NIKON ZF CAMERA REVIEW

NIKON ZF CAMERA REVIEW

Introduction

For my final post in this current series of ‘compact’ or ‘everyday’ camera reviews, I’m going to talk about my experience of shooting with the Nikon ZF camera.  I’m aware there are a lot of Nikon ZF camera reviews on the internet so this will be kept fairly brief and non-technical and will purely reflect my opinions after shooting with it for a few months.

This was my first digital Nikon camera so I wasn’t sure what to expect particularly in terms of interface, AF and colours.  I purchased this camera hoping that it would fill the gap that I’d found myself wanting to fill – a solid, retro feel camera that would replace my Leica Q3 but with the AF speed and interchangeable lens convenience of the Sony A7CR which I’ve reviewed previously.  In an ideal world the Nikon ZF would provide me with a relatively compact full-frame camera that was ‘attractive’ and engaging enough to make me want to go out and shoot as often as possible. It’s been said elsewhere that the Sony cameras can be a little soulless and more akin to operating a computer than a camera and my hope was that the Nikon ZF would be the solution to my problem and provide me with an everyday camera experience that was distinct from my Sony workhorses.

I’m going to get one thing out of the way before covering my pros and cons of the Nikon ZF – let’s talk about Auto ISO implementation.  If you research the Nikon ZF, it’s impossible to avoid criticism/concerns over how to operate Auto ISO on this camera.  I’ve read and watched so much about this problem and I’ve ended up wondering how on earth it has attracted so much comment.  I’m used to Canon, Sony and Leica Auto ISO implementation and rely on it a lot when shooting and so made certain to read the manual thoroughly when setting up the camera.  After an hour or so of trying different options, I found a very simple way to directly access Auto ISO and min-shutter speed settings using a custom button (I used the one on the front of the camera) and that was the end of it.  I’ve watched the videos and read the reviews and there are a number of ways you can use Auto ISO on the Nikon ZF – but, if you’re coming from another camera system and want to use it in a similar way to your familiar with, it’s entirely possible on the Nikon ZF.  For that reason, for me, it’s not a ‘pro’ or ‘con’ on the Nikon ZF, it’s just fine.

The sample images below were all taken with the Nikon ZF camera over a one-month period travelling in Australia.  I decided to take 3 x primes lenses on my travels and ultimately settled on very affordable combination of the Nikon Z 40mm f/2 SE, 28mm f/2.8 SE and TTArtisan 75mm f/2 lenses.  The most often used of the lenses here was the 40mm.  Purchasing this camera with the 40mm kit lens, the 28mm (used but mint) and the TTArtisan meant that my total outlay was £1900…..which brings me nicely to the first ‘pro’ of this camera.

Pros

• Value for Money – for me, the Nikon ZF has to be one of the best value-for-money full-frame cameras on the market.  What’s more, it’s solidly built so feels very solid in the hand and has been designed to be more aesthetically pleasing than the majority of modern mirrorless full-frame cameras. Combine that with the also extremely affordable 40 and 28mm SE lenses and you have a very versatile, capable and relatively affordable package that will cover a wide range of photographic assignments and one that you’ll be proud to have hanging from your neck.  A bit like the Fuji X100 series, I see almost as many photographs ‘of’ this cameras as I do photographs taken with it!
• Looks – which leads me onto looks – this camera is a stunner to look at and that is a bit of a USP in world where most cameras have evolved to deliver fantastic ergonomics but in the process lost all character.  I think it’s great that Nikon have released the ZF (and ZF-C) and I wish Sony and Canon would do similar.  It’s wonderful to be able to choose a camera that has cutting edge technology hidden within a beautiful retro design that makes you want to go out and shoot.
• EVF & Screen – coming from the Sony A7CR and not expecting much for the sub-£1500 price that I was paying for the camera I was delighted to discover a large and beautiful viewfinder and large clear rear screen. Both are excellent and a joy to use, particularly at this price point.
• Low-light performance – an obvious benefit coming from the higher MP sensors of the Leica Q3 and Sony A7CR is low-light performance and the Nikon ZF excels in this area.  Combine this with 8-stops of stabilisation and you have a low-light monster. Without doubt, this is the best low-light camera that I’ve used.
• Colours – I really did not know what to expect but I found myself loving the Nikon RAW files.  They were a joy to edit and I particularly loved how the Nikon ZF handled not only skin tones but also greens and blues (colours I’ve often struggled with on my Sony cameras).  I’d go as far as to say that I enjoyed the Nikon colours as much as the Leica Q3 which I think it a real compliment to how well Nikon have done here.  I’d love to take the Nikon colours across to my Sony A1s.
• AF – having not used a Nikon mirrorless camera before and knowing that they were significantly later than Sony to the mirrorless party I was really interested to see how the Nikon ZF AF compared to my Sony cameras.  I’m delighted to say that the Nikon ZF AF was pretty much on par with my experience of Sony cameras. Maybe not on par with the very latest AI Sony tech but pretty damn close and certainly close enough for everyday shooting.  One thing I really liked was the ability to leave eye-detection AF on and have the camera quickly figure out whether it was pointing at a human or an animal.  Again, I’d love to see Sony trickle this down from their recently released Sony A1 II down (their first camera to auto detect subject type in eye-AF modes I believe) to older cameras including the Sony A1.  You’d think that’s merely a firmware update.
• Shutter Sound – it’s a small detail, but the shutter on the Nikon ZF sounds soooo much nicer than the Sony A7CR it replaced!
• Black & White Mode – a final small and simple detail is the black and white switch on the top of the camera.  I know you can always edit to black and white in post or simply go into settings on most cameras and select a monochrome option but there’s something about having a simple external switch on-camera that inspires you to think more about the black & white option and to more regularly switch between colour and monochrome.  It’s a simple detail but nicely well-implemented and seems to suit this ‘vintage-styled’ camera.

Cons

• Handling – handling is not something you can fully assess in a camera shop and it took a good few weeks of daily shooting to realise that, for me, the retro styling of this camera comes at the cost of handling.  I tried adding a Smallrig L grip but I found that this made the camera feel much larger and less portable so I ditched and went back to just using a neck strap and shooting 100% with both hands.  Of course, this isn’t a drama but after a full day of shooting my hands ached and I longed for the single-handed ‘shootability’ and featherweight experience of the Sony A7CR.  The Nikon ZF feels like a dance and very well made camera which is great – but with that you need to be able to grip if firmly if you’re to shoot with confidence and I never really managed to find a way to work where I’d forgotten about the weight and shape of the camera, it was always on my mind.
• Lack of Joystick – a personal thing but I love a joystick to move AF points around and navigate menus rapidly.  I missed it on the Sony A7CR and I missed it on this camera.  There’s plenty of real estate on the back of Nikon ZF for a joystick and I don’t think that adding one would compromise the retro vibes at all.  I really hope this camera line gets one if they release a MK II.
• Articulated Screen – for me, the fully articulated screen makes little sense on the Nikon ZF.  I know content creators want a screen that can be used in a ‘selfie’ mode but this camera aspires to a retro aesthetic with a design that feels aimed at photography enthusiasts.  A simple tilt screen or one akin to the Sony A7R/9 MKII/1 MK II that can tilt and or rotate would make more sense to me.  A benefit of it being fully articulated is that you can fold the screen away totally though.  So I’m sure as many will disagree with me on this point as agree.
• Vintage/Compact AF Lens Options – finally, I think we need Nikon to release more lenses specifically designed for the Nikon ZF ‘look’ or we need more third party manufactures to be allowed to build them.  The SE line is extremely limited right now and the modern and very clean looking Nikon S lenses just don’t look right on this camera (to me anyway).  The new f/1.4 range are also not a great match.  The Sigma ‘i’ or ‘Contemporary’ lenses would look great on the Nikon ZF as they have retro styling and aperture rings but, at the time of writing, you have to use an adaptor to open up this range of lenses.  I know the Nikon ZF has a unique and highly rated manual focus-assist feature and there are adapters aplenty but it would be great to see a wider range of lightweight, vintage-inspired native Z-mount AF lenses.  It would also mean that this relatively compact camera could be kept compact and the difficulties of handling large, heavy lenses on this body avoided.

Summary

The Nikon ZF camera is a wonderful camera to look at and captures stunning images.  In combining cutting edge AF, fantastic colours and a wonderful 24MP full-frame sensor with such a beautiful vintage-style body, I think Nikon have created a bit of a classic that has rightly attracted a lot of fans already.  If you’re in the market for a relatively compact, attractive and well-built interchangeable lens full-frame camera containing the latest AF tech, the Nikon ZF currently occupies a pretty unique space.  For me, it’s just handling and native lens choice (that match the body) that let the Nikon ZF down.  Handling is of course subject and the lens choice is easily overcome if you’re willing to use adaptors or go down the manual focus route.  When you come back to the price though, it’s really hard to criticise this camera too hard – bang-for-buck it’s an absolute steal and can only get better as lens choices widen and maybe a MK II comes along to address some of the handling issues that I (and I think many others) have raised.

Thanks as always for reading and again, feel free to drop any polite comments or questions below!

Andy