Nikon Z f with Special Edition Prime Lens | Full-Frame Mirrorless Stills/Video Camera with Fast 40mm f/2 Lens | Nikon USA Model

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.

Clumsy operation with the PSAM / traditional dials combination design while the native z lenses offers no aperture rings. Very confusing!NO interval steps access when using SS dial for SS unless locking into 1/3 steps mode where you can only use back dial for SS.The menu is even worst than Fuji’s which is not organized well already. Some term/ name choices of the parameters were not as consistent in the menu to me. Also seems accessing “edit I-menu” function via MY MENU is not working. It could be user (my) error but I still can’t figure out after i spent quite some time on it.The play button should be placed on the right side. Putting all the way to the left top corner makes quick review / focus check after shots clumsy.The manual focus green box confirmation is amazing tho. Hope it also have Fuji’s split screen for manual focus to make final fine tune ( if necessary) even easier as pin focus point is not available for manual focus.The EVF is very nice but the refresh rate is quite slow in today’s standard. Some users reported on internet that they experienced EVF lag or refresh rate drop when shooting although I have not experienced such issue myself.The picture control- ( similar thing to Fuji’s film sim) is not as user friendly as Fuji’s film sim. It works to a degree but just not as intuitive as Fuji when customizing your own recipes. Nikon offers a software to that and there is a website out there dedicated to this feature but I am not sure if I can get the color easily as on the Fuji cameras still.Pros: built quality, mount / flange adaptability, nostalgic body design ( one of the all time best looking body besides Leica M bodies), tactile dials and controls, auto focus, 3D tracking, manual focus green box confirmation, image quality, one of the best AWB system out there, image quality is top notch, IBIS is one of the best also, simple standard jpeg SOOC color ( without sophisticated film-sim) is better than almost any system.Overall it is a nice attempt from Nikon. It is absolutely beautiful and well built with very nice IQ. But.. There are still lot of areas to catch up and improve to make a great old school digital cameras..something Nikon intends to make it to be.I would recommend this camera to more sophisticated users and to those who like the style of the look but don’t mind use it the way as a regular digital mirrorless.

This camera is an absolute workhorse. I shoot weddings and portraits, and the Zf gives me both the look I want and the flexibility I need. The color rendering is clean, and low light performance is impressive even without flash. It’s got that nostalgic body style but handles like a beast. Manual dials feel amazing in hand. Paired mine with a Tamron zoom and the Viltrox 24mm — haven’t touched my DSLR since.

I want to start out by saying the ergonomics of this camera are horrible and you will absolutely need to add a grip for it to be somewhat comfortable.Outside of the ergonomics the picture quality, auto focus, and image stabilization is outstanding. I primarily use this with small primes.Build quality is top notch and its little bit bigger and heavier than you might expect. It also makes a great back camera to my Z8 which is my workhorse.This camera is something that I highly recommend and I highly suggest getting the newwer or smallrig grips.

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.