Honestly, don't listen to all these haters here. None of them even have this camera. It is a joke to see them commenting on something they know nothing about. I have this camera and I have also been shooting Nikon since 1986 and used an FE extensively in that era.

Simply put. The Zf is amazing!

It operates just like the Nikon's of old but with all the benefits of a fully modern state of the art digital camera.

One of the respondents correctly points out that modern Nikon lenses do not have aperture rings on the lenses and as such you have to still control aperture with the front command dial on the camera and in this ONE way it is not like the FE or FM of old and that is true - but only for modern Nikon lenses.

You can adapt all of your old manual Nikon lenses via the FTZ adaptor and use them just as you would have in the old days. You will not get any EXIF data because these old lenses do not communicate with the body electronically but there was no EXIF data on the FE or FM either so this hardly takes away from the 'vintage' experience.

If you do want a fully manual experience and also want the EXIF data - Voightlander makes a full range of manual focusing lenses for the Z mount that have electronic contacts and YES have a manual aperture ring as well, so with these lenses you can use the Zf EXACTLY as you would have used the FE or FM. They make some really nice lenses for this camera - the 50mm f/1 stands out as a real gem - expensive but worth the price (and it has an aperture ring) - there are other lenses from Voightlander for this mount which also have aperture rings and are less expensive than the 50mm f/1.

Guaranteed - if you liked shooting old Nikons then you will LOVE this camera.

Hope this helps to set the record straight.
-PD

Sounds like we are in agreement :)
-PD

If you have a Z8 then you already have a D500 replacement. Simply shoot in DX mode and you will get the advantages of DX for your lenses and will still retain something like 19.5MP - basically the same as the D500.

The only reason Nikon would need to make a D500 replacement is for people that cannot afford a Z8 or Z9 - since you can you definitively do not need another camera to do what you are looking to do.
-Photography Discourse

The 70-200 2.8 S is better than the F mount. That said, the F mount is pretty good so if it is good enough for you the way it stands and any additional IQ is not needed then stick to what you have.

The 105 1.4 E is still as good as it ever was and frankly even better on the Z system - it now enjoys 3 axis image stabilization and focusing points across the entire frame - frankly it works better on the Z system than it did on the DSLR's.

I would not get rid of this lens, and that is coming from someone that also has the new 85mm 1.2 S (which is also a stellar lens in its own right).

In general, these are the F mount lenses that I have yet to get rid of (and may never).

1) 105 1.4 E
2) 200 f/2
3) 58 1.4 G - although I also have the 50mm 1.2 S which is incedible - I mainly keep the 58 1.4 G for travel because it is so small and light and the 50 1.2 S is so big
4) The Tamron 35mm 1.4 - this is one of the best lenses Tamron ever made and is better,a and cheaper than the Nikon F mount equivalent. When the 35mm 1.2 S is releases, I will certainly get it and then I may sell this Tamron lens depending on the size differential.
5) I bought a used 28mm 1.8 G lens for cheap - only have this because the 2.8 version for Z (which I also have) is just not fast enough for some of the lighting that I find myself in - should they make a Z version of this, I would sell this lens in a heartbeat.

Hope this helps :)

It is physically impossible to mount Z mount lenses to the Sony E mount. Nikon's ultimate edge, which is only now just starting to manifest, is its superior lenses that nobody else will be able to adapt.

You do not 'need' to sell your F-mount lenses and get Z mount lenses. The FTZ works very well and the Z9 drives the F Mount lenses via FTZ even better than does the Z6/7II's so it is now very nearly native in speed.

I shoot with both F mount and Z mount lenses, and I used to have the Tamron G2 versions of the 24-70 and the 70-200 - I have subsequently sold both, and bought the S line Nikkor Z versions of them, which are better, but that said the Tamrn G2's are very, very good and unless you are a professional getting paid (as I am), or just a strict perfectionist with a massive budget, I do not see a need for you to replace these lenses at this time - maybe in the future if they ever break or need serious repair then replace them.

As for the 105 1.4 E lens for F mount, I still use this lens to this day and do not have plans to get rid of it - it works exceptionally well via FTZ - better I would say than on a DSLR as it now enjoys 3 axis image stabilization as well as focusing points across the frame.

In short, if you are happy with the image quality (IQ) of the F mount lenses, they will be as good as they ever were via the FTZ and the focusing speed and acquisition (especially using a Z9 body) with FTZ will be near native - on Z9 it is arguably as fast as the Z mount lenses and if not it is so close that it really does not matter.

This all said, there is a difference in IQ between the F mount and Z mount lenses with the Z mount lenses generally being sharper out to the corners of the frame as well as being sharper at wider/wide open apertures.

Thus, if you are a landscape photographer, you may have a use case to get Z S line lenses for your landscapes especially if you are going to make big enlargements.

As a portrait photographer, edge sharpness matters a lot less. That said, I do have and love the 50mm 1.2 S line lens and also will be getting the 85 1.2 S line lens, but plan to keep the 105 1.4 E lens and continue using it as well, so a lot of the decision comes down to your individual use case - but I would not sweat the AF performance using F mount lenses on the FTZ - especially with the Z9.

Hope this helps :)
-B

I am a professional wedding/portrait photographer. It is a trend in wedding photography right now to use 'earth tones' - specifically a brown tone.

I personally do not do this as I think (know) that this is just a fad that will look dated in the future.

There are many 'pro' wedding photographers that are not very good technical photographers and do not have a background in photography - some have only been shooting in any capacity for 5 or less years.

By contrast, I have been shooting for over 30 years and started in the dark room - had my own dark room for over 15 years etc - I only mention all this because I think it is sad to see what is often passed off as 'professional' work in this industry - but if the customers are happy then so be it I guess.

As to this being the photographer's brand - I would suggest that you use a different photographer that does not do this. What this person is really saying is that they have pre-sets that they have given to a third party culling and 'color retouching' (apply preset and adjust exposure) service and they do not want to / cannot disrupt the process that they have set up for price efficiency reasons on their back end (i.e. they want to make more $ but charge you the same).

Finding a good wedding photographer can be really tricky and price does NOT always guarantee good product - price is mostly about the market that the phtotographer is shooting in and how good they are at marketing (little to do with how good they are a photography).

Hope this helps.

You should wait until next year - they will very likely be releasing a pro level DX mirrorless camera to replace the D500 and likely will also be releasing the 200-600 to go with it (assuming you are a wildlife/birder).

This lens is good considering its extremely versatile range. The IQ is decent - not spectacular (as you would expect), and the downside is that the manual focus ring cannot be used while the lens is in AF mode (you must change the switch on the lens to Manual Focus or you can damage the lens).

But on the positive side - it is a one lens does it all kind of lens, so if you are traveling light and want a range from 28mm - 600mm (full frame equivalent) then this lens is hard to beat.

Somebody said the lens was too short for wildlife but 600mm is a conventional length for this type of shooting and this lens at 400mm is the same field of view as a full frame at 600mm.

Conversely, if you get the Nikkor 18-300 lens - its long end has an equivalent field of view of 450mm on a full frame which is a bit short for many wild life scenarios.

So, if you will be doing wild life, get the 18-400 Tamron - if the lens is just for walking around and general travel the 18-300 Nikkor lens is likely a bit better.

This is truly a "what is your use case?" kind of decision.

Hope this helps :)

It's great - the more lenses the merrier - and the constant criticism of Nikon that there are not enough lenses - which at this point is largely not the case - will soon be over with the inclusion of top third party lenses like Tamron and where Tamron goes, Sigma is also sure to follow.

I gave my professional opinion to respond to the OP.

I'll elaborate: Photo Mechanic is relatively cheap - the updates are free, and it works really well. If you want LR to slowly render the shots and then cull from LR thats your prerogative and is perfectly fine.

The OP asked if I thought Photo Mechanic is helpful and the answer is a resounding yes. I am a pro photographer and there are many many pros in the industry that also use Photo Mechanic - it is actually a bit of a staple among professional photographers.

I emphasize that pros use it because generally pros are the ones that need to cull the most photos - if we're all using Photo Mechanic - there must be a reason - but is it necessary (strictly speaking) - no - it is just very useful and time saving.

Yes, you should get this program - I used to import everything to LR also and now I see what a HUGE waste of disk space that is.

Photo Mechanic is really good for culling photos down and just keeping the keepers.

Highly recommended.

Yes - agreed :)

They will announce another camera this year. There is some speculation as to whether it will be a full frame of DX, but the odds are its a full frame - either way, waiting 2 months (or less) to find out is a good bet if you already have a perfectly good D810 and Z6II as the OP does - those will certainly suffice 2 more months.

At this point, you'd be best served by waiting until October to see what camera Nikon is putting out then. Until then, I'm sure you can continue to get by with your D810 and your Z6II.