Nikon camera manual reviews

It does have the regular Nikon hot shoe up top, and is compatible with all the recent CLS Speedlights. If you want to go wireless with flash, you'll need an SB and the WR-R10 transmitter, which plugs into the rectangular pin slot at the bottom of the connector area and is pretty much out of your way.

GPS data can also be obtained via SnapBridge from your smartphone, which these days is up to version 2. One interesting change is that SnapBridge now allows you to shoot raw files and still push over 2mp JPEGs to your smartphone didn't I request that two years ago? Nikon also added one somewhat useful thing to the Wi-Fi capabilities of the Z7 beyond SnapBridge: the ability to speak both AdHoc and Infrastructure modes, which gives you access to your computer via your router.

The problem with this implementation is that it is slow and requires a Nikon software product on your computer and we all know how poorly Nikon supports their computer software products. Almost slow enough not to be useful. Likewise, the USB 3. That's probably not the fault of the electronics, but more the fault of the internal OS driving the electronics.

Fortunately, it is fast enough for studio-type tethered shooting. There's been some confusion about frame rates with the Z7. With the mechanical shutter, you top out at 5. To get the 9 fps you need to select High-Speed Continuous Extended , which puts the camera in a slide show type viewfinder update.

It also means that the exposure will be set to the first image in the sequence though the camera will continue to focus for subsequent images. I followed this pass play all the way from the 28 yard line where the ball was received above to the celebration in the end zone right in front of me below. Yep, I hit the buffer but kept shooting. The exposure was set on that bright sunny area you see above. But the celebration occurred in the shady part of the end zone in front of me.

Without those, the player is mostly a silhouette due to the exposure being held constant. The good news, of course, is that Nikon sensors can easily recover shadow detail. Nikon keeps EFCS off by default probably because of these limitations. Nikon has thrown in a few tidbits that require a lot more evaluation to fully understand, including automatic diffraction compensation. Coupled with a new mid-range sharpening control in the Picture Controls, Nikon is touting that they're now doing different three types of sharpening in the image JPEGs and TIFF, obviously that deal with differences in the way our eyes respond to contrast in different areas.

Overall size and weight of the Z7 is a bit like the D, a DSLR camera a whole class level down in sensor size and more. To those that wonder: yes, there is an immediate and tangible difference in feel when moving from the D to the Z7: the Z7 feels lighter and nimbler. Yet by keeping the deep hand grip and traditional Nikon controls coupled with the usual Nikon high-end build quality, it still feels like a Nikon. I've got a small custom 6x4x10" slightly padded bag that a friend made for me a similar small bag can be obtained at Amazon.

That many early adapters of mirrorless cameras have been using them for travel is the result of this downsizing. As I noted, I can fit my Z7 special bag I just described above into my favorite laptop briefcase the expensive but packed-with-excellence Waterfield Air Porter and still have room for my laptop, tablet, headphones, chargers, accessories, and other travel gear.

The Z7 body is said to have the same dust and drip resistance as the D Nikon's words, not mine. My friend Roger Cicala has torn a Z7 down , and his observations mostly match mine: Nikon has put seals everywhere. Moreover, even just doing a partial disassembly I noted the same thing as Roger: Nikon is using overlap as well as sealing in many areas.

Weather protection is excellent. Now many are interpreting that to mean that you can get the Z7 really wet and not have issues. First, the camera will not survive submersion. There's also one very vulnerable ingress point: the card slot. As long as that door is closed, yes, the rubber gaskets and overlap will probably work fine to keep water out of the camera. But note that the card slot is soldered directly to the main PC board.

So if the door is open and water gets in, it can get right into the one place you absolutely don't want it. While I don't panic if my D gets wet and won't panic if my Z7 gets similarly wet, if you're going to be in inclement conditions use prophylactic practices, as I do. Video capabilities of the Z7 are extensive, and should excite videographers.

While no longer alone with this feature after the Photokina launches from others, Nikon was the first to introduce a full frame 4K with bit uncompressed off the HDMI port. That bit data on the HDMI port can be saved in what Nikon calls N-Log, their version of the ubiquitous log-format videographers prefer for post-shoot color grading. With the Atomos Ninja V you also can see a view-assisted grading so you're looking at something more approaching what your final graded footage will look like.

If that weren't enough, there's internal timecode capability, focus peaking, on-screen zebras, and a bunch more little video-oriented goodies.

Video uses the same autofocus system as stills, and if you've complained about Live View, and thus video, autofocus performance on Nikon DSLRs, you're in for a big, important, and useful change shooting video with the Z7.

The Nikon Z7 is made in Sendai, Japan, with about three-quarters of the assembly done by automation according to Nikon. Nikon's page for the Z7. How's it Handle? While the general consensus has been good about how the Z7 handles—many people write "it handles like a Nikon DSLR"—don't get too caught up in those easy assessments. They're somewhat wrong. Whether those are important to you or not will depend a lot on how you shoot and what features you use. Gone, for instance, are the double-button shortcuts Reset and Format.

While I don't miss the former, the latter was a handy shortcut. Everyone's now going to want to consider setting up a customizable button to MyMenu and putting Format as the first thing on that menu. Otherwise you'll get into menu diving pretty quickly every time you want to reformat a card. Frankly, this was a mistake by Nikon. I see no good reason why they took this feature out. Take bracketing, for instance.

Moreover, the handy shortcut of using the Intervalometer function to take a full bracket sequence with one shutter press is also gone. Nikon's going to say "just add bracketing to your i menu and program a function button to bracketing burst," but which of the deeply buried menu items that also reside in the i menu are you going to give up? Picture Control?

Image Quality? Focus settings? Which brings me to the one semi-critical handling issue with the Z7: it just doesn't have enough customizable buttons for the sophisticated shooter. That's not enough buttons for all the things you're going to want to promote up to a higher level than a full menu dive. Nor are there enough i button function positions for everything I want to bring up quickly, given that I don't have a lot of customizable buttons. Which makes the Z7 a bit of a "slow" camera to work with.

You really need to think things through very carefully to maximize the customization of the camera, and I'll bet that even if you do that, you'll still wish you had more things you could assign.

Tip: The camera does have a Drive button frame rate, self timer , and that's duplicated up in the i menu defaults. So there's one thing you should consider replacing on the i menu.

VR is something you'll need to come to grips with. Yes, the Z7 has on-sensor VR. If the lens has the same VR controls as the camera Off, Normal, Sport , then VR setting are always controlled by the switch on the lens. If not, well, things get a bit more problematic. As far as I can tell, there's no way to set Active on the lens: you still get Normal. And if there's no VR on the lens, then the only way you can control the sensor VR is via the menu system.

The good news is that all your non-VR lenses now have VR on sensor. The bad news is that you have to pay attention to where you're controlling when VR is on or not.

A somewhat bigger issue with the Z7 handling is the startup delay. It originally took over a second for the camera to come active and be able to take a shot from the time you move the power switch position to On. The firmware updates have improved this considerably, but it's still a bit longer delay than on a DSLR.

That means you really don't want to have the camera off if you're doing anything that approaches spontaneous shooting. The good news is that the delay coming out of standby mode is short. Still not quite as quick as the DSLRs, but short enough that you shouldn't miss shots. Something that I'm not sure was the right decision is the availability of focus peaking and zebras. Unlike Sony, where you can pretty much select those things to appear in the EVF all the time, Nikon has put limits on both.

Zebras are only available when you're shooting video, for some reason. Focus Peaking only works when you're manually focusing.

That includes being in an autofocus mode and manually overriding the focus, and there's a bit of a gotcha if you're a back button focusing addict: you have to hold that button down while manually focusing to see peaking, which seems counterintuitive. Something that some might find a handling issue is the charging of the battery via USB-C. The good news is that Nikon supplies the required charger.

The bad news is that this works only with the EN-EL15b batteries, and only with the camera turned off. In other words, you can't charge your older batteries this way, nor can you do anything with the camera while the battery is charging. This seems like a big design miss on Nikon's part, to me. Particularly so given how much emphasis has been put on the video abilities. I want the USB connection to power the camera, period.

That way I can put one of my big Omnicharge batteries on the job and shoot video for far, far longer. You'll note that I've identified quite a few handling issues here. Virtually all of these are "down in the weeds" issues. For many of the more casual shooters, they're not going to be limitations.

It's when you compared the Z7 against the D or the Sony A7R Mark III or IV that the Z7 starts coming up a bit short in a number of handling areas that said, Sony's small buttons and confusing menus are a bigger handling problem, in my opinion, which fortunately Nikon hasn't replicated in the Z7.

What I wrote at the start of this section—that many think the Z7 handles like a Nikon—is basically true. But over time, that same user is likely to be asking Nikon for some changes.

For example, Sony's focus peaking and zebras are more flexible and usable than Nikon's. Finally, it seems ironic that Nikon removed the DOF button on a camera D because Live View provides a perfectly acceptable rendering of what is and isn't out of focus on the rear LCD , but then they make a camera like the Z7 that is basically always in Live View that requires a DOF button to see what is and isn't out of focus.

I do point out another way of quickly seeing DOF in my book. And then there are the weird, self goals: Multiple Exposure ME shooting can't result in an in-camera raw as it does in the D Most everything else is the same with ME, but not this one small aspect. Nikon does do one nice thing and display the previous frame as overlay in the viewfinder as you compose the additional shot, though.

These smaller things taken together are what make those of us who review products say something like "this is a first generation camera. That's because the hardware and performance tuning were taking preference to get the camera out the door to the first customers. The reason that the Z7 works as a first generation mirrorless platform is because so much was brought over fairly directly from the DSLRs, particularly the D But it wasn't a complete transplant, and there are abundant rough edges because of that.

One thing I'm not sure about that's new in handling is the ability to assign the focus ring on Z mount lenses to other functions exposure, exposure compensation, aperture, etc. I believe Samsung was the first company to give us this function on an ILC—it was done first on a couple of compact cameras—and it's catching on with everyone now, but for a stills shooter I'm not sure the function adds value. That's because it's too easy to accidentally move the ring and cause a change when you might not want that change.

For video shooters I can see some value here, particularly for adjusting exposure manually on the fly, but only when you want it to happen. Overall, though, I'd say the jury is out on how useful a multi-function focus ring is. I'm being very picky and detailed here, because these are the things Nikon has to fix to make a best-in-class camera that will drive the competition nuts and put customers into a nirvana state.

Hopefully Nikon corporate sees and understands all that I've written in this section. Yes, the Z7 handles well and competently. But it isn't close to a home run. The camera business is now getting small enough and competitive enough that the home runs are what will still be around five years from now. The primary differences are dictated by the mirrorless nature of the Z7, not random design choices. I can't say the same thing for the Canon R: the R feels like a hodge-podge of ideas not at all fleshed out.

So, Nikon basically nailed handling. Canon hasn't. Sony is still iterating many of the same handling errors three generations later. That's a Nikon win, in my book. Not a perfect win, but a clear one. How's it Perform? Battery: My first four day-long shoots with the Z7 revealed the following:. Conditions were a lot of continuous shooting in relatively cold conditions as I tried to figure out the autofocus system. Overall, for still shooting you're going to do far better than the CIPA rating suggests.

Compared to a D in the same conditions, my Z7 has been getting about half to two-thirds the number of shots doing the same shooting.

As I continue to work with the Z7, I'm getting more and more comfortable with that statement half to two-thirds the EN-EL15 shot capability compared to the D Of course, things change some when you slow way down. If you leave the camera on and only take a shot once in a while while also using the rear LCD a lot, the number will plummet, probably to somewhere in the range based upon my shooting. Accessories can pull down the battery, too e. You need to be aware of any accessory or setting that puts the camera into a battery-life-measured-in-hours mode.

It also includes any function that requires the camera's electronics to say active, such as SnapBridge. Overall, though, for still shooting the battery performance is completely acceptable, and some may even find it quite good depends upon what camera you're coming from. Video performance is a slightly different deal. I've gotten less than one hour performance from the video shoots I've attempted with no external accessories, but with things like VR and autofocus turned on.

Either that or you need to be in situations where you can change batteries without penalty e. Even though the video side seems a little tight running from the EN-EL15b, I'd judge the "battery life issue" many were worried about to be mostly non-existent. Nikon Df If you believe there are incorrect tags, please send us this post using our feedback form. Reply to thread Reply with quote Complain. Inadequate depth of field.

David Lal. Re: Inadequate depth of field. Re: Manual focus on Nikon: How to get sharpness on corners. Plane of focus. Mark Scott Abeln. Leonard Shepherd. Circles of confusion. Forum Parent First Previous Next. Color scheme? You may also like. The top 10 most popular cameras of according to our Instagram. Nikon D6: initial sample images. Nikon confirms first D6 units will ship out by end of May, after a brief delay. Latest sample galleries. Canon EOS R3 sample gallery.

This feature works well for people who want more telephoto capability, but as a trade-off, you lose some wide-angle capability. The list here focuses on the camera body only, rather than kits with the camera body and a basic lens. These include slightly older models as well as newer, basic cameras. You may find some older pro-level cameras in this price range, but most feature the latest technology.

These cameras offer between 20 and 35 megapixels of resolution. They carry all of the latest features, the fastest processors, and the highest megapixel counts — usually well over 30 megapixels. Beyond the cost of the camera body, you can expect to pay for add-on components. For example, you may have to buy extra lenses separately.

Additionally, you can purchase things like memory cards, extra batteries, and external flash units to use with your Nikon DSLR camera. When you shop for a Nikon DSLR camera, you may see some models sold as the camera body only and some models sold with a kit lens.

The package with the kit lens includes both the camera body and a basic lens, so you can begin shooting photos immediately. The package with just the camera body has no lens in the box, so you must purchase a lens separately before you can begin shooting. As long as the lens makes use of an F-mount, it will fit.

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Bottom Line. Best of the Best. Check Price. Rich Color Bottom Line. Best Bang for the Buck. Also, the touchscreen is mostly very responsive, allowing changing the focus points by a touch of a finger.

Last but not least, here is a personal request to Nikon: please make the autofocus square more visible. Working outside while using the LCD screen allows very little chance to spot it.

The Nikon Z 9 is a very capable filming tool, one that will be remembered for being the first to include internal ProRes recording in a mirrorless camera Next to the upcoming Internal ProRes RAW recording.

Price-wise, it is not a cheap camera in any way, yet, competing very well in its upper class. In any case, this particular model will evolve in time and will offer even greater filming flexibility to anyone who considers purchasing it. What do you think about the new Nikon Z 9? Do you see yourself considering it for video production or do you think that Nikon needs to do something additional in order to get your professional attention?

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