Nikon Z f | Full-Frame Mirrorless Stills/Video Camera with Iconic Styling | Nikon USA Model

Great camera; build quality like 80s DSLR - brass top plate and knobs, metal body. Very intuitive if you shot film back in the day - having an actual ISO dial up top along with exposure compensation is great. Autofocus is amazing (still working on optimizing that for my use). IMHO the SmallRig grip is a must; this camera is somewhat literal to the 1980s industrial design, and not the easiest to hold. The big surprise is the 40mm lens... I originally didn't love it, wide open its a hair soft... I ordered the 50mm 1.8 to compare, and it's fantastic, but a bit large, so sent back; the 40 - stopped down a bit - surpasses the 50 in sharpness.. while being a tiny, light lens. Overall a fantastic piece of kit.

This full frame camera has a great low light 24.5MP sensor, it will focus in almost complete darkness and the noise is very well controlled up to 12800 ISO. The images produced are very pleasing. Has built in image stabilization and has weather sealing.Its a blast to use in full manual, relying on the top dials for exposure adjustments. However you can also use it like any other camera with front and rear dial controls.I found a good way to use the top ISO dial is to set AUTO ISO on, and under sensitivity, set the max limit at the lowest to ISO 200 (although you can set this higher if you want). The camera will then automatically choose between ISO 100 to 200 (or what ever limit you set) if the top ISO dial is set to 200 or lower. Then when setting the top ISO dial to a higher ISO number the camera sets auto ISO up to (or lower) that new limit as needed for proper exposure. This allows you to quickly adjust the max ISO with the top dial without having to go into the menu or remap a button to disable or enable auto ISO. Also when an ISO is set, you can easily use the exposure compensation dial to fine tune above or below the metered ISO value. Alternative you can turn off AUTO ISO and just use the dial manually without the camera adjusting to lower values. Its very easy once you realize how Nikon engineers intended this to work.I found I needed the smallrig grip accessory as the Zf handles better with the added grip, especially with FTZ adapted lenses. Although its not an overly large camera, it did feel a little cramped when handling it. Its a design trade off for the stylish retro look.I got the 40mm F2 kit, and found the 40mm F2 SE lens produced very pleasing images, however I thought the build quality was too plasticy feeling and took a little away from the overall experience.The Zf is built like a tank, its very solid feeling, it has a metal frame, top plate and bottom plate. The rear button area is plastic. I think the flippy LCD screen frame may be metal as well. The battery door is plastic. The sensor doesn't have a shutter that closes when the camera is off or when the lens comes off. Care is advised when changing lenses to avoid introducing dust or contaminates into the sensor area.I noticed my AF-S 50mm F1.8 G focuses a little slower and hunts somewhat when mounted using the FTZ adapter.I had 3 bright pixels visible on the sensor on higher ISOs. They were resolved by running pixel mapping within the setup menu. This is not uncommon and each of my other cameras had similar issues.Finally I used the Snapbridge app to connect via bluetooth (no issue), but when I tried to connect via WiFi, it wouldn't work telling me the password was incorrect (password was correct). I had to configure the camera WiFi connection as an open network for my phone to connect to it. I was then able to browse images and download them to my phone. During the WiFi connection process while fiddling with the password, the camera froze up and required the battery removed in order to restore normal operations.

Ok... if your on the fence just buy it. Give it a couple days and you'll probably love it.Me: pro photographer with published work. Professional studio, event, and commercial photographer. Professional cinematographer with award winning work, studio, film, commercial work and a feature film under my belt.Do not believe any negative reviews without trying the camera yourself.I almost didn't order the Zf based on reviews from YouTubers.Yes... control wheels (dials) are customizable. You can have shutter speed and aperture like normal without using top dials. You can assign front and back as you like ie shutter speed in front or back etc.You can customize buttons... don't like the play button on the left, just switch it to a different customizable button. Very simple in the menus.No, the menus aren't confusing if you are used to nikons menus on newer cameras.And I've used everything from nikon to Sony to lumix to fuji... and in my opinion they all have their own learning curve for deep customization. So you'll get used to this menu like you would any other company's.The grip... this will probably be the biggest issue... I love it... reviewers seem to hate it. If you've ever shot fuji cameras or rangefinder style cameras, you'll have no issue.Many reviewers say you need to buy a grip to use long lenses... I've never relied on one handed use of a camera when I have a long lens attached... but apparently some people do. In that case, grips are available and pretty inexpensive.Weight... to me it doesn't feel that it's heavy, so much as it's weight isn't as balanced as other cameras. It look me by surprise for a few seconds... but that passed quick. There's heft. But it's a well-built substantial camera.Lowlight is great! Controls are great! Build quality it great! Color out of camera is great! And yes.. the camera looks great.These days all cameras are fairly niche.You buy one because you need it's video capabilities and another for photo capabilities. At this price, there are better cameras out there for video (s5ii being one). But in my opinion... the photo quality of this camera, especially in lowlight, really stands out.The log profile is great. I can easily match it up to my a cam or use the Zf as a primary cam for film work.I'd say overall this camera is targeted at photographers. My fuji xh2 is my video workhorse... 8k internal recording etc. But that's a $2,000 body with an apsc sensor. The xh2 is great for studio photography and in good light, but suffers in lowlight... the trade off for an amazing mirrorless camera for video was poor low light photography performance.The trade off here is average megapixels, decent video... but... one amazing photography camera.Just test it out in a dark room and you'll see where this camera shines.