tgreenhaw

I think the have a ZFc

kavitykid Loc: Maryland

I too am looking for an upgrade to my Z6. Trying to capture hummingbirds is not easy with its autofocus limitations. I had a fuji XT 1 and while the lens were excellent, at that time 200mm was the limit of their telephoto offerings. I have been a Nikon user since the late 60's but had switched to Fuji for a short time. I love the Z system, so I will wait for the Z6III before making any moves.

nikon123 Loc: Toronto, Canada

Do either the Z8 or Z9 have a better AF system than the Z6? I have not gone Z8 because I could not appreciate the added or enhanced features to justify the significant additional cost. In fact, a salesperson - evidently not on a commission structure - said to me that the Z6 is a pretty good camera and the later cameras Z6ii, Z7ii, Z8 and Z9 were good but not noticeably superior to my Z6.

kavitykid Loc: Maryland

Z8 & 9 have much better autofocus but they are out of my price range. I don't need all they have to offer so I will wait.

Grahame Loc: Fiji

Answer to your question is absolutely for me.

I'll base my reasoning on the main area of what I call 'challenging' camera work I do, which is covering race events where I'm photographing runners coming directly towards me to parallel to me. With the Z6, AF whilst good, the results relied very much upon my ability to position the focus point for correct framing and retaining the focus point on the subject. I'm well experienced at this and results were good, but it takes a fair amount of effort.

Having got the Z8, mainly for the 'improved' AF (I also needed to replace my backup camera) I found that in its AF 3D tracking mode I simply set the centre focus point, placed it over the subject face, activated AF, the camera decided the target was subject/face or eye and locked on. I could then frame as I wished and no longer the need for ever moving focus point position or having to use concentration staying on target.

Other differences of the Z8 such as resolution, fps were of little significance to me. With respect to the Zf it appears this has the same AF 3D mode.

Robert1 Loc: Davie, FL

Yes.
If you look at the picture I posted I already have it, but the Zfc is not a Full Frame (FF) camera; which is the reason why I will wait until the Zf is available in chrome style.

Blues Dude

I bought a Nikon Df several years ago, but if the Zf had been available then, I would have gotten it instead. I still have my FM and several rolls of film, but I'm giving it to my granddaughter when she gets a little older. She has a digital point-n-shoot now. I still have my darkroom developing gear, no chemicals, so papa will teach her how to develop film. Looking forward to that!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

No one has that much paper.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

I’m sorry you feel that way about Nikon. I still use my Pentax film camera and my
Pentax DSLR regularly.

Randyfrieder Loc: Long Island, New York

Agreed.
BUT…
each one of those paperweights invoke deep memories in me.
I can remember when I bought my first nikkormat with a 50mm f1.4, after working all summer to save enough money. I was all of 12 years old, and that camera is on display on the bottom row, in the middle.
My name is engraved on the bottom of the camera, because my dad’s company, which had the patent and was the sole manufacturer of the ring light, “Lester a Dine” (check it out in Wikipedia), they sold cameras to doctors and dentists, to document procedures and trauma.
I was able to purchase my Nikkormat camera, as a salesman’s sample. Nikon had a program for salespeople, where they could order one camera a year, because the company realized that if the salesman used Nikon kit, they would be more apt to push Nikon kit. And it definitely makes them more familiar with the products. That one time yearly purchase would be sold for 50% off the list price. But, because Nikon, really, Erenriech Photo Optical company, in garden city, Long Island. who was the importer at the time, was afraid that the camera would be flipped and the seller would make a little extra money, and they really wanted the buyer to use it, they required the salesperson’s name be engraved on the baseplate of the camera.
I never liked the font they used, kind of old Roman, but I was most likely the only 12 year old with a personalized Nikkormat FTn!!

That Hasselblad and I have shot over 100 weddings, plus numerous events, bar mitzvahs, etc.

The Nikon F, F2, F3, F4, and F5 on display also each have special places in my heart.
Another story, when I was 13, in 1971, my late father, took me to “Atlantic Camera” in lindenhurst, Long Island. because the Nikon representative, Raul Menendez, yes, I remember his name, was showing the F2 for the first time on Long Island.
And I was particularly impressed,
because my dad and Raul knew each other, because of his company’s relationship with Nikon, and I was rewarded at that demonstration, by ordering the F2, before we left there,
that day!!!

Yup, all paperweights,
I am proud to say that each one is still capable of doing the exact same thing they did 50 years ago. (Go find software, or batteries or memory cards, for my Z9, 50 years from now, yeah, good luck with that!)
They all work, and I will grab a different camera once or twice a week, and “shoot with it”, (play with it, and reminisce with them), without film. I am able to appreciate the precision construction that has enabled them to still function, and as long as they continue to make film, they can turn out the same amazing results that I relished, way back when. I have many fond memories of developing my film, making my prints, and bringing them into school, because I was always the photo editor of the school newspaper and yearbook, from junior high, until I graduated.
And I always had a camera with me, every day, at school.
As an aside, when I was 12, after homework was done, I would assemble all the components, and solder high voltage flash circuits, and capacitors, of the professional flash units (speedlight center, mighty light flashes) and ring lights, that dad’s company sold to pro ‘togs, and doctors, dentists, forensic specialists, etc. with parts that dad would bring home for me to build.
It was the money from that work, which enabled me to buy the first camera.

So…
One day,
my son will inherit the collection, and he will be on a site like this asking, “my dad left this for me, is it worth anything??”

Actually, just kidding, he knows all the stories, and has an appreciation for the aesthetics and functionality of the various units.
Trust me, that each body has stories.

Did you notice the little Olympus trip 35??
That was the camera my dad let me use from age 10-12.
And on and on!!!

The cover photo of a book about Diane Arbus, has her holding one of the flash units, that I might have made!!
And, she got this flash, when she borrowed it from “Weegee” a documentary photographer, who was famous for his answer to the question: how do you get such great news photos??
He said:
“f8 and be there”
For the record, as she says in the book, she never gave it back to him!!

I still have a few of these, some are on display, along with an early ring light, in my collection. And it still works. I made the one shown when I was 12 and used it with a high voltage battery, all through school. We used guide numbers, and the inverse square law of light to figure out our exposures!!!
Yes sir,
AMAZING PAPERWEIGHTS!!!!

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Randyfrieder Loc: Long Island, New York

Here are a few more of Diane Arbus. Last summer, if you visited New York’s famous Central Park, you would have seen a bronze statue of her, and of course she is holding her Speedlight Center “Mighty Light”.
The cover of her book has another different photo, of her again with her favorite camera and flash unit!!

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

People do talk of film using past tense. Yesterday morning I did have film in my Pentax camera, but then I went shooting. By the end of the day, I was delivering that film to the camera store to be developed, in the present text. These cameras can still do what they were built to do; I hope that is true of the Nikon Zf whatever 40 years from now.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Agree, I have many old paper weights.
Including a few cameras of my grandparents from turn of the previous century that I can match the negatives I have to so I know what camera took what photo. It is fun to hold those cameras, look at the photos and imagine them using them to take the pictures. I also have been to many of the exact spots where they were taken before they had been changed forever.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

I noticed things ‘changing forever’ when I was young, which is why I adopted the slogan “capture today before tomorrow comes and things change”.