It's quite possible that your custom WB transformation matrix isn't on the black-body locus and therefore can't be represented by a kelvin temperature. Why not compare the WB transformation coefficients? You may need another EXIF reader, but using exiftool, there's an entry of the form:

WB RB Levels : 1.638671875 1.294921875 1 1

that shows the Red and Blue channel WB correction coefficients normalized to the green channel. JPG files produced by the camera may not have that entry, so you'll need to look at NEF files.

DX lenses work just fine using the FTZ adapter, so don't worry about that. The only gotcha is that the Z bodies force you into DX area mode. Unlike Nikon dSLRs, the Z bodies do not give you an option to use a DX lens in FX area mode so DX vignetting on an FX sensor is irrelevant.

Unfortunately you'll have to try it to see if your particular lens works or not. Some Samyang/Rokinon 14/2.8 lenses, like mine, worked fine from day one. Others still don't work. Oddly, I have a Rokinon 135/2 which also works fine, but a Rokinon 12/2.8 I have didn't work originally, but started working perfectly with a Z firmware version around 2.20 or 3.00. Currently, I have the latest Z firmware, 3.12, installed and my 12/2.8 is back to flickering (aperture and screen brightness) again. I don't think anyone has been able to figure out what is going on with the Samyang/Rokinon lenses on FTZ-adapted Z bodies.

As you say, you can purchase an inexpensive dumb adapter to hold you over (with the compromises) until it gets resolved. IIRC, mine cost me about $12.

I did finally find a FZ200 to try out, and sadly, if you use the side focus button with Manual Focus and with AF style of AFC, it only single focuses (AFS style), so there's no true BBF capability.

Even if it had worked with with AFC AF style, that generation of continuous focus from Panasonic was almost useless, so BBF probably would have been very disappointing. I suspect that for Panasonic cameras, you'd need to have DFD technology before you had any chance of deriving some benefit from BBF.

Back Button Focus - which is turning the focus control off at the shutter button and move that focus function to another button on the back of the camera -- traditionally the <AF-On> button -- so that focus can be controlled completely independently of triggering the shutter release.

Ok, but that's AF lock, not BBF. It's there for a reason and it works, but it's not BBF.

Is that really the same thing? I admit that using the side focus button in manual focus mode is similar, but usually BBF is used in AF-C (continuous focus) mode wereas the FZ200 side "focus" button seems to provide an AF-S (single-focus) type focus to be used as a one-shot starting point for manual focusing.

The docs are notoriously bad as explaining the operation envelope, so perhaps it is misleading me and I can't get my hands on an FZ200 right now to try it. It does decouple the focusing from the shutter button, but I think many of us would argue that unless the focusing is continuous (AF-C), it really offers no advantage over the shutterbutton half press.

It's been a long time since I used the FZ200, but I'm pretty sure it has no way to do BBF.

Hey CO,

I keep seeing you posting this information, but I've got to say that has not been my experience at all. I've had the Z6 since it first came out and when I first got it, I spent some time comparing the low-light focusing with my dSLRs including my D500. My experience was the opposite of yours. The Z6 much to my surprise not only did better, but *much* better. It focused on things I could just barely, dimly make out with my unaided eyes and that I couldn't possibly have focused on manually with a dSLR. The D500 under those conditions really wasn't able to grab a good focus at all.

I can only guess that your experience may have been due to the fact that the D500 has a preference for focusing on horizontal lines were the Z cameras need vertical lines. Thus a Z might not do as well on something a D would do well on, and visa-versa. So it is possible that a D500 might focus solidly on a target that the Z doesn't. However, in most realistic scenarios, I find the Z6 to be absolutely solid.

Since the camera had just come out at the time I did those initial tests, it was with firmware version 1.0. As you hint though, later firmware updates have substantially improved autofocus, making the Z6's autofocus even better.



I think you meant to say "non-communicating manual lenses". Chipped (communicating) manual lenses work just fine talking with the Z body via the FTZ.

I'll just summarize by saying my Z6 is my favorite camera now over my D810, D800's, D600 and D500. There's no question that there are some niche areas where a D850/D500/D5/D6 would be superior such as extreme sports, but for most areas outside those small niches, I prefer the Z.

From the German word Nahlinse which means 'Near-lens'. It specifies the diopter, so +10 NL10 is redundant.

Nope. There's just one answer. I did write software to verify.

If you follow the rules already mentioned (digits 1,3,7 and 9 must be from the set [1,3,7,9], digit 5 must be 5, and the rest must be from the set [2,4,6,8]) there's only 576 possible combinations which are a lot easier to sort through and check than 9!=362880 combinations.

I think that fails at the 7th digit and 147258369 fails at the 8th . How about 381654729 ?

You may want to call or email AP-T (Albuquerque Photo-Tech) which is a Nikon authorized repair shop. I talked to the owner at AP-T some time ago about a D800 I have that is prone to back-focus more than my other bodies and he told me he had software from Nikon that would allow a global fine-focus adjustment of between -125 to +125. Meaning he could adjust the global base value up +40 for you (assuming the +40 relative adjustment is in the +/-125 absolute range).

If you are interested:

AP-T
4503 Menaul Blvd NE,
Albuquerque, NM 87110, USA
+1 505-881-6600
<http://www.ap-t.com/>
<vmayhew@ap-t.com>

How about deleting it, which kind-of sounds like it might be corrupted, and then re-download the latest version?