The Nikon Zf is arguably one of the best cameras for the money that Nikon makes. And after buying one last year, I decided to try my hand at using custom profiles. So I went beyond just loaking up Ektachrome. Luckily, there’s a way to get the output look like that of the older Nikon D3s camera. We decided to have some fun with this review review update, so check it out!
For the entire review, you can click this link to read it. Want one? Check them out on Amazon. Below is the updated text from our Nikon Zf review.
Ease of Use Update January 2025
In theme with the classic nature of the Nikon Zf, I decided to dive into the early digital camera trend. And so using Nikon PC, I ended up downloading their Nikon D3s camera profile and installing it on the Nikon Zf. You can read more about the website in our interview. When I took the glimmerglass off my 40mm f2, the colors seemed to line up with the stuff I’d seen and made from this camera many years ago.
In 2010, when I first fully reviewed the camera, folks were really just getting into using Lightroom. But I, as a poorer college student, used Photoshop elements instead. And often all that I’d do is contrast, sharpness, clarity, and saturation adjustments. This is what everyone else did who didn’t want to make everything into an HDR the way Trey Ratcliff was telling us to do.
The big difference here though is how much Nikon’s auto-white balance settings have changed. For several years, they were really awful. But in the past few years, they’ve improved and the images don’t look like they’ve got an odd shade of green over them at all times.
The sensors back then looked something like Micro Four Thirds cameras do today. In fact, I’d state that M43 does a better job with making images appear more color rich. But I surely remember how Panasonic’s cameras often put out images that felt bland and stale. This is part of what gave way to the idea that we had to enter the digital darkroom (post-production) to make the images appear all magical.
Fast forward so many years later, and we’re trying to do less post-production.
Today, the cameras like the Nikon Zf are capable of doing pretty much everything that you’d need to do. What’s more, the lenses are just so good and highly capable. So to get the fuller effect of how the Nikon D3s renders images, I used a classic Zeiss lens and paired it with the Nikon F to Z II adapter.
This was a time, much like today, where photographers would never want to stop the lens down of certain optics on the market. It’s widely accepted that many photographers perhaps forgot that the Zeiss 50mm f1.4 had other apertures. Back in 2010, I tested this lens on the Canon 5D Mk II and made my own edits. And back then, it was beautiful. Today, it surely still is too. The colors, when combined with the D3s profile in-camera look really lovely. To add to that more, we used our upcoming early digital presets for Capture One.
To be sure, we checked to see if something like this wasn’t already in Nikon’s camera. And when using the natural or other color profiles built in already, we couldn’t get it to look the same. So if you really want those classic looks, upload the profile to your camera or check out our presets when they launch in early 2025.
