[MEPER]

If electronic front curtain is selected is that the same as 100% electronic shutter?

I only have 3 shutter settings for shutter:
Auto
Mechanical
Electronic front curtain       <-- since they mention a specific "front curtain" it is my assumption that exposure is stopped by mechanical "back" curtain?

…...or how should I interpret this?

[MEPER]

It seems "silent operation" should be enabled to have 100% electronic shutter. It is setup in another place in the menu.
I would have preferred this in the shutter menu.

[Birna Rørslett]

Silent operation is perfect for close-up work and suchlike situations. However, for normal photography it's frustrating not to get a definite response from the camera. One has to chimp the rear monitor for signs of the capture and photo timing. Much better to have a discreet 'click'.

[MEPER]

It is just a bit strange that I have to select "silent operation" to have 100% electronic shutter and it is not in the shutter menu.
With Z50 in silent mode there is fast flicker in the viewfinder when exposure starts and when finished the image just shot shows up in the viewfinder as a sign that image is captured.
It seems I can't select electronic shutter + a artificial click as indication (I am still new to the camera so may still have missed something).

I can understand that even if I shot at 1/4000 sec. with electronic shutter it may take 1/10 sec. or so to make the exposure as line by line is read out and not done in massive parallel operation. This should also be the reason to still benefit from a mechanical shutter. We probably wont see that in the future when the electronics and computer power is fast enough.

[MEPER]

It seems the blackout in viewfinder in silent mode can be used as an indicator when image has been taken like an SLR. When image back in viewfinder then camera is ready for next shot. I wonder if the show-up of captured image in viewfinder in silent mode is configurable. I don't remember it showed up before I entered silent mode. Still a lot to investigate……
What I also noticed is that the "i-button" shows up as an icon on the LCD screen in silent mode. To avoid making noise clicking the mechanical button? :-)

[MEPER]

The "i-icon" is stil on LCD screen on "non-silent" mode. Maybe I have not noticed it before but strange when there is a dedicated "i-button" very close…..

[ColinM]

The "i-icon" is stil on LCD screen on "non-silent" mode. Maybe I have not noticed it before but strange when there is a dedicated "i-button" very close…..

Ahh, the pitfalls of designing a User Interface that feels "right"
esp when there are legacy users & established "best practice" to consider

[MEPER]

The Z50 with Voigtländer snap-shot Skopar does not look bad?
The M39 Pixco adapter feels like good quality. It seems with the adapter that it can focus a bit past infinity. Will look more into that. My "infinity feeling" may be a bit off. But I assumed that with a 25mm lens that goes from 6m to infinity then an object 50-100m away at aperture 5.6-8 should be sharp with lens set to infinity. But that was not the case. With help of the zoom-in in viewfinder I could see that focus was not perfect. I made a small test and compared the kit lens 16-50 with Skopar set to approx. same settings and exposure. If kit lens is as good as the Skopar then why use it other than "fun". Kit lens also has VR which works really well. 

[Bent Hjarbo]

It is just a bit strange that I have to select "silent operation" to have 100% electronic shutter and it is not in the shutter menu.
With Z50 in silent mode there is fast flicker in the viewfinder when exposure starts and when finished the image just shot shows up in the viewfinder as a sign that image is captured.
It seems I can't select electronic shutter + a artificial click as indication (I am still new to the camera so may still have missed something).

I can understand that even if I shot at 1/4000 sec. with electronic shutter it may take 1/10 sec. or so to make the exposure as line by line is read out and not done in massive parallel operation. This should also be the reason to still benefit from a mechanical shutter. We probably wont see that in the future when the electronics and computer power is fast enough.

The mechanical shutter is needed, look here: https://nikongear.net/revival/index.php?topic=8075.735

[Mike G]

This illustrates the evils of looking backwards!
Why would anybody expect the Z cameras to be exactly like an F camera, they’re not the same , so maybe get over this backward looking desire And embrace the new! The Z system works differently!
Perhaps I benefit from not coming directly from an F system, it’s many years since my D810 went walk ins to that great PX heaven in the sky to convert itself into a Fujifilm X-T1, and now after only a few years here I am back in the Nikon fold, so effectively I’m starting from scratch!
No disrespect meant to anybody.

[Mike G]

When using the Fsystem a few years past, I was voluble in complaining about the eyepoint of Nikon viewfinders. Because I had great difficulty in seeing the full screen in the VF(D810, D800, D700, D300 and D200. Although I can’t recall such difficulties when I had a D70s! Although the IQ of the D70s was very good for only having 6mpix sensor.