Last Updated on 02/14/2024 by Chris Gampat
The Nikon Zf was worth the wait. And the company picked the best time to launch it: amidst the monotony and boring features that every other manufacturer has been producing. All cameras feel the same. They’re all good, but they’re not fantastic. Well, very few are fantastic and stand out from one another. But the Nikon Zf is completely different. It embraces the retro looks that we’ve wanted for a very long time. And more than anything else, it needs to be held to truly be understood.
Table of Contents
The Big Picture
There’s a lot to love about the Nikon Zf. We can talk about the image quality, then go into the retro ergonomics, and we can wax poetically for a long time about how the camera feels in your hand. It’s also very reliable to be able to do most of what you want. Of any Nikon camera you get, this might be the one that you adapt lenses onto the most. It’s a pleasurable experience that has to be experienced to be understood and that leaves you speechless because you’re in love with the camera each and every time you pick it up.
I really haven’t felt an affinity like that for a camera in a long time.
We’re giving this camera four out of five stars. It’s the closest thing to perfect that we’ve seen all year. Want one? Check them out on Amazon
Pros
- Exemplary high ISO output at 51,200.
- Fast autofocus
- This is the first camera that made using the touch screen to get the focusing point pretty simple when the camera is to my eye.
- Great for street photography with colors that make everyone fall in love with your images
- The best ergonomics I’ve ever felt on a Nikon camera
- Pretty affordable
Cons
- No sensor shield
- I still miss having a joystick or a D-pad that was shifted up higher.
- Autofocus with people of color in low light moving very quickly suffers.
- Image stabilization is good, but still behind the Panasonic S5 II.
Innovations
The Nikon Zf does a few things that are innovative. It’s the first full-frame retro-style camera body. And for the most part, Nikon nailed the ergonomics of this camera perfectly. The exterior is all metal, which is something that we’ve only seen from Leica otherwise. It’s also the company’s first 24MP sensor camera with access to all of the company’s scene detection modes.
Gear Used
The Nikon Zf and 40mm f2 that we primarily tested were loaner units. We adapted our own Sony lenses to the camera, and Artralab sent us lenses to keep for the Nikon Z mount previously.
Ergonomics
These are taken from our first impressions reports.
Cameras were styled quite differently around the 70s and 80s. Forty years ago, the Nikon FM2 didn’t come with any kind of noticeable hand grip. It would have been super odd for the Nikon Zf to have a pronounced grip like on the Z6. That would totally have killed the aesthetics of the camera. But unlike the Zfc, which has no hand grip, a very subtle one has been added to the Nikon Zf. Not so noticeable that it takes away from the vintage styling, but enough to allow you to comfortably and safely hold the camera. I wasn’t clutching at the camera for fear of dropping it like I did with the Zfc. The inbuilt grip is a lot like the one on the Nikon F3 SLR.
If you’re someone who hangs your camera on your side rather than on your neck, the Smallrig grip (an add-on to the Zf in some countries) would be a welcome addition to the camera body for you. It’s much more pleasant to grab this and swing your camera to your eyes when you want to take a photograph. But otherwise, it’s easy to get used to the slimmer grip that the Nikon Zf sports. For all the images you see in the gallery below, I didn’t use the grip. I genuinely didn’t feel the need to have it on to be able to use the camera. The base of the grip is a thin plate with Arca Swiss quick-release compatibility.
If you’ve used Nikon digital cameras for some time now, you’d know that they almost always reserve the round viewfinder for what they consider professional cameras, not even prosumer ones. This would put the Nikon Zf a notch above the Z6 and Z7 series of cameras.
The switch that allows you to toggle between video and photo mode has a new addition in the Nikon Zf – a black-and-white mode. You can also choose between Flat Monochrome and Deep Tone Monochrome in addition to the standard Monochrome setting for this mode. It takes a while to get used to using this without looking at it, such as when you have your eye up to the viewfinder and want to switch between monochrome and color mode.
For the first time, full-frame Nikon mirrorless camera users have a fully articulating LCD.
Build Quality
The Nikon Zf is a weather-resistant camera. With that said, it’s incredibly durable, and didn’t once show us signs of failure. In fact, even with Sony’s lenses attached, it seemed to be even more durable than said lenses would be on Sony cameras. That’s saying something! However, it lacks a sensor shield. So, if you’re changing lenses, do it fast and make sure that the camera is powered down.
My favorite thing about the Nikon Zf is that when it’s cold outside and you hold onto it, the camera itself is also very cold. This reminds me that I’m holding onto a camera and it feels like I’m gripping a Nikomat or other vintage Nikon body. I love the feeling.
Quite honestly, this is the only camera that came out all year that I’d ever want to carry around all day. It even beats wanting to bring my Fujifilm X Pro 3 around all the time.
Ease of Use
Nikon’s menu system is as simple as it has ever been. There isn’t much to it here as you can navigate the entire thing via touch screen or through the D-pad. If you’re a seasoned Nikon user, then it will be pretty simple to use. I set the front function button to change up the autofocusing types. The back AF-L button was set to access the top part of the My Menu function, which was set to scene detection. That’s really my only gripe here — I wish that Nikon would’ve added a few more buttons in or moved some stuff around. The D-Pad being a bit higher would’ve been a great alternative to adding in a Joystick.
What users should also be aware of is the fact that there’s a dedicated shutter and ISO dial. Personally, I feel this is the most brilliant implementation of this format of camera. The aperture can be set with your index finger and so too can the shutter speed. The ISO is on the other side of the viewfinder. While these dials can’t be easily locked in, they don’t turn without some effort. It doesn’t feel like a chore, but instead like something that was carefully engineered.
Honestly, I’m not just saying it. This camera’s design and functionality are nearly the most perfect camera that I’ve ever used.
Focusing
Focusing is where things get a bit dicey. In good lighting and most low-lighting situations, the Nikon Zf is fast and capable. It can also track POCs in low light. But once those POCs are in very low light or moving very fast, the Nikon Zf has issues. So, for street photography, we really recommend instead using zone focusing. But the Zf is pretty mid for that. Adapt some lenses to it, and you’ll be fine. In fact, it’s even a bit better using a few Sony lenses if you have an autofocus adapter. We talk about that at length within this article. But what’s more is that if you’re adapting Zeiss Loxia lenses to the Nikon Zf, it’s really a street photographer’s go-to camera. All the problems those lenses have on Sony cameras aren’t happening when adapted to the Nikon Zf.
Image Quality
There’s a lot going for the Nikon Zf’s image quality. First off, this has the cleanest high ISO above the Sony a7s III that I’ve seen. With Sony, the details disappear after a while. But at 51,200 ISO, the Nikon Zf is a shining example for how the industry should be doing. Combine this with the cool black and white JPEG output and vivid JPEG output otherwise, and there’s a lot to love.
JPEG Output
Truly, I wish that the Nikon Zf had the ability to have something like Fujifilm film simulations. If it did, then the camera would be the most perfect thing on the market, or at least closer to it. But the black-and-white option is fun. Also, the colors, even at higher ISOs, hold together very well.
RAW File Versatility
In our tests, we were able to recover a whole lot of detail from the highlights and the shadows accordingly. But part of this comes from how beautiful Nikon’s colors can be in the right situations. Lots of Nikon’s image quality tends to be really green sometimes. I didn’t experience that this time around. Instead, it was just really vivid and felt like the Nikon D700 all over again.
Raw File Versatility Update February 2024
Capture One Pro supports the Nikon Zf now. And wow! As if I didn’t need another reason to buy this camera just to adapt manual focus lenses to it. We’ve always stated that Capture One Pro is a much better photo editor than Lightroom is. But in this case, it really hits home. In Capture One, you can access the Nikon image profile curves such as Vivid, Monochrome, Flat, etc. Then you can combine this with the ProStandard ICC profile to make something really gorgeous. On top of all this, Capture One has a few great presets of their own. In this case, I used their film presets.
Lots of these images were shot with the Zeiss 35mm f2 Loxia or the Sony 35mm f1.8 FE adapted to Nikon Z. Then they were edited in Capture One.
Truly, this feels almost like I’m shooting with a Leica. With that in mind, I really wonder what the point is of using Nikon’s small primes when their autofocus isn’t all that great to begin with. To clarify that statement, the autofocus on the lenses feels like the sadness and shame you experience after getting hyped up for the McRib every single year. The ZF’s autofocus is pretty decent.
Truly, it’s easy to see why the Nikon Zf was one of the most in-demand cameras of 2023. They’ve nailed it where Fujifilm has simply just forgotten its identity.
The Nikon Zf has a sensor that is very much like several other cameras these days. That’s to say that it won’t recover much detail from the highlights. Instead, you’re supposed to underexpose the scene, and push it back in post-production. This is kind of a disappointment because it means that I really need to edit in post-production unless I’ve got the HDR settings in-camera perfectly optomized. Then you have to do things like set the picture control to add film simulations to the camera. This way you won’t really have to do edits; and in Capture One you can most likely set the curve to auto to have it render the scene you need.
High ISO Output
Even when printing at 51,200 ISO at 17×22, I was able to get beautiful images. But when posting photographs to social media at 3000 pixels on the long side, the images also still held up with no issues. Sure, there’s some color noise in the blue areas. But it’s forgivable and can be edited with some patience in Capture One or Lightroom.
Image Samples
From day one, The Phoblographer has been huge on transparency with our audience. Nothing from this review is sponsored. Further, lots of folks will post reviews and show lots of editing in the photos. The problem then becomes that anyone and everyone can do the same thing. They’re not showing what the lens can do. So we have a section in our Extra Image Samples area to show edited and unedited photos. From this, you can make a decision for yourself.
Unedited
Edited
Who Should Buy the Nikon Zf?
If you’re jaded with modern cameras the way that I am, then go for the Nikon Zf. It’s a beautiful camera inside and out. And it’s quite capable of doing almost everything that the Nikon Z8 and Nikon Z9 can do. It doesn’t have the Z9’s low-light autofocus abilities. But it’s still more capable than Sony’s and Canon’s competition.
Also, get it if you love retro ergonomics, then get this thing.
Tech Specs
These specs are taken from Lensrentals.
Brand | Nikon |
Camera Type | Mirrorless |
Environmental | Operating Temperature32 to 104°F / 0 to 40°C5 to 85%Operating Humidity |
Exposure Control | Shutter TypeElectronic Shutter, Mechanical Focal Plane ShutterShutter Speed – Mechanical1/8000 Up to 30 Seconds in Manual Mode1/8000 Up to 4 Seconds in Shutter Priority ModeShutter Speed – Electronic1/8000 Up to 30 Seconds in Manual Mode1/8000 Up to 4 Seconds in Shutter Priority ModeBulb Mode, Time ModeBulb/Time ModeISO Sensitivity Range – Photo100 to 64,000 in Manual Mode (Extended: 50 to 204,800)ISO Sensitivity Range – Video100 to 51,200 in Manual Mode (Extended: 100 to 204,800)Center-Weighted Average, MatrixAperture Priority, Auto, Manual, Program, Shutter Priority-5 to +5 EV (1/3 EV Steps)-4 to 17 EV2500 to 10,000KAuto, Cloudy, Direct Sunlight, Flash, Fluorescent, Incandescent, Manual, Neutral White, ShadeYesMetering MethodExposure ModesExposure CompensationMetering RangeWhite BalanceWhite-Balance PresetsInterval Recording |
Flash | Built-In Flash/LightNoFirst-Curtain Sync, Off, Rear Curtain Sync/Red-Eye Reduction, Rear Curtain/Slow Sync, Rear Sync, Red-Eye Reduction, Slow Sync1/250 Second-3 to +1 EV (1/3 EV Steps)iTTLFlash ModesMaximum Sync SpeedFlash CompensationDedicated Flash System |
Focus | Focus TypeAuto and Manual FocusAutomatic, Full-Time Servo, Manual Focus, Single-Servo AF, Touch AF & ShutterContrast Detection, Phase Detection: 273-10 to +19 EVFocus ModesAutofocus Points – Photo, VideoAutofocus Sensitivity |
General | Battery Type1x EN-EL15c Rechargeable Lithium-Ion1x Hot Shoe1x 1/4″-20 Female (Bottom)Magnesium Alloy5.7 × 4.1 × 1.9″ / 144 × 103 × 49mm1.4 lb. / 22.2 oz / 630 g (Body Only)Shoe MountTripod Mounting ThreadMaterial of ConstructionDimensions (W x H x D)Weight |
Imaging | Sensor ResolutionActual: 25.28 MegapixelEffective: 24.5 Megapixel35.9 × 23.9mm (Full-Frame) CMOSSensor-Shift, 5-AxisNoneStills & VideoImage SensorImage StabilizationBuilt-In ND FilterCapture Type |