Nikon Z f

The Nikon Z f is a joy to use and can be paired with older Nikon F mount lenses using the Nikon Mount Adapter FTZ II for an even more vintage shooting experience. Features and functions are also inherited from the Z 6II, Z 8 and Z 9, so it’s a camera with some serious shooting power behind it.

Introduction

Vintage-inspired cameras continue to capture the imaginations of photographers old and new thanks to their aesthetic and technological appeal. The Nikon Z f is an interesting example of this, providing a looking camera oozing vintage charm that is also packed with impressive digital technology and great overall performance, coupled with a tactile shooting experience.

Whether or not you buy into this type of package will always be a matter of personal preference, but as someone who grew up shooting film and has spent months, possibly even years cumulatively in colour and black and white darkrooms, I love what the Z f has to offer.

It’s certainly not perfect – what camera is? – but, with excellent AF performance, in-body Vibration Reduction, subject detection manual focus and much more, the Z f brings two photographic worlds crashing together with remarkable effect for a price of £2149/$1997/€2400 (body-only).

Design and handling

• Overall design inspired by the Nikon FM2
• Vari-angle touchscreen
• Weather sealed with dual card slots

The Z f is heavily inspired by the Nikon FM2, the iconic 35mm film camera from the 1980s. From the front, it could easily be mistaken for a film camera, and even the tactile controls on the top plate including the ISO dial and shutter speed dial could easily trick the uninitiated eye, with the exception being the small LCD screen that shows the current aperture setting.

It’s only when you get to the back of the camera that the digital nature of the device is fully revealed. On the back, you’ll find a 2.1m-dot 3.2-inch vari-angle touchscreen that can be turned to hide or protect the screen. There’s also a bright and clear 3.69m-dot 0.50-inch viewfinder with 0.8x magnification; the same viewfinder found on the Nikon Z6 II.

The Z f is, however, much larger and heavier than the average SLR at 710g. Despite the lack of a grip on the front of the camera, it has just a small grip plate that makes it surprisingly comfortable to hold. Unfortunately, there’s no thumb grip on the back, which would make the camera even more comfortable and easier to grasp.

So, with all this in mind, you’ll be unsurprised to hear that the Z f is best paired with smaller prime lenses rather than larger and heavier zooms that naturally unbalance the camera. You can certainly use larger lenses with the camera, but just bear in mind that this won’t provide an optimal shooting experience unless you’re shooting tripod mounted with a lens featuring a tripod collar.

Features

• 299-point AF system with -10EV sensitivity
• Impressive subject detection manual focus
• 8-stop AI assisted Vibration Reduction

Autofocus performance is excellent thanks to hybrid phase-detection/contrast AF with AF assist, as well as a 299-point AF point array with 273-points in single-point AF mode. It also provides -10EV low-light performance and works well in low-light situations, though AF is slower and less precise in darker conditions.

Subject tracking performance is also excellent with human, animal (with eye AF), car, motorbike, bike, train and plane subject tracking available. There’s even subject detection assist when focusing manually, which makes manual focusing incredibly precise compared to other cameras. Why is this so important? The Z f is a fantastic partner for vintage Nikon prime lenses when adapted to the camera using the Nikon Mount Adapter FTZ II.

The Z f can shoot at up to 30fps, which is more than adequate for a camera that’s not designed for sports and wildlife photography. Achieving this continuous speed of course depends on the speed of the SD and/or the microSD cards you’re using with the camera since these are what’s on offer with the dual card slots. There’s no faster CFExpress card support but, on the plus side, SD and microSD cards are far less expensive than CFExpress options.

The Z f also offers 8-stop, 5-axis, AI-assisted in-body Vibration Reduction, which is highly effective and allows you to shoot at much slower shutter speeds handheld than you could without it. This, combined with the excellent high ISO handling and low light AF performance make the Z f a great camera for handheld shooting.

That’s not all. Subject detection-assisted vibration reduction adjusts the sensor axis to achieve more effective vibration reduction depending on where on the sensor the subject is captured. So, despite the cool vintage charm of the Z f, it’s an absolute beast under the hood in terms of the technology and performance available.

Image quality

• Excellent image quality
• The same Expeed 7 processor used in the Nikon Z9
• Up to 4K 30p 10-bit video or 4k 60p with a 1.5x crop

The image quality produced by the Z f is nothing short of excellent thanks to using the same 24.5MP full-frame CMOS sensor as the Nikon Z6 II, but paired up with the Expeed 7 processor used in the Nikon Z9. This delivers some seriously impressive high ISO handling with an ISO range of 100 – 51,200 on the ISO dial on the top of the camera, but with a full native range available up to ISO 64,000 with 1/6, 1/3 and 1 EV increments.

Video can be captured up to 4K at 30fps or 4k at 60fps with 1.5x crop for up to 125 minutes, while slow motion capture of up to 120fps is available at 1080p. Footage can be captured in the H.265/HEVC (8 bit/10 bit) and H.264/AVC (8 bit) codecs with standard profiles, the flat N-Log profile for extended dynamic range and colour grading in professional workflows and HDR (HLG) video. Time-lapse capture is also available, alongside video shooting assist features including a waveform display.

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