After the initial period of shooting with Pentax film camera’s I switched to Nikon for my professional work, like the F-801 and the F90X.
When the digital cameras came out, I used the D-100, D2H, D2X, D3 and D-810 with several F-mount lenses. They were all great cameras.
But I looked for a light and small travel camera. I was given an Fujifilm X-E2s, small, light, styled like a viewfinder camera. Almost too small for me to hold, bur indeed great for travel. Didn’t expect much of the quality of the pictures, but photographing with it was very nice and retro; the fun came back!
Plus… it turned out that the (only) 16 megapixel camera produced great image quality!
After that I was “hooked” to Fujifilm. I bought two X-T2’s with vertical grip and they turned out to be two identical work horses! indestructible, reliable, and the 24 Mp pictures were great! Only downsides were the slow and/or inaccurate autofocus and the low light performance because of the crop sensor.
In the mean time Nikon had switched to mirrorless camera’s with a new and bigger Z-mount. But those cameras were not the vintage feeling that the Fujifilms gave and I thought I needed to buy all new Z-mount lenses. (or use the first bulkier FTZ-1 adaptor.
I started looking to upgrade my gear to the latest X-T5 (40Mp) or the X-H2(s) with more megapixels, better autofocus and in-body image stabilization. Downside: no vertical grip on the X-T5 (to “photography oriented” camera), X-H2 serie being not retro, still crop sensor.
Choices, choices…
Then… Nikon came out with the Zf. A retro styled full frame camera with 8 stops image stabilization, the processor of the Z8 and Z9 (flag ship camera from Nikon), autofocus as good as the Z8 (which is top of its class) down to -10EV.
Same price point as the T5 and H2, depending on the country.
So, I bought it! With the 24-70 F4, a super sharp lens with Z-mount.
And through the TFZ-2 adaptor I can use my grey 70-200 F2.8G. What a party!
Focus is indeed really fast and accurate; the image stabilization pivots around the focus point (first camera that has that!) and when you work with manual lenses the focus locks on the same and gives you a green box when you’ve manually focused correctly (also a first).
While it is “just” a 24Mp sensor, you can shoot with pixel shift, so you can get a 96Mp image! And low light performance is really great (no comparison to the Fujifilms).
And all that in a retro styled package with brass dials.
So, do I make a definite switch? I am still debating, but this package is really good!
Downside: also no vertical grip; I own a limited amount of lenses for Nikon; the Z-mount lenses are super sharp but feel a bit “plastic” unlike the metal Fujinon lenses.
What do you think? Go for the Nikon system (again)? Stay with crop sensor Fujifilm system?
For me, experience and time will tell. …. …to be continued.