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Nikon USA Mirrorless Z System Launch Demo Events


ShunCheung

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The number of attendees for each event is limited due to sitting capacity. My local event is at San Jose Camera (in California). As far as I know they filled up within a few hours. Some of my friends in Southern California managed to sign up just the day before the event. Therefore it all depends, but I would check before walking in. There is a chance you will not be able to get in.

 

Two years ago we had the D5/D500 launch event. At the time there were two major Nikon dealers in the Santa Clara County area (south San Francisco Bay). Therefore the attendees were split between Keeble and Shuchat and San Jose Camera. I went to Keeble and Shuchat and it was quite crowded, but unfortunately they closed down later in 2016. Quite a few regional camera stores have gone out of business in the last 5 years or so.

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I went to the event sponsored by San Jose Camera (California) on September 4. It was held at a larger venue, a community center. I figured there must have been about 150 people there, but the place was not quite full.

 

One thing the Nikon rep pointed out is that the Nikon-brand XQD cards are for the European market only. Nikon USA is not planning to sell those XQD cards in the US. Therefore, it will be Sony and Delkin for now; maybe Lexar will rejoin that market.

 

I took at look at the new EN-EL15b battery, and it looks identical to the EN-EL15 and EN-EL15a. If you would like to charge the battery inside a Z6 or Z7 using the USB port, you have to use the EN-EL15b. Otherwise, the EN-EL15, the 15a, and 15b are totally interchangeable; you can use the EN-EL15 inside a Z7, and you can use the EN-EL15b inside a D7000, etc. The Nikon technical rep is not sure what makes the EN-EL15b different so that it can be charged inside the camera.

 

The new 24-70mm/f4 S lens in Z mount is compact and well built. Besides 24-70mm, it has a storage setting such that the lens length contracts further, to shorter than the 24mm setting. That kind of construction is similar to some of the latest 18-55mm DX lenses and some Nikon 1 lenses.

 

I like the EVF on the Z7. I pointed the camera to fluorescent lights in the ceiling, and there is no overexposure in the EVF. I guess all EVF in 2018 are much better than those from 3, 4 years ago.

 

I brought my D750 to put it alongside the Z7, and the Z7 is clearly a lot smaller and thinner, but the mount is much bigger. Personally, I very much like the size of the D750, and the Z7 is too small a camera for my preference, but if I want to carry something compact, it would be a good choice. Just don't put a big lens in front of it.

 

Z7_D750_7452.thumb.jpg.8eb43afeebecfe5d1c2c8b87a3385d95.jpg

 

24-70_7445.thumb.jpg.c97ef6e32f347ad71d35ed2016f065ca.jpg

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I also asked the Nikon rep how to select metering modes on the Z7, since there is no dedicated button to choose among matrix, center weighted, and spot. It turns out there is an i button on the back. You press on the i button and various options will appear on the rear LCD. You select the metering mode icon on the screen and then rotate the main command dial, which is a cylinder on the top rear right corner.

 

Keep in mind that the Z7 is a much smaller camera and there is less real estate on the back for dedicated buttons.

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I was unable to go to the actual event here in Salt Lake City at Pictureline yesterday, but I stopped in the store for something else earlier. The Nikon reps were just arriving so I got to see the camera for a couple minutes in real life. I liked the size and weight of it, and I thought the lenses were quite a bit smaller than what I was expecting based on internet chatter. I liked the size and feel of the camera, I don't have tiny hands but I have a bad neck, and I am constantly dealing with how to carry my gear, so my desire for a lighter, smaller camera would be different than Andrew Garrard and ShunCheung. The images that the rep had taken with the cameras were impressive. So my meeting with the Z series was really brief but positive. So I was kind of fangirl when I left. I would really consider this line as an option just to rid myself of weight hanging from my neck. The images they were showing were both with Z lenses and the FTZ adapter, really no visible difference, and they said no difference in focusing ability. Definitely something I will be considering.
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I was unable to go to the actual event here in Salt Lake City at Pictureline yesterday, but I stopped in the store for something else earlier. The Nikon reps were just arriving so I got to see the camera for a couple minutes in real life. I liked the size and weight of it, and I thought the lenses were quite a bit smaller than what I was expecting based on internet chatter. I liked the size and feel of the camera,

yardkat, glad you like the camera. Someone else went to the Salk Lake City event last night (September 4, 2018) and posted a lengthy report on DPReview:

My (brief) experience with the Z7 tonight. Somewhat long post.: Nikon Z Mirrorless Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

 

Paul Van Allen from Nikon did the presentation in Salt Lake City. Paul is an experienced instructor whom I have met a few times. In San Jose, the Nikon rep was Jeff Mitchell, whom I have also talked to a number of times before.

 

At the San Jose event, they showed the following video presented by a Nikon optical engineer about why they are using a 55mm mount diameter and a 16mm flange distance. The engineer has a heavy accent but there is also English subtitles. Note that he is writing things backward "from behind the glass."

 

Edited by ShunCheung
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yardkat, glad you like the camera. Someone else went to the Salk Lake City event last night (September 4, 2018) and posted a lengthy report on DPReview:

My (brief) experience with the Z7 tonight. Somewhat long post.: Nikon Z Mirrorless Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

 

Paul Van Allen from Nikon did the presentation in Salt Lake City. Paul is an experienced instructor whom I have met a few times. In San Jose, the Nikon rep was Jeff Mitchell, whom I have also talked to a number of times before.

 

At the San Jose event, they showed the following video presented by a Nikon optical engineer about why they are using a 55mm mount diameter and a 16mm flange distance. The engineer has a heavy accent but there is also English subtitles. Note that he is writing things backward "from behind the glass."

 

I'll read the SLC event detail, sounds fun! I think they were intending to play that video as well last night, at least that's what the woman who was also there mentioned.

They know how to treat you nice at Pictureline, btw...I went in all cranky and left feeling amazing. They treated me like a queen and acted like I had a right to see the camera before the presentation. Which I don't, I don't do this for a living, and it's obvious. But they still treat me as important as the folks who go in and buy the top of the line gear like it's no trouble. So kudos to Pictureline. :)

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I don't have tiny hands but I have a bad neck, and I am constantly dealing with how to carry my gear, so my desire for a lighter, smaller camera would be different than Andrew Garrard and ShunCheung.

 

Give it time. :-) I nearly killed myself carting a fairly full camera bag out to Skookumchuck. I'm in a race to save up for a 400 f/2.8 before my body falls apart too much to use one. I've lost a tiny amount of weight, and I'm starting to worry about my integrated elbow prop. Fortunately Nikon, Sony and Canon have all made relatively light big supertelephotos recently.

 

The images that the rep had taken with the cameras were impressive.

 

That's good to know. I've read a 1-series book in Nikon UK while waiting for my camera, and it was a pretty awful example (not showing off the advantages of the system, not being particularly good photos, no offence to the shooter); they've now replaced it with some dSLR wildlife books.

 

Note that he is writing things backward "from behind the glass."

 

Or, to spoil the magic, they horizontally flipped the video. (I actually can write mirror writing, having taught myself during bored school bus trips when I wanted to write messages in the steamed-up windows. But not very neatly.) I'd have liked it to go into more detail of the optical benefits, to be honest.

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