2025 Goals Update

Nikon Z5II, Nikkor-S.C 5cm f1.4 LTM

Well, I just passed another milestone on my goals, my Likes to Posts ratio on Fred Miranda just passed 65% on my way to my goal of 66%. Another percent is very doable, I started the year at 63.2%.

I'm also up to 5 of 7 Photo trips for the year, with another planned for next week. I expect to hit this goal

In terms of shooting, it's really low this year, I'm not even at 3,000 shots for the year, evenly split between the A7IV and the Nikons. Barring a major shift, I'll be happy to clear 5,000 shots for the year with the majority on the Nikons, and I do expect the Z7 will become the second camera in recent memory to exceed 12 months of ownership in January. Eventually hitting 10,000 without a system change is definitely possible, but no idea if I'll do that on a single body anytime soon. The Z5ii so far is just shy of 600 shots and still working well, but it's definitely still in new toy mode. We'll see where the new year takes us, but I really hope I'm still shooting the Z5ii come next fall, although I could see it demoted to second string if I bought a real replacement for the Z7 (ie if I trip over a deal on a Z8).

 

Z5ii - Initial Thoughts

 

Nikon Z5ii, AF-S Nikkor 24-85mm f3.5-4.5 VR G on FTZII

3 shot/1 stop bracket to HDR

I've got about 400 shots on the Z5ii now, from a couple outings (one minor photowalk, one major outing over the weekend). Definitely still in new toy mode, but it also feels extremely comfortable, I can't remember the last camera I picked up that shooting with felt like coming home. That's probably the very familiar ergonomics (almost identical to my Z7 and even closer to the Z5 I had a few years ago). Oddly the only two recent Nikons I've bought new were the OG Z5 and the Z5II, I generally buy used cameras (the other exception in the last 5 or so years was the OM-1). 

It's no secret I liked the Z5ii on announcement, I called it 'surely the best in class' although at the time I still thought that picking the A7IV better fit my needs (and on paper, I was correct, in practice, well not so much). This is simply a very well sorted camera that brings an absolutely stupid amount of capability for its price and overshadows the competing cameras as a general use camera (S5II is still better for serious video, but lags at everything else largely due to the AF system still struggling, while the R8 offers small size, fast AF and high FPS rates, but lacks pretty much everywhere else as it has a consumer battery, no IBIS and an APS-C grade EVF) and about 95% of my complaints from the Z5 and Z7 have been addressed, and of the two major remaining ones only one could be sorted in software.

So what was fixed? Customizability mostly. All the buttons that I might want to program but couldn't on the Z5 and Z7, I can on the Z5II. Only a few core UI buttons (shutter release, menu, the zoom buttons and delete) are not programmable now. This immediately frees up 3 additional buttons for me if I'm willing to accept differing controls between my two bodies. My limiter on customization now is maintaining UI commonality between the less customizable Z7 and the more customizable Z5ii. Since the Z7 still brings one major item to the table (the amazing 45MP sensor), I want to keep them similar so I don't have to think when swapping between them. That does limit what I can do with Z5ii for now. 

The Non-CPU Lens system got an upgrade, fixing all my complaints. When I test drove the Zf in early 2025 it still offered the old Non-CPU Lens Data UI, where you picked focal length and aperture from a list f pre-populated values, which locked out non-Nikon focal lengths (like 21mm and 25mm) and apertures. It also didn't let you enter the lens name for EXIF like the OM and Panasonic bodies do. Those features were already in the Z8 and Z9 at the time, but had not tricked down to the lower-end EXPEED7 bodies (Zf and Z6iii in particular at that time, even though the Zf had the new MF assist functions it pioneered). With the Z5ii that changed and the new UI is present which addresses pretty much all the shortcomings of the system from the older EXPEED6 bodies like my Z7. It now writes full EXIF with dumb adapters and I can enter specific lens names to differentiate multiple lenses of the same spec (like my two 28mm f3.5's), I do still have to remember which slot is which if using the quick-access selection as that only shows slot ID, focal length and aperture, but it shows up in the full menu UI. My understanding is that the Zf and Z6iii on current firmware also have this now. It's a real value add for somebody who loves mucking about with non-CPU lenses as I do. 

There's also a lot of other Quality of Life updates in the EXPEED7 bodies, they're faster, less gotchas and just very well sorted. Plus it's nice to be using a system without the dust management issues that continue to plague Sony. 

What don't I like?

1. Bracketing Burst is still broken compared to the Nikon DSLR's (and Sony). I cannot set the Z bodies up to just shoot a burst if I have Bracketing enabled. Sony makes it a drive mode which allows this (but locks out combining bracketing burst with a self timer), The Nikon DSLR's had a custom function to set this to always on. I have to assign a button and hold that button down while shooting to get it on the Z's. 

2. That third control point on the body. The Sony bodies actually have 4 control points (which is more than I need, I never used the one around the d-pad), but being able to have exposure compensation on a dedicated dial in M+Auto ISO mode was great and I cannot do that on the Z's unless I put it on the lens ring and shoot only with lenses that have a ring (or a focus ring that can be re-assigned as a control ring). Worse, I can't set the camera up so that Aperture is on the lens and Shutter/ISO or Shutter/exposure compensation is on the body. That's by far the most normal setup I can think of for shooting with the control ring on the lens, especially since I use a lot of manual lenses where I'm basically just wasting a control point.

Overall, I'm really liking the Z5ii. It just feels like home so far. We'll see how things play out, but hopefully it will still be in my bag next September. 

The Nikon System Now

Nikon Z7, Nikkor 105mm f2.5 AI-S

So with my Sony stuff gone, there's a few gaps in my setup to fill, but I still do have a nice selection of glass available to me, especially reasonably compact primes.

So what's in the rotation?

Standard kit:

Zeiss Distagon 2,8/21 ZF - my standard wide-angle lens and an absolute gem.

Z Nikkor 40mm f2 SE - My AF fast/compact prime for walkaround. Rather good, decently small and fast enough

AF-S Nikkor 24-85mm f3.5-4.5 VR G - Very solid and sharp general purpose zoom

Tamron SP 90mm f2.8 N-AF - My macro of choice even though it doesn't AF on the FTZ. 

M mount kit:

7Artisans 35mm f5.6 - Fixed aperture bodycap/small walkabout lens

Nikkor-S.C 5cm f1.4 LTM - Not only my cold dead hands lens, but a solid classic-rendering Sonnar type normal. Some issues with the M mount adapter mean I need to use a different adapter than I do for the other M lenses.

7Artisans 75mm f1.25 - Big, fast monster. Unique rendering and weak wide open, but lots of fun. 

F mount kit:

24mm f2.8 K - Classic Nikkor wide angle.

28mm f3.5 H - Classic low-contrast rendering, muted but beautiful colour, Kinda a PITA to focus due to low contrast, metal focus ring

28mm f3.5 AI - Classic and solid AI mild wide. Got it with the Z5ii in a 1 for 1 swap for my unloved 35/2 AI (a lens I've owned and not loved several times over the years, my least favourite Nikkor 35mm)

50mm f1.8D - Yeah, I have one, it's technically my partner's for her D50. Neither of us ever use it, but we won't sell it at this point

Micro-Nikkor 55mm f3.5 AI - Heirloom, came with my FE from my Aunt (who bought it new from the camera store I worked at as a teen). Will never sell this lens, and I love it, my 3rd one and I always get great results.

Nikkor 105mm f2.5 AI-S - The legendary Afghan Girl lens. Had a few copies previously, sold most foolishly (and broke one). Will not sell this one. 

Nikkor 200/4 Ai - This one needs a teardown, aperture is sticky. Nice lens otherwise and compact.

Nikkor 300/4.5 K AI'd - This thing sucks. But it's also worthless. Won't use or sell.

M42 kit

Super-Takumar 35/3.5 - Longstanding favourite. Keeping

Super-Takumar 135/3.5 - Tiny and decent. Fun and keeping.

I intend to add to all 3 kits. I miss my old (and formerly very complete) M42 kit, there's a few gaps in the F mount kit and I'm really enjoying cheap M glass.

Current priorities are:

1. AF telezoom

2. fast M wides - 28 and faster 35 for sure, then a modern 50 and last a 90. 

3. More ZF/ZF.2 lenses, especially a 35, 50 and 85. I miss my old 85/1.4 ZF.2 in particular. 

More native Z glass and M42 stuff when I can find it for pricing in the budget. 

The goal here is to get to a practical hiking kit quickly (UWA + normal + telezoom, and I just need the telezoom added), then focus on 'fun' lenses including backfilling some old stuff I sold and regret, or always wanted. 
 

So what about the Sony Lenses

Tamron 17-28mm f2.8 FE

This is the lens I'm going to miss the most from the Sony setup. I really liked this one, a great size and solid performance for a very reasonable cost. I will likely buy the Nikon-branded version, but it's literally twice the cost of a used Tamron in FE mount. In the interim I have my 21 Distagon which covers 90% of my needs in this space. 

Sigma 100-400mm f5-6.3 DG DN OS Contemporary

This one was already on the chopping block. The OS is known to be wonky and randomly just doesn't, which I ran into. A big part of why I was willing to dump all my native Sony glass was my general low-level dissatisfaction with this lens. Optically it's solid but not exceptional, the handling is OK but getting the optional lens foot was basically impossible (shared part with the discontinued 105/1.4) and the OS just didn't right when you needed it to. It was either being replaced with the Sony GM or a different super-tele zoom anyways. Not sure which way I'll go here, maybe an 80-400G or 70-200+TC, or possibly I'll get a smaller zoom + 180-600. 

The final lens in my kit was the Viltrox 40/2.5. This was a great little lens, small & sharp, but I actually never used it outside of some test shots. Since I have the faster Nikkor 40/2 in Z mount, I tended to just use the Z7 when I wanted a lens like that. I carried teh Viltrox around as a gap filler between the 17-28 and 100-400, usually alongside my EF mount Voigtlander 90/3.5 APO-Lanthar on an EF->FE adapter, but the 90 got used for its great close focus and the neat little Viltrox generally sat in the bag and was sad. 
 

Since only one of the three native lenses I had was really used and liked, one needed replacing and I already had a great alternative to the third in Z mount, using those lenses as part of my trade in to get the Z5ii (which I got brand new) made a bunch of sense. 

Post-Summer Updates

Sony A7IV, Tamron 17-28/2.8

Well, it's been a long and busy summer with relatively little shooting. I got out with the camera a total of 3 times, and only shot 6-700 shots total across all of those. The A7IV is now just shy of 1400 shots.

The A7IV has been delivering what I wanted for hiking/landscape work, but I just do not really like using it for adapting lenses, the only adapted lens that's seen any real use is my EF mount Voigtlander 90/3.5 APO-Lanthar, which is fully coupled on my EF->FE adapter. 

This breaks into one of the issues with being dual system. I just like the Nikon more, even though the Sony stuff has been working well overall. I really wish I'd waited and bought the Z5ii instead (or just got that used Zf I was eying instead of the A7IV). Nikon has also solved the light body issue with the new Zr, although it is somewhat expensive (since it's really a Z6iii in a small body, not another Zf/Z5ii sibling, so it costs near Z6iii money, sitting halfway between the Zf and Z6iii in price, which is reasonable for what it is as a video body, but high for light carry).

This is kind of a pisser, since the Sony does work fine for its primary uses, it just has a few minor annoyances that irk me. The biggest one with native glass is how the metering display behaves when in M+Auto ISO. In short, it doesn't do anything even if you are bouncing off ISO limits. Which means you basically have to guess what the heck it's doing in a mode I REALLY like shooting in. The Z7 displays accurate metering in this use case.

The reality is the Sony A7IV spent a lot of the summer next to my desk hoping I'd pick it up, and I rarely did. I didn't shoot the Z7 much either, largely because every time I wanted to, I got indecisive. 

End result - After 6 months of ownership the A7IV and my 3 native lenses got traded back in and a Z5II came home with me. 

Nikon's Z5ii - Certainly the Best in Class.

Nikon Z5, Nikkor Z 24-50 f4-6.3

Nikon announced the new Z5ii last week.

It was exactly what I expected, a Zf in a lightly modded Z5 body. And it's exactly what I would have bought if it had been out a couple months before. I spent a lot of time debating between the Zf, Z6iii, S5ii and A7iv. I eventually settled on the A7iv, and I am happy with that, but if the Z5ii had been out already, I would have looked no further since it met all my original requirements for a body. The Zf only got downchecked because of the weight and ergonomics. 

So what is it - in short it's a pairing of the excellent Expeed7 processing system with the old but outstanding IMX410 24MP BSI Full frame sensor used in a number of different cameras including the Zf, Z6, Z6ii, S5ii, S9, SL3-S and IIRC also the A7iii and A7C. It's a great sensor limited really only by the inability to do full-width 4k50/60 (which I don't care about).

While the price does go up, it remains a huge value and handily the best body in its pricerange for general users, outperforming the A7III and A7C in all regards, the S5II in terms of AF & overall stills performance and the R8 in terms of basic features (better EVF, IBIS, better battery life, dual cards, but much slower and worse 4K video). The Z5ii simply offers the best balanced combination of features, even if most of those cameras (except the aging A7III) beat it in some specific area. 

That said, for my needs I do think the currently more expensive A7IV isn't really overmatched by the Z5ii, but it's currently at least 25% more expensive. I think I made the right choice for my needs, even if it's a choice I probably would have skipped if the Z5ii had been already available last month. 

 

A Couple Weeks Later - A7IV & Z7

A7IV, Tamron 17-28 f2.8

I've had the A7IV for a couple weeks now and put almost 600 shots on it in that time, vs around 800 for the Z7 since I got it 2.5 months ago. The difference in shot count vs time is mostly in being able to get out for one major photo trip after getting the Sony, and I only brought the Sony along for that trip.

Overall, they're both excellent cameras. I generally am preferring the A7IV in actual use for the more flexible control layout, vari-angle LCD and the ability to dedicate a dial to exposure compensation, plus the AF is significantly better. The Z7 however does have a better metering readout for Manual+Auto ISO (As it will tell you on the metering display when it's hit the end of its range for ISO and by how much) and a nicer EVF. Also the Z7 files are still nicer. 

Both are good cameras, both aren't perfect. If I could get the Z7's sensor, EVF, metering readout & Non-cpu lens data system in the A7IV's everything else, I'd be ecstatic. 

In general, if I have to pick just one, I'm usually going to pick the Sony here, it's just better at most of the stuff I care about and more importantly, the system brings me options I simply don't have in Z mount, notably compact bodies and a wider lens selection. But I still do enjoy the Z7 and am planning on keeping it around for now. It's a fun change, the files are nice and I don't have all that much value in Z7 specific stuff that can't also be used via adapter on the A7iv (since all but one of my Z7 lens kit are adapted lenses). 

So overall, my plan to largely dedicate the Z7 to adapted/manual lenses for around town shooting and the A7IV for everyday uses seems to be making a lot of sense. I'm going to continue that way for now. 

 

Full Frame and Every Day Carry - A Persistent Conundrum

 

Nikon Z7, 7Artisans 75mm f1.25 @f1.4

If you're going all-in on Full Frame, finding an Every Day Carry camera that isn't fixed lens and matches your system becomes a real issue.

Out of the 4 systems, Nikon struggles the most here, lacking entirely in an actually compact body. The Zf is actually larger than the Z5/6/7 series in 2 dimensions, and heavier too. It does pack down smallish with no lens or a particularly compact pancake due to the lack of grip though. Otherwise for current new bodies, the Z5 is the smallest (the original Z6 and Z7 are the same exact size as the Z5). But none of these are small and Nikon has exactly 4 compact lenses, the 24-50 and the 26, 28 and 40's. That does not make for a really flexible system and the rest of the glass tends huge (although the Tamron rebadge trio is pretty compact for f2.8 zooms). The most viable option really is going to be pairing the Z5 or Zf with the 26, 40 & 7Artisans 75mm f2 (which is quite compact) and maybe adding the 7Artisans 18/5.6 fixed aperture pancake as a decent cheap wide. That's a nice small & inexpensive lens set on a kinda chonky body.  

Canon's Rp and R8 are quite compact and Canon offers 4 truly compact lenses in the 24-50, 16/2.8, 28/2.8 and 50/1.8. Note that's a range which makes buying all 3 primes more viable since they actually gap well, unlike Nikon which clustered up the two wider ones since apparently Nikon is allergic to wide primes these days. Downside is mostly lack of IBIS, but Canon's 24/1.8, 35/1.8 and 85/2 primes are all 1:2 macro and IS, which makes for another good trio of smaller primes. Canon also offers a fairly small zoom trio in the 15-30, 24-105STM and 100-400, all IS, compact, 67mm filter and inexpensive. The 24-105 is mediocre, but the other two are decent (15-30) to excellent (100-400) optically. No IS here actually helps for adapting, since it eliminates the worst part of the experience for Canon users (setting IS focal length). The viewfinder is a very consumer 2.36MP unit at 0.7x magnification. Pricing is very reasonable here, with the older and more limited Rp being the cheapest FF body most of the time (unless the Z5 is on sale) and the R8 also coming in at aggressive pricing. The Rp is also available new for some reason, but be aware it's a very limited body in capability unlike the R8 which is straight up an R6II electronically, in an RP body. Canon has essentially no 3rd party AF lens support though, so if Canon's offerings don't meet your needs, you'll be adapting or looking elsewhere. The R8 however is probably the least compromised as a do-everything body in this class due to the minimal handling compromises, it feels like a small SLR body.

Sony offers a lot of options in this space. On the used market the original A7 and A7R are tiny, but have a lot of compromises from being 10+ year old designs. However the A7R can be quite workable if you are using manual lenses only and can live with the minimal battery life. Don't expect usable AF from the A7R, it's CDAF-only. The A7 has pretty bad AF, but it's mostly usable unlike the A7R's AF.

Sony of course also offers their current A7C series. There's 3 bodies here, the OG A7C, which is fundamentally a A7III stuffed into an A6600 body. No front dial and the worst viewfinder ever in a FF body (2.36MP panel at a ludicrously bad 0.59x magnification). These are reasonably cheap these days, coming in at $200CAD more than an R8 or S9 for MSRP. They also offer the A7CII, which is an A7IV in an A6700 body, and features a now competitive for the segment 2.36MP 0.7x EVF and a front dial. But it's barely cheaper than the A7IV, which itself is overpriced for the performance compared to the competition at this pricepoint. Finally Sony has the A7CR, which is an A7CII with A7RV internals. It's easily the most expensive A7C variant, but is the best actual value since it's significantly cheaper than the A7RV. This is the lightweight hiking/landscape body and if that's what you are going for, the only competition is not much cheaper but has way more limitations (Sigma Fp L + EVF).

Sony also has by far the best selection of small glass between Sony's G series compact lenses, the Sigma 'i' series primes and a myriad of offerings from other manufacturers, especially including Samyang. 

In L mount there's options from Panasonic & Sigma. These are unique in not offering mechanical shutters on any of them, which can be an issue, but they're also by far the smallest options available.

Sigma offers the new Bf, the original (and discontinued) Fp and the current Fp L. The Bf is your choice if you are looking for looks over performance, it's a very good looking camera, but compromises handling for looks (sharpish corners) and basically has no accessories possible other than lenses and spare batteries (not even cards, it comes with 230GB of internal storage and a USB-C port). The Fp is not great unless you want the smallest possible camera and don't care about AF. It's CDAF only so AF performance is lousy. The FP L adds PDAF and a 61MP sensor, and without EVF is the cheapest high-res body on the market and also the smallest by a long shot. All these are VERY situational cameras, you will love them or despise them. No IBIS either on any of the Sigmas. Note the Bf has no EVF option where the Fp's both have an add-on EVF/

The Panasonic S9 rivals the Canon R8 for being the cheapest option with good performance, is the smallest option with IBIS, but lacks an EVF entirely. It's got all the S5II toys as well, so it's actually a very capable camera if you can live without an EVF and a mechanical shutter. This is by far the best video body of the lot and is marketed as a Creators Camera, selling up the video and the stills+social media workflow using the Lumix Lab app on your cellphone. NB - There's no hotshoe on this camera, only a cold shoe for an optical viewfinder or video accessory. 

L mount is second in terms of lens offerings, with Sigma's i series flashes and a decent selection of other lenses. Note Panasonic's 1.8 prime series (which includes the 100/2.8 Macro) are all identical in size and very close in weight, these are mid-size for the 24-50mm range, but the 18, 85 & 100 macro are compact for the specs, especially the 100 Macro which is by far the smallest such AF macro ever made (and it's good optically too). The 18-40 is also unique, a pancake type UWA zoom. 

Decision Done

 

Sony A7IV, Tamron 17-28mm f2.8

Well, as it happened I did run into a screaming deal, but it was on an A7IV, so that's the way I went. I also added 3 lenses to the kit, the Tamron 17-28/2.8, the Sigma 100-400 and the Viltrox 40/2.5. Both zooms are reasonably compact and perform well, at a cost well below what I'd pay for Z mount equivalents, and they share the 67mm filter thread (which I already have a good filter kit for as it happens). As I got the 17-28 used as well, I ended up paying right around the current on-sale A7IV new price for the body & 17-28 pair. 

I've been playing around and so far I'm pretty happy with the A7IV. The grip is slightly less comfortable than the Z7's, which is acceptable in a body that's just slightly smaller than & lighter than the Z7. That's notable since the A7IV is nowhere near the smallest E mount full frame body, will the Z7 is in fact the smallest & lightest Z mount full frame body currently on the market (tied with the Z5 & Z6, all of which are dimensionally identical and 675g). The EVF is also worse, as Sony's implementations are worst in class for the specs, while Nikon's are generally bets in class if matching specs. But the A7IV's EVF is very much usable.

Getting the flip-twist screen back is definitely making me happy, the above shot was using it to get an easy low-angle shot in lousy conditions, no way I could have frames that on the Z7 without getting down on the  very wet ground. Plus the AF system is simply better, with the only complaint being that Sony still doesn't offer an AF-C+MF mode (DMF does that for AF-S, but there's no AF-C equivalent). The flip side is that I have so many more control points (4 dials, 6 custom buttons+AF-ON vs 2 dials and 3 custom buttons+AF-On, note I treat Record as a custom button on both cameras) and the Sony buttons are with one exception (C3) also easier to reach as they are either back right or top plate, vs 2 of the 3 Nikon buttons being on the front and more awkward to reach. And the Sony buttons are wildly more configurable with one caveat, as Bracketing is a Drive Mode on Sony, I can't assign it directly to a button, but since Continuous Bracket is in the Drive Mode menu, I don't need to dedicate 2 buttons to bracketing. I do have one button assigned to AF/MF toggle so it's under the thumb when I need it, 

The result is the Sony is pretty wildly more configurable and the items I adjust regularly can mostly be added to a wheel directly, so they don't eat buttons. Plus there's the 3 assignable D-pad buttons that I just leave as defaults (but which also can be customized). So I have a control setup I'm a fair bit happier with than on the Z7. I'm oddly happier with the A7IV so far than I'd expected to be, I hope that continues to be the case. We'll see how things play out in the long run, especially once I've got some real usage on the A7IV, but I suspect I might just have the body that meets my current set of compromises the best out of the options I had on the table. 

Tomorrow I'll get out and hopefully do some real shooting on the A7IV, looking forward to seeing how it goes. 

A Decision (Mostly) Made

Sony A7RIV, Tamron 70-300 FE

Well, I made my decision, for the most part.

After hemming & hawing a lot over the last week I went back to first principles and worked through what I actually wanted in a system. 

The first decision point was 'why not just double-down on the Z7, which I enjoy shooting'. That's an easy answer. The Z7 has a rated shutter life of 200,000 shots. My Z7 has over 316,000 on the clock. It's why it was so cheap and why I simply cannot rely on it as my hiking/landscape camera. It's fine as an Everyday Carry camera aside from size because if it fails, I'm not losing a large time or effort investment. 

The second was really 'what do I want in a system'. The answer is 3-fold. I want decent same-format options for EDC, a viable do-everything camera right now, an available high-pixel camera with decent performance and not too large a size and a good selection of lenses from the mundane to the downright weird, without the interesting lenses all being expensive (over $1500 CAD) or telephotos.

This disqualified Nikon (no EDC FX body, limited wide angle options, it only offers a lot of interesting glass from 35mm onwards, also nothing interesting in the gap between 105mm and 400mm for primes) and Canon (limited interesting lenses of any sort outside of some expensive weird 1st party lenses and a tiny handful of fully manual lenses, plus bad at adapting M lenses). But this also put Sony back on the table as it hits on all of them.

Next is simple, what exactly do I want in a do-everything body. And frankly, my ideal is the new Panasonic S1RII. Namely good ergonomics & viewfinder, ~45MP so I have usable crop and a nice to work with FF pixel count and a decent amount of speed (6-7fps is fine for general use, but I'd like to have over 10fps in my pocket for occasional use, especially with pre-capture). It would just barely be possible to do this, but unlike the S5II option, I couldn't add any extra glass or adapters until a later date. Plus it won't ship until next month. 

So do I compromise more on speed or on pixels. This really comes down to S5II vs A7IV here. S5II is more of a compromise on pixels, A7IV on speed. The other options in the pricerange all have single-axis tilt screens which is a real issue in the field for me (these are the Z7II, A7RIII and A7RIV). I could also stretch a bunch and get an A7RV, which has internally downsampled 26MP and 15MP modes, so it's both a very usable 26MP body and a crazy high resolution 61MP body, but that would very limiting on my lens budget (I can buy both of my planned hiking lenses for the cost difference between the two bodies). The A7RV has most of the same set of cost issues as the S1RII, but I do have access to a couple lenses plus the full set of adapters I'd want (at least in the case of borrowing them), but it's also a bit more money than the S1RII and I don't already have CFEa cards for it and unlike SD and CFEb, CFEa is still stupid money

So things just keep falling on 'get an A7IV' barring either tripping over a screaming deal on an A7RV or something else coming out of left field. 

 

Chasing the Dragon

Nikon Z7, Z 40mm f2

 Yeah, I'm bad for chasing the dragon. Legendarily bad in fact as I've been doing a constant round robin between Nikon, Sony, m43 and Fuji for over 15 years now since I got my G1 back in January 2009.

What is Chasing the Dragon though? It's when following 'the grass is greener on the other side' to the logical extreme. At one point I made 3 total system switches in a 1 year period. That's crazypants, but it's also a legacy of my unwillingness to accept that I both have bad Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS) and the perfect camera for me doesn't yet exist, nor does the perfect lens lineup.

Over the last few years I've been actively trying to stop and settle on one system. I almost achieved it with Canon, as I stuck with that system for 18 months (a recent record) and honestly only switched back to Nikon because I was unhappy with the adaptation experience for manual lenses on Canon, I was otherwise pretty happy with Canon (the bracketing UI aside). 

The other problem is that I just don't deal well with having 2 systems. Or more correctly, I want to have 1 system/2 bodies in the field ideally when I'm shooting landscape/nature. Ideally with shared batteries (I rarely swap cards in practice so while I used to select for that, it's no longer a requirement so long as I have enough 128GB cards so every body has its own card(s). )

The problem is that right now my sole body is a high mileage body I bought cheap specifically as a body to use with my old manual lenses. I like the body, but it doesn't meet my video needs without me buying several additional accessories to rig it out (external display for starters) and I'm always cognizant that a camera with 316k shots on it may die on me. Plus I'd like some more performance for bugging/wildlife/aviation. 

So what are my options?

I've really settled on 4 possibilities, and I'm about ready to narrow that to three. The plan really is to have 2 options when I'm ready to go to the local pusher. 

The first is to do the obvious, stick with the Z7 and just buy a bunch of interesting glass. The downside here is just the usual Nikon issue, the lenses are big & heavy unless I buy some of the few DX lenses, and those are very consumer. But I do have the option to get a bunch of lenses I'd always wanted. I also have the concern that my Z7 will die at a point where I can't just buy another body, but the flip side of that is that most of my lenses will work on DSLR's and a D610 or D800 is stupid cheap, so it's unlikely I'd be out a body more than briefly even if it died at an inopportune time. 

The second is to go Fuji. Keep the Z7 and use it primarily with my collection of manual focus FF lenses, even slowly adding to that collection, but the main system becomes Fuji. The biggest advantage here is that Fuji does have both compact offerings and all but 2 of their lenses are under $3k CAD, with the majority being under $1300 or so. Plus there's a wide variety of small lenses in the system, which is very nice. Biggest downsides here are processing X-Trans files (which I still don't love, but I can readily get good results from) and the pretty mixed selection of lenses in terms of rendering styles and resolution. The bodies available cover all my use needs, the X-Hx for fast PASM with good long-lens handling, the X-T series for retro/everyday use and the X-M5 as a small EDC/Webcam body.  Fuji also gives access to the ridiculous number of cheap & interesting APS-C manual primes (and AF primes too),

The third is to add the Zf and a couple zooms, which is in many ways the Nikon body I always wanted. But here the big issue comes down to the Nikon lenses not being well optimized for that body. Specifically the lack of aperture rings, as well as control dials on the handful of smaller lenses in the system. 3rd Party lenses do make up somewhat for that (both size & handling) but the best lineup of 3rd party lenses for the Zf isn't available in Z mount, so you need a MegaDAP adapter to use them (that's the Sigma 'i' series primes). Plus the Zf simply doesn't have as well sorted a UI as the X-T5. The other issue here is the Zf is best suited to the use I bought the Z7 for, old manual lenses, and I kinda want to keep the Z7 focused on those uses. There's a half-step option here of getting the Z50II instead of the Zf, and focusing on APS-C for most uses. The Z7 is a solid APS-C body to cover the Z50II's weak spots (and vice versa for the most part). This would be better if I could expect a higher-end APS-C body from Nikon. 

The fourth option is basically option 2, but Panasonic L mount. With the new S1RII arriving tomorrow with very aggressive pricing this looks even better than the third option for full frame for long term usage, with a wide variety of interesting glass existing in L mount, but we're still talking a large system, even if it's smaller than the All-Nikon Z setup. Could go S9 for a tiny body here, or S5II for all singing/all dancing with the view of adding the S1RII in the future as a resolution body to address the Z7's eventual demise. Lots of reasonably priced glass in the system, and some compact & excellent zooms as well. 

Now the reality is that I don't need better IQ than crop can deliver, and Fuji offers me a more compact option than Panasonic. Nikon just doesn't offer a compact/high performance option (only the Z50II which lacks IBIS and a good EVF, both items I'm sensitive to). 

What I really wish I could do is spend a week with an S5II, 20-60, 35/1.8 and Sigma 100-400, and a Week with the X-T5, 16-50 f2.8-4, 23/2 and Sigma 100-400 and see which I get along with better.

Regardless of what path I choose, I will continue to use the Z7 and add interesting primes to my system. I'll probably add 2-3 zooms as well eventually, likely F mount lenses I get for good prices.  

Ponderings about Retro Cameras

 

Fujifilm X-T2, XC 35mm f2

I'm very strongly attracted to Retro cameras, specifically those similar in design to Nikon's iconic FM & FM2n. This is largely because I shot most of my film work on those cameras, the F3 and a few other similar bodies (FA, FM10, FE, FE2). I still own an original FE and an F2a. 

With retro cameras I've seen 3 general approaches across the 4 brands that have seriously done retro cameras.

The first is 'Retro in looks only' with the new OM-3 being the classic example, but the essentially the whole Olympus/OM System Micro4/3rds line except for the E-M1/OM-1 series fall into this category. A few Fuji's do as well, notably the X-Tx00 series. Essentially this is a camera with retro styling, but a modern PASM+dual dial interface. Key items are no external shutter speed or ISO dials, although an external exposure compensation dial is OK (we've even seen that on non-retro designs like some Sony's). These bodies tend to work well and look good, but don't tend to become iconic as in use, they're just another camera with a small grip (The Pen-F being the exception)

The second is the fully integrated design. This is a design where you get an external interface with ISO & Shutter speed dials, intended to work with an aperture ring on the lens, but also two control wheels and you can readily switch between dial and wheel interfaces as needed. The Majority of Fuji designs are in this category. It's also what Nikon has tried to do, but not quite achieved with their 3 retro designs (the Df being an abject failure and the Zfc and Zf being near-misses). The key here is that these bodies allow you to work both like a fully retro body with the external exposure triangle (usually plus exposure compensation) and a modern body, and allow you to switch each corner of the triangle independently and seamlessly. Fuji also does a few bodies that are partially here, with ISO replaced by either some alternate control or nothing on some bodies that are either lower-end or more compact.

The third approach is to make the most minimal concessions to digital possible. The only real entry here is the Leica M digitals, although the X-Pro3 dabbles in this. Leica has simply taken their film body, stuck digital internals into it and added the absolute minimum required to make them a functional digital camera. It works very well, if you want a camera that works like it's 1985 and only that way. 

The challenge with Nikon here is they continue to half-ass the experience. The Zfc and Zf are excellent cameras. But they suffer from two significant issues, only one of which is at the camera level.

At the camera level, the core issue is that they work well when only using the external dials and when only using the internal controls, but when mixing the two experiences it's a study in gotchas, especially with ISO where you need a written guide to figure out how everything interacts (except in Auto mode, where it does exactly what you'd expect when moving the ISO Dial in and out of C, why can't it be set to work the same in PASM modes?). Some of this comes down to the choice to borrow the PASM switch from the old Nikon FA rather than use a Pentax/Contax style A positions (Fuji clearly borrowed their X-T series UI from Pentax's retro-style AF cameras like the MZ-5n). Ironically many Nikon film bodies use A positions on the shutter speed dial (the FA was the exception here) and even a P position on a couple bodies (like the FG). I'd bet whoever was lead designer for the Zf and Zfc used these cameras only in all manual or in Auto (which are the two good experiences) with minimal use of Aperture priority in particular.

The other issue with the Nikon retro bodies is simply Nikon has not given users a lens selection to match these two rather popular bodies. Even the two SE lenses match in styling and size only, but as they lack an Aperture ring (or even a control ring) you can't use the lens as the third corner of the exposure triangle in manual focus. The two f1.4 lenses are a better experience as they do have a control ring, but you still can't see aperture on the lens, only on that tiny top LCD display. The irony here is that there is a good experience available, just not from Nikon. Many 3rd party primes come with aperture rings, so if you want the best experience just use Viltrox, Voigtlander, Meike, 7Artisans or TTArtisan lenses instead of Nikkors on your Zf. Nikon needs to start releasing lenses designed for these cameras in more than just cosmetics, as by all reports they are very good selling cameras and likely would sell even better if Nikon had thought out the lens needs of these cameras. 

So what can Nikon do.

In short - firmware updates. I'd like to see the following changes:

1. Setting in the Auto-ISO setup to disable Auto ISO when the ISO dial is not set to C

2. Setting in Controls CF's to 'have camera select shutter speed when dial set to C' 

3. Setting in Controls CF's to ' Use PASM switch for User Custom Settings' 

4. Setting in Controls that if setting 3 is enabled it allows the PASM Switch positions Auto, P, A & S to each be mapped to a Ux setting (U1/2/3/4) instead of AE modes. - This would also solve the loss of directly selectable user banks on these two cameras.

5. Add an A position after minimum aperture in the aperture range so you can dial into having the camera select aperture + respect A position on lenses with a physical aperture ring. 

Also, when the ZfcII comes (and eventually for the ZfII), give us a half-grip option with a shutter release and front control dial, like the OG E-M5 offered. That will be killer for these bodies with larger lenses. 

If you wonder why all the retro musings, well I can't frikking decide whether I want a Zf or an X-T5. Or to be more correct, I want a Zf, but I want some of the X-T5 experience (UI fully sorted and lenses with aperture rings). I keep digging in and realizing the two best kits for me would be X-H2+X-T5 or Z7+Zf, in both cases with the small creator camera added at some point for video/light carry (Z30/Zfc or X-M5/XT-30II). The question if I go Fuji is how do I align the body selection/acquisition as I ultimately would want two bodies, but do I get X-H2+creator or X-T5+creator first, then add the other higher-end body afterwards. 

More Musings - What Gear and Why

Fuji X-T2, 7Artisans 12mm f2.8 v1

I'm now less than 4 weeks away from receiving my yearly bonus, which will be finally used primarily to get what is hopefully my core working kit for the next couple years. 

The time gap has me going in circles, as I'm WAY too much of a gearhead and almost every option I've looked at has something serious going for it.

So first up - My quick takes on each option/system:

Sony - Great lens options, The FF cameras in my pricerange all have rough edges for my uses, I massively dislike the handling of their APS-C options. My Partner has an A7II so lens sharing is viable. Don't love how the files render. Poor software but good customization. Best pre-capture in larger formats, limited computational features. Poor experience for adapted non-CPU lenses. By far the worst JPEG profiles.

Canon - This would work for me, but lens options are limited. I like the cameras, I like the lenses, but they don't excite me. Canon is very much the image making appliance. Really good, but boring. OK software and customization. Latest bodies have mostly workable pre-capture, very limited computational features. Only 1 crop body has IBIS, poor experience for adapted non-cpu lenses. Limited JPEG profiles, but what you get is VERY good. 

Panasonic (FF) - In Isolation, this is arguably the best choice for me. Good bodies, good lenses, good handling, lots of interesting glass. But no APS-C options although the S9 is cheap enough to mostly cover the uses I'd otherwise look at a crop body for. Good software and customization. Best computational features in larger sensor formats and decent pre-capture. Good non-CPU lens experience. LUT support for JPEG makes JPEG profiles top-tier.

Nikon - Been a Nikon shooter since 1993. Love the lenses, love the ergonomics, Lacking in wide options and I'm a wide shooter. Lousy software & customization. (NB - Keeping my Z7 regardless for my legacy glass). Zf/Zfc have ergo/control layout issues but love the looks. Middling computational and pre-capture is crippled. No IBIS on crop. Good non-CPU lens experience, best manual focus aids (CPU lens only). Second best JPEG profile system, but worst marketed and limited community support. 

Fujifilm - I love the body design options, although I still don't like the chiclet buttons on some of the controls. Love the lens lineup, lots of oddball lenses. Best screen setups on less expensive bodies, lowish cost of entry. I'm not a fan of XTrans for colour files, but can get good results. Top-Notch B&W. Best marketed JPEG profiles. Very limited computational options, decent enough software, good non-CPU lens support.  Arguably the best selection of body styles for my uses in a single sensor size. Worst AF, but still usable. Good manual focus aids. Good customization, middling software. 

OM System - Nice bodies, Expensive, most bodies have crap viewfinders even at higher prices. Great glass, small size, sealed. The best computational features by a mile. Decent software. SOmewhat limited lens options due to more limited 3rd party support. Biggest problem is a lack of second body option. Good non-CPU lens support, poor manual focus aids due to software limitations. Love the files, but limited IQ vs other options. Overpriced bodies below the OM-1. Very good JPEG profile system, in 3rd place. Good software & customization

Panasonic (m43) - Lead body is excellent, combining all the features of its FF cousin with an excellent m43 sensor. Good webcam body (limited but small & cheap), no retro type body/compact body in between the two right now. Becomes viable when the GX9 gets updated with the current internals as the old internals suck by modern standards. Good lens selection. Kinda chonky for the sensor size. Best JPEG profiles (sae LUT system as FF), good computational support, good non-CPU lens support. Good software & customization

So, next up is what are my use cases.IE what do I use my cameras for, and how does that impact my gear.

1. Landscape/Nature photography. Bias towards reducing carry weight here. Need wide/normal, macro and tele options. This is my main zoom usage. 

2. Aviation - Mostly model aviation (I'm an RC'er) but also airshow. Good enough AF with long lens option and highish framerates. Takes a backseat to my other uses as I only do this a few times a year. 

3. Street/Cityscape/Urban detail - Very prime oriented, compact preferred. Don't care about AF. My Z7 will remain lead for this with my old lenses, but whatever I buy needs to be able to do this. I like weird and cheap glass, so that's a must-have for the system (it's largely why I sold the R6 which I got along with decently)

4. Video - I have 2 needs here, portable webcam for work and fixed video for my RC-related youtube channel. Latter is a 'pretty much anything with a flip/twist screen' will work, but for the webcam I greatly prefer a camera which supports direct USB webcam streaming instead of needing an app only my laptop (which has been a persistent frustration for me with the Nikon's in particular). I'd prefer this be a second/third body though so I can leave it setup most of the time. USB power/streaming is the best case here.

So where does that leave me?

I'm striking m43 entirely, Sony and Canon. Panasonic doesn't offer me a retro style body and I really like those due to decades of shooting manual focus film bodies. Too bad, because otherwise it's a great fit.

I'm sort of looping around to Fujifilm again. I've not owned a recent body (X-T2 was the newest) and if the continuous AF is noticeably better than the X-T2 it should work for me. I like the lenses, love the handling and the files are acceptable. Plus there's lots of neat glass available, which I missed when I sold off the X-T2 and X-T1 to go back to m43 & NIkon. You can get a Fuji to Nikon adapter with AF as well. The main thing is that the X-M5 + X-T5 combo covers most of my needs, and the rest could be covered by an X-H body. The Nikon alternative is slowly settling on Z7+DX body (either Z50II as a do-everything or a Z30+future FX body to cover video now and a second carry body long-term).

 

The Most Dangerous Activity

 

OM System OM-1, m.Zuiko PRO 12-40 f2.8 II

Trawling through my Archives is a dangerous game. But the results are increasingly predictable. I really like my output from my Nikon and Olympus shooting, and everything else rates as 'good but not quite great'. 

My OM-1 ownership was bookended by an A7RIV and  Canon R7. I actually shot some of my all-time best work on that A7RIV, but that really was from a single trip to Algonquin Park and some shots with the SLRMagic 18/2.8 on an absolutely amazing cold February morning. The rest of the work is good, but not great. A fair bit of that is simply colour profiling though. I don't love the default Sony colour rendering and never quite built a profile that overrode it when the light wasn't golden.

Same for the R7, just without the 'best work' part. A solid body of work, nothing spectacular. Ditto the R6, although I didn't shoot landscape seriously enough with it to really get to know it.  

The OM-1 work, as a whole, was simply more consistent. It is clear I did need to spend some more time with it as I wasn't getting quite what I wanted from the multi-shot modes and I think that's entirely a case of I didn't know them well enough.

The flip side is I also see the weaknesses in the files vs larger sensors. While I do love the results I got from the OM-1, I'd much rather work with my Z7 files and I like the Nikon results pretty much equally. 

So did the trawl through the archives tempt me to go m43? Yep. But not quite enough this time. 

OM-3 Is out - My thoughts

 OM-1, 40-150/4 Pro

OM System announced the OM-3 today, their new compact vintage styled camera.

And it's a brilliant camera overall. But it's got one screaming issue for me. The EVF is simply not up to snuff for a camera that costs more than $1500USD. It's an old 2.36M panel at an unacceptable low 0.69x magnification. Overall a worse spec than the E-M5II from a decade ago. 

The good? Excellent build, it's the cheapest stacked-sensor camera on the market by far, which makes it also incredible in terms of performance, there is literally nothing at its pricepoint which compares except a used OM-1. 

Control layout gives up a few items, but that's inherent to a size reduction. The new CP button allows direct access to all computational features (which I very much like), the on/off switch is still in a bad position (and I'm NOT giving up the Fn switch to fix that), JPEG dial is neat if you like that and like the OM-1II, the profiles are very tweakable even if not up to the real-time LUT system of Panasonic. Oh, and it shares the OM-1 battery and has a proper SD card slot (not in the battery compartment like the Zf/Zfc)

Cost is too high, as is usual for OM at launch. It will come down in 6 months. 

No grip options, which is a pity, a 2-part grip like the early E-M5's offered would have been great here. 

Also launched are updates of the 25/1.8, 17/1.8 and 100-400. The primes get sealing and the 17 loses the focus clutch, the 100-400 gets SyncIS but not saner pricing (as it's a Sigma rebadge and the Sigma version is half the price)

The verdict? A very solid effort and a great camera if you can live with the low-spec EVF that's the only real stripper aspect of the OM-3.

No, I don't plan on getting one. I skipped the E-M5 series after the MkII over the EVF and the OM-3 has the same EVF as those bodies. 

Future Landscape/Hiking/Video Gear Pondering - Full Frame Edition

 Sony A7RIV, FE 28-60

OK, so we covered crop options for Landscape/Hiking/Video uses.

Now let's do Full Frame.

First up is Canon. This would be a re-buy situation to some extent, as I just sold off my Canon gear. I'd definitely rebuy the RF100-400 and probably the 24/1.8 as well. I'd want the new 16-28 or the 14-35L and some mid-range option, plus a macro (likely the 100L in EF mount). Body would be either the R6mII or an OG R5. This would work pretty well for this, but I'd still struggle a bit with the lens line overall. Plus the limitations on assigning Bracketing to a button would annoy me just as it did on the R7 and R6. Possible only if I got a screaming deal on the body. R8 is an option for light carry here too (but limited/no IBIS and small battery).

Second is Sony. The most wide-ranging lens lineup, most lenses can be readily adaptable to my Z7 via the MegaDAP ETZ21 Pro adapter, and my partner still shoots an A7II. The downside is which body. The A7IV and A7RIV are really the two options here and I don't really gel with either of them. If forced, either would work adequately though, so I wouldn't be unhappy, just occasionally annoyed (especially with the Dust. Why hasn't Sony figured out sensor cleaning yet....). 

Third is of course Nikon. There's two real problems with Z mount for me. The focus is on long lenses, not wide (and mine is the opposite) and none of the bodies quite fit my needs or wants. The Zf and Z6III are acceptable though and I could probably get away with either adapting some FE lenses on the wide end or getting the 14-30. One annoyance here is it seems Nikon is dead set on ensuring you have every single possible different filter thread you could possibly own needed for their lenses. Only the Tamronkors have consistent thread sizing (the 17-28, 28-75 and 70-180 are all 67mm). 

The wild card is Panasonic. Over the last couple of years L mount has emerged as a real contender since finally introducing PDAF and addressing the AF issues for action shooting. They're still not top-tier AF, but they are at least as good as the non-stacked sensor Nikons. Plus the lens options are excellent and pricing is aggressive. The S5II covers my needs for a 24MP hiking body, and I can easily and relatively inexpensively put together a kit of 20-60, 100-400, 100 macro and 1-2 f1.8 primes, and every single lens on that list has 67mm filter threads. The bodies are very customizable, the S9 works as a light carry/B-cam and I have access to the top-tier Sigma lenses if needed (plus Leica if I want to be insane). The only real lack is high-MP options, and they're there just not cheap. The S1R update however should drop prices of the original and that would give me a 47MP option for tripod shooting. Plus the ability to load LUT's and apply to JPEG's gives the possibility of my post workflow dropping dramatically (you can convert LR presets to LUT's, then load onto the S5II, the S9 and the upcoming S1RII). Also the S5II costs as little as a Zf, except it includes the brilliant little 20-60mm in the package (and often adds the 50/1.8 for a very small upcharge). Get the 2 lens kit (20-60+50), add a Sigma 100-400 and the tiny and excellent 100/2.8 macro and I'm set. I could add the 18/1.8 later for a native fast UWA too. 

End result, Panasonic seems to cover most of the requirements. Nikon is #2, Sony and Canon both viable if the right deal is found. Clear leader, but unlike in Crop, none of the options actually fail out. 

Future Landscape/Hiking/Video Gear Pondering - Crop Edition

Nikon Z7, Tamron SP 90mm f2.8 Macro N-AF

I've been thinking more and more about how I build out my gear. 

 That's got me considering the possibility of a different system alongside the Z7, rather than just going all-in on Nikon.

One of the obvious options here is Fuji. While I nave a very mixed history with them, the X-T1's and X-T2 were great cameras to work with aside from the AF issues I encountered with the 55-200. The X-H2 actually has quite good ergonomics (no Chiclets) and the X-T5 reverts back to a more X-T1/X-T2 style body rather than the larger X-T4's more hybrid-oriented setup. Plus the lens lineup is solid, including lots of interesting 3rd party lenses. Fuji is the one maker other than Nikon which will give you a traditional UI and a dual-dial UI in roughly similar bodies. 

The downsides are the AF is at best rivalling my OG Z7, Fuji's been breaking stuff on firmware and that simply put, 40MP APS-C struggles at higher ISO's and many of the most interesting Fuji lenses don't play well on the 40MP bodies. I honestly wish the X-T5 had stayed at 26MP (for the X-H2, I'd just get the 26MP X-H2S if I decided it was an issue for that body). 

The more I look at Fuji, the more I realize that while another X-T body would be lots of fun, it's not as well suited to my other uses. I need decent higher ISO for dark woodland shots when hiking, and want decent AF-C for wildlife grab shots, again while hiking. Plus Fuji is very nearly the only option without built-in Focus stacking (they do offer high-res multishot, but it's 20 frames instead of 8 on other systems due to the X-Trans filter pattern)

Fuji's lens line is also pretty inconsistent, the changes in design style over the 13 years of its existence leads to a lens line where different era's of lenses render differently and you only sometimes can cover each slot in your kit with a lens that behaves as you want. That said, a XF 16-50, 70-300 o 100-400 and an 8/3.5 would be a good hiking kit. No point in buying a macro since there's no automated focus stacking/bracketing so I could just adapt my current Macro's as both work well on crop bodies. 

The next crop offering I could entertain is of course m43. Again a system I have a LONG history with, being an early adopter with the G1 back when it was literally the only mirrorless camera in existence. It's possible I can get a pretty good deal on another OM-1 kit (and I did rather like that setup for the most part), but the kicker is the second/backup body. Lens selection has gotten somewhat better with all the manual 3rd party lenses now so I can say the 'System of One' comments I had are now really limited to the body. The OM-5 is just too little body for me, literally. The complaints are tiny battery/tiny EVF. If it was cheaper, I'd be more interested. But on February 6th OM System will announce a new body, known to be the OM-3, which will be some sort of Retro body, clearly a compact one and is largely expected to be essentially an original OM-1 in a new case, but with less decontenting than the OM-5. I'm guessing good finder/small battery unless they decide to bring back the BLN-1 last seen on the E-M5II, or manage to squeeze in the OM-1 battery (props if they do). I know I can quickly put together a lens system that works for me here so this is very on the radar. The multi-shot modes make up for the IQ limitations, when I need more than it can deliver at low ISO's, I can almost always multishot my way out of the situation. 

The biggest challenge with OM System is complexity. The OM-1 was not a camera where I could ignore the camera's complexity and just shoot, I found myself needing to engage the complexity constantly due to the need to take advantage of multi-shot to get the IQ I wanted. 

The next offering is Sony. That's a Nope for a cropper for me. I dislike all the Sony APS-C bodies and for some reason they refuse to stuff their current top-end cropper into an A7 body and make the obvious A7000. The lens lineup is inconsistent, but generally comprehensive. In other words you can usually get the lens you need in a given focal length, but it probably renders and handles differently than your other lenses unless one of the 3rd party options (notably Sigma or Viltrox) matches up exactly to your needs. 

Canon comes next. I mostly liked the R7 and only really sold it because I had the R6 and needed the 100-400. But I'd probably prefer to wait to see what the R7mII looks like and even then suspect another R6 series would make more sense (even more so now with the new 16-28/2.8 out). Canon makes solid crop bodies, but the combination of good and inexpensive FF bodies make their croppers a hard sell except the R50 as a webcam/b-cam. Lens selection is a bit of an issue, but so many of the inexpensive FF lenses work well on APS-C that it's less of one that most think. 7Artisan 12/2.8 II, 18-150 and 100-400 would be the working set here most likely.

And finally there's Nikon. The new Z50II is actually a pretty decent camera, with very good AF and video, but lacks IBIS for some reason (and it's not body size since the competition does it in smaller bodies). For some reason the older Zfc is still $50CAD more than the newer body despite the latter being higher performance in all regards. The Zfc is kinda neat, but I'd think I'd probably go Z30 if I didn't go Z50II, it's by far the cheapest option, performs identical to the Zfc and while it lacks a viewfinder, it's a viable camera for pure LCD shooting, something I haven't really had since I sold my last X-A1. Since my Z7 can be a pretty good APS-C camera already, any of the Z DX bodies could pair as the low-end in a 2 body split, albeit I'd probably not want the OG Z50 if only because of the lack of the vari-angle LCD, which I'd really want in my second body since the Z7 is also tilt-only. 

When I work through this, really only 2 crop options make any real sense. m43 and Nikon. And I already have a good Nikon crop body in the Z7. So It doesn't make a lot of sense to switch things up. 

Z7 Gear Plans

 

Nikon Z7, Tamron SP 90mm f2.8 Macro N-AF on FTZII

So, what plans do I have for the Z7 in terms of what goes on front of the lens. 

Adapters:

The TTArtisan 6-bit M-Z Adapter is the first on my list. This is a major benefit if I want to expand my use of M lenses past my Nikkor-S.C 5cm f1.4 LTM and even worth it for just that lens as it enables EXIF data and trap focus. 

Second adapter will be an EF to Z adapter, for my CV 90/3.5 APO-Lanthar SLII in EF mount. This is second largely because of the fact I also have a Tamron 90mm f2.8 Macro in N-AF form that I can use on the FTZ with the same functionality, but it's not as nice a lens to use even if it does focus closer. 

Third will be an E to Z electronic adapter, so I can use pretty much any E mount lens. Probably the MegaDAP unless the recently announced Viltrox gets rave reviews before I purchase it.

Lenses:

Nikon F mount Manual Focus - Likely not much here. I want a 135/2.8 AI-S, a 28/2.8 AI-S and either a 85/1.8K or a ZF.2 85/1.4 Planar. There's a handful of other lenses on my 'buy for the right price' list, largely Zeiss although another Voigtlander 58/1.4 SLII in the original rubber grip version would be high on the list (and a 110, 125 or 180 CV would be interesting for the right price). However these are larger and handle less well on mirrorless so while I do intend to keep acquiring some slowly, they are not a priority.

Leica LTM/M lenses - I'd like to build a small system here. Likely going to be heavy on the Chinese offerings, the 7Artisan Wen 35/1.4 is high on my list and has been for several years. This will be a slow buy as these aren't exactly cheap, even if they aren't expensive

Native Z Manual lenses - I'm probably going to go hog wild on the cheap DX stuff, it's one of the main reasons why I went with the Z7. All sub-$250CAD though, no fancy DX, only cheap & fun. I'll keep my eye out for interesting FX glass though, there's a couple Voigtlanders that are on my long-term interest list like the 40/1.2 and the 75/1.5. Oh, and Laowa has some fun ones too. Long term the FX manual primes will probably become the real core of my kit outside of hiking setups. 

Nikon F mount AF lenses - Not much will happen here. I'm only really interested in the f1.4's (aside from the 50mm's which are not impressive), the PF lenses and a couple telezooms (80-400G, 70-200's, 70-300E), with the latter as alternatives to expensive Z offerings for hiking. All cases have to be the right price before I'll look seriously. 

Canon EF mount lenses - Aside from the 135L, most interest here is for ZE or CV lenses if the right price is in EF mount instead of F mount. 

Native Z AF lenses - S 14-30/4, the two F4 midrange zooms, 180-600 all interest. For primes, the f1.4's again, the compact offerings and maybe the 20/1.8 and 85/1.8 S's (which are the most interesting of the f1.8 S line). Also the Viltrox primes and maybe the Tamron 70-300. We'll see how the lineup grows long-term. Plus there's a bunch of cheap AF primes coming out, they're of interest here (both DX and FX). 

Some Thoughts on 'Soul' in Cameras and Lenses

 

Nikon Z7, Z 40mm f2.0

One thing I dislike about a lot of modern gear is that it lacks Soul. But that's not always a bad thing as well.

In order to understand this, you really have to figure out first what 'Soul' is to you in regards to camera gear. Then you have to decide when you want 'Soul' and when you just want a tool that simply delivers the goods. 

For me, it's a fairly simple definition. It's the existence of flaws in an interesting but non-aggravating manner. Some of these flaws can even actually be pleasing.

The Sony A7RIV and A7II both have flaws and lack soul, because the flaws in question were either invisible to me for the way I work, or aggravating. A lot of the frustration here is just Sony's predilection for 'invalid operation' buttons (ie UI aspects that unexpectedly just don't. Some call this the S*ny effect for all the asterixes in their manuals calling out where settings conflict or disable items unexpectedly). Conversely the R6 didn't really have any flaws that aggravated me, it also didn't really have any that interested me. Same for the lenses, they were tools, nothing more. Good tools, but that's it (the R7 had both one interesting flaw, that weird rear control dial, and one aggravating one, the AF losing its shit when there's a busy background)

Conversely most Zeiss lenses have a specific rendering flaw that is exceptionally pleasing. This is a loss of contrast in out of focus areas as compared to the in focus areas. That creates the classic Zeiss '3D Pop' look, as opposed to the flat 'greenscreen' pop you get from a more perfect lens (such as the Nikon 135 Plena or many of the most modern Leica lenses). I prefer the rendering from the less 'perfect' lens, although I also see value in the more 'perfect' lens as it will never surprise you. The 'perfect' lens is a perfect tool, predictable and always delivering as expected. The less perfect lens gives some happy little accidents that result in more interesting images. 

I'm in particular fond of lenses with some spherical aberration wide open, that gives that 'classic' fast lens rendering and few flaws. I also like lenses with good center performance and somewhat unique rendering elsewhere in the frame. 

I don't like lenses that are just unsharp overall, or are both expensive and not generally flaw-free at f8. The flaws have to be interesting, not aggravating. Handling flaws are the same for me. Weird handling? Sure. Sloppy zoom or uncomfortable focus rings? No thanks. 

I've long been fighting the draw of having a simple, effective kit and an 'interesting' kit. One part of this is I didn't until recently really understand when and where I preferred each half of that equation, or why that was the case. I think I understand it better and that means I know better how to build a kit that fits both needs I have.

In short, when I'm out shooting landscape/nature, I really want a kit that doesn't get in my way and lets me get the shot I need. That's generally a UWA that give 18-20mm or equivalent view, a normal-ish zoom and a close focusing telezoom capable of 300-400mm. The most wiggle room is in the first two, a UWA zoom and normal prime can work here, or a UWA prime and normal zoom. I think I prefer the latter these days. 

However in and around the city, I want a small kit of primes that have some interesting or unique aspect to them. 

The answer really is just two have 2 bags. One for Landscape/hiking, one for city work. The latter is the weird glass and the shelf cycles through it, the other one is the 'boring' lenses, or at least 1-2 'boring' zooms and 1 or 2 'interesting' lenses (UWA and macro or tele prime). Body-wise that could be either 1 or 2 bodies, but they have to be reasonably cross-compatible (mount yes, battery preferred, cards not so much a requirement so long as I'm not stuck buying weird or expensive cards)

Note I also do need a 'video' body for the Youtube tutorial videos I do, but that just needs a flippy screen or external display option, a reasonably close focusing normal zoom and a mic input, I don't need AF or anything else, so all sorts of oddball options can work there, even an old DSLR if it can take my Nikon lenses (so a Nikon or Canon)

Revisiting Old Takes on Nikon Z

 

Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 40mm f2.0

I've been trawling through my post archives looking at some of my previous thoughts on Nikon Z as a system and some of its challenges.

It's no secret I think Z had significant issues early on due to the poor mid-range decontenting decisions that have plagued Nikon starting with the D7500 (arguably with the Df) and continued up through the Z6/Z7 at least (and arguably somewhat still on the Z6II/Z7II), only truly ending with the Z9's arrival and subsequent saner choices in decontenting in the newer Z8, Zf and Z6III. I'm still very strongly on board with that take on the system. These aren't bad bodies at all, but Nikon shot themselves in the foot with some poor decision making and pricing.

My second beef was the poor choice to use XQD (later CFe) as the primary storage on the Z6 line in particular. Only the Z5 and ZF have used UHS-II SD as primary in the FX lineup to this day. The two early Z6's should have been fast dual-SD setups. The original Z6 in particular doesn't exceed UHS-II write speeds in the first place, so the very expensive and hard to get cards were a poor choice back then. Today things are different, though CFe is still significantly more expensive than SD aside from the very fastest SD cards, you can now reliably get CFe cards for $100USD or less, making them much more viable than cards which cost 10% or more of the body cost as things were when the Z6 first shipped. Frankly, today SD is largely a dying format kept alive by the lower end of the stills camera market, with the rest using either CFe or MicroSD, so while Nikon certainly paid a serious price for moving too early and too low in the lineup on the Z6, they are now in a better position and one of the main blockers on buying into the Z6/Z7 used is largely gone. You still need new cards, but you aren't spending the cost of a lens on a card + reader unless you really want to. The card cost issue has blocked me from buying a Z6 or Z7 several times prior to my final acquisition of one last week (along with a $130CAD 128GB CFe card, a very reasonable price for the performance and capacity)

The third was the utter lack of 3rd party support for Z early on, with RF getting 3rd party lens support first. Oh how that changed in 2020/2021 when Canon locked their mount out and Nikon became the default second mount for lenses (except for Sigma, who continues to prioritize L mount as their second mount and only dabbles in Z). Canon has started to open things up again, at least for RF-S, but still lags massively (and for the widely available manual uncoupled lenses, Nikon's far better implementation of the support UI remains a major advantage). 

The fourth is one that has both been addressed and certainly remains. That's the Z5's pricing problem (which also affects the Zf to an extent as that's now Nikon's other real 'entry level' FX body offering SD cards, 24MP and a $2000USD or less price). While the 28 and 40 muffin lenses, and the newer 35/1.4 and 50/2.4 mostly address this for the normal to wide prime range, the zoom issue remains. Nikon NEEDS a good consumer UWA zoom (replacement for the under-appreciated 18-35G) and a consumer grade 24-85 zoom to slot in between the small but limited 24-50 and the more pricey and huge 24-200, or just a fair bit more expensive S-line 24-70/4. It's simply very difficult for a budget-oriented user of the Z5 to put together a zoom lens kit that is workable and isn't just a single super-zoom (albeit the 24-200 is remarkably good at what it does). The Tamron 70-300 covers the consumer telezoom needs just fine. Nikon also needs 1-2 smaller, slower telephoto primes to round out the inexpensive line (I'd say a 105/2.5 in the Muffin line along with an 85/1.4 to match the 35 & 50) and also UWA options, maybe a 20/4 muffin and 16 or 18/2.8 in the bigger but not as expensive as S line series (can't see this being f1.4). A 24/1.4 in the f1.4 line would be nice too. Although to be honest, the Viltrox 16/1.8 really covers the need for a good AF UW prime in the 15-16mm range for reasonably money.