The Nikon Zf has finally landed in our hands for long-term testing. It’s an incredible camera. And by far, this is the single best feeling camera that we’ve used all year. In many ways, it’s a welcome reprieve from the monotony of the rest of the camera world serving out different variants of the same thing. We’ve commented before about how the Nikon Zf needed certain things to be successful. But the things that we talked about before aren’t necessarily the same. Instead, there’s a problem with the Nikon Zf that people aren’t talking about enough.
It’s Not What You Think
No, it’s not the lack of a joystick. According to our Junior Photo Editor Feroz Khan, the new processor makes the touchscreen interface so much better. Photographers using the Nikon Zf can use the dedicated D-pad or set the screen to move the autofocus point. If you set it to the top right, it’s very effective. It’s even moreso the case than we’ve seen with Canon, Sony, Fujifilm, and Leica cameras. In fact, I’d even say that it’s nearly acceptable. But it’s not as pleasing and sometimes requires an odd shift of the hand that I’d be happy to do without.
The camera is also said to autofocus down to really dark lighting settings. So far, we’re finding that not always to be the case. Indeed, this isn’t the Nikon z9 — and it shows.
But there’s a bigger problem with the Nikon Zf.
The Problem With the Nikon Zf
Some of you might not think that it is, but the lack of a shutter shield is a bigger problem than you’d think; and here’s why. First off, Nikon went all out to make the Nikon Zf as durable as possible with metal and all. So why did they miss this little thing? It’s not like it’s metal and IP-durability rated the was the Leica SL lineup of cameras are.
When you’re using the Nikon Zf and decide to change lenses, you’re going to have to be super careful, super quick, and effective at it. Otherwise, you might need to clean your camera sensor. The type of photographer that the Nikon Zf is going after is the street photography, documentary shooter, and the journalist. If you bring this to go hiking or to shoot landscapes, you’ll probably bring it along with a lighter lens of some sort. But nonetheless, this is truly the Nikon camera that you’d bring EVERYWHERE with you. However, if you’re changing lenses everywhere, you’re bound to get the sensor dirty. That wouldn’t happen with the Nikon z8 or the Nikon z9 — but those aren’t cameras meant to bring everywhere with you. They’re meant for serious work.
Indeed, I wouldn’t even want to bring the Nikon Z6 II or Z7 II with me everywhere either because they just can’t handle the situations that would be thrown at them on the fly. But the Nikon Zf is designed to do just that. With extremely good low-light autofocus, build quality that’s unmistakably great, and a grip that’s right for me but might be scoffed at by a lot of photographers, why would they compromise on the integrity of the camera sensor?
Earlier this year, Artralab released their excellent 35mm f1.4 Nonikkor lens that’s an ode to the vintage Nikon lenses natively for the Z mount. This lens doesn’t have any weather resistance. And besides working with Nikon’s terrible focus peaking (especially with a lens that has no confirmation contacts), you’ll now need to be careful about the sensor possibly getting dirty. Nikon would deflect this issue and say something along the lines of not using 3rd party lenses. But they have no right to tell us what to do with our cameras as long as the warranty isn’t being violated.
And even though they bill this camera’s durability, the issue isn’t covered by your warranty at all.
An Overall Great Camera So Far
Despite this shortcoming of the Nikon Zf, it’s so far a pretty great camera. I’d even argue that it’s the greatest camera to come out in 2023 because it’s so different. We did a preview of it a little while back, and really like it. But only time will tell how much of a problem the shutter shield issue is going to be. Thankfully, most of Nikon’s lenses explicity state that there is some sort of moisture resistance or dust-proofing. Tamron’s 3rd party lenses also have this level of protection.
If you want the Nikon Zf, pick one up on Amazon from our links.