[Music] Greetings again everyone a couple of Years ago now I tested out one of the Coolest cameras I've ever handled Nikon's zfc isn't that beautiful there Ever since it came out though Nikon fans Have been asking for a full-frame z Mount version of the same thing and it's Finally here the neon ZF with Gorgeous Build quality extra controls and a Distinctive retro style based off of Their old fm2 film SLR camera from the Early 80s this is an attention grabbing Offering while still containing some of Nikon's best technology to make it Hopefully an excellent camera to use With its fullframe 24 map sensor its Price of £2,200 body only or about $2,000 is not cheap by any means but This thing is designed to compete with The likes of the Canon R6 Mark I and the Sony a74 so if the performance is here It could actually be fairly good value I'd like to thank Nick on UK for loaning Me this lens for a couple of weeks for Testing although as usual this is a Totally independent review the camera's Body is a little weighty at 710 g a Little heavier than a competition but Its build quality is very solid being Made of magnesium alloy but with a Tactile faux leather grip and edges the Camera will be available in six other
Colors I wish I could have tried the Orange one its design features a far Smaller grip than usual although there Is a little lip there to hold on to I Had no problem holding the camera at all It was fairly comfortable but the small Grip alongside the camera's harder edged Design means that it will be a bit of a Pain when using bigger heavier camera Lenses and the rather High weight of the Camera itself in the first place means That your shooting experience will be Way more pleasant with a small prime Lens attached to it this camera has one Of neon's full frame 24 megapixel Backside illuminated sensors inside Which is probably the same as the Z 6 Mark 2s which is no bad thing at all That sensor is image stabilized here's Some footage with stabilization off and Now turned on as you can see it does an Excellent job here with just a very slow Gentle wobble to be seen and it's well Behaved when tilting and panning the Camera features neon's excellent xped 7 Processor making it very fast to use Handle and leading to other improvements Such as hopefully better image Processing 4K 60p video a burst speed of Around 14 frames per second as well as a JPEG only C30 mode that uses a video Stream to shoot 30 frames per second Images with a pre-burst option also the Camera can shoot compressed raw uh be
Careful with that option no as it won't Be compatible with some third-party Processing software it can shoot an hgif Mode mod also I wonder if HF will ever Replace jpeg the processor also helps The camera's rather Advanced autofocus System it's not quite up to the same Speed standards as the neon Z8 or z9 of Course but I had absolutely no issues With its subject tracking even when Shooting with an f1.2 lens and it Features a number of useful tracking Options also so all but the most Demanding Sports Shooters will be quite Happy here the camera body has some Quirky but cool design choices the Control layout is intuitive for sure but We'll still take a little getting used To if you haven't handled a retro style Camera before it's really satisfying to Handle all those dials though and those Controls and the buttons on the top are All made of brass which is pretty Gorgeous to feel in your hand the switch For video mode also goes further to Offer a black and white mode option That's really cool that nickon have done This although I can't imagine a black And white emergency that would Necessitate such a separate switch all It does is switch you over to the Monochrome color profile of which there Are three as you can see here a nice Touch carried over from the zfc is the
Little LCD aperture indicator which Takes me right back to the 1980s I love It this customizable button was Irritating to me though the fingers on My right hand kept brushing against it And activating it so I ended up turning It off alog together plenty of useful Buttons take up the rear space but Unfortunately no autofocus joystick the Camera has a 3.68 million dot viewfinder Which is lovely and detailed in line With its competition and at a 0.8 times Magnification it's actually quite big it Only had a tiny bit of lag to it a Little more than the fast nickon Z8 and Z9 viewfinders but still it was barely Noticeable the camera's touch screen Flips outwards which is always useful For video work or taking selfies and With over 2 million dots it's incredibly Detailed and bright enough for use in Any lighting conditions very handy the Camera comes with one of Nikon's en el15 C batteries which provide an average Shooting time about 400 shots at least In my experience maybe about an hour and A half's worth of video depends how you Shoot with the camera to be honest the Camera has two card slots One SD which Is pretty fast and unusually a Micro SD Card slot that got me scratching my head My assumption is that there simply Wasn't room to fit anything else with The camera's reduced grip size but Nikon
Decided that any second card slot would Be better than nothing and it certainly Is although of course micro SD cards are Comparatively a bit slow if the camera Is mounted onto a larger tripod that Will get in the way of the battery Compartment's door preventing you from Opening opening it and changing your Battery or memory card that's annoying But there's little that could have been Done really it's simply brought on by The shape of the camera rubber flaps Conceal the camera's in and out ports on The side USBC micro HDMI and headphone And microphone jacks I found the Camera's menu system to be a little Daunting just a little there are loads Of options here and not always in Exactly the places you expect to find Them thankfully you can customize your Own menu at the bottom of options you Like to mess around with regularly Overall the camera's build quality is Absolutely gorgeous here it is a thing Of beauty to hold and to behold but some Of its design quirks will take a little Getting used to and its body shape means It'll be a little uncomfortable to use With heavy lenses for long periods of Time anyway let's move on and look at Image quality as you can see here the Camera's raw files capture excellent Detail for a 24 megapixel sensor and the Jpeg file is looking pretty nice here
Too I'd say that sharpening is a little More aggressive than I like to see on Those jpegs but colors contrast all Fantastic I had to process that raw file With third party software by the way When I did so with Nikon's NX Studio Software it kept adding the same Sharpening as on the Cam's JPEG files And I couldn't turn that off maybe I was Doing something wrong anyway let's look At High ISO noise levels ISO 100 to 800 Look perfect it's only at 1,600 that the Finest details begin to get marginally Softer ISO 3200 still looks quite good To be honest but the fudging of fine Details gets more noticeable at 6,400 And 12,800 while still usable is a bit of an Emergency option or and for those Interested here is 25,600 and ISO 51,200 00 which look Rather like impressionist paintings but They're honestly not unattractive I Actually quite like this style of noise Reduction even if it's a little Heavy-handed anyway that's quite a nice Performance overall I think and quite Comparable to the equivalent Canon 24 Map sensor found in their R8 and R6 Mark II cameras these images are certainly Very Punchy and nicely detailed the Camera also offers a 96 map pix shift Mode and in my tests I got the best Effect with a 32 shot mode and of course
A steady tripod which you will need you Have to use computer software to Automatically Stitch those pictures Together but on a wing and a prayer and With the wind blowing in the right Direction you can get good results here Just make absolutely sure that nothing Is moving in your picture for this oh And as expected for a modern nickon Camera dynamic range is absolutely Excellent enabling you to boost shadows And lower highlights very effectively if You shoot in Roar of course well let's Move on and take a look at video quality At 4K up to 30 frames per second the Camera shoots the whole width of the Sensor down sbled from 6K fotage and the End result looks fantastically detailed With no visible banding or strange Artifacts nice although I do have to say From ISO 400 onwards we are seeing some Fine grain noise in the fotage just Subtly but it is definitely there here You can see that ISO 3200 is still Looking lovely and detailed but the Noise gets stronger at iso6400 and Beyond we lose a lot of detail and the Footage finally becomes poor still it's Good quality overall if you shoot in 4k Mode at 60p then we encounter a hefty Crop the equivalent of apsc instead of Full frame do this and your footage Becomes noticeably less detailed and That fine grainy noise is a little worse
Too up to ISO 1600 ISO 3200 and Beyond Just looks noisy so the 4K 60p option is There but it's not so pretty the camera Also has a high-speed 120 frame per Second mode shooting in 1080P high Definition and actually that footage Looks gorgeous with loads of fine detail Although of course it's not 4K rolling Shutter is a little on a strong side With this camera at 4K 60p and at 4K 25p Unfortunately but if you're shooting an Action sequence you can always revert to 1080p which makes that rolling shutter Disappear and the fidget itself is still Fairly high quality well I'm going to Wrap things up here although the camera Has some other features I haven't Covered including a Focus Shift mode for Focus tacking loads of neat picture Styles flicker reduction Interval Timer Shooting and time-lapse video modes Overall for your $2,000 I think nickon actually being Quite generous here and it's a Competitive offering the camera is of Course utterly gorgeous to look at and To handle but there are one or two Niggles with the build quality an Awkwardly placed function button there Uh battery and card store that's Inaccessible on a tripod there and it's Not so comfortable to hold with heavy Camera lenses but still with smaller Lenses it's a joy to use and there's
Absolutely nothing wrong with the image Quality whatsoever if 24 megapixels is Enough for you and for most people and Most users it often is the video Features and autofocus are all present And correct too if not the very best Available today but yeah no one in a Right mind would be dissatisfied with This camera unless you were doing pretty Strenuous Sports Photography and its Price is about right so it certainly Comes recommended [Music] Okay thanks for watching everyone I want To see more interesting cameras like These don't you I'd love to see a retro Style Canon camera one day well anyway a Special thanks to my patreon supporters Who make such a big difference to Keeping these sponsorship free uh Independent reviews coming check out the Link to my patreon page in the Description below where supporters get All kinds of exclusive bonus content CIA For now everyone
