[Music] Hey it's David Evelyn from the camera Store and today we're talking about the Nikon [Music] ZF today Dave and I are going to give Our Hands-On first impressions of the Nikon ZF so it is a very cool retrostyle Camera I brought along for reference a Nikon fm2 which I think the Nikon ZF is Being homaged too as far as the controls And layouts go yeah definitely some Inspiration here and so we're going to Get into the design of this camera who We think it's for and then some of the Technical features let's start with the Design of this camera because of course The Nikon ZF is all about style and it Has a lot of kind of highend technical Features as well and so let's talk about How they've balanced those two things Together I mean the old school cameras Like the FM two you would look at the Top dial and you look at all your Settings and make your adjustments Nikon Did it with the D series with a DF right But that camera felt a bit chunky didn't Quite quite hit it with that one but They've done a great job with this one I Mean it just looks like oh this is this From this decade or is it from like four Decades ago it's pretty well this girl Right here loves Styles I love that feel Of interacting with the camera that
Experience is really nice and I think Nikon did a very good job everything has A good quality feel to it I'm finding And the camera is a substantial weight As well it doesn't feel too lightweight To me it's 630 G so it it feels solid in My hands and I do like when you are Using these dials there they do lock if You want to control the those settings Through the dials on the camera rather Than the actual knobs you certainly can Lock them in and work it that way but You do have the option to kind of have That old school experience yeah we also Like the little touches like the Threaded shutter button that's a nice Touch it looks cool it kind of has a Nice feel to it and I like the little Window as well where you can digitally See your f- stop while the camera is Turned on and it just kind of gives like That overall vintage aesthetic uh 100% It certainly has really good styling to It this is by far Nikon's best retro Style camera yeah now in terms of more Of the modern side of things we do have A fully articulating screen and we also Have a 3.69 million dot electronic Viewfinder so this gives you that Exposure preview that we love about Mirorless cameras another cool feature I Like that's underneath the shutter speed Button here is the ability to go from Your video to Stills m but one little
Click over and you're in black and white Mode very simple but I really kind of Like that it's neat and when we start Talking about image quality and the look Of the photos that came out of this Camera I think it definitely needs to be Mentioned that their black and white Mode is awesome it does take on the look Of the profile that you were in last for Jpeg we can still shoot raw to your Backup memory card and that brings us to The media and Battery on this camera so If you haven't heard the news already Yes it has two card slots so having kind Of like a mid-range full-frame camera Two card Lots awesome however there's a Little bit of an argument on whether They made the right choice here so we Have an SD UHS 2 memory card slot and Then for something different we also Have a micro SD card one of those little Teeny cards as your backup what do you Think Dave you're just shaking your head Over here already I'm not a I'm not a Fan I think vast majority of people Using this camera are only going to use A single SD card anyways and I don't Know if you want redundancy or some Backup why couldn't they just fit in an Extra SD card you're telling me the Engineers couldn't figure out a way to Make that happen you know what I'm going To back them up because I think they Made a good compromise to maintain the
Sleek lines on this camera keeping it Very small I mean if you look where that Battery door is where those slots are It's a tight space so you would have had To make the grip a lot bulkier in order To fit another one and let me tell you That there's not a lot of limitations I Mean you still have all the video Capabilities for Stills you can still Shoot everything you can still shoot Fast the only small limitation that you Might have is in buffer depth when You're actually shooting if you have a Slower micro SD card in that slot yeah I I still claim most people only use it With a single card those little micro SD Cards they're so easy to lose and flip Out yeah I mean I could see like leaving It in the camera and just having it as Like a pure backup option so again I Think that it was a good compromise we Want to know what you guys think cuz Dave and I truly do not agree on this Feature now there's a lot more to this Camera than just very cool retro styling And it's when you get into the guts of This camera here now it shares the same Processor found in the Z 8 which is Great cuz it gives us a lot of power to Work with especially when it comes to Autofocus yeah and this is paired with a 24 megapixel backside illuminated SEMA Sensor it's not a stacked sensor but When it's combined with this processing
Power it gives us a lot more Functionality than we saw in the Z6 to So for example the autofocus is world's Better we're getting to take advantage Of the deep learning there's nine Different profiles so you can shoot Things like animals people Birds PLS Dogs cats and it's going to do an ex Excellent job of tracking you also have That 3D tracking in video which is very Important and so with this processing Power we're getting a lot more of that Advanced functionality that we saw in Like the pro cameras the Z8 which is Like double the price of this so a lot Of great functionality here yeah it's Really nice to see that technology Trickle down into a more affordable body And a very cool looking body yeah and I Like the files that come out of Nikon's Fullframe 24 megapixel sensor I think The color is really good you get nice Contrasty look especially in the jpegs Right out of camera there's not a lot of Tweaking that's involved and then of Course when you nail the focus that's Also very satisfying and I have to say There's an interesting feature here that We haven't seen on Nikon before where They have some manual focusing assist Tools so this actually takes advantage Of the face and eye detection and allows You to punch in easily on your subject's Eye so that you can really nail Focus
Manually so again aing into that more Like retro experience if you want to use The camera say in black and white manual Focus gives you some tools to really Nail that yeah it makes it sort of as Retro as possible and the functionality Of it now and also forget that there is A stabilized sensor which is very cool And it does have a very cool little Feature that it actually links Stabilization to the autofocus point so If it's up in the far right corner for Instance it's certainly going to try to Adjust its stabilization to best Accommodate that well not only that Dave But we also have eight stops of inbody Image stabilization so both on the photo Side and video this again is going to Give you that additional functionality And it also has a pixel shift option so You can put this on a tripod and you can Get up to a 96 megapixel image so you Can shoot that in the camera put it in Processing software and you're going to Have these like massive gorgeous highly Detailed images and then from an image Quality standpoint the 24 megapixel Files are really easy to work with I Find the jpegs at a camera have a nice Contrasty look to them I don't often Have to adjust skin tones too much and Then that monochrome mode that you can Do with a flick of a switch right into Black and white gives you some nice
Options too so you have the different Profiles and when you switch on the Black and white mode it will go to the Last profile you used I think the black And white images that are coming out of This Nikon camera are fantastic and I Love that you can just turn that on with The flick of a switch Yeah I mean if I'm Going to shoot the black and white Though I am going to shoot raw plus the Black and white I mean just in case to That to that second uh memory card D no No no no all in the same card all in the Same card one card it's a one card world For me with this Camera now this camera is not one I Would like pick up first if I want to Shoot Sports exclusively or birds in Flight I don't find the ergonomics quite Suit what I would like for that no but You can like if this is your second body You can still do everything that that You your Z8 no 100% although you know we Give it some of the frame rate I mean This does 14 frames per second with Mechanical shutter that you can't shoot Faster but there's some rolling shutter Potential issue with this this is the Fastest scanning sensor that's for sure Some Jello effect issues but but where I See this camera coming into play more is As a secondary camera if you already Have the luxury of owning a Z8 or a z9 This this is a fantastic little camera
To go traveling with all the same lens Is all going to work with it but you Have that kind of more fun play with This camera you get to use the Retro Style dials it brings you back to a time And then flipping over to black and White I mean that is the The Telltale Sign for me that Nikon it says I want You to go out and have fun with this Camera definitely and of course they put In like the manual focusing assist tools I think they've done a really good job Of balancing the two things I mean Anytime you kind of have a niche style Camera you could often have some Sacrifices here but I think they've Balanced out thech technology side as Well so you still have a very capable Camera on the still side but then even With video I mean we talked about Earlier you have a dedicated record B Fully articulating screen headphone jack Microphone Jack micro HDMI port and it Does have that eight stops of inbody Image stabilization but most importantly This is the first nonprofessional Nikon Camera that can do 4K 60 422 10 bit Right to the memory card and then you Know there's some other flexibility in The options as well so I mean this camera like you say it could Be an excellent second body for someone That does own like the Z 8 or the z9 They want something stylized that they
Could have as a second body still very Capable and then if you brought this Camera with you like on a trip or Everyday shooting you don't feel like You're sacrificing a lot I think they've Really balanced out those two things of Having something that's like a niche Styled vintage aesthetic camera that's So pretty and fun to use but then also Having a lot of that high in Tech no I Mean if you had the luxury of owning a Zed 8 or a z9 those are kind of like Hyper cameras right they're just Incredibly fast incredibly powerful Working tools for photography and I Think they sometimes take the fun out of Photography a little bit I think this Brings the fun into photography yeah and Dare I say if you're someone that wants Like that Fuji aesthetic you don't Necessarily want a PSC you don't want to Go like medium format you want something Kind of in between I mean this would be A good option that would satisfy that if You're someone that just wants like a Single body full frame a lot of great Features I think Nikon's nailed it I'm Excited about it I want to like keep it I don't want to send it back if I buy This camera I'm definitely going to get The small rig attachment to it because I Do find as slick as this looks when I'm Holding it for a long period of time you Certainly feel it in your hand like you
Have been sort of you have to hang on to It doesn't really have that big shelf Like you have with the grip the other Thing too is that if you just have to Hang on to this camera with its own grip You can't really use these dials as much As I would like to it's not quite as Comfortable or if you had the proper Grip there's a little more meat to the Camera and you can work the thumb switch Much easier but if you're only using the Retro style modes where you're using the Dials on top less of a deal like that Now I think though Nikon needs to go Even further with the Retro style of Things I like to see a camera with even Less features and even more Functionality closer to a more primitive Camera like the FM Dave's appearing to Those F yeah strip the bag having like Just basically a digital camera that Acts like a film camera I mean give me The film Winder and everything even if It's a fidget spinner I'd be happy with That fidget I think people would be Quite happy to have like a very retro Style functioning camera with far less Features and just a single card slot Interesting I don't know I think it's All about balance and I think neon did Nail it here with this camera but of Course I'm curious what you guys think What are your thoughts on this it's been Kind of out in the world for a little
Bit of time you've probably heard lots Of opinions we want to know yours so let Us know in the comments below and I a Making too big a deal about the micro SD Card slot on here follow us both on Instagram and if you're new to the Channel Please Subscribe and hit that Notification Bell so we can catch you Again very Soon [Music] [Music] Hey thanks for checking out this episode If you want to check out more of our Recent content click up here and if You're a Canadian you want to support Local check out the camer store.com down Here
