A Weekend with the Z6 and the Noct-Nikkor 58/1.2

A took a weekend trip to a friend's wedding in Phuket, Thailand and had to travel light. I only brought the Nikon Z6 and my Noct-Nikkor 58m f/1.2 Ai lens (with a third party F to Z mount adapter).

 

Many things about the Z6 annoy me compared to my D700, but I bought the Z6 specifically to be able to focus fast manual focus glass like the Noct better than is possible on a DSLR.

 

The Z6 battery life is poor, it's not as comfortable to hold, Bluetooth transfer of even 2 MP files is so excruciatingly slow that I turned it off all weekend. There's some strange non-linearity with the exposure as I stop down the aperture for which I need to manually compensate. Easy exposure compensation doesn't work. I have to run my MF F-mount glass in full manual mode, which means setting a reasonable exposure, and letting Auto ISO do the work, and then double-checking that the ISO doesn't go up to 10,000 or that the ISO isn't pegged at ISO 100. And I have to do this all over again when I'm in video mode. The exposure doesn't compensate if I'm zoomed in to check focus. The eye sensor broke after a couple weeks and I have to manually press the button next to the viewfinder to swap between the viewfinder and the rear monitor. Video doesn't auto rotate. If I accidentally switch back into still photo mode before I press the Record button again to stop the video, I loose the video. Help doesn't work in the menus. The sensor gets dirty more easily (which I'm only reminded of during rare excursions to f/11).

 

Am I complaining about all those warts?

 

Not after I look at the images on my monitor. Absolutely gorgeous IQ and perfect focus almost all of the time, even wide open. Oh, Noct.

 

Honestly, I'm still a little annoyed at those warts because they seem to be things that Nikon has solved in the past or are trivial to solve, but overall I'm not complaining. With my D700, even with an auxiliary focusing screen, getting good results at f/1.2 came to down luck, prayer, and some focus bracketing at 5 fps. With the Z6 getting good results just requires stoicism in the face of ergonomic annoyances.

 

Yeah, even with the inconvenient warts, some of which are probably fixable, the Z6 can do so much better with certain lenses than the SLRs they were originally made for ever managed. I remember trying to use the 50 f/1.2 on my D200 and never got a single sharp shot. I fail to understand the whole bluetooth thing. Worthless and I just carry a card reader that's lightening fast.

I fail to understand the whole bluetooth thing.

 

I use Snapbridge with my D500 and iPhone XR connected via Bluetooth.

 

I actually don't use the photo transfer function, as I don't want to waste phone storage space or batteries(on the camera or phone) to transfer tiny images.

 

Instead, I use it to automatically GPS tag photos, and as a secondary function to set the clock on the camera. In my mind, the former especially is a handy feature since the Nikon alternative requires a big tumor on the hot shoe that's an extra $100(rather than using something I already have and always have with me).

 

I can see the image transfer being handy if I wanted to immediately have photos to post straight out of the camera to someplace like here or other social media, but if I'm going to do that I want to take the NEF and work it over before sharing.

 

In my mind, it's worth setting up if you have a camera and phone that support both, but I don't live and die by the feature.

 

I can see it being MANY times more useful to me if there were a computer application that allowed the wireless transfer. If at home, I could pair through my home WiFi, or if on-site somewhere could set up a laptop in the corner. Having it transmitting throughout the day wouldn't be a huge deal, and would also be a nice real-time backup.

Back in February, 2019, I had taken my Z6 to Antarctica for 2 weeks, and I used it outside quite a bit, mostly capturing videos. I never found battery life on the Z6 poor, not even in a fairly cold climate. (February is summer in Antarctica. Temperature was around freezing when I was there, not really that cold.)

If you wonder about the battery life of Z6, this video is a good one to watch. He did 3 different rather intensive tests, each based on 1 fully charged battery.

Although I confess to using AF and AF lenses most of the time, I still have a lot of good MF glass that I do like using. I could not get reliable MF results with DSLRs, especially with fast WA lenses. I can mix and match different lens mounts readly with the Z6, also.

 

Accurate manual focusing and, I think, increased AF accuracy are two of the best features of my Z6 that is now, warts and all, my main user camera. Still have a D3s and D3x around for action if I need it.

 

Looking at the images from the big trip I took this past summer, I am convinced that accurate focus and "what I wanted" exposure contributed to a higher percentage of keeper shots that did not need post processing, compared to my previous DSLRs (D810 and earlier)

 

I did have to dial in exposure comp more often than I would have expected, but that was "almost" fun with the WYSYG electronic viewfinder.

 

Maybe it is because I don't shoot video, but I found that the battery life was entirely adequate for my usage, it is a good bit better than I expected. And the snapbridge worked well for me to quickly share an image from my phone, had no issues with it.

So, is accurate MF with the Z6/7 easier/better than MF in LV with the D850?

 

...and if so, err, why?

 

The method of focus with DSLRs is very relevant here. It seems people are comparing Z EVF MF with DSLR OVF MF and not DSLR LV MF.

 

MF with modern DSLR VF focus screens has always been bad/difficult.

Mike, I have the AF on button on my Z6 programmed to give me 100% view of the selected focus point, so I can easily toggle between full and zoomed view for critical focusing. So, I am comparing the accuracy achieved at 100% view to DSLR OVF. May not be fair, but in practice it works well for stationary or slow moving subjects, especially where the DOF is very narrow.

 

Maybe I should have tried live view more with the D810, but I never envisioned sticking a giant loupe on the back. Always considered DSLR live view as more of a tripod thing.

So, is accurate MF with the Z6/7 easier/better than MF in LV with the D850?

...and if so, err, why?

Display resolution is key here. The LCD in the back of the D850 and Z6/Z7 have roughly the same number of pixels (2.1-2.2M); the EVF on either comes in significantly higher (3.5-3.6M). The discrepancy is even larger on my A7RIII where the LCD in the back is a bit better than the one on the D810 (essentially half as many pixels as on the D850) and the EVF is about at par with the Z6/Z7. The A7RIV now has a 5.7M EVF, as do some Panasonic FX cameras and the Leica SL (if memory serves).

 

I have used the Sony A7 and A7II with a few manual-focus lenses; their EVFs have about the same resolution as the back LCD on the D850 - sufficient but more would have been better.

 

Maybe I should have tried live view more with the D810 ... Always considered DSLR live view as more of a tripod thing.

Despite the low resolution LCD manual focus might still have been better than through the EVF - except during AF fine tune, I never actually tried. Like you, I always considered live view on a DSLR to be a tripod thing (and those stay home most of the time).

Edited December 3, 2019 by Dieter Schaefer

There's some strange non-linearity with the exposure as I stop down the aperture for which I need to manually compensate.

Strange indeed. Didn't seem to have that issue with adapted lenses on any of the Sony A7 bodies. Is it just with this particular lens or with any adapted one?

With my D700, even with an auxiliary focusing screen, getting good results at f/1.2 came to down luck, prayer, and some focus bracketing at 5 fps.

How did you get focus bracketing at 5 fps with an MF lens on a D700?

Don't tell me you were just twisting the lens ring back and forth while the camera rattled off multiple frames?

Handheld?

 

I don't find an issue using the back LCD for magnified LiveView focussing. Or at least I don't find the 'low' resolution of the LCD an issue. It's still easier to see the peak of sharpness than with any optical viewfinder or any SLR screen I've ever used. Barring use of a view-restricting 6x eyepiece magnifier on a fine matt screen.

 

And don't get me started on split-image 'rangefinder' circles!

Don't tell me you were just twisting the lens ring back and forth while the camera rattled off multiple frames?

How else can it be done? ;)

How else can it be done? ;)

 

I focus bracket my f1.0 lens by moving my head forward and backwards. 'Sounds weird but it works. We're talking about 1-2 inches forward and 1-2 inches forward. I rarely have need to do this but it's worked for me when I'm not quite confident in the focus.