Oops, I Did It Again

Nikon Z7, Z 40mm f2 SE

Well, turns out my Canon adventure ends at 18 months or so in.

Some of this is just my brain being terrible to me, every so often it seems to push for irrational changes. This was totally one case of this. Some is real usage complaints and some aspects of the Canon UI not working for me.

So the R6, all my RF lenses and my two Canon EF lenses were traded in last night. Not sure what I'll do with my EF mount CV90/3.5, either a trade-in or a coupled RF mount adapter (the latter allowing me to again adapt EF lenses).

What came home? A Z7, 128GB CFe card, Z 40/2, FTZII and the big surprise, a Zeiss ZF 21/2.8 Distagon (the OG non-CPU version). 

I generally got along well with the R6, my main complaint with it was how annoying bracketing was to access since it couldn't be assigned to a button directly. Aside from that, the main complaints were lack of interesting 3rd party lenses in RF mount and the poor adaptation experience for non-EF lenses (particularly the very Sony-like IBIS and EXIF info limitation). The combo essentially tied me to EF and RF lenses, and it turns out that while that covered my light hiking/simple AF system needs, it really didn't feed my love for weird/odd/interesting lenses to shoot around town.

The Z7 on the other hand is a really good adaptation platform, between the non-CPU lens data system (which gives both a table of 20 lens data slots that even write the selected focal length to EXIF, and has IBIS and Auto ISO both respect that database), the optical stack on the sensor is thinner, allowing old rangefinder lenses to work better and there is a WIDE selection of interesting 3rd party manual and AF lenses, from pretty much everybody except possibly Sigma. 

What am I losing? Speed mostly, the R6's AF and frame rate are wildly better than the Z7, plus the RF100-400 (a very unique lens in terms of size, cost & performance). The rest of my lenses were pretty ho-hum. Good lenses but nothing I don't have comparable options for aside from the uniquely low cost, but average performance RF 16/2.8. Also the R6's grip is still the best of every camera I've owned. And I lose the flip/twist LCD I prefer (gonna suck for video work in the short term). Oh, and compatibility with SD cards (boo).

What am I gaining? Sensor performance (that 45mp sensor is a beast), better 3rd party options, MUCH better adaptation of lenses, a usable set of crop modes (the R6's APS-C crop was WAY too low MP to be usable, the Z7's crop mode is almost as many pixels as the R6's FF pixel count), a few UI bits that work the way I prefer.

Since I have a literal storage bin full of old manual focus glass, it is pretty much a case of 'buy a camera & 2 lenses, get an instant system'. I have a very workable 3-lens system right now with the ZF21, Z40 and the Tamron 90/2.8 Macro N-AF (which I'd been adapting to Canon for my macro needs, it was my sole adapted lens in regular use on Canon). While I have no AF support on the Tamron, it is fully coupled otherwise so it's more usable on Nikon than it was on Canon. The one real gap in my bin of lenses is that I'd sold off anything wider than 24mm, so the ZF21 covers most of that need, and the 40/2 is perfect as a small, AF walkabout/do everything lens. The 21/40/90 kit really does cover my core needs right off the bat. 

Off the top of my head, I also have very usable Nikon MF glass in my 24/2.8K, 28/3.5 AI'd, 35/2 AI, 55/3.5 AI and 105/2.5 AI-S. I also have a 200/4 AI that needs the aperture mechanism cleaned up and a craptacular 300/4.5K AI'd that will likely never see use due to the lousy optical performance. I also have some FD lenses (28, 50 & 135), at least 2 M42 lenses (135/3.5 and one other I don't remember off-hand), a couple C/Y mount lenses (Vivitar 70-150/3.8 and possibly one other), my legendary Nikkor-S.C 5cm f1.4 LTM and IIRC a DX 16-85VR which should be a usable walkaround zoom on the Z7. So yeah, instant system. Plus my Partner has a couple Sony E lenses, one of which could be real fun on my Z7 (Samyang 45/1.8)

What do I need to add? Top orders of business are a 70-300E or 70-200/4G VR. Oddly with both now out of production, the 70-200/4G VR is easier to find and even sometimes cheaper. Then a Z28SE for an AF wide-ish lens (and I really want the SE version, the cosmetics are totally worth the extra $20 to me because they both look better and IMHO handle better with the more pronounced control/focus ring) and some sort of mid-range zoom for hiking, probably the Nikkor Z24-120/4 as that would pair perfectly with my ZF21 as a do nearly everything 2-lens Hiking kit (and there's several telezooms that would fit in well as a 3rd hiking lens). Also I need to figure out what Z adapters I have in stock other than the FTZ and then start adding. I'll want to have M, Sony E, M42, C/Y and FD at a minimum to cover the lenses I have available to me, and probably add EF as well (for my CV 90/3.5 APO-Lanthar)